Wednesday, November 15, 2006

My First Tuesday

Yesterday was the first day of taking my major subjects. First in line was my DS101 under the department's head Sir Leland. He spent the whole period relating to us his DS story. After the class, several things became clear to me. Firstly, I want to be in this course. Secondly, never forget the 3 C's of DS - Courage & Conviction, Commitment, and Competence. Thirdly, I have to be or continue being a dreamer. Fourth, DS subjects are not easy A subjects. Sir Leland talked about raising the standards of the course and that meant lower grades for all of us. He gave me the impression that it would be near impossible to get an A or a B+ in his subject. The fact that he gave half the previous class D's did not help at all. Naturally, I felt a tinge of fear since I want to have better grades this semester. I discovered a little mantra to calm the nerves - na-A ko si Dacanay, kaya ko 'to.... Fifth, I want to graduate as a DS major.


My second DS subject was supposed to be a stat subject but because the department had a lot of shiftees into the course, the stat subject's slots were already filled when I was advised to take the class. Thus, I had to load-rev (what a verb!) in order to take my Eco102.


The first meeting in Dr. Dy's Philo102 was a film showing featuring the film The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. The second part of the film will be shown on Thursday.


The final class of the day was DS120 under Sir Venida. The most notable thing that occured during that class is that I felt humiliated when he asked me what are the ADB, IMF, UN, UNESCO, etc. Since I was only able to hear the first two words (he mumbled the next ones and I only heard the question right when he repeated it after my answer) I answered by saying that they were financial institutions. Boy, what a wrong answer! The correct answer was they were International Development Organizations / Institutions and that jobs in such institutions were the dream jobs for DS majors. I compare the experience to being a SOM major and being asked what are Unilever and P&G (answer is MNC). Total humiliation. He called me again, so that I can redeem myslelf according to him. He asked me to give a UN ambassador of good will. I cannot give him an answer. He gave a clue - is recently splitting up with her husband. No answer. Another clue - texted her husband. No answer. Another clue - texted some line from a Britney song. Finally the answer dawned on me, it was Britney Spears. Haaaaaay... So much for redeeming my self. I tried to find solace by retreating to my mantra - na-A ko si Dacanay, kaya ko 'to.... I do hope that's enough to pull me through this terror prof.

Monday, November 13, 2006

News from My Life

This day marks the start of a brand new semester here in the Ateneo. With the new semester comes a new course and a new set of challenges to phase. Yes, I have shifted to a new course. I am no longer a physics major. I have shifted to the Development Studies program. I can already hear gasps and "whats" in the air. According to the Ateneo website:

Development Studies is a distinct field of multidisciplinary study, research, and policy analysis that is directed at understanding the conditions and processes of economic, social and global transformation. It is intellectually rooted in the search for perspectives and approaches towards comprehending and responding to complex development issues and dilemmas.


Anyhow, I shifted not only because I got my second failing grade from no other than Doc J himself, but the bigger reason is that I lost the love for physics. I do not know whether I got tired of crawling myself from exam to exam or if the thought of having to compute a system's Lagrangian didn't seem appealing to me. I still can't pin-point the reason why, but all I want is to go out of the physics course. But why DS? A short explanation would be my involvement in various fields especially education. My experiences in ANI, Gabay, ACED, INTACT, and ASLA showed me that there is much room for improvement in a lot of areas of our society and I'd rather spend my time contributing to the development of those areas than finding the Hamiltonian of a free-falling body.


Reaching a decision entailed much thought, reflection, consultation, prayer, and discernment. My other choices include Philo Pre-Divinity track and Political Science. In the end, I decided to go with DS. OAA gave me the go signal. My parents were fine as long as I'm sure about my decision (but later on, I found out that it had other meanings). After talking to the department's chairman, I worked on shifting. Voila! I'm now a DS major.


Surely, this is a major change in my life. People would say that I have wasted a lot of time, money, effort, and opportunities. But I would disagree to this. My first three years in college were not spent in vain. I learned a lot. I grew a lot. I wouldn't have it any other way.



On another note, I no longer have my laptop. It got stolen (yes! stolen!), a few weeks ago. If there are any kind souls out there, kahit walang wi-fi, ok lang.