What's UP??

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Nicajoice 4 Comments

Two weeks ago, I visited UP Diliman with friends who’d be seeing the campus for the very first time. They were quite astounded at how vast UP is though only seeing not even one fourth of its actual size. I’ve surely missed UP – where I spent four years completing my degree in Speech Communication. A place I thought I didn’t belong, a place I thought too radical. But it is a place I’ve come to love. A place I’ll always be proud of.

UP is best identified with the Oblation statue. It is a naked figure of a young man – embodying the second stanza of Rizal’s “Last Farewell – with arms outstretched “in a gesture of sacrificial offering of service to country and humanity”. (To know more about UP Oble history, click here)

And so, a visit in any UP campus won’t be complete without a picture taken with Oble. So, here are my friends’ photos with the famous Oblation statue. Note, the authentic Oble can be found in the 4^th floor lobby (I think) of the UP Diliman, Main Library. All those found in the campuses are just replicas. When I was an undergrad student, we avoided having our pictures taken with the Oblation because of a rumor/urban legend circulating – that doing so would delay graduation (applies to UP students). I know it was ridiculous, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Haha.

UP Diliman is known as a perfect place for joggers and bikers. Two years ago, car/vehicle lane was changed to one-way traffic to give way to bikers and joggers.

The academic oval is lined with trees and various spaces covered with grass and greeneries good enough for picnics and most of the time, photo shoots. People – young and old, couples or barkadas or even a loner – love to hang out here because of the fresh air, free from the usual Metro Manila pollutants.

Here’s one stretch of the Acad oval, if you come from the Admin office going to the Vargas Museum, CAL (College of Arts and Letters – my college ♥) bldg. all the way to Palma Hall (where the annual Oblation Run takes place), Palma Hall Annex, up to the College of Educ. Bldg.

And here are my friends’ pics with the lovely trees as their background.

UP Diliman is also a favorite of soccer and Frisbee players. The sunken garden offers a very spacious playing field. The sunken garden is literally sunken and is still sinking. As I’ve heard, it sinks one inch deeper every year because it’s situated right on top of a fault line. Thus, it looks like a giant basin, or a swimming pool during rainy seasons.

The sunken garden is one of my fave UP spots as well. It is a place to rest, to think, to dream… or to simply stare at nothingness while the breeze gently touches your hair. After a long, exhausting day battling with deadlines, exams, delivering speeches in class, performing or working, to sit in the grass with a friend or group of friends was a reward – a simple pleasure that helped me survive my college years.♥



Next stop was UP Shopping Center, or UP Photocopying and Bookbinding Center. hehe. Because most of the shops here are for acad needs such as photocopying and binding (ring, hard, or softbound! haha) or for rush ID pictures, badly needed during the start of sem for classcards. Here, one can also find stalls of well-known Pinoy street foods... Kwek-Kwek, siomai, kikiam, squidballs, fishballs, banana cue, manggang hilaw with bagoong, lumpia, dirty ice cream and so much more.

The squidballs were so yummy! As if I had never eaten squidballs before! haha. Maybe it was the sauce that made the difference. We so enjoyed eating,that one serving wasn't enough. Here's Theo waiting for another round of Kikiam!

We also walked further on, from shopping center to Kalayaan Dorm (a dormitory exclusively for freshmen) to get our hands and mouths into Mang Larry’s famous Isaw (grilled chicken intestines). Mang Larry’s stall was packed with loyal isaw-eaters, some even coming from other nearby schools and universities.

While waiting in line, I took a picture of Theo eating ice cream, which he confessed was really delicious! After taking this pic,

I heard someone calling my name. To my surprise, it was my batchmate, Em! Who was also in UP to eat Isaw.

No pictures of us devouring our long awaited isaw because we were too busy munching already. The sun had set when we finished eating the last piece. There was a slight drizzle of rain and it was dark around us. The day was over, our stomachs were full and my friends’ first time in UP was a sure blast.




By the way, these are my RN friends, Victor and Theo ♥