School Week: How did it went?

This is another student blog of mine that contains what has happened during my first few weeks at school. This marks my first day as an official student of the University of the Visayas after several years of maintaining distance learning. Hence, making it special since we are the first freshman batch who gets to go through face-to-face classes again since the pandemic. And here I am, gracing the green hallways of my beloved institution. Even though it's just limited on-site classes happening only every week—it still progresses where we can slowly and safely find our way back to normal.

This blog is a combination of last week's and today's school adventures since I got caught up with my preliminaries. Instead of uploading right after my class, I am just gonna recall my first back-to-school experience. I'm about to tell you all the things I got to do again as a student through this blog. Stay tuned!

As you would know, I'm also a student who has always been dependent on public transportation for years. At first, it's a step to being on your own if you learn to commute alone. But experiencing travels from our place to my university feels like the growth that I'm not ready for. Here's an image taken from my mobile camera inside the bus while we were waiting for more passengers.

The picture from the left is our classroom. The room is massive that all of us 30 students (group 1) fit in there. It's a lot different from my previous school so it was a new experience to have my lectures inside a room with two functioning air conditioners and a very wide whiteboard for the projector. But to tell you honestly, I somehow hoped for at least an aircon. Who wouldn't? I keep pointing out my expensive tuition fee, the least I could have is this.

Although, it's almost freezing. Sitting at back felt as cozy as the cold I can just sleep on my desk if I want to. But I'm sure the lesson we discussed was not something related to a lullaby. I don't think kinds of t-tests and analysis of variances will make you sleep. At first, I think the lesson looks very simple not until I tried to understand it. Statistics is really not my favourite subject yet I took STEM as my senior high school strand and now have a BS (Bachelor of Science, just to clarify) in Psychology for college. I'm not fond of things that put my mind haywire besides personal issues because they're enough. But you know, something about this course is pulling me to suffer. And out of all the choices I have given myself, this is the only option where I can see myself taking in the future. I think it will be rewarding in the end.

Anyway, enough of dream-walking. Today's discussion was successful at the least. I'm having the gist of terminologies that makes up for my headache but they are bearable. We were given another assessment for our ANOVA class demonstration earlier. This is different from the first lesson because we are comparing more than two groups which is A LOT. Yes, a lot. I still haven't gotten used to only comparing two but now it was even multiplied. And the duration is only three working days. And I still have an exam from another GE subject with the same deadline as well. Come to think of it, Tuesday can be the refreshment of the week but I feel like my energy is already hanging by the end of Friday.

Later on, we took a breather when our class ended. We went to the library to get some rest and savour the silence. We also got our library cards so we can borrow books. Shina is not much of a reader but I am, and I'm eyeing this specific book I think I might borrow sometime. Image of the book.

It's entitled Rizal: Makabayan (Patriotic) at Martir (Martyr). It's a book about the Philippine National hero, Dr Jose P. Rizal in the Filipino medium. When I was in high school, I always find topics about history interesting. I might have not hooked myself on it but I would love to read or listen to the teacher discussing it. His books naming Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo were the main lessons discussed in our Filipino subject before. I remember how I'm always the first student to report Kabanata 1 and 2 of every book. Those were the good times! Flipping through the pages seemed like a trip down to my memory lane.

The first few pages described the appearance and personality of the infamous traitor walking through the thick crowd of Luneta Park with several soldiers escorting him. It was the day of Jose Rizal's execution on December 30th, 1896 (ironic how that's my birthday as well). His last words before he was shot were stated in the book. The shout 'Consummatum est!' dominated silence around those many witnesses after the gunshot was heard. Some celebrated the slaughter. Some mourned for the death of our independence.

It's interesting to read books related to historical events like this. Those were some of what I can recall after having to read only for a short time. The second time I read the same book was short-lived, there were many students from where I was sitting and the bother exhausted me so I never got to move forward with the book. I only read a few before returning it because I didn't understand a thing now. Plus, I can't read properly in an hour, so maybe I'd borrow it next time if I can gather the courage to do so.

There were a group of freshmen like me just in front of where I was sitting. They were a bit noisy so I'm disturbed and anxious around them because they were such a crowd. I didn't get to process what I just read because of that so I returned the book from its place minutes after I just got it. They even had the chance to ask me to take a picture of them as I was listening to music, trying to gain back my robbed peace. I still gladly obliged and took their photos, of course. Even though I'm almost palpitating inside.

I'm just somehow relieved they left the place earlier than us. Luckily, I had my fair share of rest while listening to Taylor Swift's Fearless. And much to my time, I almost took a nap. But afterwards, we then decided to go home when the clock struck 4 in the afternoon. Nothing much happened later because we came home straight from school.

But last week, on the other hand, was quite memorable as my first day at school. As you can see, this image was from a newly-opened café just near our campus. I wanted to buy milk tea for myself since it's been months since I last bought one so we head straight to my favourite shop. Outside the UV-Main Campus stood different malls and shops you just can't ignore. It's not a practical place for me because I'm certain I can't save money while I roam around here. There were at least 3 neighbouring malls that I saw just outside the school: Colonnade, Super Metro, and Gaisano Main. There's Starbucks as well. And many more restaurants that I cannot name all.

Fortunately, on our way to this shop called A Little Tea, we met a few preachers asking for a bit of our time while they serve us our orders for free. I eyed Shina who was behind me, we hesitated at first because freebies these days are uncommon. I felt bad that I even doubted the lady who approached us because it's not easy to talk to strangers. But they lead us to the newly-opened shop just beside where we were supposed to go and saw several students from UV as well. It was a relief to know that it wasn't some kind of modus. Lmao. My parents always warned me about bad people around Colon Street so you can't blame me for being skeptical.

If you're wondering, it's the classic milk tea (I forgot the exact name) from both their classic and yoghurt series. It was just the ordinary flavour that some might order on default and it sure tasted dreamy-like. I'd say cravings are satisfied! I have another shop on the list that I should avoid if I want to save my money. But I'm glad I discovered another milk tea shop aside from my only favourite. Time to put on a show where I don't recognize these two. Kidding aside.

We also tried the 'kwek-kwek' stall in front of the campus. I didn't take photos this time because I'm busy munching four pieces of those orange-coloured orbs with the boiled yolk inside that is almost as little as a five peso coin. All four for 20 PHP and that's like 0.339 USD. That's pricey for me but I still ate them because it's gonna be now or never. Still, street foods are not entirely healthy and clean so I only try them once in a blue moon. I just miss those days when I can still buy five kwek-kwek for 10 pesos though.

After which we decided to hike our way to the Pier. Where we commute via ferryboat back to our city. We live in Lapu-Lapu which is a separate island from Cebu city that's why we need to take the boat because it is more convenient than taking the jeepney or bus.

We passed by the Church of Sto. Niño, Fort San Pedro and Plaza Independencia all the way there. Unfortunately, I only got a glimpse of the fort's entrance but I'm hoping I can visit the place soon. The last time I went there was when I was in a Girl Scout Tour from our camping, that was long ago. Anyway, it was worthwhile because we got to see the bigger view of Cebu city at least in those places. There were countless stoplights and roadways that I think will take me years before I get to memorize them. The buildings and street corners look old, giving me a creepy and mysterious feeling. But it was fun while it lasted.

Although, that's our first and last hike to Pier 3 as it is not recommended to walk all by ourselves in this part of the city. I don't mean to discourage the image of Colon street but even my parents never missed the chance to remind us how notorious this place is, until now. There are a lot of people with bad intentions roaming around the oldest place in Cebu that's why we chose to take a jeepney ride to the Pier instead, the following days we were at school. Once arrived, we bought our tickets and wrote our names on a record sheet. The regular fare is 35PHP while if you're a student, you get a discount of 28PHP.

These are some of the photos I took while waiting for other passengers. As of now, you can say I'm obsessed with clouds and sunsets. I even made a blog about them. They're eye-pleasing and therapeutic. I'm certain I would fight my embarrassing urge to take awkward photos if I'm capturing as beautiful as that. By the way, the ferry ride was fine and I'm getting the hang of it. After some time, I'll get used to the nauseating rock of the boat while I sit there half-asleep. Fake it 'til I make it to the other side of the sea or I'll spend hours in line as I wait for more jeepneys at the terminal. : )

If you made it here, thanks! This blog is long since I haven't been active for more than a week due to academic stuff. And I didn't feel like writing while I'm in the middle of those. However, I will always try to find a way back in writing no matter how devastating or silly that might be. This is the end of my student blog, thanks for making it here.

@rks.wuhdrelis

<sub>A warrior of liberty. With ink stains on her mind and soul. Maayong adlaw! This page contains the information you might want to know about the author. She goes by the name Arques and is under the username @rks.wuhdrelis. She lives in Cebu, Philippines, and is a proud Bisaya. Arques is an 18-year-old girl, on a mission to her dream college and a writer wannabe is her reputation... Read more.

Photos attached from this blog were taken by me. I really hope I can gather enough courage to take photos without being shy next time.</sub>