UST ARKI FRESHIES

Leader: TABORA | Editor: TAGASA| Members: ROBLES, PLACENCIA, BALBAGO, SEMILLA

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Significant learnings  from English 1 [pt. 2]

SEMILLA, Chriziane

        The activities given to us are very essential. We learned how to communicate effectively and it deepened our knowledge in this course. Especially, the subject-verb agreement which I've been struggling for years, the proper use of words and phrases, reading and understanding long texts, of course, paraphrasing and quoting words from someone. Truly, many students are struggling in English but with the help of our dear professors, we can hone ourselves.

PLACENCIA, Nicole

        I learned a lot of things in English class. We learned the basics, mostly writing and communication but on a different level. Learning how the Library works. Paraphrasing to avoid plagiarism and giving respect and credits to the original authors. How to construct grammatically correct essays/paragraphs and to spot grammatical errors. Ma'am Lintao taught us techniques on how to skim and scan, she basically taught us techniques in every lesson/topic. Which I think is a very effective way to prepare us for the future. Communication also is one of the things I learned in English class. A proper way to communicate without causing misunderstandings. Ma'am Lintao let's us perform and apply what she taught us to get a better understanding of it, and we are thankful for that.

BALBAGO, Rosselle

       I feel this semester, only the first of many I will endure, was a successful one.  The objective of the course was to make us better ones in english. and I certainly have improved. However, I feel I should have taken my high school English class more seriously.  The teacher graded rather leniently, which attributed to my lack of effort.  The amount of work required to get an "A" paper in my high school was about equivalent to the work required to get a "C" paper here. It was a very difficult adjustment for me.  I went  through high school what I now know to be not-so-good papers, but received good grades for them.  Then, I thought they were good because of the grades I got.  Now, I find myself working over twice as hard for half the grade. Even though i am not so good in english I pursue myself to give my best.

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Significant learnings  from English 1 [pt. 1]

TABORA, Tim

        It’s amazing that we’ve learned so much about English in just a short amount of time, both in class and on the “eLeAP”. Among all of them though, I have to say that the most significant thing I’ve learned about would be about the ‘Context Clues’. Why this topic? It helps us understand one another when we don’t understand a certain word in the sentence. I’m pretty sure that you’ve already experienced speaking to someone wherein you didn’t understand one of the words he/she used. Then thanks to context clues, you were still able to understand what he/she was talking about. Learning how to use context clues is definitely very beneficial. There will be times I won’t understand a word from a sentence, but since I know how to use context clues, I’ll be ready for it.

ROBLES, Melchor

        Learning English is a never-ending story.  Each year in class, you will be amazed at the new things which you can still learn from your English class.  This year, I am into my first year of college at the University of Sto. Tomas.  I was wondering what my English class would be like.   It was actually fun.  First, I like the teaching style of our English teacher.  She made use of group activities wherein lessons are learned through practical applications.  This way, we learned our lessons fast.  I learned new things on paraphrasing, how to read fast thru skimming and scanning, more things to discover from the library, how to quote, how to make a nice outline, the “if clauses”, how miscommunication can happened due to speech acts.     Each year is indeed a new discovery for me to further improve my skills on the use of the English language effectively.

TAGASA, Marielle

       Using the library effectively, Reading techniques, Paraphrasing, Summarizing, Quoting, Outlining, The clarity in communication, subject-verb agreement, transition/signal words, examinations, if clauses, expressing one’s opinon, etcetera.. etcetera.. These were some of the things we studied for our English 1 class. And yes, some of them had already been taught in high school or grade school, but this time, the topic was ’expanded’ and we learned about things we didn’t know before/ got a better understanding of the lessons that had been taught before. All this knowledge was applied/ put into good use when we answered our e-leap activities, wrote essays & reaction papers.        I consider all of these lessons important, but the top 3 most significant and most useful things i’ve learned are the reading techniques, paraphrasing, and context clues. Paraphrasing and skimming/scanning are very useful techniques for me, since there will be a lot of situations in college that these 2 will be needed; situations that require a lot of reading and writing (reading for a quiz tomorrow, and/or writing research papers!). Context clues are very important also as to avoid having miscommunication with others.

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{Restaurant review| BEYOND COFFEE}

Location:  928 P. Paredes Street,Sampaloc, Manila Business Hours: 1pm to 10 pm Contact No.: 02 7332636

Price range: ₱ 65-155

                    Tired of Starbucks? Then here’s a new café for you!

Beyond Coffee is a small café/ lounge near UST and FEU. And just like their name suggests, they offer not only different kinds of coffee blends but also different varieties of rice meals, pasta, teas and cakes.

The place gives-off a vintage, cozy feel with their decorative items and the mellow music that plays in the background. The place is nice & clean, and properly illuminated. Although the area is quite small and I think can only accommodate up to 25 people inside.

The food & drinks here not only look good, but taste good also!

We tried out their nutella-chocolate cake, white chocolate-mocha latte, and hot choco. (but first, “Picture muna!!”)

Albeit having great food & interior, and receiving high ratings from other food/resto reviews, the place isn’t that popular yet. So while its still early and while the place isn’t crowded yet, visit the Beyond Coffe cafe now! (and spread the word while you’re at it!) Nice interior, kind cashier/waiters, good food- oh, and I almost forgot to mention, free wi-fi!. What more can you ask for? :]

                                                                                           -- TAGASA, Marielle

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{Restaurant review| HOKUSAI}

Location: p.noval st., Sampaloc, Manila

Price range: ₱ 20-150

       It is a place with class and has a very cool ambiance.  When you are inside, you feel  that you are not in the Philippines.  This place is called Hokusai.  Hokusai is a contemporary Japanese café.  It is the brainchild of an Architectural student from UST.  It has a zen-like feature which the Japanese are known for.  Its design is simple yet artistic and exhibits a wooden design. Good music is played in the background.

       Its menu varies from Japanese snacks to Japanese meals which are all in a very affordable price range from 20 pesos to 150 pesos for students.  Their donburis are good, especially the gyudon.  Try their soft and tasty tonkatsu and shoyu for ramen.  And their drinks are cool.  They have blue lemonade or the cucumber lemonade. 

       It is a must try!  And, one must not forget how uniquely they described their food in the menu.  This restaurant is a must try for Japanophilic people!!!

                                                                                          -- ROBLES, Melchor

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{Restaurant review| YUMMERZ grill & burger bistro}

Location: 1262 S. H. LOYOLA STREET, SAMPALOC, MANILA

Price range: ₱ 85+ 

       The ambience of the place was very different compared to other burger places. The wall art was a great touch to the design of the place; it was quite impressive as well.

       They serve a variety of foods, like burgers, nachos, pasta, some Mexican food (burritos, quesadillas) and even rice meals, but their most popular order is called the “Yummerz Burger”. 

       The crew was nice, and that’s a bonus. Yummerz is definitely a place I’d go back to.

                                                                                               -- TABORA, Tim

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{Restaurant review | NITZ RESTAURANT}

Location:  SAMPALOC, MANILA. In front of UST

Price range: ₱ 50-120

       Nitz is a restaurant near ust that offers Japanese and Korean dishes,  local dishes/"Lutong Bahay" and desserts. Some of the dishes are quite pricey, but the taste is definitely worth it, and the food is very filling.

       It's an easy access resto since it's just on the other side of the road from our building, Beato Angelico. The place is fully air conditioned which makes it a comfortable place to eat. The food is great, the service is fast and the place has an antique look.

      I would recommend Gyudon, a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce. And their Peach in a Cream dessert that would totally satisfy your cravings!

                                                                                         -- PLACENCIA, Nicole

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{WORK!WORK!WORK!}

         As I am walking inside the UST campus, I can see that I'm getting closer to Beato Angelico building. When I saw this,different emotions build up within myself. I'm happy,excited and nervous at the same time. I knew that from this moment,my sleepless nights will begin wherein I'm cramming in order for me to finish stuffs. At first, I'm very excited of the things that will come in my way. I'm very anxious during my first meeting with my professors.Not because of their physical appearance but because of the pressure and expectations that they're putting us through. It is our first time to use t-square, tech pens, triangles and etc.  Our first plates were very easy and it makes us look forward more. When we're already on the middle of the semester, It becomes more challenging. It comes to the point when we are still awake during 1-2 in the morning just to finish our plates, scale models and such.

          “Plates”. It is so GR-RRR! An architecture student must be very careful when it comes to this. You should be careful and you must have exact measurements. Each of the architectural stuffs has its own purpose. You must be sure of the form that you're doing like in isometric,otographic and such. There is an irritating part wherein if the tech pen will blot or the if tools are not in the right place.Obviously I need to start all over again. For the reason that this scenario will ruin my projects. But despite of all these things, I'm still enthusiastic for all the things that I've learn.

         Projects.  The first thing to do is to know the expectations of your professor. Next is you must be pefectionist on the thing that you're doing. It will come to the point wherein you will have sleepless nights,will have a cut from the cutter,got bruises because of the glue gun and will have a paper cut.

         But despite all of all these things I learned how to become responsible and I know how to divide my time for all the things that I have to accomplish. This may be hard but It's very rewarding to learn something new and improve my abilities as a student.

                                                                                         -- BALBAGO, Roselle

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{ARKI-DIARY}

The College of Architorture -I mean- ARCHITECTURE, is one of the most difficult courses out there. A lot of students have a hard time adjusting at first because of all the requirements and due dates, and sometimes there are profs who give a lot of workload.

Because of that, most students are forced to sleep very late or early in the morning and then wake up 2 hours later to go to school; some don’t even manage to get sleep anymore! 

Once they finally manage to finish the plates, the usual reaction is like this:

Well.. sort of. Haha

So in order to survive The College that never sleeps, here are some of the things you need to remember as an Arki student:

1.) The number one thing that an arki student must keep in mind: SAVE YOUR PLATES. “Okay lang kahit mabasa ako, basta wag masira plates ko!” (I don’t care if I get wet, as long as my plates are safe!) Hashtag-- PLATES ARE YOUR LIFE.

2.) Not just techpens, but all of your drafting instruments/ drawing and coloring materials. Take care of your things as if they’re your children! Arki materials are really expensive so you should take care of your items very well.

“It’s okay, I can always buy another one!” wow, rk much?!?

3. L O V E    Y O U R   M A T H .

4. A summary of everything you need to remember as a UST Arki freshie.

“Regular days lang yan? So what happens kapag hell week?!? D: ”

Hell week (which is usually finals week) means twice or even thrice the amount of stress. How can you survive arki hellweek/finals? Here are some of the things you need to keep in mind:

                                                   -- SEMILLA, Chriziane & TAGASA, Marielle

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{Thomasian Life| ADJUSTING TO “College Life”}

          Moving out of the house to live in a dorm for college is considered as a “big step” for us, students. This is where we learn how to live alone and live independently. There’s no one to wake us up in the morning for class anymore and we provide our own food ourselves. Students who live in a dorm are given their allowance weekly, monthly or even yearly; meaning we also have to watch our expenses. We can’t just spend our money on whatever or whenever we want. We have to think wisely about what we spend our allowance on, because the reason we are given allowance in the first place is to keep our stomachs full and to buy the materials needed for school. Then whatever is left from that is what we use for own leisure.

          The non-stop honking of horns and the air, these are examples of the things I had to adjust to when I moved into a dorm in the middle of the city. As early as 6:30 in the morning, the horns of the cars come alive, and around 12 in the evening is when they go to sleep. Just by saying that, you can tell that the traffic here is insane. The air is different here as well, the engines of the cars that pass by daily release pollutants into our air, making the air thicker and harder to breathe in. It was quite the change for some people I know.

          Speaking from experience, living in a dorm is a great opportunity to experience living on my own. Though it seemed hard at first, I learned how to adjust, and during the process, I made a lot of new friends. These new-found friends made the adjustment for me a lot easier than if I were alone.

                                                                                                  -- TABORA,Tim

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{Thomasian Life| UST FRESHIE EVENTS - 2015}

        Freshie week, the week that changed everything.  New school, new classmates, and a new beginning. This was what it meant for me then. From a boy from an all- boy school, a girl from an all-girl school, or someone that came from a very far place, this meant change for all freshmen and would require a lot of coping up from each one of us, freshie.

        Meeting and adjusting to new classmates was supposed to be “traumatic,” ( I can’t find the right word to describe it.) but,  this did not happen to us, except for me interacting with girls.  That was a first time for me, coming from an all-boy school. A happy atmosphere was created by exchanging of hellos and hi’s, what is  your name, and where are you from. This clinched everything!           I was really eager to find a “barkada” to laugh with, help with, share with, and to do everything with. Good thing that I was not disappointed.  I found mine during the “Freshie Week.” =)).

         Go USTe! Those were the words that really stuck in my mind. A fun way to start our year in UST. There were chanting of each college’s chant. There were lights that made it looked like it was a party. There were dancing of the Salinggawi Dance Troupe, the  Chanting of the UAAP chants by the Yellow Jackets. Singing, dancing, commentating, games, and many more.  I really felt welcome in the University of Santo Tomas.  I felt a sense of “belongingness” I can still remember the feeling.

         I heard so much about the “Freshmen Walk.”  My cousin told me to just enjoy the walk.  I did not know what to expect from the walk.  I was sweating profusely because of the coat I was wearing under the heat of the sun.  For sometime, I was bored while waiting.  But when the walk started and when I walked through the Arch of the Centuries, I felt goosebumps all over me.  I felt kind of “weird.”  I felt exhilarated.  The walk was definitely worth the wait and was indeed one of the highlights of my Freshie Week.  

The Freshie Week was indeed a memorable experience for me.  It was a week of meeting friends, of acquainting with your new school, and of knowing what is in store for me in college. It was a fun week for me, the Freshie Week.

                                                                                           -- ROBLES, Melchor

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{Thomasian Life| ADVENTURES OF A THOMASIAN}

            It all started during the Welcome Walk, we went to school knowing it was the day that we will finally go through the Arch of the Centuries. An annual tradition in UST to officially welcome us freshies to the Thomasian society. They gave us freebies and clappers for us to use to make noises and cheers as we pass through the Arch. The feeling was overwhelming! All the other college freshies were there, they probably felt the same as I did that time. Excitement, happiness, anxiety, all feelings that create butterflies in your stomach. It was finally our turn to pass through the Arch, I can see it coming closer, bigger and beyond that Arch is a whole new different world. It happened so fast that all I knew was that we're officially Thomasians!

            But that's just the beginning of being a Thomasian. Meeting new friends and "getting to know" your blockmates is just a part of it. I always thought that in college you will work alone and be a loner but that wasn't the case. There's something special about this block I'm in, we got so close in just a month.

  I made a lot of friends and got close to them in just 3 weeks! We were always together from morning, lunch and when class ends, it was like we were glued together. Every lunch time there's always this dilemma in our "Squad" wherein we can't decide where to eat lunch. We just stare at each other and wait 'til someone says "okay lets go eat there", then everyone follows. There was a time when we were late for class and we ran across the road while the traffic light was green, just because we took too much time deciding where to eat.

          Being a Thomasian also means being close to God, everyday there's a time when time stops (or so they say) where everyone pauses to pay respect and pray the Angelus. We also had this Recollection to focus and reflect on our past mistakes and communicate with God.

          Aside from all those, you're not a full pledged Thomasian if you have not supported the players in the UAAP GAMES even once!

The whole Thomasian Society wears black, yellow, and/or white; the official UST colors, to show full support for the players. I even rushed to QPAV to buy the official UST cheer-shirt for the Cheer Dance Competion. The tickets got sold out but it didn't stop me from supporting the CDC, I watched it live on TV. Thomasians' closeness to God and passion for sports makes us Thomasians.                                                                                    

                                                                                     --- PLACENCIA, Nicole