How UP almost killed me

** This is another paper for my Intercultural Communication course. This one’s on culture shock. Note that the word “kill” is just an exaggeration.

Two weeks of absence can make both excitement and anxiety eat you whole. And yes, it does happen especially in college. Because I needed a period of hibernation, everyone thought I did not exist… until I physically showed up. This is my story told a gazillion times already. This is how UP almost killed me.

Prior to my entrance to the University, I was very excited. I always wanted to be free from my old school, and knowing that I would be entering UP I could not wait to grab hold of LIBERTY. Truth be told, the Chinese School I graduated from was close to being a heartless society. I lived with its culture for thirteen years, and so it was but natural for me to shed tears during graduation. I considered it my second home, with everyone there as my family, despite the fact that it was prison-like.

But all of these I left behind just to pave way to my bad ass ambition. The rough and seemingly endless road to UP was a surprise for me, and it was not pleasant. I felt uneasy riding my first habal-habal. It was torture especially because we were chancing upon rough terrain. Unfortunately, jeepneys then feared the infamous boondock. This is where I began questioning my decisions. Aside from the transportation dilemma, the location was also very depressing. Why did I allow myself to be detached from the city life? There were no malls near UP, nor was there any place to hang out. Clearly, it was not the place I imagined it to be!

My idea then of college was shattered. It was the most unusual place I have been to. In addition to that, I was two weeks late in class and I knew no one. I nearly got lost for my first class. I had no idea UP had a CSM! I went looking for my math class at the wrong building. And yes, the security guard whom I trusted with my life during that instance failed to give me the right direction. He led me to SOM, and then I figured, “no one should be trusted in UP when you ask directions”.

It was not the subjects I found hard in the University, it was the place itself. Furthermore, I was staying at the dorm, which made my condition worst. I often got sick because of the environment and I was not used living with strangers. I felt alienated! Then I began enumerating to myself the things I hated in school: I did not like karinderia food that is why I ate chips during breakfast, I had issues with the dorm comfort room that is why I always carried with me some wet wipes, I despised photocopied readings because I have always preferred owning textbooks, I did not like the idea of riding HHs because I was used to the idea of a comfortable transportation, and I loathed being around people I am not used to be with just because they were so different! I was not even as ecstatic as my friends when we decided to write about the deadly sin, “Lust”, because it was a taboo topic then for me. Everything seemed like the total opposite of the Chinese school I came from. We had a decent cafeteria, we had good comfort rooms, we had better transportation, and more so, I felt the people there were of my kind. And then, I thought about transferring, but that has not yet happened until now.

But I did meet some interesting acquaintances. One of them was a sophomore, and she told me that everything I am experiencing is just a phase and that I will get over it when I reach my second year. But I thought to myself, “I could not wait any longer!” Nevertheless, I trusted her because we were both from GenSan. When we were hiking our way to CHSS from the very muddy DHK, she told me of professors to take, limits of absences, places to eat, what to do when bored, and et cetera. She became my guidebook, since I missed out on the freshmen orientation as well! And I guess, she was right most of the time. At the end of the day, we became very good friends and I did learn a lot from her. She was also one of the people who convinced me to choose SPCM as my major, and I still have to figure out if she meant well.

As years passed, I began to feel accustomed to the way of life in UP. I remember what I said to my senior classmate in MST2 due to the dislike I had with the campus, “Similar to a rock, a person can be solid. He will never be influenced by another culture and he will never learn to like it if he chooses to.” But now, I am taking it back because no matter how solid you are, culture will always find means to grow in you.