The slow bureaucratic process called the enrolment

UP is notorious for its tedious enrolment process. This situation is something I see every semester, an irony in itself because the University has been around for more than a hundred years, but it has yet to perfect the process.

I recall a time when it took me three days to finish because there weren't slots in the subjects I needed. I would wake up really early, just before the offices opened, only to be disappointed by the long queue of even more early birds. Enlisting for a subject was a struggle for dear life.

Enrolment time in UP, however, separates the neophyte from the veteran isko. To the initiated, the long lines are nothing but an everyday reality. It pays to drag one's friends along or to carry a paperback. You can't do anything by incessantly complaining, so you might as well make good use of your time. Those not used to this scenario—usually the younger breed—would get irate easily. Years later, though, they'd find themselves oblivious to this slow bureaucratic process.

I had a hard time enrolling this week. It took me an entire day. The office opened late. The Form 5's weren't printed in advance, so the enrolment only actually began just before lunch time. How typical. But I'm done now. A part of me wants to overhaul the entire process—make the enrolment more systematic and efficient—but a part of me wants to stick to what we have. After all, it's this peculiarity that makes the UP experience more colorful. But maybe that's me being sadistic.

Either way I praise God for the long waiting time because I was able to talk to classmates I had not seen for two months, enjoy great snacks being distributed around, and share in moments of hysterical laughter. By God's grace, I'm in my second year now. Weird as it may sound, I'm excited for classes to start.

700 bloody hours/33 units. Oh, dear.