Orientation and Campus Tour

The long journey we went through yesterday, did not dampen the enthusiasm for the activity this morning to find out more about this cool campus. Finally, my roommates and I were ready to turn out that at the door of our room there were friends who were waiting for Saint Thomas. As a result, we are embarrassed, heuheuheu ..

For the first time, seeing the city of Manila in the morning turned out to be no less crowded with big cities in Indonesia. Because the location is not too far away, we just walked from the dorm to the campus. It turned out that here, most of us also walked well, even though the pollution that we got was not inferior because we had to compete with passing vehicles. That morning we were greeted with a sky that was not bright but on that day I was beaten by a tremendous beat, because this was the first day of starting this program. Maybe that day we would be introduced to this cool campus and buddies.

Long story short, we arrived at Albertus Magnus Building and we went straight to the 3rd floor and when we arrived in a room that was full of people, hehehe, we were all late, hhee. Even though we were late, all of them kept smiling kindly at us, so it didn't feel good. We began to occupy our respective seats. Maybe today we would be introduced to this cool campus and buddies. Long story short, we arrived at Albertus Magnus Building and we went straight to the 3rd floor and when we arrived in a room that was full of people, hehehe, we were all late, hhee. Even though we were late, all of them kept smiling kindly at us, so it didn't feel good. We began to occupy our respective seats.

Before the program started, we had a short chat, so it was great to feel that everything was friendly and very kind. The event starts from the opening and then continues with introductions one by one. I was nervous, how come, even though it was only an introduction, but this was the first time I spoke in English in front of a crowd, hhehehe was embarrassed, mixed up with a sense of nervousness, I finally got through, so naturally this language ability is still on basic. Furthermore, the introduction was continued by mentors and lecturers from the University of Santo Thomas. Finally, we, from the SEAteacher group that would be placed in elementary school, get acquainted with our mentor, Mam Cordura, in fact I have contacted her several times, she's really beautiful and she is very friendly.

This orientation program was filled with various materials such as introducing campus profiles, the school system in the Philippines and delivering materials on how to teach well. After that, there were people who used pink uniforms, I thought there must be some of them who would become my buddy. One by one, they advanced to introduce themselves, and the name Ivy was my buddies. She would help me while I'm here. She is sweet and has a friendly smile but I have not had time to get to know her more.

Lunch had come, it is a campus that really appreciates differences. They knew that we as Muslims can only eat halal food, so at least the easiest thing we did was to avoid the pork menu. Of course between this lunch menu there were no pigs, they provided fish and chicken even though the conditions in our religion are not just a prohibition on eating real pigs with the majority of those who are non-Muslims made us all doubt that the preparations were halal or haram but my friend Anisa said that yes the important thing is we read bismillah before eating it. I also tried Philippine cuisine, I had fried chicken, I like it, but the spices used are a little different, so I think it's a little salty, but so far it's pretty good. And you know the habit in Indonesia is always to provide tea or at least mineral water as a food companion different from here they provide soft drinks, okay because I'm not a fan of soft drinks I had to start liking it while here.

After lunch they also invited us to did the holy prayers. My friends and I went to the toilet for wudhu, well it was not surprising that in overseas it certainly does not use water but tissue. Immediately we turned our brains, can you imagine that we took our wdhu at the sink, that's how good it was for this unforgettable experience.

Finally we prayed alternately in the same room as the orientation program, we understood this because the University of Santo Tomas is a campus with a majority of Christians. These pink uniforms or so-called pink people were waiting. Apparently there would be another series of events, namely the Campus Tour. We started out of Educ building and started exploring this campus. This campus is very large, I was amazed I didn't stop seeing it in terms of the beautiful buildings and parks that I thought about first time there were lots of good photo spots here how lucky I was.

The University of Santo Tomas is the oldest Catholic University in the Philippines and in Asia. Despite its presence in the Philippines, the architecture of the building is similar to buildings on the European continent. Oh, when on campus tour there was one unique story that I still remember, namely about the Arch of the Centuries, one of the landmarks of the University of Santo Tomas.

This landmark is in the form of a European-style gate located in the middle of the front garden of the University of Santo Tomas. What is the unique story? Here's the story. It has become a tradition on this campus, when the new students set foot on the first day they study at campus, they will enter through the Arch of Centuries, and they can only go out through the Arch of Centuries after they graduate to Saint Tomas University. So, as long as a student studies at this campus, they will only enter once and come out once through the Arch of Centuries. Indeed what happens if it breaks it? Said one of the students I met, there was a myth that anyone who came out through the Arch of Centuries but he was still in college, then undoubtedly the student would never graduate until finally Drop Out. Somewhat felt so scary, but he said this kind of event had happened on the campus.

I also visited the UST Museum of Art and Science. Many of the objects on display at this museum, starting from the technology used by Filipinos from ancient times, musical instruments, and some paintings of art. The campus tour lasted until late afternoon, it was clear that there were lots of fun activities that we got until my feet were sore because I had to walk far enough around this campus to use 4cm high heels. Salute with the students here, they look like they are used to hahaha. Actually, there were still many more that we visited on a series of campus tour events or outside this event. But for more details, check the photos below!