The past week at school was quite exciting, but definitely a lot more stressful. I just witnessed my first 'massacre' in my Crim class and experienced my first 'pass' in Persons class. How do people survive first year????? Does it get better or does it only get worse?

Here's the recap of 2 of the more exciting things that happened over the past week:

1) Back to School Party

- Held last Saturday at Aposento in the bowels of Makati, right beside Capone's. I arrived moderately early and left moderately late also , so I was able to watch all the action that took place that evening.

People started coming in at around 10pm. The 2nd floor had the smoking area, so most of the people (is it a fact that most law students are smokers?) set-up shop there. When I got there, Ave Cruz (see previous post) was spinning some really good music, and so I watched him and giggled with a friend of mine since he looked really cute that evening. He turned red later on in the evening due to the bottles of beer he was downing. He ended up looking like a lobster hihi.

A few more minutes and a lot more people started trickling in. Jess Lopez (see previous post) came in a bit with a lot of girls surrounding him (gay, bi or player?), and he looked really cute that evening. He and his friends headed up to the second floor just as immediately as they came in, and started drinking the night away. I finally saw the girl who everyone is saying he likes. She was auctioned off that night for the benefit of the barops and was 'bought' for a thousand bucks or two, I think. She's......... ok. I don't know her so I really can't say anything about her.

Aj and Eunice were the hosts again for the event that evening. They were really entertaining but I felt they were funnier and all during the Orsem. Maybe because it was so cramped plus the heat and people moving around in the cramped area that made the show less enjoyable than Orsem. A couple of my friends and I left while the girl, Margie, I think, was being auctioned off, and came back a bit later.

When we got back, the place was PACKED. And by that time, divided along fraternity lines as well -- at least that's what my guy friends were telling me. The ground floor was full of Utopians. I saw Gino, Darren earlier on in the evening, and Basco there. They had their girl-friends with them who are either just girl-friends, or girlfriends. I always see them hanging out together near the Circulation section of the library, so I figure girlfriends become adopted into the fraternity as well? Great atmosphere there in front of the DJ's area with the huge dancefloor, but the downside was, barely anyone was there and barely anyone was dancing or milling around. Most of them were standing around outside the place, so it felt as if the ground floor was empty at times.

The second floor, on the other hand, was occupied by the Aquilans. When I went up there to look for my friends, I saw that they occupied practically 2/3 of the room, and were having a lot of fun, exchanging handshakes with guys who were just arriving, and generally milling around with everyone else in the room. The sorority members were also up in the second floor (yes, I just found out myself that the law school has a sorority), and had small body-art stuff on exposed patches of skin. I didn't stay up in the second floor for long because I couldn't stand the cloud of smoke that covered the entire room, but from what I saw, it seemed as if the bigger party was in the second floor. There were more people dancing, and generally the vibe upstairs was more jovial and party-like. Seemed like more of the cute boys were up there also like Yves, and as I already mentioned earlier, Jess and some Aquilans I had just recently 'met' (no introductions, just by stalking), like Paolo (Sophomore, I think), who was the same guy I think who bid for Margie.

After a while though, I had the chance of witnessing my first 'fight' between the frats of the Ateneo Law School. I'm not sure as to how it started, but the word going around is that someone from Utopia insulted an Aquilan as they (the Aquilans) were already leaving, and that started the entire face-off. It was actually quite a scary sight. There were policemen with armalites just standing by the entrance of Aposento and the 2 groups seemed that they were all ready to go for it. Ralph (see previous post) was trying to mediate the conflict and quite successfully so, since there was no rumble that night. The Aquilans left and the Utopians stayed. After a while, more people started to leave, most were apparently clueless about what had just happened. I left around that same time and headed home to prepare for Monday.

2) Fight Club

- The fight between the fraternities apparently didn't end Saturday night. It was Wednesday night that I came out from the Library and saw this huge gathering at the steps of the entrance of the school. Standing at the foot of the stairs were the Utopians and at the top of the stairs were the Aquilans. They were shouting at each other and there were a handful who were actually engaging in running after each other, pushing each other and whatnot. People were also just leaving at that time and so others were able to share in my surprise/intrigue about what was going on. Security personnel were standing between the 2 groups, and Ralph was there again trying to mediate the conflict. I left with my friends that night steering away from the crowd of angry frat men. No one yet knows the story behind the fight that night, but the environment in school right now is still tension-filled. You can feel it anywhere you go -- in the library, the cafeteria and even in the halls. I've been told fraternity horror stories from UP and I wonder if Ateneo is going that direction now. I sure hope not. Everyone just needs cooler heads.

In other news, I'm so happy, my mom just got me a replacement for the Ipod which my kid brother lost in school a couple of weeks ago. I'm now downloading videos from the net for my brand-new Video Ipod!!! Anyway, I'm off to memorize the Family Code now. Again, how do you memorize all of this? Stress.

And for my 2nd post (due to the STRESS of law school!), I wanna let everyone know the identities of the cutest, hottest boys in Ateneo Law. Hopefully I get to see them this Saturday at the back-to-school party and schmooze with some of them! In no particular order: (Disclaimer, I might get some of the names wrong, but what the hell!)

- Ave Cruz: my batch, from section D, I think. Tall bald Chinese-looking hottie
- Basco (I don't know his surname): I think he's a fratman, kinda short though
- Jonathan Nepomuceno (tama ba spelling?): another freshie, from section E. Rumor has it he's waaaaaaaaaaay older than most people in my batch though.
- Grip (again, don't know his surname): freshman
- Jess Lopez: THE one I had in mind in my first post. Rumor has it he was gay, now going on Bi because of some girl in my batch. Androgynous hotness. Can he please be Bi, at least?
- Yves: Sophomore. La Salle undergrad I hear.
- Ralph Calinisan: A member of the Student Council. Senior I think. Older man appeal.
- Gino: Sophomore, moreno, a bit short. Hangs out near the Circulation section of the Library.
- Darren: I also think he's a fratman. They have this whole handshake thing going on.
- Pochoy: OMG! Rocker hotness!!!!
- Raffy: I've been mistaking him for Jess, though. They have very similar hairstyles. I hear he has a girlfriend in school though...

Will add to this list when I get to know more people. There aren't a lot of cute boys in the law school though. These guys, I think, are the cream of the crop already. Does anyone have any more info on them? :)

Enough with this "ditsiness". Back to Complex Crimes. Sigh.

It's the 4th day of the horror-flick-starring-myself-and-249-other-law-newbies entitled "Introduction to Law". I've decided to put up this blog just today as a means of escape and staving away the spectre of insanity that's been haunting me over the past 2 weeks, ever since law school life started for me, at none other than the Ateneo de Manila Law School at Rockwell.

Where do I start for my first entry? Oh, I know, let's do this the way a chick-flick would: an overview of the people I've encountered over the past 2 weeks, in typical Mean Girls fashion, combined with a blow-by-blow account of things that have transpired and caught my eye over the past 2 weeks. Hmmm

ORSEM--

Welcome to Ateneo Law. Look to your left. Look to your right. In a sem or 2, your seatmates will be gone. So will you. Scary shit, obviously. The speakers though, like this Atty. Candellaria guy, put it in much gentler terms though--so we all wouldnt get up from our seats in the packed auditorium and demand for refunds. Money-making scheme I tell you.

The hosts were clad in all sorts of sports gear, apparently because the theme for the entire thing, or rather the inspiration, was the Olympics. This is kind of weird. The Olympics aren't taking place this year. It's the World Cup that has everyone talking. Maybe they just should have worn football attire. Would have made more sense really. The female host, Eunice, I think, was a show-stopper, though. Hilarious and energetic. She got everyone in the mood for what otherwise would have been a pretty mundane affair. There was a goodlooking guy though - one of the hosts of the pageant portion of the affair. Jeff, I think was his name. Perfect skin, nice clothes, good build - HOT! The other upperclass people at ORSEM were teasing him about looking like Zanjoe Marudo on the Bench billboard along Guadalupe. I swear I've seen him on tv before. Entertaining to watch, speaks very well, but there's a rumor going around that he's gay. Sigh. My friends and I were drooling over him. God, please don't let him be gay! Supposedly also very smart. My friends told me he was like the top of his batch or something. Wow.

The pageant, aptly entitled Mr. and Ms. Orsem, featuring (supposedly) the prettiest and cutest Freshmen of the law school. Fun at parts but something really irked me at the end. One of the judges, a member of the Student Council nonetheless, had the 5 female contestants give my crush (the Zanjoe Marudo lookalike) a lapdance each! How chauvinistic! I lost some respect for the Student Council because of that, and apparently so did a lot of other girls in the room.

There were some pretty interesting orgs presented at ORSEM. But mostly boring ones. There was this one org, the St. Thomas More team or something, that showed an extremely boring video clip of their members in formal wear, with a voice-over narration that I don't think anyone got. They had another cute guy in the video though. Moreno, boyish-looking, speaking from what looked like a podium.

But the best people during ORSEM were the TNTs. Thanks!

Introduction to Law--

I still remember Tuesday. Everyone in the room was waiting in anticipation for the arrival of our Professor for the course -- Dean Roy. There were a lot of upperclassmen at the back -- apparently, for them its a spectacle to see us Freshmen squirm in our seats whenever Dean Roy utters the words "I need a friend". Jeff was at the back. I saw him when one of my friends who also fancies him tugged at the sleeve of my top and pointed towards his direction. He was talking with a couple of guys in jackets -- members of one of frats I think. Either he's a frat member himself (which means he can't be gay--please!) or he was flirting with them (Nooooo!).

Torture. Suddenly, this short, fat, dark guy who looks like the imps in the Mario Bros video game enters the room and everyone stands up. He has 5 'angels', ie girls in black, up front in charge of calling out the names of Dean Roy's 'friends'. Lo and behold, I got called that fateful day -- and couldn't answer. Heck I don't even remember what the question was anymore!

Over the past couple of days, Dean Roy has gotten more mellow though. Nicer, if that's an apt description. The Upperclassmen were asked to leave the room yesterday -- the spectacle, for them, was over. No more amusement at our expense. Please let it end soon!