This year, the UST College of Science is celebrating its 80th anniversary and yesterday was the last day of the Science Week.

As the culminating activity of the week-long celebration, Science held a mini alumni homecoming dubbed as "Balikan ang Buhay sa Science". It was actually a small gathering with snacks and lots of chikahan.

There were some graduates of 1950s when the College was still called College of Liberal Arts. Most of those who attended were faculty members and graduates of 2000-something. There was a presentation on the history of the College of Science, which included its role in the WWII, its graduates who made significant contributions in science and the arts (Zenaida Amador, Charlene Gonzales, etc), and of course the scientists who were hailed as top scientists of the Philippines (Dr. Sevilla, Dr. Binag, Dr. Aguinaldo, etc).

We, the MS people, went there after our Inorg class. And we were the youngest there because we were graduates of 2005. So it was just our 1st year being alumni.


You know what? It felt different. We didn't feel like we were gone even just for a year because we were always in school. We were still very much attached to the College of Science. We didn't feel like we were alumni at all.

But then, walking down the halls of the 3rd floor made us remember our college days. It may have felt like we were so "at home" but we have to admit that a lot of things have changed. We no longer walk along the corridors wearing our uniforms. We no longer hang out with our own group of friends. We no longer call ourselves as part of 4Chem.

Years from now we shall come back and say we once stood in these halls as college students. In the four walls of the classroom we worked so hard to learn chemistry and ace exams. It is in these rooms where we shed tears and sweat and laughter. It is in these rooms where it all began.

We are proud to say we were once students of the UST College of Science. And nobody can take that away from us.

****

After the alumni gathering I bumped into some people I worked with in the Student Council during our days. I was with Emar when I met Alex--the hard working pres-- and Oliver--the present VP who's running for a position in the Central Student Council next year.


We had a little chit chat but I had to go because my cousin is holding a baby shower at Astoria Plaza in Ortigas. Good thing Alex was also going to his office in Ortigas so I had no problem with the transportation.

Alex dropped me off at Megamall because I had to buy a gift. From there I went to St. Francis Square to buy some nice earrings. Since my cousin told me that Astoria is a block away from San Miguel if I take Shaw Blvd., I have decided to just walk to Astoria since St. Francis Square is just across the San Miguel complex.

Yeah, Astoria was a block from San Miguel if I take Shaw. What I didn't know was that Astoria is several blocks away if I take Julio Vargas where the other side of the San Miguel is. I kept on walking and asked around where Astoria is. I had to cross this creek just to get there.

Finally, I got to Astoria. My legs were shaking and I was dead tired. I sort of rested for a while then helped with the cooking. Hours later the guests started to arrive.

My very cute nephew Ethan was there too.


The night went great and I was the only who gave my cousin a thermometer for her soon to come son Joaqui.

This morning I woke up with the Ortigas skyline in sight.


We had a sumptuous breakfast as part of the hotel package. We left at lunch time because we had to go to the hospital. Mama (my Lola) and Joreen were both confined at the UST Hospital.


I found Mom in Mama's room sleeping from her own high school alumni party last night. We stayed for a while then went home. It was a really tiring day.

***

Just an update on my abstract for the congress. I found out that one of my samples did not give a good response against my sensor so I will do three more trials tomorrow to see if I will get better responses.

I made the draft of the intro and methodology but I still can't go through with the results part because it is still incomplete.

I just hope I finish this before I collapse and break down. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.