Debt
The good thing with working within the University is that you get to meet old and new people from the different departments, making you feel like you’re one big happy community. It’s like working in one big company, but instead of meeting at the elevator and being separated by building floors, you’re separated by greeneries and open space, but still housed in one large society. You get to meet the veterans of the university with many stories to tell, the aspiring junior faculty, the jaded middle aged administrative staff, the dedicated building administrator, as well as people you already knew but lost contact with.I have always considered having a debt with some people within the university, for without them I would not have been able to be where I am right now. Off course recent with the list would be my former boss, who has returned to the college, for whom without I would not have been able to pursue graduate studies. But some of the people I have met up again recently go back to almost a decade of being in the university. Seeing these people again open up a flood gate of memories, to a time when I was still clueless and struggling in college.
While working last year on proposed renovations for the Molave Residence Hall, we met up with the dormitory manager, who happens to be the same manager of our dormitory when I was still living inside the university. Doing the rounds inside the old dormitory, she just can’t help but ask where she first saw me. I of course told her that I used to live in the former dormitory she was handling when I was in college.
On another incident, while inspecting for the renovation of some offices inside Quezon Hall, I got the chance to meet up again with my guarantor. During college, I would always seek financial help from the scholarships office within the university. I would always apply for a loan, and my guarantor would always sign my form for me. Upon seeing her, I asked her if she still recognizes me, and I added in Tagalog “Kung hindi ho dahil sa inyo hindi siguro ako makakatapos ng college (If it wasn’t for you I would not have been able to finish college)”. Of course the statement was a bit extreme, but it added a little drama to our little “reintroduction” of each other. Learning that I have finished and is now an Architect, she asked me if I can help her with the initial designs for her family’s proposed rest house, upon which I gamely accepted, for free of course, as a way of repaying her back for her kindness.
At present, we are working on the comprehensive master planning and renovation of the Vinzon’s Hall. This building and almost all of its offices (well, aside from the Student Disciplinary Tribunal of course) has been influential in my stay in the University. Aside from the previously mentioned scholarships office, the counseling and guidance office has also helped me in choosing which course to shift to and which career path to take. I took the exams provided to see my strengths and weaknesses, and found out that I have strong points in social work (really?), English (really???) and mathematics (which I seek to avoid, since at the time I want to shift to a non-mathematics based course, like Interior Design). Ironically, I asked for my artistic skills, and my guidance counselor was relieved to see that I have a moderate aptitude for the arts, since I did tell here that I plan to shift to Interior Design at the time.
Going back to my guidance counselor, I again met up with her while doing the rounds of inspection. At first I haven’t got the slightest clue as to who she was, but she was the one that brought it up. She said that she remembers me, and from that moment on I tried my best to relive my memories of Vinzon’s Hall, and the rest of my early days in the university, hence this article.
As an ending for my week of reminiscing, while eating dinner at a diner inside the campus, my former commanding officer in ROTC was also there. He approached me and asked me if I belonged to the same dormitory he was in when I was in freshman year. And to which I said “Hindi, officer kita dati (No, you used to be my commanding officer)”. And again another flood gate opened.
The four incidents are just one of the many experiences I have inside the university. My first experience way back in college was meeting up again with the very first person I talked to in the university. I was applying for a college org, and again, this person, whom I was asking for a signature, stopped for a minute and declared that he already know me, by name.
I guess that’s just one of the benefits of living and working in the university. The memories pops back again to help you look back and see the developments that have happened in your life. So maybe I could indeed hopefully stay for another few years here, and see who else I will meet again.
On a side note, one person did forget and I have not yet have the time and chance to tell her how we first met. She now heads one of the units in the university, and due to work related misunderstandings, wrote me a very nice two page hate mail. How’s that for keeping your memories alive?
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