You know the classic pet peeve in Polytechnic University of the Philippines?
"Pila ulit ng mahaba,
pila!"
Have you ever experienced falling in line from your main campus' 6th floor in the middle of the summer heat? Take note: not just once, not just twice but seems to be endless? Meeting professors and staffs that are as hot headed as the weather? Skipping meals because you're too eager to finish everything within the day. Waiting for hours in line but being disappointed of the service when you got your turn? Being confused of which is north, east, west and south? Clueless of where the offices you have to go are? Going to school well groomed and fresh and going home like hell and famished?
If yes, you are a true blood of PUP Mighty Maroons!!☺
But if there was one good thing about waiting for hours in line is that you get to meet people. I'd like to call them PILA FRIENDS (nothing creative about that). These are the friends that would possibly and most likely not have anything common with you at the moment other than your annoying experiences in line. But still you share a conversation just to kill time, to vent out your frustrations and to laugh it off. You even try to get to know that other person even if the probability of you meeting again is very low. You might have done it just to be nice because you have no other option, or maybe you really are interested but regardless of the intention, point is, on that shared moment, you became friends. And you know what, sometimes, there's something more than meets the eye.
I just had mine a couple of weeks ago. And the most amazing thing is that the people in front of me are a higher year, a graduating student and a graduate. I don't know if this is divine message or something but I was having an epiphany on that 2-hour conversation we had. All that I need to know was there. Things became clearer for me. I've been having a lot of rants about the system in Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Manila, regardless of its education's quality. Having the opportunity to talk to people who have more PUPian experiences than I do made me realize a lot of things. Those are:
Yes, our school has nothing good to offer in terms of its facilities. What would you expect with a tuition fee as low as P12.00 per unit? You can even hear courageous and revolutionary students that are literally voicing out their rants about the administration around the campus. But this taught me a lot of things in life. That it is not a fully airconditioned room and a modern type of elevator that would bring us a bright future. That having a negative impression of your school because of the constant rally and burning of school stuffs doesn't seem to be that bad after all. That falling in line for hours isn't really a waste. Because there's a precious reward waiting for us in the finish line.
Let's think of the half filled part of the glass than the half empty. See that the things that annoys us in this school are the reasons why at the end of the line we will feel fulfilled. The old electric fan that gives us air, the old and almost broken chairs we sit in, was our own little way to lessen the burden of our parents financially. That we open doors for those working students to support themselves and the poor to improve their economis status. The quality of education that PUP offers us doesn't suit the P12.00 per unit but rather be P12000.00 per unit. May we never judge and blame the activists for their actions. No individual is gonna act that far if nothing provoked them. Instead of bashing them, thank them for the benefits we are having as a whole and pray for them. Remeber, they are the reason why our school was built and why we pay for only as low as P12.00 per unit. Let us be inspired by the professors and stafff who successfully built theirselves rather thatn being irritated of them just because they don't respect us the way we expect them to or simply because they're strict. We never know what they've been through. Let's be proud to meet friends that are hard to find. Friends that are to be treasured 'til the end of time. At the end of the line, I know, we will feel the happiness exclusive for PUPians who really strived hard. And after and end, comes another beginning. It may not be a literal line. But a line and a battle of our own outside PUP. A line that we will face heads up because of the experiences that taught us a lot of lessons in our Sintang Paaralan.
I still am afraid of what future has in store for me but I'd still go for it because I am very thrilled and excited of what the finish line has for me. :)
Thank you guys, for reading!
Hi to BS Political Economy Batch 2016!
Hello PUPians! I'm pretty sure you can relate!
*First and last post for this address. Visit some more at alyssanicolemocon.blogspot.com*☺
~ Aly xx
