☾: #MNL

University of Southeastern Philippines

Bo. Obrero Campus, Davao City

SEMINAR OVERVIEW

Five days of freedom. Free from school, stress, household chores and school uniform! Hooray! But that does not mean that being away from the routine means putting an end in learning. No. No. No. We came to Manila, yes you’ve read it right, for an educational reason with somehow a little bit of pleasure. 5 good days at Manila is all worth it. We were educated but at the same time we had fun. The wisdom that we got from the trip are not “always” the scholastic type but it includes the wisdom of life by means of having fun. I strongly believed that not all things are taught inside the four corners of the classroom because some of life’s important wisdom is learnt outside the real world.

What we did last September 8 and its 4 succeeding days was one of my unforgettable memories in my college life – from my first plane ride experience down to Manila-Tagaytay-Laguna escapade and every location and destinations that the whole trip comprises. We had an Accenture’s company lecture and know-about and software introduction, short trip at the small IBM Philippine Branch and hands-on trial on their software, and a side trip malling at Trinoma for our first day. The next morning we went on a gadget and devices tour at PLDT Innovation Technohub, story-telling inspiration from Ideaspace, and a panic buying at Divisoria-Tutuban. On the third day, we attended the biggest IT Confernence in Philippines at SMX MOA Convention – the Y4iT but I went out together with few important people to the bank to withdraw some cash and walked around the Bay. We arrived earlier than 8 am at Toshiba for a Plan Tour and learned the how and what’s in their company, visited the great view of Taal Volcano at Tagaytay, gone childlike and silly at Enchanted Kingdom, and another panic buying again at Divisoria for a last shot. Upon returning home, we did not missed to have a photo-op at PBB House, have a look at Aquino’s Ancestral House, lecture with Ms. Didith at ADMU, laboratory tour at UP-Diliman, sight-seeing at gold-priced stuffs at Resorts Worlds Manila, and Maayong Gabi-i Davao!

DAY 1

September 8, 2014: Touchdown MANILA! Hoooray! After the plane landed at NAIA we went directly at McDonalds to have a heavy breakfast. Then we went ahead on our first Company – the Accenture. Had a little discussion and application demonstration (Tableau software if you are curious) for one whole morning then straight to Kenny Roger’s for a full lunch. On the afternoon, we conquered the drizzles to visit IBM. We had a short tour in the company’s mini branch, then a little discussion and had our hands on trial with the Bluemix software application. After this we had a short trip at Trinoma Mall and had our dinner buffet at Great Eastern Hotel around the circles of A-Venue.

I learned that…

· Philippine Air Line experience

ü PAL is so strict in terms of their passengers’ safety and security that they had a lot of stops and checkpoints.

ü They have free snacks. Yey!

ü Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue the clouds are fluffier as I have imagined.

· Accenture

ü Emphasizes their value to people which was one of their company’s purposes.

ü They offer greater opportunity to professionals, aspirants and fresh graduates.

ü One of the best IT Company in the world.

· International Business Machine

ü It’s a hard to be part of the team.

ü You must be knowledgeable and awesome.

ü They have servers that are dedicated for student’s experiments

· Others

ü Basically you must know your skills to know your field of interest.

ü Trinoma is not what I expected it to be, it’s ordinary.

I like…

The accommodation and safe flight with PAL, the clouds’ view from the windowpane, the heavy breakfast at McDonalds which is beyond my expectations, the Accenture lecture together with their jam-packed snack (by the way, the only company we visited that gave us snacks), the worth-it lunch at Kenny Rogers, the experience inside the IBM especially the video presentation about Watson and the Bluemix software. Speakers on both companies are very knowledgeable and that was so cool!

I did not like…

That Tableau is not for free and the time is too short for the demo and hands-on trials. Wish to have a time extension for those helpful stuffs!

Day 2

September 9, 2014: The second day was made for us to visit PLDT Innovation Technohub to have a Plant Tour and let us know their latest inventions. We ate our lunch inside the bus then went straight ahead to Ideaspace for some inspiring talks from the CEO. After that, we went to buy some pasalubong stuffs at 168 Shopping Mall, Outisde Tutuban and Divisoria, and had our dinner on that same place.

I learned that….

· PLDT Innovation Technohub

ü They have invented new improvised essential stuff for people’s convenience like the portable fax machine.

· Ideaspace

ü Being successful starts with curiosity, patience, creativity and hard-work.

ü Some of the world’s youngest CEO’s amazing stories were told on Ideaspace and it really pretty inspiring.

· Others

ü Thou shall not trust easily at people at Manila.

ü There are lots of bogus and theft, be watchful and wise.

ü Divisoria has the cheapest clothes/things on sale.

ü Time is your worst enemy when you do shopping at Divisoria.

ü At Tutuban, as the floor level goes up the prices is goes cheaper and cheaper.

I like…

The things I saw during the tour at PLDT (example: chronological improvement of their telephone and new inventions of the present), the big screenplay at their monitoring room, the inspirational story at Ideaspace, the friendly accommodation of the people at Ideaspace, the Ideaspace freebies (Yellow Shirt and Sticker), the short-time shopping experience at Divisoria-Tutuban, everything you can buy there.

I did not like…

The lecture at PLDT because the speaker speaks without enthusiasm making it boring and sleepy, we had a super long time (it was almost 1pm) at PLDT without having a snack giving me mild headache because of hunger, the time for shopping is too short for a complicated person like me.

DAY 3

September 10, 2014: Well our whole day was planned to join the biggest IT Conference in the Philippines – the Youth For Information Technology Students or better Known as Y4IT. But that wasn’t what my day looks like; I went out of the conference together with few people to withdraw at RCBC Savings Bank. When we returned to the place, we visited some participating booths of the event.

I learned that…

· Y4iT

ü Anyone can form a solution

ü Dream high, play around, have fun

ü Take the risk and never be afraid to fail

ü The future belongs to those who dream

ü Working hard is fun if you are having fun

· Others

ü SM MOA is not big, it’s super big

ü It has a lot of annexes that made it super big

ü There’s a lot of entrances and exits because of the annexes

ü Follow traffic rules inside the mall

I like…

Out of my four expectations, I met two of them which are: One – Boredom! Two – freebies from the booths outside the main event!! But aside from that I also liked the giveaway prizes to the lucky random people which unfortunately none from us was picked and the speaker’s speeches a little. We also had a chance to have a photo-op with the Y4iT founder.

I did not like…

I wasn’t able to hear the whole morning talk and I felt sleepy on some of the talks that I was able to hear. Also, I was not able to meet Miss Mozilla, she’s what I’ve been looking forward to meet. And the other speakers like Founder of Codetoki and I forgot his name but the game developer from another country. Sorry but I have to say this, I am not going back to Tramway Buffet.

DAY 4

September 11, 2014: This is most exciting day ever!!! Half of the morning was made for the Toshiba Plant Tour. We take a trip around their super-duper big plantation and had a know how in every laboratory that they had. After that, we ate at the overlooking place of Max’s at Tagaytay, had a short trip at Tagaytay Sky View to also buy some pasalubong stuffs. And the most memorable thing ever happened! We had fun at Enchanted Kingdom for a Ride-All-You-Can! After which, we went ahead again at Divisoria to buy last minute pasalubong there and ate our dinner.

I learned that…

· Toshiba

ü One of the most disciplined company that I ever known.

ü They are polite. They always say Hi/Good Morning (depends on time) to every people they came across with.

ü A clean surrounding is very noticeable and impressive.

ü They accept all kinds of people as long as trainable and able to perform the assigned task.

ü Their plantation only shuts down once in a year – only on New Year.

· Tagaytay

ü Some fraud-act sellers are found below the peak of Tagaytay Sky View.

ü It would kill me to try Buko Pie.

· Enchanted Kingdom

ü You choose to ride first on the easy-peasy ones before the extreme ones or else you’ll get bored.

ü You cannot ride the same ride twice because you will lack of time.

ü Don’t sleep on the umbrella ride, you’ll get dizzy.

ü You cannot wait anymore for someone so go run and have fun.

ü You must mingle and make friends with anyone you came across or ride with.

ü Your eyes are the best camera you have.

I like…

The accommodation and the plant tour that we had at Toshiba, the excitement was overflowing as we headed to our lunch at Max’s Tagaytay and I totally liked the view not only that, the pasalubong stuffs that we bought and the buko pie that was tasty. It was my first time to appreciate buko thing, because honestly, my food taste despises its flavor. And it was the happiest childish day I had because of the fun-amazing-cool-awesome-breath-taking-worth it rides at Enchanted Kingdom.

I did not like…

For this day, I did not like the lunch. It was my second time at Max’s and I thought I had an odd taste at my first time but I was wrong. I still did not like the food. The chicken’s too dry and plain. I did not like the prices at the Enchanted Kingdom souvenir shop. Overpriced!

DAY 5

September 12, 2014: I bid goodbye to our Kapsule bed, Room 202, Kabayan Hotel,Tour Bus, Kuya Al, Kuya Driver, Ma’am Me’An, Divisoria, Tutuban and Manila! Ooops. Wait, there’s more. Before we headed our way back to our home town, we visited two known schools in Metro Manila– Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines Diliman Campus. Envy – is the perfect word to describe on what I felt on the last tour.

I learned that…

· PBB

ü It’s really small from the outside like they said.

· Aquino’s Ancestral House

ü It’s a small, one-storey, simple home of the Aquino Family.

ü The other houses around the Aquino’s house usually have two levels.

· Ateneo de Manila University

ü They have good foundation in their IT Course.

ü They’ve got good stuffs for Artificial Intelligence which they call “toys”. For example, the Google Glass.

ü The students have a free access to all sites including social networking sites. No blocked sites which means COOL!

ü Overpricing to the highest level at their souvenir shop.

· UP-Diliman Campus

ü They have a lot of laboratories. It was 6 I think.

ü Their laboratories depend on the student’s specialization like Security, Algorithms and etc.

ü They have unusual laboratory set-up. It does not have a lot of computer units but it only has four or five MAC units, colorful tables on the center, whiteboard and two air conditioners. Overall, the room is conducive for meeting and planning of group works or thesis projects.

ü If you wear something not ordinary clothes you will receive a lot of stares.

ü It’s most like hard for you to find food that is cheap in their place, they too give high price in their meals.

· Resorts World Manila

ü Everywhere you look, its price is gold.

ü As far as I know, McDonalds is the only thing affordable at the place.

· Cebu Pacific

ü They don’t have a lot of checkpoints. They are not strict.

ü They don’t have free snacks, and they are overpricing too!

ü I felt it like it was not a safe trip. I experienced a lot of bumping on the air.

I like…

Everything I saw, I heard and I learned from the schools we visited is totally likeable! I also liked the side trips we had. It was amazing! From the Pinoy Big Brother House to the Aquino’s Ancestral House and the Resorts World Manila. RWM is an amazing and elegant place to shop (only if you have big cashes on hands).

I did not like…

The stares from the students at UP-Diliman and how expensive things are at the souvenir shops of both schools. Even a foldable fan with the ADMU’s Logo printed on it costs 50 Pesos like OMG! It’s so mahal kaya.

Appendix

What can I recommend for the improvement of the advance seminar program of USEP?

· Choose Model A

· Fly with Philippine Airlines for a safe and happy trip.

· Maynilad Tours is proven and tested to have the finest accommodation.

· Go to Eastwood and visit Accenture, then of course take a look at the walk of fame. You might find your favorite star!

· Makati has it! Tall buildings, good companies and mouthwatering foodies around the circle!

· Never miss the cool IBM lecture and hands-on trial together with their ultraspeed internet.

· Be inspired at Ideaspace for awesome ideas for your success in the future.

· Shopping at Divisoria and Tutuban.

· Of course, attend Y4iT because it’s a must.

· Join and participate in every available booth.