All photos c/o Krizia Lim. Follow her guys! She’s amazing !

What happened during the three-day Freshmen Orientation Seminar (OrSem) 2011 Lipad last June 9-11:

Day 1: I fell in line outside the covered courts at around 750AM and it was drizzling. They opened the gates at 800AM, I signed up and sat on my designated seat. I sat there watching the TNT’s dance and be all hyper in awe. I finally met my block, E1, after weeks of just chatting, liking and commenting on each other’s posts on our Facebook group (where have you been all my life?!). After the mass, introductions and presentations, we mob-ed (mob/mobilize: to run like there’s no tomorrow) for the first time. Since it was raining, we were running like crazy in mud with umbrellas at hand to the Irwin Theater. There, we watched video presentations and listened to the speeches prepared by the different departments. We went back to the covered courts (mob-ing, of course) and had lunch. After, we went to SEC-A to have our first group dynamic session. We introduced ourselves formally and our TNT’s, Mariel and ate Kaine, with the Logs, ate Kim and ate Ange, taught us the OrSem dances (Banana, Chugga and the very infamous Pacific Ring of Fire). E1 was then tasked to design an Ateneo shirt using a blue and a black marker. At around 500PM, SOH students made their way to the MVP Roof Deck for our SOH-lympus Night. There, we were introduced to our home orgs and watched some beatboxing skills. The tables were also covered with manila papers and we were given boxes of crayons to doodle on. We got bored so our block played cards. We also won the Dress Your Own God/dess, yay! The program ended at around 900PM and I went back to the dorm with Chinchin from E2.

Day 2: The rain has stopped and I arrived at the covered courts with Rebecca Black’s “Friday” being played on loop. More organizations and the Blue Babble Battalion performed on stage. We were again asked to mob out (without the umbrellas this time) to the Irwin Theater to watch the Harry Potter-themed video presentations prepared by COA and the different student organizations of the Ateneo. Also, the official OrSem 2011 film was shown. It was EPIC! Hands down to the Loyola Film Circle! After the awesome-ness at Irwin, we had lunch back at the covered courts and went back to SEC-A to play more games. After an hour or so, we were asked to mob. We toured the Loyola Schools while mob-ing. For real. My legs were hurting really bad, but it was fun nonetheless! The day ended with Meg, Viel, Che, Anj and I having merienda at McDo Katipunan.

Day 3: Bipolar feelings with OrSem about to end. Different bands of the upperclassmen and Somedaydream performed in the morning. We mob-ed to the Fine Arts Theater (I’m not so sure tho if that’s what it’s really called) wherein we met the awesome artistic and theater-loving people behind the Fine Arts program. And cheesiness aside, those talks made me more sure of my choice of course. After, we went to the SEC field to “battle” against the other blocks with our hair whipping skills (or the lack thereof). We went back to our room and the ‘+4’ (our TNT’s and Logs) gave us our E1 pins yay! and papers that we were supposed to pass around and our blockmates (and the +4) are going to write messages and things. We also had our last tour around the Loyola Schools while mob-ing. Before the OrSem night started, our TNT’s gave their final messages and ate Mariel even cried (awww!). E1 loves you, too! We started playing Jack Slap but one of the people in charge said cards weren’t allowed. We roamed around and bought dinner at this stall called “The Price is Rice,” but we were told that they were OUT OF RICE and we had to wait fifteen minutes. OrSem night ended with Pedicab, Chicosci and Spongecola on stage (not at the same time!).

What I realized after these three days: I am physically unfit, mob-ing is not my thing. I lost 65436217899023394783 pounds after all that running. My back and my lower limbs were sore for a few days. Before, Jessie J’s “Price Tag” was just an ordinary song to me, but then  OrSem used it as the official song. People here are all amazing.

And I can’t see myself anywhere but at the Ateneo.