Written by Gabriel Dan Lagmay

To us Freshies, the term “free cut” was just a legend told and passed down to us by our upperclassmen—a legend of how, one day, a ruthless and powerful professor will decide not to go to class *gasp* which means… well, no class for that period.

Amazed and flabbergasted, our fresh-out-of-high-school selves (with our matching planchado uniforms and 0% will to go to school) were very excited to experience one of these so called “free cuts” and were very curious about them in general.

The hype was real.

Classes began and the first week of school was one big free cut fest! Free cut for you, free cut for you, and you, and you, free cut for everyone!

Eventually we got so bored because we were given more free cuts than actual classes—just like how Kuya Willie Revillame would give out 5000s—and we were running out of ideas on how to spend our free time.

So here’s a list of 5 things to do during a free cut (just in case you run out of things to do):

EAT

Priorities.

Self-explanatory na ‘to! Our area is filled with glorious karinderyas—both Faura and Pedro Gil sides so medyo (sobrang)(super) tempting kumain kapag may time ka.

Then there’s Robinsons with some of its budget friendly-ish-ish-ish restaurants and food court. There are even restaurants in Robinsons to satisfy your Burgis cravings (for more information, wait for the article “OrComida: Robinsons Place Manila (Splurge Edition)”).

SLEEP

Isa pang priority.

Aminin na natin, sa panahon ngayon mas madaling makakuha ng feelings kaysa tulog.

So it’s actually nice to get a bonus hour of sleep for the day if your class turns out to be a free one.

The only problem now is where to sleep, right? Let’s try and make an entry about that in the future.

CRAM OR ADVANCED STUDY

I feel like this sums up college life so far.

So, you have an extra hour or more to do homework or study. But are you studying for a test tomorrow or are you only studying for an exam you’re taking in the next hour? (YAAAAN)

Free cuts can be used to cram or to do advanced things, and I think that’s beautiful.

WORKOUT/ SWIM/ RUN

Let’s get to the rare stuff, shall we?

Yes, this is based on experience and yes it is possible.

One faithful and sunny morning, I was going to school when all of a sudden our block group chat went loco. Apparently, our PE prof suddenly cancelled our 9-11 am class. Everybody was celebrating while I was just thinking how I would kill time. I was in full PE attire so why not do something physical right? So I asked my friend if I could go to his condo’s gym, he said yes—and so we ended up swimming.

GO TO TIMEZONE

BABALA: Gawin lamang kapag sagana ka talaga sa time.

Are you willing to take the risk? Of all the mentioned cases above, this is the only one that won’t benefit your studies or your well-being, pero happy ka naman!

Aside from going to Timezone, there’s also bowling, billiards and other recreational(?) things that one can do to relieve oneself from stress and to avoid forgetting the meaning of “fun.”

There you have it, here’s an OrCom list of things to do during a free cut! Bottomline is, you can spend your free cuts in whatever way you want (kahit sobrang wild pa niyan). But most importantly, make sure to make good use of your time, and make sure you make it to the next class.