Photograbbed from: mapua.edu.ph
1. You wear your school ID
Since the school doesn’t have a uniform, the only thing left that is readily available to identify you with the school is your ID. The 3.5 x 2 in. card will be a part of your life for years to come. What’s cliché is that enthusiastic frosh students make sure to wear it even if they are still hours away from school or even if they aren’t around school premises anymore! These make the students quite easy to spot as they do send an aura of newness. Frosh ID’s are always paired with bright red lanyards. The letters spelling Mapúa are still clearly visible and the cardinal’s eyes as white and wide as the wearer’s curious of the world they just entered. They wear it proudly as if it were an award of some sort. Sure, it would be a medal of honor, just wait for D-day.
2. You keep a notebook
No, this isn’t a laptop. You keep a real notebook. Soft black lines and unblemished pages whose untarnished edges are kept white as snow. You keep it close, and you fill it with notes; A whole lot of notes. You are a trained scribe. Everything the professor writes on the board somehow automatically appears on its pages also: every word, every number, even the tiniest dot, even so much as an ink blot. One thing to notice, when a frosh writes down something on his/her notebook he/she keeps it very tidy. The strokes are all well-defined (some even go as far as engineering lettering it all the way!), paragraphs are justified and properly punctuated, the final answers are highlighted and boxed, topic headers and titles are in a different pen color, and when there is a mistake made he/ she doesn’t use correction pen rather tears the whole page and restarts.
I hope they do keep this habit because this will help a lot. A term later, about 70% of them are going to learn to use that camera for ‘taking notes’. Touché.
3. You fall in line at the bookstore
I somehow blame you for the queue by the bookstore. It always is terribly long during the first term. You might not know but the bookstore was located at the south building then. The morning routine would be to enter south gate and immediately head left to get your daily necessities. Now, it’s located by the canteen. Newbie students look at the bookstore as if it were a one stop shop. They buy everything there. I’m not even kidding when I say everything. Of course they do buy their supplies there, the pens, the index cards, quiz booklets (Note: There are three kinds: small, big w/o lines, big w/ lines), PE uniforms and then they also buy books, more shirts, and even school memorabilia! I suggest that Mapúa provide them with a shopping cart already. Be a wise consumer and walk around Intramuros a little! Do check out other stores in the vicinity which might offer a cheaper price for a whole lot more. Ah, let’s not forget the infamous blondie. You may have heard or have encountered blondie by now. If not, then just be sure to count your change before leaving the counter.
4. You pay 12 pesos for a bottle of water
Somehow the lady always manages to make you check your pocket for two pesos with the magic words, “May dos ka?” Yes, you will have a lot of twos in your grades (and be happy about it), and yes, you will always have two pesos. You will always have those two extra coins that jingle around your pocket, but I don’t know if it’s just me or it’s upsetting when they ask that. Aren’t they supposed to give the change? What’s more troubling is when they give the excuse, “Hindi pa malamig.” That water was supposed to be your refreshment but the trouble you have to go to get is not refreshing at all! It was only Php 10 then. Inevitably, inflation happened and it turned to Php 11. There must be something dreadful going on in the water supply chain and now it dictates that it be Php 12. It just makes you check your pocket for that one peso more. Not once, but twice.
Freshies are still eager to buy from the beverage counter. Sooner or later they’re going to be fed up with the system and they’ll bring their own water bottle instead. Learn to freeload, Frosh.
5. You still have lunch
Here’s a short list of where you might be eating if you’re a frosh:
· Kitchen Basic – Yep, it’s named that way so that the chefs inside would practice their basics there before they head to the hotel beside.
· McDonald’s – who doesn’t want fries?
· SM Manila restaurants/ food court – This is for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday when you’re still a millionaire.
· School canteen/ kantunan/ walls – this is when you go broke or just want to save or you’re not a Frosh anymore.
It’s just that after frosh days, your schedule will not include lunch breaks anymore but dinner would be.
6. You know the East building
The east building was non-existent just a year ago. The looming white structure wasn’t there. Those glass panes that you see? Those were empty spaces. That great white wall? That used to be the pavilion on what is considered to be the biggest tambayan ever. Oh and the Central Student Council had an office there. There used to be talk around town that there will be an east building and now here it is. I haven’t been inside it yet, but it’s great to see that our alma mater has made impressive improvements.
It’s good to know that the freshies gets a fresh nest to dwell in. The old buildings won’t be forgotten though. The West building where physics and math old exams and quizzes keep flying around, South where SLSHS professors will make sure you pray before and after class, and the North where we get to see a display of prototypes, either work-in-progress kind of clunky or dashing ones. For now the East will be the research center, I won’t be able to explore much of that but I have no doubt that those who ‘know the East building’ will put it to good, or better, use.
7. You plan what to wear
I bet you do and I think you still will for the rest of the coming weeks. Do check the internet for Frosh starter packs to get you going for school. It’s also that uncontrollable urge to go to class while showing of those kicks you ordered online and you eagerly hope that your block mates would notice (just please don’t step on it). You also make it to your class several minutes early, with a cute outfit, with perfectly done hair and make-up, matching shoes and bags, while taking a selfie, with #ootd and #Mapua, while freeloading on the institute’s Wi-Fi.
Got that right, didn’t I? We’ve all been there.
8. You walk around the school with your CM out
You keep peeking at every window to check if it really is the right room. Keep a mental note that there are only a few buildings in Mapúa: North, South, West and East all spanning in a few thousand square meters. All rooms are properly labelled with their corresponding room numbers so that you won’t get lost. In case you do, don’t be shy to ask the guards just wear your ID before you do or you would end up doing internal service.
9. You have block mates
Remember each face that you see today, remember their names too. Do enjoy the time and cherish the experience of being a freshie. Having block mates is great, it allows one to create a comfort zone. Suddenly and inevitably, Mapúa will teach you that people come and go easily. You may not know it now because you see them every day, you go to all of your subjects with them, you eat lunch with them, you go home with them (Careful) but when the quarterly purge commences you’ll find yourself wondering where all your block mates went. You’ll keep in touch though, you’ll even try to take the same subjects after that but, sooner or later, you’ll realize people will just have to take their own paths with or without you.
Yeah, it’s been a long day indeed. Take this as an opportunity to learn a lot about people but please be cautious when you open up by asking,”Kuya/ Ate, ano pong batch mo?”
10. You don’t even know what frosh means
You have wondered several times why people call you frosh. Wasn’t it supposed to be freshman? Or freshie? Or anything that suggests freshness? Say it with me. Frosh. Say it one more time. Frosh. That’s the sound of Mapua flushing you out of the system even before you can say freshman. Study smart, learn a lot, have fun, but don’t ever go full ‘YOLO’ and perhaps one day, we’ll see each other at the finish line.
