Memoirs of an Undergrad

Type of essay: Definition essay Do you know any Korean pop songs? Have you ever heard of “Gangnam Style,” “Gee,” “Nobody,” and “Fire?” What do you feel whenever you hear a Korean pop song? Does it make you laugh, or does it make you angry? Whether you love it or hate it, you cannot deny the fact that Korean pop music (commonly known as K-Pop) is very popular here in the Philippines, and also around the world. You simply cannot deny its significance in today’s current pop culture. If you currently hate K-Pop, I am here to enlighten you by sharing a few secrets about the world-famous music genre. If you are already an avid listener of the said genre, you might find out some secrets about the music you have been playing. Believe it or not, listening to Korean pop music might actually be beneficial. For one, it can make people appreciate the culture of Korea; two, it can encourage people to learn the Korean language; and three, it can people them gain more friends, by having the same ...

Do I have what it takes to be a Filipino? The one question that lingered in my mind. The only question that I wanted to ask myself whenever I played a Korean pop song on my phone, whenever I embraced the culture of another instead of my own. “I have what it takes to be a Filipino.” Nine words, every day I practiced on how to declare those nine words with passion and with confidence. But, I realized that the more I practiced, the more I doubted myself. At the end of the day, I wondered if I have what it takes to be a Filipino or not. Until, one day, my question answered itself. “What does it take to be a Filipino? What do I have to do in order to consider myself a true Filipino?” I asked myself. “Do I have to pay taxes, do community service, or donate to Philippine charities?” I kept thinking of ways on how to have what it takes to be a Filipino until my uncle overheard what I was saying. He approached me and said, “Nephew, you need to embody the Filipino spirit in order to have wh...

Wow, my GRAMCOM classes are surely the best! I mean, if I had to choose between three of my favorite classes for this term—Public Speaking 1, Public Speaking 2, GRAMCOM—it would (most obviously) be my GRAMCOM class. Wait a second, what makes my GRAMCOM classes so great anyway? I mean, to you, it might seem like your ordinary "boring" English class, but for me, it is EVERYTHING. (Well, not literally everything, but it is like the "heart and soul" of this English term.) Think about it, without proper grammar, you would not be able to understand what I have written on this blog. Without proper grammar, this blog would look very unprofessional—meaning that, whatever is in here, will be discredited. But the subject of English Grammar and Composition Development is not enough to make me say that the subject is the best. What really makes this subject great is my professor . My professor in GRAMCOM is not a tough one, my professor is (like a) happy-go-lucky ...

The current logo of this blog. As most of you have probably seen, my profile picture on my social networking profiles (and other online profiles) has always been this logo with a letter "G" in it. That logo is actually my favorite logo, and it is the logo of my favorite album, Girls' Generation 's " Girls & Peace ." Despite its title, it had really great tracks which I have come to love over the years. Reflection and Not Alone are two of my favorite songs in the album. The album also gives me a sort of a "nostalgic feeling" because it was released in 2012. I listened to some of the tracks in the album for the first time in 2012 and it made me feel as if I was in Japan or something. It gave me a weird, but great, feeling while I was playing some of the songs whilst playing Wipeout Pulse (the game is not related to the Wipeout TV show ). In general, anything that reminds me of 2012 is a good thing. Anyway, as for the logo, my interest ...

If you have fully watched the video above, you must know by now that I have seen Girls' Generation's latest (and greatest) music video, " Party ." What a song, but sadly, it is a summer-themed song (I am a person who prefers the cold and rainy season instead of the hot summer). Honestly, I love the monsoon (rainy) season more than the summer. Although it is raining heavily outside (heavy enough for classes to be suspended), that won't stop my summer and party- ish vibe! Lemon soju , tequila , mojito , and other party-related items aside, I am actually on a good roll. My biggest milestone this week was when I got accepted into APC Speaks, woo! Party time!  We can’t stop, stop, stop,  yeogin party time! *Suddenly plays Jessica Jung's "So Much Better" in the background. Is that my name up on that list? Does someone know I exist? Is this a mistake? Am I even awake? Yes! I feel so much better than before.  Honestly speaking, my name...

(This is going to be a relatively short post, as I am already making another post with a different topic.) I have been browsing the blogs of my blockmates and I was shocked to find out that some of the content on the blogs of my blockmates WERE PLAGIARIZED WORKS . How can I say that? Well, truth be told, it was very easy to spot them. The not-so-perfect formatting of the text, the different font, the background, and the semi-perfect grammar really rings bells inside my head, notifying me that a particular blog post was filled with plagiarized works. Honestly speaking, it is  EXTREMELY EASY TO SPOT PLAGIARIZED WORKS . Let me give you an example: As you can see, it is extremely easy to spot that this is plagiarized work. The background is white and it does not match the background color of the post body. The same goes for the text, it matches the copied background and it looks very out of place. Last but not least, if you ...

What is it with Mondays that are always such a surprise to me? A few hours ago, classes got suspended and, without hesitating, I immediately went home after the announcement. Yes, the first-ever suspension of classes due to bad weather in my college life. The announcement came after (or maybe during) our English Grammar and Composition Development ( EGRAMCOM)  class, luckily (or, to some, sadly) my College Algebra class was suspended, the same goes for my IT Concepts class. (I love IT Concepts, truth be told. I just hate College Algebra. "Complex math" is my achilles heel.) ADVISORY: Classes in all levels public & private schools are suspended today, July 6, 2015, Monday #walangpasok #MakatiInfo — Makati Info (@MakatiInfo) July 6, 2015 The oddest thing about this day was the feeling that I got when I looked out the window to watch the rainfall. Normally, I would stay focused on the lesson being discussed by our GRAMCOM professor, but there was so...

Some of my blockmates are still having some problems about blogging and I am here to help clarify some confusion about the assignment Sir Dustin gave us. First and foremost, THIS IS A BLOG POST. A POST. This is called A BLOG POST . You are supposed to make blog posts. They are POSTS in a BLOG . They are like Facebook posts. This is a blog post, NOT A BLOG . A blog is a SITE . It is like a WEBSITE . My blockmates usually say, "Ilan gagawin na blog?" [How many blogs are we supposed to make?]. I usually respond with "Isa lang" [Only one] because we only need to make one blog anyway. You do not say "Ilan Facebook na nagawa mo? Nabasa mo ba yung Facebook ni Juan dela Cruz?" [How many Facebooks have you made? Have you read the Facebook of Juan dela Cruz?]. There is a difference between a blog and the posts in a blog. Second, post titles. You should have a post title and the post title cannot and should not be the title of your blog . Her...

Remember that post where I said that I would focus on having a personality that is based off Seohyun's personality ? Yeah, I was not kidding about that, and I was very serious about that post. When I said that I would consider on "building" a personality that is based off the proper and bookworm-ish image of Seohyun, I really meant it. Before we start, let us think for a while who Seohyun really is and what her personality is like (even though I have never met her and I never will). Seohyun (Seo Ju Hyun) is a member of the Korean girl group  Girls' Generation . She is the maknae (the youngest member) of the group. She is known for being one of the singers in the popular Girls' Generation sub-unit  TaeTiSeo  ( Taeyeon , Tiffany , and Seohyun). A lot of people see Seohyun as a proper and well-behaved young lady because that is the image she upholds. She is known by many Sones for having a bookworm-ish image, and she constantly reminds the ...

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“Abilities can lead us to success, but character is what will keep us successful.” —My professor For those of you wondering why I started off this post with a quote, I actually have something to tell you about my character, my real character. Not my fake character, my real character. (Note: I do not think my professor remembers that she/he made that quote, how sad. Still, it is a great quote and I will continue to live by it.) Before I divulge information about my so-called "real character," I must let you all know that  everything  in this world has a bad side (with a few exceptions, of course). All of us have a good and bad side. The main point of it all is how much of each side we have. If we let our bad side take us over, we still start acting uncivilized, irrational, hardheaded, and possibly, into hateful human beings. I have friends who are known for their bad (yet sometimes witty) attitude, but I can still see that they have a good spirit in them. ...