Simoy LB na!

February na! Besides Christmas and birthdays, this is one month that I really look forward to. What else could be the reason? It’s not Valentine’s Day for crying out loud. It’s FebFair!!! LB, here we come again. I shall conquer thee.

Actually, anytime, I can go back to LB but things will never be the same unless I go there with “my” LB friends. So anytime I’m with them, any place we are in is like an extension of our dear comfort zone. As I always say, “You can take us out of UPLB but you cannot take UPLB out of us.”

For my most friends, high school life is the best. For me, it will always be college. College in UPLB to be exact! Honestly, I don’t I’ll be having the kind of fun if I had taken my degree somewhere else. Kung sa CDLB kaya? haha. But seriously, others always wonder what is it in UPLB that will make you keep coming back.

Friend X: Nag-college din naman kami. Nagkafriends, Nagloko. We practically did the same things you’ve done pero di kami ganong kahamit sa mga Alma Mater namin. Bakit ganyan kayong mga taga LB?

Emcee in harness (smoke machine in full blast): UPLB culture yon!

Background: I keep coming back to Los Baños.. Los Baños (tune of I keep coming back to Manila) Repeat 20x until fade…

Los Baños… Los Baños. Looking back, I say that it isn’t actually the UP curriculum that I am most proud of. It is the people. The culture it already has long before I came, the culture that I come to imbibe through time, and the culture the I unconsciously pass down and influence others. My best times in LB weren’t when I topnotched an exam (although nobody might really recall this because there is nothing to be recalled.. haha) but the moments I got to know and understand real people. In my four years in LB, I got to be a member of three organizations: Econsoc, DLS and YFC. I also became part of the College Council and the Senior Board. In each group, I had a unique experiences. Unique experiences but everytime I reminisce them, the sensation is the same.

I was about to make a recap of the things I would have missed had I not stayed in UPLB for four years but I realized I could probably had gotten kidnapped, drunk, taken an exam drunk, eaten the UPLB treats, drunk again and drunk again had I studied somewhere else. Malamang makakapagsugal pa rin ako, makakasali sa orgs, makakapag-rummage sa kung saan saan. I would have still chosen not to go home to Batangas for a few weekends just for some nothingness trips that pop from we-don’twanna-know-where. But the very reason I wanted it in LB is because of the friends I got to know and understand there. Yes I have a great deal of friends I met outside LB - high school friends and friends I knew from work. I don’t mean underestimate them and I don’t, I swear!

There are people I am acquainted now that I would think twice sharing drinks with. But with my LB friends, hmmm…. these are the friends I want to get hang-overs with anytime and over and over again! Kitakits sa Feb mga kachokaran!