My Final Enrollment as a Journalism Undergrad! Running Diary...

It's all about the climb (sorry, Miley!), and I'm already near the summit of my UP Journey.

Today, November 3, I am enrolling for the 2nd semester of AY 2009-2010. If we include my registration for three consecutive summer terms, today's enrollment is already my 11th since I entered UP Diliman in 2006. More importantly, this shall be my last as an undergrad - if everything goes as planned. Here's a running account of what happened today, as I have written in my red notebook:

5:40 AM: My day begins. I clicked the TV, and guess what, I saw Mareng Winnie on Unang Hirit! I hope it's a good sign.

7:20 AM: I arrived at CMC. At the building's entrance, there's this post about 18 journalism students who must enlist in an Econ 100.1 discussion class lest they won't be given a grade in that subject. Of course, I'm one of them. If not for that, my enrollment today would have been a breeze.

8:20 AM: Ate Raquel Bacarra (the Journalism Dept. Secretary) finally arrives. Yung adviser? Wala pa...

8:40 AM: The list of thesis topics and their respective thesis advisers has been posted. Our topic, "Face to Face(book) with the candidate: How 2010 Philippine Presidential Candidates use social networking sites for campaigning" has been picked by Prof. Yvonne T. Chua. It came as a surprise to me because I thought someone else would pick it.

9:10 AM: Prof. Ma. Cristina Rara, the designated adviser for the day, finally arrives.

9:15 AM: Just went aboard a Katipunan jeepney to go to the School of Economics. Upon arriving there, we were told that the enlistment for Econ 100.1 would begin at 1PM. Wow, that's still four hours away!

9:50 AM: I went back to CMC. I paid P20 for the student council fund. Wait, where's the P20 for ...? Anyway, I already got my form 5. I'm going back to Econ again.

10:15 AM: I'm back at Econ. Here with me are three other Journ majors: John Antiquerra, Katherine Cortez and Frances Olayon. But 1PM is still 3 hours away! What shall I do? Well, start filling-up the form 5.

11:00 AM: We're still here at Econ. Where are those 14 students who weren't able to get Econ 100.1 slots? By the looks of it, we'll be camping out here 'til 1PM comes. I'm done filling up the form 5. To use my time, I solved some find-a-word puzzles! (sorry mama, pinuslit ko yung book mo!)

11:45 AM: Since I'm already hungry, I looked for something to eat. I found this food stall in Econ peddling ham and burger in huge pandesals. For P25, why not! But no, the meal isn't enough for me. I bought Nissin Cup Noodles too (chicken flavor ha). Later on, former Journ Dept. representative Edmalynne Remillano arrived. Yes, she needs Econ 100.1 too. Meanwhile, I got to talk to her about many salient issues. Sample:

M: Na-send na sa akin ni Charmaine yung transcript ng interview mo kay Titoy nung September! Ang haba nun ah...

E: Yuck ha. Bakit naman "Titoy" ang tawag mo sa kanya?

1:00 PM: It's 1 o'clock already. Labing-apat na tao na kaming naghihintay sa labas ng SE 127. I later learned that some of them are Sociology seniors. Masarap yata ang lunch ng mga RA!

1:20 PM: Two female RAs finally arrived. They instructed us to form three lines based on subjects needed: econ 11, econ 100.1 and/or 100.2 amd econ 199. After that, one of them distributed Teacher's Prerogative forms to us. Of course, we had to write there the econ 100.1 class we intend to enlist in.

1:30 PM: One of the RAs came over to get our TP forms. She instructed those with conflicting schedules to cancel those classes first. She also asked everyone to present any valid ID (with picture and signature) before they process our enlistment. But hello! We left our IDs at the department so we can get out form 5As. But in the end, we were left with no other option but to go back to CMC to get our IDs.

1:45 PM: The RA at the department (she's my schoolmate in HS) seems unable to understand that we need to get our IDs to enlist for an econ 100.1 class. You know what I did? I got my ID from the table where it is placed - and I also pulled my form 5a from her hands. Sorry! We don't have time to explain to her...

2:00 PM: We're back at Econ. The RA asked for our form 5As, accomplished TP form and the ID. She then asked us to get inside the enlistment room. In less than 10 minutes, we're already enlisted in the Econ 100.1 (THC-HJ2) class, 2:00-3:00 PM. I proceeded to the Center for International Studies (CIS) to get another class to avoid being underloaded.

2:20 PM: At the CIS, I asked Ms Fatima Bautista (the dept secretary there) if there are still available slots for Japan Studies 101. Yes, meron pa daw! Later on, Literature Prof. Amparo Adelina "Jina" Umali saw me and exclaimed, "Oh, CIS major ka na ba?" FYI, this would be my 3rd subject under that unit.

2:40 PM: I'm back at CMC. I proceeded to our department for the post-advising. There's Prof. Rara again and this time, I asked her why there's still no J111 grade. Ang sabi nya, she was sick for two weeks daw kaya she failed to upload our grades. I got to see her class record and I saw the grades. Darts. Dice. Crystal ball.

2:50-3:20 PM: Checking, validation and assessment at the CMC Admin Office. I'll pay my dues tomorrow morning. Just like that, I'm almost done with my last enrollmenr as a journalism undergraduate! :)