My Enrolment as A Descent into Hell...Dante Alighieri Style (The Expanded Edition)

First Circle: Office of the Graduate Program, mahaba man ang prusisyon...

I didn't realize that there are a LOT of graduate students in CSSP. The long line snaking its way from PH 111 and almost reaching the other end of the lobby proved na marami pala ang mga dakilang mag-aaral ng programang gradwado. A few undergraduates unwittingly strayed into our queue, mistaking our line for the validation of their Form 5's. A nervous-looking Geog major who was standing in front of me was such lost soul, meekly exiting our line then coming back insisting that our line was for student validation. I patiently explained to her that she should be lining up on the other door farther down the corridor. I was eyeing her as she was making her way to the direction I pointed out and I was thinking, "kung lalampas ka ng Female CR, patay kang bata ka..." Luckily for her, the validation area had an imposing placard spelling out V-A-L-I-D-A-T-I-O-N.

Second Circle: FC Second Floor, The Hall of 'Lost' Souls

We were the 'lost' souls awaiting the arrival of our dear History Department chairperson. Undergrads and grad students were lounging about the hallway, some standing, while the others assumed positions reminiscent of a sit-down strike. I found out that the undergrads and I shared a common problem: difficulty gaining access to the oh-so-exclusive Spanish language courses. Unlike the undergrads, however, I gave up on my Span plans for this semester. The wait was so long that I took the opportunity to text several acquaintances -- resulting to a deluge of text messages that kept me busy during the wait.

Third Circle: Inside Dr. Llanes' office, a weird staring contest

Dr. Llanes finally arrived, looking a bit harried as this was a busy day for him. He immediately dispensed with the 'lost' souls -- telling the undergrads to submit a letter regarding their troubles while the grad students he faced one-on-one. When he got to me, he glanced at my Form 5 then gave me a stare that seemed a cross between an art critic viewing an abstract painting and an amateur astronomer trying to spot Jupiter in the night sky using only his naked eye. I, on the other hand, tried to give him my best Close Up smile hahahaha I must've looked halfway decent to him since he let me go with no hassles

Fourth Circle: Palma Hall Lobby, the Amazing Student Planner

We have to pay the Student Fund. In return for our kind contribution, the CSSP Student Council gave us THE AMAZING STUDENT PLANNER. It was quite a good decision of the Council to provide their constituents with a planner that had the necessary info regarding the Academic Calendar for the whole school year. Having said that, there are just some things about THE AMAZING STUDENT PLANNER that concerned me. On the left-hand corner of the pages of the Calendar were typed the words: "ONLYN NA TAU" with the council webpage address indicated below the words. It took me a second to realize that the letters meant "ONLINE NA TAYO" just spelled in text-English. Goodness gracious, there was so much space on that part of the layout, why can't they put the phrase in its proper spelling? Then there was the misspelling of EXCERCISE as in Commencement Excercise. Hello...But despite those gaffes, I still appreciate the gesture of the Council giving us THE AMAZING STUDENT PLANNER. Thanx --este -- Thanks.

Fifth Circle: Palma Hall Lobby, Close Encounters of a Familiar Kind

Nagkita ulit ang mga bloggers. Met Pebi while she was lining up to pay for the Student Council Fee (or was it for the Library Clearance?). Pebi was evidence of the stifling heat that day as she was literally covered in a layer of sweat...parang libre sauna bath ang look ni Pebi hehe

Sixth Circle: PH 117, PH 111 -- which comes first?

PH 111 should've come first, but in our excitement me Ate Angie and I went straight to the Validation. The kind staff-in-charge informed us that we jumped the gun and we should've gone first to PH111 (Office of the Grad Program) for the checking of our Form 5. No matter, as we just did the process in reverse. We had our subjects checked after they were already validated.

Seventh Circle: Palma Hall Lobby, I have to pay WHAT?! How much? ...sonofa*itch!

The tuition fee for undergrad subjects had increased to P1000/unit. And since I am taking 3 units of undergrad, there was an unexpected increase in the payments. Luckily I had withdrawn an additional amount prior to the enrolment. But still, the extra P1500 took its toll on my fiscal planning for the week. Damn the tuition fee increase!

Eighth Circle: OUR Third Floor, all my fiscal planning for this week goes down the sh*thole huhuhu

The LONG walk from Palma Hall to the Office of the University Registrar(OUR) was something I wasn't looking forward to. The climb to the Third Floor wasn' fun either. The prospect of losing a substantial amount of money plus the unceremonious tuition fee increase made this last leg the literal eight circle of hell moment for me. Plus, the room where the cashiers were was airconditioned so I really felt like I was in Dante's frozen pit of hell. What got me through the ordeal was imagining a flock of tibaks descending on the OUR with their banners, placards and screaming their lungs out in angry indignation over the commercialization of state education. If only I could turn my thoughts into reality at that time...