Experiencing Student Life Once a Week

While it’s good to have a few days away from the internet once in a while, it also feels like being quenched of thirst when you’re finally back online. LOL. Imagine the frenzy, opening about a dozen tabs in Firefox, responding to emails here and there, checking up on Google docs, downloading attachments that have to be proofread or uploaded, etc, etc, all at the same time.

I knew the weekends are going to be my problem in doing this 30-day challenge. I go home to my Mum’s place in Caloocan Saturday and Sunday nights, and whether intentional or not, we never really thought of hooking up on DSL there. I’ve recently just terminated my Globe Visibility too — 2,000PhP a month is just too expensive for a secondary internet connection. Hence, when I’m not in my batcave in Ortigas, I join the ranks of people who are on the lookout for wifi hotspots everywhere they go. At least I have the E71 now, which is my only connection to the cyberworld during the weekends.

So.. looks like a looong night of catching up.

DAY ELEVEN. (Woot! Finally!) So that’s my usual weekend schedule. Saturday nights I go to church for practice, and sleep at my Mum’s in Caloocan; Sundays are spent in church; and Mondays are spent in our church‘s student center, The Life City Campus.

11/30. Experiencing College Life Once a Week

Student center what? Don’t tell me you didn’t have a favorite hangout in college? When I was in UP Diliman, my hangout would either be the Sunken Garden, or the State Varsity Christian Fellowship’s tambayan* just under the main library. (SVCF was my only org/frat/sorrority in college). You’ve gotta have a hangout when you’re a student — a place to breathe and relax and spend free periods at, or a place where you can take out your books and study (or pretend to study).

That Starbucks place in Katipunan is perhaps the most sold-out tambayan* in the Diliman/Katipunan area, always teeming with students from Ateneo, UP, and Miriam College. I once tried to spend free period in that place (years ago), but all seats were taken so I just went away dejected — everyone seemed to have camped out in there! At one point I wondered if students really go there to study or to just be seen studying, heh. Peace, Ateneans. :p

The Life City Campus is the new student tambayan in the University Belt block in Manila. *Shameless plugging starts here*. A project by our church’s youth ministry, the TLCC staff has provided more than just an air-conditioned place to spend free periods at. We have comfy couches, a snack bar and cafe (the coffee and mocha flavored smoothies are the best!), badminton area, table tennis, board games, and wifi, which makes the place not only appealing to students, but for the working class as well (such as myself). I happen to spend my Mondays here (and soon, Fridays too), thank God for having a job that allows me to work anywhere-as-long-as-there’s-wifi. But inasmuch as I want to work here everyday, I have to regulate my tambay* hours — it’s so easy to get distracted here!

I love being around students. Being around them never fails to remind me of life’s simple pleasures. Right now, a bunch of students are playing UNO cards, their way of rewarding themselves for a successful study group (just a few hours ago they were discussing chemical formulas in the same table, studying for their mid-term exams.) Some guy is playing guitar by the couch, surrounded by people singing along. The tennis table is occupied too. My brother is playing Mobwars while eating tuna carbonarra, and I’m slurping my smoothie while thinking of which awesome thing to blog about today.

The positive vibe is contagious. Being in this place reminds me how it is to feel young again. I know I’m still young at 26, but you know how “adult stuff” (like paying the bills, and working hard to pay the bills, and venturing into businesses and finding other forms of income so you can pay the bills, lol) would always come seeping through the youthfulness that people my age should still be enjoying, that you would suddenly feel old and wrinkly at 26. Life.

Drop by, when you’re in the area. The Life City Campus is located near the University of Sto. Tomas, near the intersection of Espana and Lacson Avenue. When you drop by on a Monday, you’ll most likely see me here somewhere, blending in like a student, sipping a Vanilla smoothie. Say hi, tell me you got here because of my blog, and maybe I’d buy you a smoothie too.

In case you’re interested, email me for the complete address. ;)

*Tambay, tambayan, are Filipino words for hang out, and hang out place respectively.

30 Days of Awesome, 11/30.