Revisiting Melchor Hall with Laura and Dylan

 

After picking up Laura and Dylan from Miriam College, their school, I decided to pass by UP Diliman to show them where their lolo and some lolas and aunties studied. Of course, the first stop was Melchor Hall and I asked Laura to read the name I pointed! I told him it was his Lolo Tony! Ang gulo lang ng Eng'g ngayon grabe, para ng palengke!

And they need IDs na to enter, terible!  Life used to be more simple back then!

Revisiting Melchor Hall in UP Diliman circa 1960s

To my friends here who took Eng'g in UP, here was how Melchor Hall looked like in the 1960s!  It still looks the same up to now!!  This building had been the site of too much suffering in my case and trauma - and so much joy and achievement as well!!  I never had any middling experiences in this college - it was either ecstacy or agony - and nothing in between!!  

There are days when I felt so privileged to be accepted here - there are days when I wish I could've accepted the Ateneo scholarship - schoolmates ko sana si Kris Aquino and Lea Salonga (yes, we also passed UP and Ateneo same year - and our birthdays are magkasunod - hanggang duon lang ang similarities though haha!!).  But definitely, this place taught me a lot of things which I now find very useful in my life - and the irony is - they have nothing to do with engineering!!

Meeting Dr. Filemon T. Berba Again - After All These Years!!

When I was still editor of the Engineering Logscript, one of the Eng'g alumni I interviewed was Dr. Filemon Berba. That was way back 1994, I think. Fast forward to 2010, I chanced upon this video where some Eng'g alumni did some talks in UP - and I was so happy to hear that Dr. Berba is still active and still sharing his knowledge with the youth! The guy who introduces him here is Joel and he's one year lower than me during my EE days. Doctorate na pala siya - bonggacious!