Ateneo de Davao Enrollment Attempt (Part 1)

May 31, 2010 by Jawz

As you may know, I had many reasons for coming to Davao City (as I stated in my ‘So Jawz, Why Davao City?’ blog post). I also chose Davao City as a place I’d like to study in, since I wish to be living there for the moment. I want a college education, and I think it’d be cool to have the experience of college abroad.

This blog post is PART ONE to my attempt to get enrolled in the Ateneo de Davao University. It deals with my experiences before coming to Davao City, and tells a little bit about my ‘journey’ leading up to when I left. PART TWO & PART THREE will center more heavily on my enrollment attempt, and will talk about my experiences while in Davao City.

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October 3^rd, 2009 - Meeting

On this day, my dad took me to Atlanta, Georgia, to meet up with Filipinos that his priest friend knew. The meeting was just a casual conversation and answering of any questions I had. One of the Filipinos, a lady from Davao City, gave me some copies of Ateneo de Davao University’s International Student Admission Form. They also brought up the question of if I had gotten a visa yet. Me and my dad said it was something we would have to talk about. That day excited me ‘cause I felt like my parents were finally listening to my idea as if it wasn’t some phase, or some crazy dream.

October 17^th, 2009 -Family Argument

Sometime in mid-October, there was a family quarrel that had erupted. My great aunt left behind a trust fund for me and my sister’s college education. My uncle (my dad’s brother), somehow held the money instead of my parents. My mom wanted it to be handed over since she was my mother, and he was just my uncle. He refused and there was an argument over that.

One Saturday (I think maybe on October the 17^th), I ended up going with my dad to my uncle’s office to get my college application stuff looked at. My mom told me not to do that, and I didn’t want to, but my dad had already driven there, so I kept silent. When I got there, my application stuff was set into scattered piles and looked over to see what needs to be done. I began to panic ‘cause we realized there were some things needed. These needed things would take longer than 4 weeks to get, which would mean I wouldn’t get to leave to Davao City on Thanksgiving (late November, as I was hoping).

ADDU International Student Application Page

While I was worrying about getting there late, my mom called. Uh-oh! There was an argument between her, my dad, and my uncle & aunt over the phone. The phone was handed to me, and she asked me to come home or work with them. If I worked on my applications with them, she won’t have a part in helping me. I honestly felt torn, ‘cause I couldn’t see how me and my mom could get the stuff done by ourselves. I wanted it finished already. I also felt as if I was betraying my mom by working with them, and I didn't want to do that. At the same time, I felt angry as if my parents were having quarrel issues leftover from the divorce (I honestly can't say that's true though), and it was dragging my plans down. I did as my mom said though, and went home.

As a few days passed, I filled out my applications on my own. Me and my mom ended up arguing about something, since, she still was not too comfortable with the idea of me leaving. And also, I was still a bit hurt and angry over the family argument. We got over it though. Just a silly argument.

October 30^th, 2009 - Job Fair, Police Station, & Bank

This day my mom asked her boyfriend to take me to a job fair in town. We went and I applied for 4 jobs. I was hoping to get picked up by at least one. The money would be to help pay out my first days of when I come to the Philippines. My mom accepted the money my aunt and uncle offered to help with the tickets, but I felt all the money we had, and had offered for us, wouldn’t be enough to pay for my first days. I felt that it would just be eaten up by all of the plane ticket fees. Anyway, I was hoping to get a job to have money to be prepared. Unfortunately, I never got one, but we managed somehow.

Later that day we went to the County Police Station. I needed fingerprints to send off a request to the FBI, for a National Police Clearance requested by my college application. My mom’s boyfriend had taken me to the Sheriff’s Office a few days before, but they told us that I can only be fingerprinted at the County Police Station, not the Sheriff’s Office.

So, we went to the County Police Station, but they were off on lunch break. Me and my mom’s boyfriend decided to go out for lunch and then come back. When we came back, the police asked me for an ID card before I could be fingerprinted. Oh crap! I didn’t have one with me. I had to go all the way back home, get my ID card, and go back. Finally, the fingerprinting was done. My dad later sent the request, with our hope of it coming back soon.

Fingerprinting Page

When I got back home, my mom took me to the bank and we deposited money into the bank account that I had recently gotten. The money was a mix of what my dad, mom, and aunt & uncle gave me. Plus I had a few hundred dollars that I saved for about a year.

November 2^nd, 2009 - Tickets

Tickets for me, my mom, and her boyfriend were purchased. The final set date to fly out was early Christmas morning. I remember me and my girlfriend were excited about this, since, it was official.

December 14^th, 2009 - Consulate

Me and my dad went to Atlanta, Georgia. There, we were headed to go to the Philippine Honorary Consulate. I remember it was very foggy that day. We walked around a little while, since nobody was there yet. After eating, we returned back to the office of the Philippine Honorary Consulate. There, we met Mr. Donato, the Honorary Consul General. He was a  laid back kind of guy, and easy to talk to. It wasn’t any kind of super formal meeting, with that edge of nervousness.

Consulate of The Philippines: Atlanta, Georgia

Mr. Donato stamped my high school transcript, request paper, and colored copy of my passport. It was stapled together to a paper with a golden seal with red ribbons on it. We also asked about the visa, and he used a large rubber stamp to mark a visa for 59 days, in my passport. As we sat and talked before paying all of the fees, Mr. Donato gave me a few maps of the Philippines, including Davao City. He also seemed to try to convince me to check into Ateneo de Manila, rather than Davao City’s Ateneo, if I would like better choices of things to take.

Everything was finished, except for one thing. I was still waiting for the FBI report to come in the mail. It was disappointing to me and my dad, since, we could’ve gone to Atlanta just one time. But since the FBI report hadn’t come, we would have to go back to Atlanta to get it stamped and affixed with the seal.

December 25^th, 2009 - To Davao City

Me, my mom, and her boyfriend left on that Christmas day, to go to Davao City, Philippines. I had two things left behind that I still needed. One was the FBI report with the seal from the Honorary Consul General. The other was a Letter of Recommendation. I had to have 3 letters, and I dropped by my former school to get them done in early 2009. I had run into a problem though, ‘cause, I noticed I needed one from the headmaster. So I requested it from him a few days before Christmas. I wasn’t able to get it before I left, sadly.

Close-up of the Application Checklist