Inside the Student Union Building, UPLB

I've heard about the improvements done inside the Student Union Building in UPLB, starting with the addition of a 7-Eleven branch. So I decided to go inside and have a look...

First thing I noticed was the white tiles on the floor. The ceiling was painted white as well. Back in the day, the floor was just gray and the ceiling was brown (I think). The hall had been dark and unwelcoming then; but now, it looks so clean and bright. I'm curious about how it looks like at night.

Then there's this wall with a photo mosaic of the highlights in UPLB's history from the 1960's to the 1980's. Before, I just used to walk along this hall without a second glance at the images, thanks to the drab background. But thanks to the improvements -- including the contrast in the background -- the mosaic seemed to be more noticeable.

Photo mosaic at the Student Union Building, UPLB

My usual hangout in the Student Union Building had been the cafeteria. Back then, the cafeteria looked dirty and forlorn with the grey floor and the brown posts. The chairs stood out in the background because they used to be the orange chairs with the metal legs straight from the 1980's. The classic Student Union cafeteria food included Linda's and Salad Country (my frequent haunts) plus hotdog and snack stands. Thanks to the big tables, I had enough space to work on handwritten BIO 1 lab reports there or to take a nap during free period after a sleepless night preparing a class report.

Ten years later, I got the surprise of my life to see that the cafeteria was all in white. The floor is tiled, the posts are white, the walls are white... well, the walls of the food stalls, that is. The stalls were offset to the original gray walls of the building. The tables were all white and the chairs too. The place looked a lot more welcoming, a lot more modern, a lot cleaner. Even the stalls looked more hygienic. Salad Country is still there but I didn't notice if Linda's is still there or the snack stands. The cake shop isn't there anymore and there were some food concessionaires that I didn't recognize.

Student Union Building cafeteria

The Student Union building isn't a sad part of the university anymore, it seems. The place looks more alive than it did when I was a student there. I wonder what the other parts of the building look like nowadays.

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