Aviary in the Ateneo

When I was a college freshman, I signed up for a class called "Aviary in the Ateneo" at the Alternative Class Program (ACP). ACP is supposed to be this one day every year where students get to pick a non-academic class they're passionate about. Not that I'm passionate about birds. It was just that my friend Anna, whom I've known since high school and who was my college blockmate then, thought it could be a great class.

Note that the operative word was "could." We both did not know anything about birds. And neither could we believe that there were actually birds in urban Ateneo. But we had to give it a try. Or rather, Anna had to give it a try.

We were supposed to be at a certain place in Ateneo (I forget...you'll know why later) at (gasp!) 5:00 in the morning. When I learned that it was a 5:00-on-the-dot kind of thing, I secretly released a nervous gulp. 5:00???!!! Noooo wayyyy!

But I signed up for the class with Anna, anyway. I knew I won't be there at 5, but I pretended I'd be.

On the appointed date and time, Anna--who's usually late--was actually there. I was hoping Anna will be too lazy to come, too, but it turned out she was supremely interested in birds. She went there at 5, waited for me, and tried to enjoy bird-watching when she figured out I won't be coming. And she enjoyed it!

I knew she was a bit mad at me, but Anna doesn't get mad too long. She simply isn't the type who'd be. She's soooo nice. So I was forgiven.

I never saw birds during my four years of stay as a student. However, one summer morning in 2006, a few months after accepting my current job here in Ateneo, my editor pointed out the happy chirping of birds, and how the previous day, she watched those birds flit from one tree branch to another.

I guess I was a pretty lame person to share such a story to, because when she shared it with another officemate, a graphic artist, through telephone, they were both excited up to the point where our graphic artist officemate even went up to our room to view the birds through our window.

At first I couldn't relate with them while they were bird-watching. But as I watched some more, I began to see how cute and colorful birds can be. I saw birds I did not even know existed in Ateneo. These were beautiful birds, the kind you'd see in books about, well, birds.

Months later, while taking the Holy Week Triduum at the San Jose Seminary, I saw those birds again, flying freely. The seminary area was surrounded with trees, like a mini-forest, and I realized that birds could indeed live in Ateneo. That birds love it in this university. And that there really is an aviary in the Ateneo.

* Photo taken by Teya, in the summer of 2005, from my office window