One Small Step for Ateneans, One Lundag for Freshmen

As I switch off my alarm, I think to myself how the song, No Good Deed from wicked is befitting for this day. OrSem, (Orientation Seminar) Ateneo’s version of greeting their freshmen is really no good deed. They force us to wake up early and spend two whole days of our summer getting to know people. Don’t the organizers realize that it’s not that easy for everyone to travel to Ateneo? A number of people

live far or in the province. For instance: TJ Bruel, a current freshman in Ateneo said that “It was a hassle to travel to Manila for two days just to attend OrSem then go back home (Quezon) to enjoy the remaining of my summer.” Not to mention the unexpected traffic OrSem caused for those people who pass along Katipunan in their daily route. The organizers really didn’t think it through how it is not only a hassle for people attending but also very inconsiderate.​

(c) Ateneo OrSem 2015 Lundag

Lundag to Ateneo Culture

​ My thoughts about OrSem didn’t improve as I was welcomed by screaming ​​upperclassmen with smiles plastered across their faces. It is 7:30 in the morning of summer vacation, you are in school; how can you have so much energy and enthusiasm? Is this what they’ve trained for? To greet freshmen with overly exaggerated smiles? I didn’t feel that the emotions were truly sincere nor heartfelt. I

know they tried their best, but then with how they were dancing around like they were high made me feel awkward since they looked like they were all bonding together and having a good time. How was I supposed to feel welcomed if all I saw was upperclassmen with signs dancing like it’s the end of the world not bothering to talk to the freshmen? Was that all to Ateneo’s culture? Party nonstop, have cliques that you stick to no matter what?

(c) Amanda Chan

At least the Eucharistic celebration and the formal orientations gave me a glimpse of Ateneo life. I could see how religion particularly the Catholic beliefs are very important to Ateneans. This could be seen in the first official event of OrSem, the Eucharistic Celebration. Even though not everyone is Catholic they still tried their best to keep quiet and participate in the mass. For instance those who felt unwell didn’t cause a big scene, instead they just quietly slipped off from the side to get some air.

Once the Eucharistic Celebration was over we were told to move to another location for the orientations given by the respective deans. The orientations emphasized how academics is still the main focus of the university. The speakers kept emphasizing that a person can join organizations but still keep in mind that academics is the main priority. They also kept reiterating the academic programs to look forward to while in Ateneo.

Lundag with Those That Matter

It is still around 11 in the morning and I already have an idea of what the Ateneo culture is but I still did not feel like I belonged. I was already getting tired and wishing that the day would go faster. After lunch we finally had our first group dynamics activity. I didn’t really expect much from this since the day was not really going that well for me. But to my surprise I found out that my TnT (talk and tours) and SecMob were sincerely friendly. They exerted an effort to make sure that I was enjoying myself. I remember that Jello M. even commented about the rubber shoes I wore, saying that he has always wished for pure white rubber shoes. I could feel that they were really trying to be sincere in their conversations In fact if it weren’t for them I don’t think I would have felt truly welcomed to Ateneo. They made the two day OrSem tolerable.

Even though I knew from the start that there are many different

personalities in my block we were able to find a way to bond together, though it was still in the awkward phases, when we haven’t been introduced formally to each other. Personally the best moments in OrSem was when I was with my block. They made the tiring and inconvenient campus tours fun by talking about random things and continue to burst with energy even though it’s the end of the day. Even if they have different personalities they enjoyed O-film especially the “brethren part” in fact it became an inside joke within the block. I guess you could say my block is my brethren since they are the once I will journey thick and thin with.

(c) Kat Mamaril

After two days of listening to talks and walking back and forth from the covered courts to around the campus I think I finally see what Ateneo life is all about. Ateneo life is a mostly a mix of academic excellence and spiritual growth with a touch of craziness and fun that your blockmates would bring. However I still don’t understand why it was made to a two day event if it’s going to be practically the same thing. Maybe if the movement from one location to another was more organized all the activities could have been accomplished in one day. I’m just glad that at least it only lasted for two days unlike Celine Tan’s and Anna Meldugar’s OrSem which lasted for three days. If it weren’t required by Intact to attend, I don’t see how people would still be there for the third day, even though that is when the party actually gets started (O-Night).

Lundag and Paying it Forward

Even though OrSem was not really an event that I’d like to relive I think the theme is very befitting for freshman year, possibly even for life. As what Anna Meldular said “This year's theme is inspiring and relevant, not just to a freshman, but as this freshman grows through the years. It's relevant to a freshman who is facing a lot of uncertainty as he or she transitions into university life. It tells us to just leap. As said by Fr. Roque Ferriols, S.J., "Lundagin mo, beybe!" Sa ating paglundag, hinahayaan natin ang ating sariling makaranas at matuto. (In this action of leaping, we let ourselves to experience and learn.)” Lundag is something that I would not forget easily. I may not want to join the OrSem committee like Celine Tan, OrSem 2015 chairperson, volunteer as a TnT like Anna M, my TnT, or a SecMob like Apples D and Jello M, my SecMobs, but I still want to take my own leaps and pay what I felt in OrSem to the future generations. It’s like what Celine Tan said “We do not always notice but we take ‘mini-lundags’ every day. Leaps do not have to be gigantic; they are chances that you choose to take.” For some people choosing Ateneo as their school was a leap in itself.

Lundag is not the only concept that I learned from OrSem but like Celina Tan I also learned the concept of paying things forward too. Paying things forward is not an unknown concept. Many people know about it and possibly have done it, but it starts with a spark in a person. I guess if it weren’t for the OrSem experiences of Celine, Anna, Apples, Jello, and the other volunteers, this year’s OrSem would have turned out very differently. They all decided to join and be a part of OrSem because they wanted to pay the feeling OrSem gave them to the new freshmen each year. When I interviewed Celina Tan she couldn’t stop reiterating that “Serving in OrSem is not just a Lundag in itself it is also a form of paying it forward too”

Though I still don’t appreciate knowing the fact that OrSem was required, at the end of it all, OrSem wouldn’t have been the same if it wasn’t done the Ateneo way. OrSem may be two days filled with hassle, however like what TJ Bruel said: “If it had been done any other way, it would have just been an Or or a Sem, not an OrSem.”

(c) Alex Bejasa