Yesterday was really so surreal, probably on the good side, but my feeling is ambivalent.
I had my interview at the UP College of Law yesterday morning. The day before, Aaron told me to come early, so I left the house at 7:30am, took a cab, reached UP Diliman at around 8am,sat on a bench in front of Malcolm, and tried to relax as I enjoyed the view and breathed in fresh air. I wasn't nervous much, what with the stories of those, particularly classmates, who've undergone the same thing a few days just before me, telling how pleasant and cordial the interviews were.
And oh,I forgot my baon, water and dark chocolate, at home. (I'm divulging the not-so-secret secret since practically all those with me saw me munching on them: I munched on a bar of dark chocolate while taking UP and Ateneo Law entrance exams. I guess prayers and chocolates did their thing then, since I didn't fare all too poorly.)
I came to Malcolm to win (the interviewers over)!
I was second earliest (di ako baluga that day) and I met Ms. (Tevez) Mendoza who had with her her very nice and friendly mom, who was surprised I was able to come by myself. I'm 20, Dear. Don't wonder.
Okay. Anyway, I found out Ms. Mendoza had Legal Management for her undergrad in La Salle. Soonafter, other interviewees came one by one. Generally friendly people. I even saw a former classmate, Ms. Ixara Maroto there who barely recognized me. Must be the haircut, eh?
We were made to fill out a form we earlier got from the College Secretary. It had questions ala-resume about parents, my educational background, why I wanted to study Law, why in UP, etc. At around 10am or so, the very nice Lady Guard who turned to be the usher for us interviewees called out Ms. Mendoza's name but since she wasn't done filling out her form, and since I came next, the usher asked me to go first instead. I obliged.
The walk from the holding room to the room we were supposed to be interviewed in was just so surreal I hated it. The seconds turned to minutes, and the meters seemed several yards. What was in stake dawned upon me suddenly - the next four or five years of my life, and what would come after, or how Jessa Zaragoza described husband Dingdong Avanzado, refusing to describe him in three words since she thought she could describe him in one (word), "MY LIFE."
I reached the damn room, and I was asked by the usher to wait outside until my name is called out. She was then carrying folders containing our application forms (I saw my picture), the form we filled out just before the interview, probably our scores and so on. The usher then suddenly, seeing how nervous I was, turned to me and told me not to worry since I was in the Top 100 and the interview was merely for formality. She showed me the folder and I saw an encircled "RANK 30" written on its face (it has a face? WTH, Reg? -reg lol). It really didn't sink in to me until after the interview. Up to now, I'm wondering as to how the hell that happened.
Going back to the story, the usher then went in and gave the folder to the people inside. A few seconds later, the famous Atty. Ibarra Gutierrez, whom we frequently see on TV, asked me to go in. Inside was someone who seemed young whom I later found out to be the College Secretary, Atty. Lumba. The guy never said a word except "Please sit down"
Atty. Gutierrzed initially asked me about what I have learned in Political Science, what my reaction was to what he claimed as a consensus among Law professors in UP that students who took Political Science as undergrad were usually the worst students in Malcolm. I sensed instantly that it was fiction (Ang gagaling ba naman natin, 'di ba? That's just impossible. Lol) and so I just said that I would just have to prove that otherwise. and just laughed (nakapalan ako sa sarili ko kasi hehehe). And then he skimmed through the friggin essay about "What's wrong with our county?" I wrote months ago in the LAE. The guy really bombarded me with questions until I was talking about community, England, China, and so on. LOL. Then he just talked non-stop for so many seconds as I stared at him pretending I understand what he was saying, while in fact I couldn't make sense of anything. LOL! He seemed to be making me change my mind and backtracking on what I wrote on my essay, but I didn't just let him do so, I stood by what I wrote. My legs were then uncontrollably trembling, when in fact, I wasn't very nervous.
And then he asked about what I have that the other 300 don't. I said, "A great lawyer needs to be a great person first, and I think I am a good person." "Between somebody somehow intelligent with good morals," Atty. Gutierrez quickly asked me, "and somebody who is highly-intelligent but who is immoral, whom should we admit in this college?" I told him they should admit the former, since the law has holes (LOL what the hell?) in it and somebody who is highly-intelligent but is immoral could be dangerous to society, while a good person can achieve the true objective of the Law, that is the common good, so they should admit the good person instead of the bad one.
Pang- Ms. Universe daw sabi ni Sunny and another friend. Hehehe Oo nga. Hahaha
And then they abruptly ended the interview. I thanked them and left, went to the Sunken Garden, texted people, and asked to meet with Sunny so I could finally get my flashdrive. I felt I needed to pray so I dropped by the nearby church and prayed.
Later in the afternoon, I knew that the Ateneo results would come out but since I was convinced (promise) I wouldn't make it because I guessed my way out of the friggin exam and I had little sleep because of the interview, I just slept. I woke up to the text messages of classmates congratulating me and saying that I made it to the Ateneo. And Ateneo enrolment is friggin April 11, around 2 weeks from. I wouldn't even have had graduated by that time, and I so I felt Ateneo is really playing dirty, making sure their enrolment comes before the results in UP, to lure students away from the latter.
And now the hard part: should I forfeit my slot in Ateneo, do a gamble, and just wait for UP results to come out? If I don't make it to UP, then, I wouldn't have a law school to enroll at. Or should I enroll in Ateneo, suffer the rest of my life if I eventually find out I made it to UP? Ewan ko na lang. I feel so torn.
PS:
Congratulations din pala to those who made it to the Ateneo: Marck, Marie, Compat, Gen, and Mike. I will bid the latter three no goodluck today. As Louis Pasteur once said, "Chance favors the prepared mind." And of course, I will just pray for them.
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