OF OBLATION MYTHS, SABLAY, PLUS A NOSTALGIC ALUMNA
I just graduated three months ago, yet I could not help but be homesick… and just like what I wrote in my multiply blog, HOME= UP Manila.
Lately, I have been visited frequently of memories. Memories that make me cry, laugh, and get red in the face.
Just like the different Oblation myths that slapped my face as a freshie.
I remember the first myth I heard that made me dread to even go near the Oblation—when you take your picture with the oblation… YOU WILL DIE. I really believed it as a freshman. Knowing upper classmen, they want to make fun of the first years. Remember the TBA? Telling first years that TBA was supposed to be a place when in reality is it stands for To Be Announced? (Sorry for being a spoiler.. can’t fool first years who will read this;)). It was a good thing a few, kinder upper classmen corrected the myth and told us freshmen that you will not really die if you have your picture taken with the oblation (and yes we sighed, but then---)… you will only not graduate. We stopped sighing with relief. Now we don not know what to dread anymore: Dying or not being able to graduate on time.
And then there is this other oblation myth (this one I heard from UP Diliman)… that you will be cursed; will be unlucky all throughout your college life when you take your picture with oblation.
So I did not have my picture with him. There isn’t anything wrong in believing it. I mean I could always have my picture with Oble right after graduation.
And I did. Finally. I didn’t even wait for the university graduation to pass. I just finished the College graduation and positioned myself under that naked man (no pun intended of course) and then posed.
And then there is this Sablay. I heard so much about it as a Freshie. What is a Sablay? I don’t even know what it is. I even thought it was a stereotype or a name for someone who can’t survive U.P., thus the name Sablay.
And then one time, while I was walking with my barkada from UP Manila at the grounds of UP Diliman for a research paper, I finally saw the Sablay. It was that sash-like thingy that you put around you during graduation. They said a UP student should wear a Sablay with pride.
I merely nodded. I could not get its essence yet. Not even a little.
Then as I finished first year… entered second year… surviving third year… then finally reached the last year in the arms of my alma mater… my view about the Sablay changed.
I became so excited to wear it. It finally dawned on me that only UP graduates will get to wear the Sablay. The Sablay is the University of the Philippines’ trademark. A symbol of what the premier state university graduates are not just what we are made of. And of course, only those who had been brave and persistent enough to take up the challenge that UP offers will be the ones worthy enough to wear it at the end.
And I am proud I am already one of them… one of the proud alumni of the country’s premier state university.
And I swore to myself silently, that I will get to wear it with my batchmates.
And I did. Just last April 16, 2008. We did. We looked so proud and beautiful in whites and Sablays. And yes, we might look like we were not serious about that occasion, but we were. Tears have been shed before that day because of theses and theses defense and other requirements that we were all relieved that we will be able to march; so we all looked happy and fresh during that day—worry-free-- even joking around and taking pictures while the ceremony is going on.
Call us pasaway/s—we are UP students anyway. Freedom of expression. If we are happy, we will show we are; if we are not happy, we will show it more.
Well… UP CULTURE= FREEDOM ++
I guess this is the reason why I am being so nostalgic about everything. It is not just the place… not just UP… but it is more of the feeling. The feeling of being in UP… the feeling of being UP…
By the way, because UP is celebrating its centennial year this 2008, I am prouder to say that I am a centennial graduate.
And no one can take that feeling away from me. Not even in the next 100 years.
Lately, I have been visited frequently of memories. Memories that make me cry, laugh, and get red in the face.
Just like the different Oblation myths that slapped my face as a freshie.
I remember the first myth I heard that made me dread to even go near the Oblation—when you take your picture with the oblation… YOU WILL DIE. I really believed it as a freshman. Knowing upper classmen, they want to make fun of the first years. Remember the TBA? Telling first years that TBA was supposed to be a place when in reality is it stands for To Be Announced? (Sorry for being a spoiler.. can’t fool first years who will read this;)). It was a good thing a few, kinder upper classmen corrected the myth and told us freshmen that you will not really die if you have your picture taken with the oblation (and yes we sighed, but then---)… you will only not graduate. We stopped sighing with relief. Now we don not know what to dread anymore: Dying or not being able to graduate on time.
And then there is this other oblation myth (this one I heard from UP Diliman)… that you will be cursed; will be unlucky all throughout your college life when you take your picture with oblation.
So I did not have my picture with him. There isn’t anything wrong in believing it. I mean I could always have my picture with Oble right after graduation.
And I did. Finally. I didn’t even wait for the university graduation to pass. I just finished the College graduation and positioned myself under that naked man (no pun intended of course) and then posed.
And then there is this Sablay. I heard so much about it as a Freshie. What is a Sablay? I don’t even know what it is. I even thought it was a stereotype or a name for someone who can’t survive U.P., thus the name Sablay.
And then one time, while I was walking with my barkada from UP Manila at the grounds of UP Diliman for a research paper, I finally saw the Sablay. It was that sash-like thingy that you put around you during graduation. They said a UP student should wear a Sablay with pride.
I merely nodded. I could not get its essence yet. Not even a little.
Then as I finished first year… entered second year… surviving third year… then finally reached the last year in the arms of my alma mater… my view about the Sablay changed.
I became so excited to wear it. It finally dawned on me that only UP graduates will get to wear the Sablay. The Sablay is the University of the Philippines’ trademark. A symbol of what the premier state university graduates are not just what we are made of. And of course, only those who had been brave and persistent enough to take up the challenge that UP offers will be the ones worthy enough to wear it at the end.
And I am proud I am already one of them… one of the proud alumni of the country’s premier state university.
And I swore to myself silently, that I will get to wear it with my batchmates.
And I did. Just last April 16, 2008. We did. We looked so proud and beautiful in whites and Sablays. And yes, we might look like we were not serious about that occasion, but we were. Tears have been shed before that day because of theses and theses defense and other requirements that we were all relieved that we will be able to march; so we all looked happy and fresh during that day—worry-free-- even joking around and taking pictures while the ceremony is going on.
Call us pasaway/s—we are UP students anyway. Freedom of expression. If we are happy, we will show we are; if we are not happy, we will show it more.
Well… UP CULTURE= FREEDOM ++
I guess this is the reason why I am being so nostalgic about everything. It is not just the place… not just UP… but it is more of the feeling. The feeling of being in UP… the feeling of being UP…
By the way, because UP is celebrating its centennial year this 2008, I am prouder to say that I am a centennial graduate.
And no one can take that feeling away from me. Not even in the next 100 years.
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