Flores, Jomela Ayanna M.

August 22, 2018

BS Psychology

Reaction paper #2

On August 15, 2018, Wednesday morning, we had our educational tour for our Rizal
subject. We are handled by Ms. Jeselyne Genovata in this tour. The purpose of it is to see,
reminisce and appreciate the historical places here in the Philippines where our greatest hero Dr.
Jose Rizal show his potential, determination, courage, perseverance and fearless personality in
fighting for our rights. The destenations we had visited are Fort Santiago, Baluarte De San Diego
and National Museum of Natural History.

Fort Santiago

The first one that we visited is Fort Santiago located at Intramuros, Manila. In the
entrance of it, they will give a ticket with a brief information of Forth Santiago in the back of it.
According to the information they gave, Fort Santiago is a 16th century military defense
structure, stands witness to the valor and heroism of the Filipino through the centuries. Adaptive
use of this famous historical landmark makes certain areas ideals for open air theater, picnics and
promenades. The Intramuros Visitors Center gives an overview of various attractions in the
Walled City. In this place, the first thing we saw was an old Spanish infrastructure in Rizal's
time. It was amazing to see those things because it will make you think how they preserve and
maintain the ambiance of Spanish times. As you go around of it, the place will make you
imagine the scenario of Rizal in that time. This makes me so proud and appreciates more the
subject of Rizal because when you look around you will see the sacrifice and determination that
Rizal have that time. There are also a mini museum which replicates the scene of Rizal while he
was in the court and writing the letter of Multi Adios. It was a jaw-dropping to see the official
writing of Rizal and also his vertebra where the bullet hit him. It was fun to go there and you can
gain a lot of knowledge while reading the entire caption there. This part of our educational tour
makes me realize that you don't need to use deadly weapons and killing other people to get want
you wanted. The determination, perseverance and the knowledge of a person is enough to fight
for your rights. It will not be easy and fast journey but in the end it will be worth it becuase you
know you chose the right way of fighting.
 Baluarte De San Diego

The second destination was Baluarte De San Diego which is located at Sta. Lucia St,
Intramuros, Manila. The same as the Fort Santiago there is a brief information about Baluarte De
San Diego in the back of ticket. It stated there that Baluarte De San Diego was designed and built
by Jesuits priest Antonio Sedeño from 1586 to 1587. It is one of the oldest stone fortifications in
Intramuros. Began as a circular fort called Nuestra Señora de Gula, renovated in 1593 to join the
walls of the city. Fort fell in despair and in 1644 construction began for a new Baluarte which
was completed between 1653 and 663. Resembling an ace of spades, it housed a foundry during
18th century. The Baluarte was breached by British forces with cannon fire in 1762. Restored and
strengthen after the British occupation but was damaged during earthquake of 1863. It was then
condemned by the Spaniards. It was totally destroyed during the Battle of Manila in 1945.
Restoration was done from 1979 to 1992. In this place, we see the fortification in that time where
the weapons are being stored. It was breathtaking and heart-stopping to see that infrastructure. It
tends us to remember the situation of the Military who hide their weapons in that place and as
well as those military that they arrested which had remorseless punishment. It also shows
strength and unity of the militaries that time and how wise they are to build it in order to
establish a strong barrier that will protect them to their enemy.

National Museum of Natural History

This our last but not the least destination we visited, the National Museum of Natural History
which located at Agrifina Circle in Rizal Park, Manila. We are really amazed of what we have
seen there. Those artifacts like the body of lolong where we can see how long he was through his
bones. We can see other species which is not usually and can easily see in our surroundings.
They captured geography of the world which is land, air and water. There's a lot of extinct
species that we saw for the first time there which really caught our attention and interest. This
makes me realize that the small things really matter. We don't appreciate it yet but later on as the
time goes by those little things will be valued and bring some remarkable characteristics for the
next generation.

In a nut shell, this educational tour was full of learnings, realizations and appreciation to
those things that left remarkable moments here in our world. It also gave us additional
knowledge which tends us to appreciate more those little things in our surrounding. As we
visited those places, I appreciated more our subject of Rizal because we see the actual place and
infrastructure where Dr. Jose Rizal shows his love for our country and determination to fight the
rights of his countrymen. All of those are worth it to lend time and see it because it will help you
or the Filipinos to be more proud of his country especially to their greatest hero which is Dr. Jose
Rizal.