Barbarian

One time, I saw this Facebook status of a niece (from my cousin) about being all too excited about her joining organizations in her school. She just started attending college this year.

At that point, I started to reminisce about MY time when I was in freshman year. 

To give you all an insight of how I was in college, I was kind of nerdy in my own way. I preferred to be indoors that out.  I was the overly goody good girl who was afraid to break the rules. Hell, I did not ever miss room to room inspection every night, before curfew, at my dormitory. 

With that kind of introduction, you would prolly guess that, yes, I did not have any acad or non-varsitarian orgs when I was in college. Hashtag boring. 

Well, if you didn't know, there is a term used to call people like me in university jargon. And that is a:

Dictionatry definition states that:

O diba? May free ad pa ng WeChat? :))

Ow. Definition 2 hurts. LOL. Well, i guess, in an organization's perspective, I think you're that kind of person unless you join their elite circle. If you don't, then you stay a so-called barbarian.

If that's the case then here I am, a proud Barbarian. Haha.

In all aspects of life, of course, there are pros and cons about joining an organization.

Pros:

• Extension of your social circle. Let's all not be hypocrites and say that your primary purpose of joining an organization is to achieve that high academic status with the academically inclined activities of an organization and whatnot. (This shall be discussed later.) You are a freshie. A freshman who is exposed to a new world full of strangers. You hardly know anybody (well except maybe those classmates from high school who also decided to go to the same school as yours). Of course you need FRIENDS. And joining an organization is one of the major factors that can help you with that. This is even more beneficial if you and the org that you are joining share something in common. Like an acad org of your course, or an org where its members are from the same province or city you're from. "Oy! Quetal?"
• From point 1, yes, in a way, orgs can help you achieve that high academic status that you're vying for. Espscially when it comes to old exams and assignments to projects and all sorts of academically related activities. Does UPPERCLASSMEN ring a bell? ;)
• Exposure and experience. Orgs usually have activities planned for a particular semester or maybe for the whole academic year. From GK (Gawad Kalinga) to tutorial classes, to formal balls, to sportsfests, etc. By being a member of the organization, you will be a part of that. The exposure and experience that you gain can be endless! Social circle extended once more. Hello to more Facebook friend requests!
• Support group. It is inevitable to have down times when you are in college. Like flunk an exam or you got shooed away by the prof because you were late. Things like that. And orgmates will be there to back you up and lift you when you're down. "Okey lang yan, pre, panot naman si sir eh."
• Connections for future endeavor. You have graduated and desperately need a job ASAP (so you will not be included in the country's statistics of the unemployed). Brods and sisses that are already in the business are always ready to extend a helping hand. Like, there's this unwritten law that an orgmate should help another orgmate in need even though they are well not acquainted with each other. Your only common ground is you both belong to the same organization. Yay, resume just magically transferred to the top of the pile! *wink wink*

So, with all these wondrous things that an organization can offer, you ask me: "Why did you not join one?"

Well, joining an organization requires A LOT OF TIME (con #1) from you. And I just felt that I was not up for that (being this lazy, old boring me). There was a time when I was almost convinced by a friend to join one but then I decided otherwise. My life principles kicked in. I believed that if I feel that I was doing something halfheartedly, then better not do it at all. (that was back then, for those who get what i mean, ha ha.) So there. I would rather sleep in peace at my free time rather than do stuff against my will.

Also, in joining an org, there is this so-called REPORTING stage with matching FINALS night that lasts a couple of weeks or so. This is like an initiation process. Each organization have their own ways of initiating neophytes. I heard that there are times when unbelievable requests are made and sometimes they throw in random insults at you. Haha, I got scared of that.

And because of those reasons, I chose to be a barbarian.

Then you might say, "You must have really few friends." if you follow my logic about joining an org to gain friends. I guess I'm one to bend the rules. I found friends in the form of a lab section in one of our majors. To discuss about them shall require another long blog post, but yeah, I may have fewer friends than what I'd gain if I joined an org but I'm quite sure they're what I'd call true friends. :) Pros in joining an org are also applicable to them. With that fact, being called a barbarian makes it all worthwhile.

So, going back, joining an organization is still your decision and no one can ever dictate you with that. If you decide on joining, then congratulations! You just need to balance you time and discipline yourself to play your role as a student and as an org member. But, if you decide otherwise, there are of course, other ways of gaining friends even if you are a barbarian (like me).