University Bucket List Series – UP Diliman Whitney Dy / 1 day ago Being an iskolar ng bayan doesn’t mean all you do is study, study, and study. You also have a life to live and also, to enjoy college of course! Finally, you get way more freedom than you had back in high school. After you get a tour around the campus, here are 20 things you MUST do before you graduate: 1. Grab a bite at Rodic’s Tapsilog. Rodic’s Tapsilog may not seem appetizing when you first see it, but oh man, their tapa meals are amazing especially with vinegar to it. It’s basically white rice topped with beef bits and an egg. Students all over the metro are flocking to UP just to get their hands on this amazing, and affordable meal. 2. Eat a stick or two at Mang Larry’s Isawan. This is one of UP’s most famous snacks, and for a good reason. If you’re looking to find the perfect spot to munch on classic Filipino street food, then look no further becayse Mang Larry’s Isawan is her to save the day. 3. Ride the Ikot and Toki Jeeps. Back then, buses were the number one transportation in the campus, but then it became such a hassle due to heavy traffic so UP decided to hire jeeps instead. One simply cannot graduate from UP without riding in one of these. 4. Join the Oblation Run. The “most awaited” event of the year by the ladies. *ehem ehem* just kidding! But for those of you who have no idea what this is, it’s a one day event, where full pledged members of the APO Fraternity run around campus naked. But to hide their identities, they usually wear a mask. However, there are some brave souls who opt not to wear masks as well. This is one way for them to voice out their opinions on the issue at hand, may it be about the freedom of expression or some other issue. They also hand out roses to ladies who are within their reach. So, ladies, if you want to be able to experience this event completely, make sure to go to the academic oval in front of Palma Hall very early so you’ll have front row seats to this show. 5. Enjoy the Lantern Parade. Like the Oblation Run, the Lantern Parade happens during December as well. Specifically on the last day of classes. This is when all of the colleges and some organizations prepare a ginormous lantern which best represents their college and have these parade around the oval. Some lanterns are even larger than life which make it more amazing. This also serves as a competition as to who has the best lantern, and which lantern best represents its respective colleges. 6. Meet Zorro. Zorro has become the legendary UP mascot. He used to be just some guy walking around the oval wearing a ninja/zorro costume, but then he started attracting a lot of attention and now, he, in a way, represents UP. He could be seen roaming around UP and even as far as the Quezon Circle. Even though he may be a little creepy sometimes, Students and visitors alike are still at awe when they see him around school because Iof his reputation. Don’t forget to take a picture with him if you bump into him soon! 7. Join or witness a protest / rally. UP is probably best known for being the protest/rally central of the country. Student activists are found everywhere in the campus. They would fight for every single issue that evokes a strong emotion from them. While it may not be safe/practical to join every rally, it is still an unbelievable experience to witness a crowd of strong, and passionate people who are willing to fight for what they believe in. 8. Visit Vargas Museum. There are lots of really old artifacts and art pieces in the Vargas Museum which everyone must go see. Also, beside Vargas Museum, near the forest area, you’ll see a pair of chicken legs. Yes, you read that right. Chicken. Legs. Up until now, no one knows if the sculptor left it that way on purpose, or if the body of the chicken just broke off after a calamity. Maybe you’ll be able to find out, if you do, do comment below. 9. Catch Piolo Pascual and Coco Martin jogging around the Acad Oval. Celebrities are known to go to UP to exercise a lot. Students have even spotted Piolo Pascual jogging at the academic oval. The academic oval spans 2.2kilometers which makes it a great place to jog for all the runners out there. 10. Take a picture with Oble. Oble is the statue directly at the end of University Avenue whose hands are outstretched believed to signify that he’s welcoming you to UP. Don’t trust the rumors that if you take a picture with Oble, you won’t graduate on time. After all, if you go to your classes on time and study really hard, then there’s nothing to worry about. It’s time you proved to everyone that the rumors aren’t true. 11. Join an organization, and be active in it! It’s time for you to spread your wings and fly! In an organization is where you’ll meet people who have similar interests as you do, and those who have the same course as you as well. Your fellow org members can give you tips on how to ace the class and which professor from hell to avoid. 12. Catch a couple at the lagoon. Spotting a couple in love in the lagoon would be funny, don’t you think? The lagoon is the grass-y area right behind the Quezon Hall and Oble. This is usually where all the lanterns during lantern parade congregate to await the announcement of the winners as well. 13. Get a superstar professor that gives additional points for doing some random dare in class (e.g. if you wear a costume to class, you get +10). YES. If you’re lucky enough during online pre-enlistment, or if you’re really charming and skilled with your dance moves, you may probably get a superstar professor such as Ramon Bautista. Some professors even give an entire +0.25 on your final grade if you don’t miss a class! What a great deal! 14. Line up for hours during enrollment just to find out that there are no more slots available for that class. Some students start lining up as early as 4AM! Apart from the various festivities, and food places to check out, UP is also famous for this extremely hectic and killer enrollment. UP has 3 days for enrollment on campus: 1st day for freshmen, graduating, and varsity students, 2nd and 3rd day will be for the regular students. Everyone compares UP’s enrollment to the Hunger Games, where you literally run and compete against strangers just to get that final slot in a class. Let the games begin! 15. Dance or perform for a professor just to get the class you want. In line with the previous number, there are some professors, if you’re lucky, who accept “prerog” (short term for teacher’s prerogative), where students beg and plead the professor to take them in and they will do whatever the professor wants. The usual would be to dance and sing in front of the professor. So be ready with your killer dance moves and your costume and blow everyone away! 16. Be grade conscious. Usually, freshmen and sophomores are the grade conscious ones because they still have the simple subjects and they still have their high school culture of always acing exams and classes. But it’s a completely different story in college. When you reach your junior and senior years, you’ll realize that getting a tres (3.0), which is the passing grade, calls for a big celebration. 17. Photocopy a million copies of textbooks that you’ll never even bother to read because you don’t need to. At the start of the class, your professors would usually tell you to buy this and that book, to photocopy these articles and those readings you will need for the class. And as the sem passes by, you’ll start to realize that you never even touched the books and photocopies because the professor decided to change the readings. How frustrating right? But that’s how UP professors roll. 18. Attend the UP Fair. A huge concert? I’m in! In the UP fair, they get well known bands to come and play for the crowd, and tons of prizes are given away to lucky attendees! 19. Learn how to make posters and other publicity materials, even though it’s not your forte. When you join an organization, no matter what department or committee you’re in, you’ll be asked to make at least 1 pubmat). 20. Take a picture with the most beautiful sunflowers along University Avenue on your graduation day. Hooray! Finally! The day every freshman has been waiting for, graduation. It has been a tradition that sunflowers are present during graduation. And you should definitely NOT miss out on taking a picture with these enormous sunflowers you’ll find only in UP. These are just 20 things a typical UP student experiences and does during his stay in UP. Hopefully, you’ll do more than these during your stay. Make a lot of memories and don’t afraid to take risks because you’re in college just once! Have fun! How about you? What other activities do you think one should do before graduating UP? Let us know below! For my children Mika Gancayco and jon Jon Gancayco who are both studying in UPDiliman and all my resident UP delta lambda sigma sisters!
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 07:01:48 +0000
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