HOME
AWAY FROM HOME
By: Charisse Laurel
June 2001
When I was in High
School, nobody believed me when I said I can actually live in a boarding
house during college. I was an only child, completely pampered by
my loving parents, and living independently was something even I could
not imagine at that time.
I pleaded against it, but my parents said it's
time I stand on my own two feet. They insisted that I learn to live
without them, without our driver and my yaya since birth, to
fend for myself, and to start acting like an adult.
And so it was.
At first I HATED every minute of my stay in a
small room of a boarding house located inside the UP Diliman campus.
I had to share it with 3 other girls, which meant I had to adjust
to a small closet where I was forced to keep all my things, from owning
a spacious room complete with a walk-in closet, a sofa-bed, a large
study table and a small round table for my guests.
I was also a neat-freak, and they were the complete
opposite. I instantly became the unofficial "taga-ligpit" of the group.
I eventually learned to live with the mess, because they were such
great people and that compensated for the clutter they created.
I learned to ride jeepneys too -- the UP Ikot,
a jeepney that goes around the vast expanse of the campus, as well
as the UP Toki, the jeep that takes the reverse route of the
UP Ikot, along with other jeepneys traversing outside the campus.
I began riding tricycles and buses too, and going places like Greenhills
without bringing a car.
I never stepped on those public utility vehicles
in High School, because our driver was always ready to drop and fetch
me anytime and anywhere. My roommates were my life savers, because
they volunteered to orient me on commuting to and fro, giving me a
comprehensive tour of the campus and its surrounding areas.
I lived with fast food meals for the first few
days of my college life. Staying with my roommates and some of my
blockmates taught me to eat in Casaa, the most crowded university
canteen, along with other food establishments in the campus. I even
came to love the various street food like fishballs, mangga with
bagoong, isaw and kikiam, which were available to me only in the
university. P50.00 was enough to give me full stomach, providing for
a meal with one cup rice and two viands, plus a drink, and sometimes
even desert.
There was one wish that was never granted to
me: bringing my PC to the boarding house. So in time I got used to
working on my home works, projects and theses in computer rental stores
in the Shopping Center (more known as SC), amidst the hustle and bustle
of the place. I never learned to like it, knowing that I had a very
upscale PC at home, where I could work in peace anytime, for FREE.
I never really thought I'd enjoy living away
from home, because it was my only comfort zone then. But soon enough,
the boarding house became another comfort zone for me, coz I instantly
got 3 sisters and a very motherly but lenient landlady.
I especially enjoyed the freedom I had -- to
see movies whenever I wished to, or go on parties and dinners with
friends, without having to ask permission from my parents and follow
a strict 12:00 curfew (while our driver waits for me at the parking
lot). I know I could have abused that freedom, but I'm glad my parents
instilled in me strong values and a sense of responsibility that I
carried way after college.
Now that I'm NOT going back to school this year,
I look back on everything that the experience of living away from
home taught me. My parents were right. I did learn to stand on my
own feet, and I did learn how to think and act like an adult. I'm
not helpless Charisse anymore, helpless without them, all because
of this small room I loved as my second home.
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