Last December, I went back to a campus that I loved. The University of the Philippines (UP) is the premiere state university in the country, and it is where I spent my college days. Every Christmas, the students of each college and major organizations showcase their own creation of large lanterns through a parade along the university oval. The whole parade is punctuated by small performances in front of the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences where students converge to watch. It then culminates at the Quezon Hall, just behind the oblation (a statue of a naked man, arms oustretched, looking towards the sky -- the symbol of that they university has held on for years).

This year, the parade was particularly colorful because it was the university's centennial year, and all the other UP other campuses (Baguio, Pampanga, Iloilo, Los Banos, Visayas and Mindanao) joined the celebration in the main campus in Diliman. And, the most celebrated hall-of-famer, the College of Fine Arts, occupied half of the whole parade since all the fine arts students were required to participate. Through the parade, one can see a miniature culture of what goes on in the university -- from the artists to the activists, the scientists and the scandals. The parade of lanterns is more like a parade of ideologies. Ahh... to be in UP again.