UPLB

Ateneo De Manila

De La Salle University - Dasmarinas

Going around the Cavite area, I didn't realize that the province had changed so much from what I remember was there in the eighties.  We happened to pass by the De La Salle University campus in Dasmarinas, and while this was not part of our itinerary, I felt an urge to take a quick look at the grounds.  I was amazed!  They have a lagoon, which gives a relaxing view to stressed students.  Streets are tree-lined and traffic was orderly.  Someone told me that they have a population of around 17,000 students, and that alone is some achievement.  They have a wide variety of course offering, and I was also told that a lot of excellent doctors have graduated from this university.  Good job then!

UST

* photo courtesy of Wikipedia

It's rainy season again, and we just heard of several flooding related anecdotes from the boys studying in the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, which is the Catholic University of the Philippines. My two nephews are currently enrolled there--Mikhail is taking up Architecture, while Miguelito would like to be a teacher, and is working on his Education degree. Located along Espana St. in the Sampaloc area, it is the oldest university in Asia (established in 1611), and probably has one of the most awe-inspiring building facades among the local universities (see picture above).  Many years ago, both Gwammy (Liberal Arts) and my late Uncle Benigno (Medicine) studied there.  Quality education with a solid Catholic background.  My recollection of UST?  I had to conduct an experiment for a Psychology class sometime in 1980, and my classmate Tina and I spent a couple of days around the UST campus asking random students for assistance in breaking up a P20 bill into loose change.  We found out that women help either men and women 50% of the time, and men helped men 50% of the time, but men helped women 90% of the time.  Hehe, the joys of being a student--carefree chitchat with random strangers was already part of studying!  And as Miguelito says, the joy of being a student in UST includes having classes called off when a heavy downpour occurs!

Enderun

We were very happy to learn that Deannie just got accepted at Enderun Colleges, a hospitality and culinary school located at Fort Bonifacio.  This move will set her on the course to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a world-renowned pastry chef.  Naturally, fondant cakes (like the one pictured below) will be the staple of her kitchen!  I first heard of this school because my cousin works at the HR department there, and we've all been told of how good the food is at their in-house restaurant.  Congratulations, Deannie and more power for our home-grown restaurateur!

UP Diliman

My cousin Dora arrived in Manila last week from Los Angeles with her whole family in tow.  We were not doing much on Christmas Day, and Mikaela and I decided to give them a tour around the Diliman campus of the University of the Philippines.  Dora had taken her degree in Pharmacy there and wanted to show her children more of her alma mater.  Of course, the Oblation Plaza was the first stop.  We then proceed to other spots including the College of Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, Law & Engineering, whilst going around the famed Sunken Garden.  Mikaela navigated for me over the entire length of the tour since that was her campus (she stayed there for the longest time, with degrees in Architecture and Business Administration, while I only studied there for a year).  As we reminisced, we counted that a good number of family members finished in UP Diliman, including Kong, who led the transfer of students from the Padre Faura campus to Diliman (he was among the first batch of graduates in 1949).  That was heart-warming familiarization tour!