The World is My Playground

Perceptions

2012-02-20T02:16:00.002+11:00

MBA friends have been posting this photo on Facebook and thought it amusing so I'm reposting it here.

What do you think I'm doing? **Hush** Keep it to yourself. LOL.

Picturesque Prague

2012-02-15T03:01:00.010+11:00

Move over Barcelona. Prague is now my favourite European city. I shall attempt to tell why through the photos I took even if I know they will be inadequate.

Exploring the city below freezing point was torture but its beauty more than made up for it.

Instead of recounting my experience lengthily, I decided to do a short list of observations and tips to enjoy a brief trip to Prague. I stayed there for 3 days and 2 nights but I only had 2 full days to explore the city.

My Top Ten Observations and Tips (in no particular order)

1.Considering the number of tourists Prague receives from all over the world, the signs are not tourist friendly. Street signs are not in English.

2.It’s a good thing locals are friendly and helpful considering #1.

3.All tourist spots are within walking distance of each other. If you’re lazy to walk or if it’s too cold, trams and trains are convenient options.

Prague Metro:

4.Not everybody honestly pays for the trams. I noticed that I was the only one validating my ticket every time I ride. So, if nagkukuripot ka...*wink*

5.I stayed at Charles Bridge Hostel and it was awesome! It had keyless entry, unlimited water, tea and coffee, unlimited wifi and internet, public PCs, neat and spacious rooms, clean sheets, free towels, clean bathrooms, perfect location, friendly staff and most of all very affordable. It was, by far, the best hostel I’ve stayed at. It came as a bonus that my roommates consisting of an Australian, two Brazilians, 2 Americans, and a Colombian were all cool and friendly. Try it!

6.Czech winter is harsh. I was fortunate that it didn’t snow during my trip or else I would’ve just preferred to stay in the hostel and stay warm. My travel period was the coldest in Europe (talk about luck!) but I could not have predicted the weather when I booked my trip. Avoid winter travel or come prepared. Wear a lot of layers under a thick coat. Each day I wore 3 layers of clothes, 2 thick socks, a pair of warm boots, a thick coat, a pair of gloves and a bonnet but I still found it difficult to last more than two hours outside. I regularly went back to the hostel to defrost.

7.The touristy part of the city is small. You can actually tour it in a day or two but it’s better to stay a few more days and bask in its beauty.

8.According to travel guru Rick Steves, Czechs invented lager; so don’t leave Prague without drinking one.

9.Try local food like trdlnik, goulash, sausages, and pork knuckles.(top to bottom)

10.Have a list of places you want to see, dishes you want to try and activities you want to do. I made the first 2 but totally forgot the last! People say it’s good not to be able to do everything on your first visit because it gives you a reason to go back. In this case, I failed to watch the famous Don Giovanni which would’ve been a memorable experience. In addition, it would’ve been interesting to check out the operas, the plays and the artsy fartsy stuff that distinguishes Prague from the rest. At least I have a reason to return, hopefully when the weather is much better. =)

Here are the spots that I was able to see:

Charles Bridge: Commissioned in the 14th century by the holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. It offers one of the most pleasant 500-yard strolls in Europe.

St. Nicholas Church: One of the leading baroque constructions in Europe and is seen as the most beautiful building of the Czech baroque. The most valued monuments of art preserved in the church are paintings created by K. Skreta. These paintings represent the so-called “Passion Cycle” created in 1673-74.

Prague Castle: The biggest ancient castle in the world according to Guinness World Records.

St. Vitus Cathedral: another one of Europe’s most magnificent cathedrals.

St. George’s Basilica: It is the oldest church building within the castle's grounds and is also the best-preserved Romanesque church in Prague

Golden Lane: Has a long history which you can read here. Basically it is a series of makeshift dwellings owned by various employees of the castle. It started in the 1560’s and has now been made into an exhibition area.

Astronomical Clock: a famous landmark. It is a part of Old Town Square.

Old Town Square: Prague’s historic centre. The towering Tyn Church is pure Gothic.

Wenceslas Square: It used to be the natural assembly point where Czechs congregated. Now, it is the commercial centre where a myriad of stalls, shops and restaurants can be found.

Dancing House by Frank Gehry: One of the most fascinating architectural expressions of Prague.

Josefov: aka Jewish Quarters. It is known for its well-preserved synagogues.

Lennon Wall: a Beatles mark at the heart of Prague. I just had to see this coz, as I’ve been incessantly saying, I’m a Beatles fan.

Click here for more photos.

Zurich: My Gateway to Prague

2012-02-10T01:19:00.014+11:00

Amidst the hustle and bustle of my IB Consultancy project, I found time to insert a quick getaway right after an important client presentation. This trip took just two weeks of planning because my team’s schedule was erratic. I was not intending to travel a lot as I said in my New Year blog post but I decided to maximize the multiple-entry Schengen Visa I got courtesy of my client. Also, in less than two months, I will be bidding goodbye to Europe permanently which means travelling to other European cities will be more expensive in the future.

I got the idea of exploring other European cities aside from the business-related trips while on the EasyJet flight from Amsterdam to Manchester. I was browsing through the airline’s magazine and saw an ad promoting some tourist destinations which included one of my dream destinations--Prague. It was quite affordable so I suddenly blurted out to my teammates, “ let’s go to Prague! Look, the airfare is very cheap!” (pointing to the ad). Jehan had Prague in his list as well so he immediately said yes! We decided to invite other teammates and agreed to talk about it more once we land in Manchester.

As soon as we landed, Jehan and I logged on to EasyJet’s website and discovered that it had no direct flight from Manchester. It only flew from London. Our spirits were dampened but we were not discouraged. We still considered other options. Our priority was our consultancy project so we had to work around the project’s schedule. Eventually we decided on particular dates which, for some reason, were more expensive. We couldn’t change them anymore as these are the only dates that were relatively activity-free in our team schedule. Either we go on those dates or not at all. Jehan eventually decided to go to Barcelona together with Sean, another teammate, because it was cheaper and they haven’t been there. They wanted me to join them and postpone going to Prague. I love Barcelona and it was my favourite European city before seeing Prague. However, I didn’t want to return less than a year after going, unless it’s all expense paid like my recent trip to Amsterdam. My priority was to explore new cities first given my limited budget and time.

Stubbornly, I decided to go to Prague by myself. Prague has been stuck in my mind ever since I saw the magazine ad and going there was the only way to appease me. I considered a lot of options and had several late nights trying to decide which option was the best in terms of airline, trip duration and most importantly cost. I wanted to fly out from Manchester as going to London is time consuming and will entail additional transportation cost. I used Kayak to search for the most affordable and comfortable flights and eventually settled for a non-budget airline. I’d rather pay for the comfort of not having to worry about landing in remote airports and the hassle of manually booking multiple flights which is a common occurrence when choosing budget airlines. A lot of time should be allotted in order to execute a simple trip to Prague if I stuck to flying on a budget airline. It could really be mind-boggling.

Swiss Air eventually became my airline of choice. It wasn’t as cheap, but it wasn’t over the top expensive either. There was a catch though. There were long layovers in Zurich both going to and from Prague. Instead of looking at the layovers as a hassle, I looked at them as an opportunity to explore a new city.

En route to Prague, I originally had a 6-hour layover(February 2,11:30am-5:30pm) but the departure from Manchester got delayed by an hour due to heavy snow in Zurich. Even with just 4 hours left of free time (I allotted 1 hour for going back to the airport and checking in),I was still able to explore the city without rushing. I made a short list of places to see and was emotionally prepared to not get disappointed in case I failed to tick something on my list. It also helped that the city was just a 10-minute train ride from the airport, that public transportation was fast and that it was quite efficient as well. The only downside was that everything was written in Swiss. It’s a good thing that people were approachable and knew how to speak English.

Long story, no? I just feel that I had to explain first. ;)

On to Zurich itself!

I wanted to jump up and down when I saw the snow-covered city from the plane

The city was lovely. I would have appreciated it more if it weren’t for the weather. I was literally freezing while strolling as the temperature was zub-zero and it was snowing. I couldn’t feel my hands and feet!

Nevertheless, I was still able to appreciate the charm of the city. The snow made the city quite scenic.

I ended my short trip by drinking a warm cup of Swiss hot chocolate from a famous chocolate store called Sprungli, which not only warmed my tummy but also tickled my taste buds. It was Y-U-M-M-Y!!!

On my way back from Prague, I originally had a layover of 10 hours (February 4,8:30pm- February 5,6:25am) but again, flight got delayed due to heavy snowfall in Manchester (talk about luck, huh?). Total layover time increased to 11 hours instead. Upon arrival, I planned to go to the city again to have a nice dinner (I already had cheese fondue in my mind) and check out the city at night but having already endured 3 days of freezing temperature, I had no strength and drive to brave the cold anymore. I just wanted to stay somewhere warm. I decided to stay at Zurich airport instead of braving the cold, snowy city.

It was my first time to stay overnight at an airport for that long a duration. I didn’t mind though coz Zurich airport was one of the best I’ve seen. For about 2 hours I just walked around. It was quite modern, clean, had a lot of restaurants and stores to choose from. There were two Sprungli stores, one Lindt store, lots of luxury stores (I checked out my favourite jewelry store...Tiffany!) and a whole lot more. The only downside was that internet wasn’t free. I slept at the airport’s day bed at a minimal fee, woke up refreshed and raring to go back to Manchester.

More Zurich photos here

P.S.
I loved Swiss Air! Aside from baggage allowance and the meals that came with every flight, I got unlimited Swiss chocolate mini-bars in all flights. Needless to say, I indulged! At the end of my trip I definitely felt I got more than what I paid for. Masarap din palang di nagkukuripot paminsan-minsan.

Up next: My main destination...PRAGUE!

St. Petersburg

2012-02-01T04:35:00.020+11:00

Nope, I didn't go to Russia. I wish I did but at least I got a taste of it without leaving my current city.

St. Petersburg is the only Russian restaurant in Manchester and the only Russian restaurant I've ever tried. It's not my first time to taste Russian food though, because one of my closest friends, Vlad, is a Russian-Kazak and he regularly cooks borsch, a famous Russian soup. I love it to the point that I asked him how to cook it. Check out my Borsh Challenge video below or on my multiply site.

Getting a taste of Russian food made me want to taste more of the cuisine. I've been wanting to try St. Petersburg since last year but it is a relatively expensive restaurant, a splurge if you will, for an unemployed graduate student such as myself. The universe must have felt my longing for this particular resto because Groupon offered a 60% off deal last week. I don't usually open emails from Groupon to avoid temptation but for some reason, I opened the email which contained this deal at 4 in the morning. I usually don't check emails that late/early but on that particular day, I did. I quickly decided to grab it and dragged my closest friends along.

The food was AMAZING. Our voucher entitled us to a 3-course meal and below were what I ordered. I also got to taste what my friends ordered and all of them were really good!!! I received another voucher this time from the restaurant itself so I'm planning to go back before I leave in April.

Let me share photos of my St. Petersburg experience: (apologies for the low-res photos. I used just my iphone to take them)

Starter: Chicken Blini (Pancake stuffed with strips of supreme chicken & onion sauteed in a fresh cream sauce)

Main Course: Pelmeni Sibirskie (Beef and pork Russian-style ravioli served with fresh herbs and butter)

Dessert: Russian gateau of the day (simply divine! Super sarap!)

Bonus dessert: Sladkie Bliny (Russian pancakes served with strawberry syrup and ice cream)

My friends and their sumptuous orders: (L-R)Vlad, Tarun and Hector

Happily eating my Chicken Blini:

Amsterdam: Lovelier the Second Time

2012-01-26T02:04:00.013+11:00

I wasn’t planning on returning to Amsterdam too soon. It’s just that, I had to. Let me explain.

The final term of my MBA programme is an International Business (IB) Project. There are no more classes, just pure consultancy work for a multinational company. This term in a sense is the application and culmination of everything we, MBA aspirants, have learned over the past 15 months. It's also a good way of easing our way into the workforce after over a year of hiatus. Since my school’s motto is “Learning by Doing”, the school knew that the best way to do it is by allowing the students to immerse themselves in real-life projects. The school sources different projects all over the world and lets students decide first, their preferred team and second, the team’s preferred project through a rigorous bidding process. It’s a long and winding procedure. To cut the story short, my team bided for several projects which would allow us to travel to Latin America, Europe or Asia. We eventually got a project that entails travelling around Europe (honestly, I secretly hoped we’d get a project that entails going to Brazil *wink*). My team had to do a series of client interviews in Amsterdam to kick-off the project. We decided to stay for the weekend after our work was over to at least enjoy the city before heading back to our base (i.e. Manchester). Of course, this extension was at our expense but at least we didn’t spend for the airfare.

Amsterdam is just the first leg. This part I’m blogging about is the ‘leisure’ side of it. There will be more trips around Europe and it’s NOT going to be charged under my account (ang saya-saya!). The client pays for everything, unless we decide to do leisure activities (such as this one) that are not part of our consultancy work. I love that my team knows how to work hard while at the same time knows how to play harder!

On to the fun part of our trip...touring Amsterdam!

Having been to the city once before meant that I already knew what to expect upon arrival. Since it’s only been 9 months since my last visit, I could still remember the basics like getting to the city centre from the airport, where to go, what to eat, an estimate of touring and transportation costs, etc.

My first visit was quite brief such that I wasn’t able to really experience the city and explore all the places I wanted to see and do activities that could only be experienced in Amsterdam. This second visit allowed me to do and explore more. I was able to tour the city more, visit the red light district again with the addition of talking to a prostitute (which was weird and interesting at the same time), hang out at some bars, check out the Erotic Museum (which for me was a total waste of money coz there was nothing really exciting to see) and check out Van Gogh Museum. My personal highlight was the Heineken Experience. I’m not a fan of beer or any alcohol for that matter, but I enjoyed the tour. The place wasn’t big. In fact, we took a maximum of 3 hours to finish the whole experience but it was worth every Euro we paid. It seemed like the value of the freebies--3 glasses of beer per person, a Heineken cap, a baller ID, the DJ experience and our very own music video were more than what we paid for.

I’ll stop blabbing now and just let the photos do the talking:

Meet the coolest IB Team! (clockwise starting from bottom left: Javier (Mexican), Sean (Jamaican), Jehan (Sri Lankan) Sudhanshu (Indian), Me (Filipino) and Mike (American).

Somewhere in Amsterdam. Beautiful isn't it?

Museumplein

Van Gogh Museum (no photos allowed inside)

Erotic Museum at the Red Light District

Guess what these are

Red Light District: I was able to take better photos of the girls compared to the last time.

The Heineken Experience:

At the entrance

Before the 'experience' and after receiving our freebies. Check out our caps!

Learning about the history of Heineken

The old factory

A taste of a half-way processed beer

The Stable

A taste of an almost completely processed beer

Bottle your own beer: You can personalize a bottle for a price!

DJ for a minute

Making our music video (top) and my personalized postcard (bottom)

Check out our music video:

Free beer at the end of the tour!

More photos here

London!!!

2012-01-19T23:53:00.012+11:00

I’ve been shuttling from Manchester to London every now and then for several reasons. The first one, back in 2010, was purely for touring. The succeeding ones were usually for school-related purposes. In between my must-do’s, I explored the city and took in what it had to offer. But alas, the city’s too big and my budget and time per trip was always limited. So, even if I’ve been to London a few times, I still haven’t managed to check out other tourist spots such as the National Gallery, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Olympic Village, Wimbledon and Greenwich. It’s mostly my fault because whenever I go to London, I always check out the same familiar places. You see, I just can’t get enough of them! I don’t get tired of seeing the usual places I go to. I’m not yet sure whether I’ll be able to make another trip to London before going home for good in April because I’d rather spend my limited (not to mention disappearing) budget on a new place. Needless to say, London is one city I’ll never get tired of visiting. It has become one of my favourite cities because it’s simply beautiful, rain or shine. The mixture of royalty, politics, business, history, art, culture and food makes this city one exciting place.

I said before that I love Manchester but I’ll always have a special place for London. With that said, here are photos from my visits. There’s a lot more in my multiply site, classified per year. (2010, 2011 and 2012).

The Philippine Embassy: an extension of my country in the UK

Westminster:

Big Ben: in Tagalog, Kuya Ben. LOL! (corny!)

The London Eye

Westminster Abbey: I checked it out before the royal wedding last year.

Trafalgar Square:

St.Paul's Cathedral:

Abbey Road: coz I'm a Beatles fan!

Buckingham Palace: a visit to London isn't complete without visiting the Queen

Tower of London:

Tower Bridge: more beautiful than London Bridge

London Bridge: it's not falling down!

British Museum: one of the most amazing museums I've been to. The best part is it's FREE! :)

Kensington Palace: the residence of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge? ;)

Piccadilly Circus:I think this is the busiest and most touristy part of London

Portobello Road:the world's largest antique stores can be found here

Nottinghill: my travel buddy, Charm, and I just had to check out the bookstore where the movie was filmed. #showbiz

Platform 9 3/4: Harry Potter fan represent!

West End: watching Les Miserables was a dream come true!

Greenpark:

Hyde Park:

St. James Park:

Harrods: I go here for WINDOW shopping. It's also fun to eat at its high-end foodcourt.

LADUREE!!!: A taste of Paris in London. I don't need to go all the way to Paris just to taste the best French macarons in the whole world!

Amsterdam Revisited

2012-01-17T03:37:00.002+11:00

Just came back from one of the coolest places on earth. Don't have time to write lengthily about my trip yet, but it definitely was better the second time around. =)

With 2/3 of my International Business Project team:

Solo (aka FB profile pic worthy shot according to Javier aka the one who took it. Lol)

It's More Fun In the Philippines!!!

2012-01-11T23:12:00.008+11:00

I am supporting my country's new tourism slogan "It's More Fun In The Philippines!" Call me biased but it's true! I've lived in the US, UK and Australia...no place beats the Philippines.

Since our DOT (Department of Tourism)doesn't have a lot of budget to promote the new campaign, it came up with a brilliant idea of promotion and that is by going viral on the internet.

It's been only a week since the launch but there have been thousands of new photo uploads on Facebook and Twitter!

Here are some of my favorites: (got them here)

There are a whole lot more photos here if you're interested to see more.

My friend, Boom, made one of his own too, which I thought was pretty amusing. Gay tourists might come in hoards once they see this! Lol.

I decided to join the band wagon and created my own "More Fun in the Philippines" photos too:

The DOT has some restrictions when it comes to putting the slogan. You can either go to the official website or do the easier way and create instant photos through morefunmaker.com, which is what I did.

Have you visited the Philippines before or are you a Filipino? Help us show the world how fun it is to visit the Philippines!

Welcome to my third and final flat in Manchester

2012-01-09T00:02:00.009+11:00

It’s been almost a week since I got back. Hectic is how I would describe my life here, I kind of miss my relatively laid back life in Melbourne. Imagine, even if I had 5 subjects, I still was able to explore the city and tour a lot of places in Oz without losing a lot of sleep. Here, on the other hand, there are so many things to do both in school and in settling down (once again). I have just moved to my third and final flat. I still have a few things left from my old flat that need to be transferred but so far I’m utilizing what I currently have.

Let me show you my last flat here. I think it’s a great flat! Thanks to my third flatmate, Shunsuke, for the effort of finding this beautiful place. It’s not as near school as my previous flats. This one is a 20-minute walk. It’s a good thing I don’t have classes anymore. Now I can work from my flat or go to another teammate’s flat for meetings. For this final term, I have just one international business project which is a consultancy work for a multinational company. It's actually harder than taking subjects because we're working with a real-life client with high expectations especially because we're MBAs. I'll probably share more about it in a separate post.

Without further ado, here’s a virtual tour of my new flat:

My room:

My own bathroom: unlike the last flat I stayed in, this one has 2 toilet & baths so I don’t have to share with Shun.

Living room:

Kitchen:

I’m glad that I’ll be living a pretty comfortable life during my last 3 months here. It will definitely add to good memories of living in Manchester. =)

On another note, my NPA (no permanent address)status will be over soon!

Proud to be Pinoy, Proud to be a Balili

2012-01-05T20:05:00.002+11:00

GMA7 released a list of Top 25 proud-to-be-Pinoy moments in 2011 and boy, am I extra proud of this list not just because I am a Filipino but also because my cousin, Dr. Dr. Ryan Balili, is part of the list! That cousin of mine is really gaining popularity and recognition not only because he is a genius but also because he is a man for others, even if he's not an Atenean. ;)

I'm posting just my cousin's part, but feel free to read the whole list on GMA's website here:

16. Pinoy professor wins Gallieno Denardo international physics award
Dr. Ryan Balili proves that Pinoys can be just as competent in the sciences. The head of the photonics research of the Mindanao State University–Iligan Institute of Technology, Balili was lauded for his work on semiconductor optics and was awarded the Gallieno Denardo Award along with US$1,000, a diploma and an invitation to a three-week stay in Trieste, Italy where he will be given a chance to conduct a seminar on his work.

*****
On another note, I have safely arrived in Manhcester last January 2 and currently settling down. My life here is way more hectic than my life in Melbourne so I probably won't have as much blog entries once again. It's sad though, because I have way more stories to tell about my life here. Oh well. I'll TRY to do some back entries once this programme is over. =)

Goodbye 2011!!!

2011-12-31T18:58:00.003+11:00

2011 is almost over!

I’m just grateful. Truly, madly, deeply grateful for the abundant blessings that came my way this year.

Happy moments. Sad moments. Depressing moments. Cloud 9 moments. I’ve experienced everything this year.

So many new friends made, new experiences, new places conquered, dreams accomplished, health sustained...all to the detriment of my dwindling savings. It doesn’t matter! I will start over again next year.

2011, tops all other years, hands down. I’m at a loss for words.

To everyone who made my 2011 AWESOME, THANKYOU!!!

Next year, hopefully I’ll...
...have a revamped career
...have a new love life that’s for keeps (third time’s the charm!)
...continue to have good health
...start saving (again) .
...strive for work-life balance

Looking forward to...
...going home for good
...my graduation
...my first full marathon
...my classmates’ visits
...challenges at work and life in general
...spending more quality time with loved ones
...more trips with friends and family (not planning a lot though. I’ll focus on saving rather than spending in 2012)

Cheers to 2011!!!

Looking forward to new adventures in 2012!!!

Walk This Way: If These Walls Could Talk

2011-12-30T19:56:00.008+11:00

Another Manila vacation, another Celdran tour. Feel na feel ko ang pagka-turista sa Maynila. Hehe.

Like the Imelda Marcos tour, Carlos Celdran did not disappoint in his historic tour of Intramuros. He gave some facts, his own views and opinions of our Spanish history and a little bit of American history in a span of 3 hours. He had more tricks up his sleeves and a whole lot more theatrics compared to the Imelda Marcos tour. No wonder both tourists and Filipinos flock to check out what Mr. Celdran has to say.

The Master showman: Hindi lang si Kuya Germs ang master showman. In my opinion, Carlos deserves the title as well! Kung hindi man master showman, master tourguide na lang. ;p

Our tour group was composed of almost a hundred people, which, surprisingly, Carlos and his team handled pretty well. I guess over the years he has learned how to manage the growing demand for his tours.

The tour group:

In 3 hours, Carlos attempted to present over 300 years of Philippine history. There was a lot of material to cover so he just touched details and topics that, in his view, were relevant. We started and ended inside the historic walls of Intramuros. Meet-up point was at Fort Santiago while he concluded the tour with a halo-halo at Barbara’s as a symbol of how our Philippine culture is a hodge podge of various influences, particularly brought by the Spaniards, the Americans and how we managed to still put a little of what we originally had before our colonizers came to our country.

Intramuros:

What I loved about the tour:
- I paid the student rate of Php 600 instead of Php1,100 because I’m a student! Teehee!
- Students got free bowler hats similar to what he uses in his tours.
- He was more theatrical and used a lot of props
- He gave a lot of other freebies such as chocnut during the tour, halo-halo and poster at the end of the tour. Sulit na sulit ang Php600 ko!

Freebies:

Random notes from the tour: (Of course, there were also details of history that were familiar to me, some details I re-learned and re-discovered, but these are the details which stuck to my forgetful mind):
- Spain considered us only as a province of Mexico. Ganun-ganun lang.
- Spain (or the King) lost interest in the Philippines because the Spaniards didn't find gold in our country. Di lang sila marunong maghanap dahil ang mga Amerikano nakahanap ng ginto sa Baguio.
- Spain didn't bother to teach us Spanish. When I say "us", it means "all Filipinos". Some Filipinos knew how to speak in Spanish because they were elite.
- Americans made it a point to teach all Filipinos through the Thomasites. Kaya naman may colonial/American mentality tayo eh. Imagine, we were conquered by Spain for 300 years but only a few Filipinos know how to speak Spanish. I myself don't know how to speak Spanish while I can speak English fluently. (Spanish= 300 years. Americans= 50 years).
- We were ruled by Theocracy for 300 years. Since the King of Spain wasn't interested in us, he let the priests (aka friars) rule our country.
- No female Spaniard came to our country. Siyempre conclusion lang ito ni Celdran but he made a very good point. Why would a Spanish lady go to the Philippines through a galleon, sale for hundreds of days with hundreds of men?
- Our national anthem in tagalog is "Lupang Hinirang", right? Translated in English, it's "Land of the Chosen". Akalain mong hindi ko nasagot ito nang tinanong niya. Tsk.
- The Philippines, together with 4 other countries (Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba and one more), were sold to America for $20 million. That's how "valuable" we were to Spain.
- Jose Rizal was America's choice as our national hero because Bonifacio was controversial and alive at that time. Rizal, on the other hand, was westernized, atheist, poet, traveller, doctor, learned and most of all, dead.
- The Filipinos' lack of originality makes us original.

I highly recommend taking this tour because of all the reasons I stated above. You'll never look at Manila the same way again. As Celdran aptly said, "If we want to change how Manila looks, we need to change how we look at Manila." I could not have said it better.

Group Photos:

Girls only

Complete group shot, (L-R): Me, Sabrina, Jay, Tootsie, Caress, Chee and Marco

With Carlos Celdran at the end of the tour:

Special thanks to Caress for her patience in arranging the tour. With all our different and hectic schedules, just merely coordinating, scheduling and re-scheduling this tour got really complicated. We even had to postpone the tour because it rained on our original tour date. I’m glad that the weather finally cooperated and we were able to push through. :)

Holidays 2011

2011-12-27T21:19:00.010+11:00

It's been one hectic Christmas vacation! I'm not complaining though, because it's been fun and fulfilling. It's really different spending Christmas with loved ones. Last year, I had a different fun spending Christmas and New Year with my sister in New York but there's no place like home! Mas bongga pa rin sa Manila. Walang sinabi ng New York, London, Paris o Hong Kong. Kabog silang lahat ng Manila!

I'm glad I was able to be with my dad and brother when they celebrated their birthdays:

Dad's birthday dinner at our all-time fave resto, Katre

Bub's birthday dinner at Bistecca

Dad had a double celebration because our group of companies gave him a surprise birthday party:

I was able to attend our companies' Christmas parties. I still don't have photos from ECI's and QSI's parties, but here are photos from Questech's 60's themed party and Questronix's Santa-themed party:

Questech's party:

Questronix's party:

Andiyan ang Noche Buena (at my grandparents' house):

Christmas Day (spent with my mother's side of the family):

Of course, Christmas wouldn't be complete without spending quality (combined with food adventure) time with my closest friends:

Yugoslavian dinner with Charm at Balkan:

Thai dinner at Simply Thai and desserts at Classic Confections with my high school friends:

Portugese dinner at O'Sonho and desserts at CBTL with my college barkada

I have less than a week left in Manila. I've been taking it easy the past couple of days but tomorrow will be hectic again until the time I leave. I still have a Celdran tour, a breakfast with two special people, a wedding, an overnight in Tagaytay and a family reunion to attend before bidding Manila adieu on January 1. =)

Itotodo ko na ito!

more photos here

From My Family To Yours...

2011-12-23T18:06:00.002+11:00

My family will be celebrating Christmas with one member missing. My younger sister, Am, is not coming home because of work. She also didn't come home last year but I went to New York to spend the holidays with her. I feel bad that she'll be celebrating Christmas without us but I'm sure she'll have a memorable one in the company of close friends.

I hope your Christmas will be filled with love, joy and happiness and your New Year be as prosperous as ever!

CHEERS!!! =)

A Time To Give

2011-12-20T03:17:00.004+11:00

I don't like rain. I hate tropical storms even more, especially when they wreak havoc such as what Sendong did to Mindanao particularly Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. While I'm happily home safe with my family, a lot of families lost their houses, their livelihood and some loved ones over the past few days . It's hard to imagine how they are going to spend their Christmas. =(

I may not be at my best financial disposition now, but I'm sending a donation to Philippine Red Cross for the victims of Sendong. It's the least I can do.

Lord, please, no more typhoons for the year. Konti na lang naman ang natitira sa mga araw.

Someday, I shall return...

2011-12-15T01:38:00.003+11:00

...to Australia.

I really enjoyed my stay and I felt I could’ve explored more if I had additional time and money.

I have been strategic in exploring the land down under. I made a conservative (i.e. realistic) list and a dream list of places to explore. I didn’t expect to accomplish my dream list because I knew I would end up disappointed so I settled for my conservative list instead.

I’m happy and satisfied that I was able to tick all the places I’ve put on my conservative list namely:

Melbourne (by default)
Phillip Island
Great Ocean Road
Yarra Valley
Sydney (twice!)
Blue Mountains
Cairns & Port Douglas
Great Barrier Reef (woohooo!)

I hope I’ll be able to explore the places in my dream list when I go back. These are:

Alice Springs
Canberra
Brisbane
Gold Coast
Tasmania
New Zealand (I know this is a different country but people always say that if you’re already in Australia might as well check out New Zealand)

I’m pretty sure it will take a few years before I’ll be able to return. I’ll have to save again and probably explore other countries first.

Hopefully when I return, I’ll have my family, new boyfriend (?) or friends with me so that I can share my adventures with them since it’s more fun to travel with loved ones.

In the meantime, I’m glad to be home!!! =)

Christmas in Melbourne

2011-12-13T01:23:00.008+11:00

Bongga! Bongga ang Pasko sa Melbourne.

Christmas can be seen everywhere in Melbourne!

Streets have been adorned with parols, flowers have been changed to Christmasy colors, and trees have been adorned with lights!

Public places such as malls, parks and buildings have been adorned with Christmas decors!

Street entertainers have changed their costumes from this:

To this!(Santa, statue? gets?)

Even my exchange school, Melbourne Business School, has put up its tree as early as November!

The most bonggacious of them all are St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Victoria State Library.

During the day, they look normal.

St. Paul's Cathedral:

Victoria State Library

But at night, they transform:

Watch the video:

State Library:

Watch the video: (there's a long intro here)

Melbourne is already a beautiful city as it is, but it prettifies itself even more now that it's Christmas! I love it! Glad I was able to see the city during this time of the year. =)

Melbourne's Gastronomic Delights

2011-12-09T09:50:00.005+11:00

Melbourne is known as the city of fashion and culture but this city also calls itself the unofficial food capital of Australia. I can attest to that. There are heaps (naks, nagpapaka-Aussie ako, hehe) of really good restaurants in Melbourne but I deliberately constrained myself from exploring them immediately because I wanted to finish my “list of places to explore in Australia” first to make sure I had enough money for them.

I’ve pretty much covered the basic places I wanted to see right before I got super busy with schoolwork so I’m really satisfied with that. Since I stopped going to faraway places, I already have the time and a few Aussie $$$ to spare to explore some of the restaurants around the city.

I haven’t been to a lot considering that I just started a few weeks ago but I haven’t been disappointed with the restaurants I’ve tried. I always came out happy and full. BURRRRRP!! Excuse me! Haha.

Join me as I recount some of the restaurants I managed to try before leaving (3 days left!)

Service, ambience, menu, price, the food I ordered and location (all are within the CBD or just a few minutes away by tram or by walking) are the main criteria I used. I classified my food adventures into “living it up!”, “the good life”, “must try desserts and drinks”, “sorta healthy fastfoods”, “junk fastfoods”

Note: $ = Australian Dollar, Peso conversion = approximately Php45

WARNING!!!

You have been warned.

Living It Up!
These are my top 4 choices because I super enjoyed my meals and came out from these restaurants extremely full, satisfied and happy. Apart from Waterfront where I had my steak, Tsindos, Mercadante and China Bar Shabu-Shabu Buffet are quite good and are reasonably priced ($20-$30). My steak meal cost me approximately $50. It’s a little pricey but my steak was quite good so it was worth it.

Waterfront: served a mouthwatering ribeye steak

Tsindos Greek Restaurant:

Mercadante: If you're in Oz, order Chicken Parmigiana at least once! Aussies love it. See bottom right.

China Bar Shabu-Shabu Buffet: my comfort food

The Good Life
These are the restaurants that still gave me satisfaction and happiness without burning my pockets. Price range is $10-$15. I tried as many cuisines as I could. I was also able to try Indonesian, Singaporean, Malaysian, Thai and Chinese but I wasn’t able to take photos of them so I didn’t include them here. Affordable Asian restaurants can be found everywhere along Swanston Street, Elizabeth Street, Lt. Bourke Street and Russel Street so no need to get my advise on that!

Toto's Pizza: I ate here just because it's the first pizza house in Oz. (Put "first", "best", "authentic", "original" in front of your resto and I'm 80% sold, haha)

Big Mama for my Jap-Korean Fix:

Mad Mex:

Mekong: I was challenged by "Bill Clinton had 2 Bowls. How many can you have?" posted on its entrance. Sadly, I was full after finishing 1 big bowl.

Tank: the most affordable wagyu burger I can find is here!

Animal Orchestra: for my panini fix.

Must Try Desserts and Drinks
The title says it all. I HIGHLY recommend Lindt Chocolate Cafe and Seven Seeds. Both their versions of dark hot chocolate (my favourite drink) are to die for, and Lindt’s French macarons are simply divine. Of course, being Asian, I sometimes crave for milk teas which Chatime provides. Budget: $5-$10.

Lindt Chocolate Cafe: heaven on earth!

Seven Seeds: pretty little cafe serving pretty and yummy drinks

Chatime:

Sorta Healthy Fastfoods
These are the places where I get food to go, especially during the days when I’m busy with schoolwork (like, uhm, everyday, haha). So, these are the places I regularly go to because I can get sort of (but not completely) healthy food that are affordable. Budget: $5-$10.

Queen Victoria Market: it has everything!

Tokui Sushi: cheap,healthy sushi to-go.

Pie Face:

Junk Fastfoods
Hungry Jack’s is an option apart from the ubiquitous McDonald’s. I think it is Australia’s version of what we Filipinos have back home, Jollibee. It offers burgers (duh), chips (another duh) and a whole lot of other junk stuff. Budget: $5-$10.

Need I say more?

To my Filipino friends who may find the price range expensive, there’s only one thing I can say. YES. Melbourne is an expensive city to live in. Of course, there is still the cheapest way to get food which is from the grocery store. I go to Coles and Aldi regularly for that.

As I said earlier, these are the restaurants I was able to explore. There are hundreds more, some of which might be better than the ones I’ve tried. For me, the most exciting places to explore are the following:

1. Italian Precinct on Lygon Street because there are just way too many really good Italian restaurants, cafes and gelato shops over there. Mahihilo ka sa dami! It’s a piece of heaven especially for people who adore Italian food.

2. Greek Precinct on Lonsdale Street for people who love souvlakis, gyros and everything Greek! There are not as many Greek restaurants as there are Italian restaurants but there are a number of good choices. There are also some Korean and Japanese restaurants after the row of Greek restos.

3. China Town on Little Bourke Street for a dose of Asian food. I didn’t try any food establishment in this area because I haven’t had any craving to eat Chinese food but I heard this area is worth exploring as well.

4. Lentil As Anything. This is actually a particular restaurant rather than an area. I regret not being able to try this out because I think it has an interesting business concept. You order food and pay whatever you think your food is worth. An NGO is operating this restaurant so it is for a cause. Its concept is similar to the one we have in the Philippines, Honesty Cafe in Batanes (I haven’t been there as well). It would’ve been interesting to experience this.

Pahabol!
I’ve also managed to check out some of the night spots from attending school parties and friends’ birthdays. I had a good time in all of them but I loved The Toff the most because I loved the food (it served mostly contemporary Thai and some Asian dishes), the ambience and it had great service. So, if ever you happen to visit Melbourne and want to go on a night out that’s right smack in the city, The Toff is the best place to be! =)

I don’t have photos of what we ate at The Toff but I have this one to remember it by. =)

Not bad for someone who stayed in Melbourne for 3 months, no?

Running in Melbourne

2011-12-06T11:42:00.008+11:00

As soon as I arrived in Melbourne, the first thing I did was explore the city and look for a regular running place. It took me approximately a week to settle down and adjust to my new life here. For someone who has been used to running regularly for the past two years, one week seemed a long time to not be running. So, as soon as I got everything in order, I started to run.

Melbourne is a runner’s paradise. There are parks everywhere which are great places to run to. The roads and running paths are well-kept. I never had any injury in the three months that I’ve been running here, unlike in Manchester where I injured myself twice in a span of two months because of the cobbled roads.

Every other morning, I wake up at 6:30 to run. I only missed two running sessions and it’s because of heavy rains. I always look forward to running before going to class because it gives me energy and positivity for the rest of the day.

This week is my last time to run in Carlton Gardens, my regular running place. I will surely miss...

...the pigeons that greet me upon entering the park

...the lush tress

...this beautiful fountain

...this beautiful Royal Exhibition building which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

...this bird which I often find sitting on the same branch of the same tree

...and the familiar faces of fellow runners.*sniff*

It's been a great run, Melbourne!

Carlton Gardens:
(same images, different seasons)

Photos of Carlton Gardens at the start of Spring, a week after I arrived:

Photos of Carlton Gardens at the start of Summer, a week before I leave:

The Great Barrier Reef

2011-12-03T11:40:00.002+11:00

The Great Barrier Reef has been in my list of dream destinations since I started diving. It’s not really a place I’m super itching to go to because the Philippines alone already has a lot of really nice dive sites. The Tubbataha Reef is at the top of my list. However, since I’m already in Australia, I decided to check it out because I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to go back to this country once I leave.

In Cairns, there are hundreds of reef tour operators offering different types of packages. It can be overwhelming deciding on which one to get to have a great experience. For people like me who only have one chance and one day to explore the reefs, it’s a make or break type of decision. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of options.

Fortunately, I knew what I wanted which was to see as many reefs as possible in a day. I chose Silverswift because it had a lot of good reviews over the internet. It was also highly recommended by the owner of the hostel I stayed at. What ultimately led me to choose Silverswift was the number of reefs it offered. Other reef tours offered 2 reefs while Silverswift offered 3. Meals, snacks and swimming gears were included in the fees as well.

In as much as I wanted to dive, I chose to just snorkel because of the cost. I knew the experience wouldn’t be the same but I was not willing to pay a hefty amount. My stingy side got the better of me. I figured that there was much to see a few feet under the sea as a hundred feet below anyway.

Before I show the photos, let me share 10 reasons why the Great Barrier Reef is worth exploring:

1. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2. It is one of the seven wonders of the natural world.
3. It is the world’s largest reef system and it is larger than the Great Wall of China. (ganun siya kalaki!)
4. It is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs (I was able to see 3 reefs, so I have 2,897 more reefs to explore!)
5. It is the only living thing on earth visible from space (how cool is that?! I’ll definitely go on a space tour once an affordable one comes out..in 30 years siguro. Haha)
6. 30 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises have been recorded in it.
7. 6 species of sea turtles come to the reef to breed (I saw at least 3 turtles, not sure what species they were)
8. It has a collection of giant clams over 120 years old. (I saw a number of them)
9. More than 1,500 fish species live on the reef (I didn’t see 1,500 but I definitely saw A LOT!)
10. It has the world’s largest collection of corals (they’re AMAZING!My photos didn't do justice to the reefs' beauty.)

You can read more about it here and here

With that said, I’m ready to show beautiful photos of my wonderful Great Barrier Reef snorkelling experience! Enjoy!

Marlin Wharf (departure point)

En route to the first reef

Ready to snorkel!

First Reef: Thetford

Second Reef: Milln

Third Reef: Flynn

More photos here

Dear KC,

2011-11-29T10:19:00.000+11:00

(warning: a very showbiz post)

Naiintindihan ko ang sakit na nararamdaman mo. Nanggaling din ako diyan. Ilang buwan na ang nakalipas pero minsan, may kirot pa rin akong nararamdaman. Ang pagkakaiba lang ay, ikaw masyadong nagbigay. Ako, masyadong tumanggap. Pinagsisihan ko na yun at natuto na ako. One more chance nga ang drama ko minsan. Pero gaya mo, kailangan mag move-on. Tuloy pa rin ang buhay.

Ay, may isa pa palang pagkakaiba natin, hindi naman bading ang ex ko.

KC, Pareho tayong humahangad na matagpuan ang minimithing prinsipe..makahanap ng true love nga ayon sa iyo. Sana nga matagpuan natin iyon.

Yun lang.

All the best KC. Lilipas din yan. Kaya mo yan.

Huling hirit...umiiyak ka man at malungkot, maganda ka pa rin. Carry!

Countdown!

2011-11-28T11:35:00.004+11:00

I am currently on my last 2 weeks of my 2nd to the last term and boy, am I experiencing HELL! With a full load, I have TONS of deliverables to accomplish. Add to that the fact that a new term has started in my own school, Manchester Business School, which I have to participate in remotely. Ahhhhhh...these are the hardships that an international MBA student must endure. It's hard but I like it! I've had the opportunity to enjoy both Manchester (and UK) and Melbourne (and Australia), so doing the hard work doesn't feel like super torture. I've had my share of fun days, now it's time to get serious. Besides, in 2 weeks, I'll be home in time to celebrate my dad's birthday, my brother's birthday and the holidays.

WEEEEEEEE! Konting-konti na lang! =)

Skydiving-Check!

2011-11-25T14:48:00.008+11:00

Surf – pending.
Run a marathon – pending.
Scuba diving – check.
Spelunking – check.
Parasailing - check.
Wakeboarding – check.
Rock climbing – check.
White Water Rafting – check.
Sky Jumping (closest I got to bungy jumping) – check.
SKYDIVING – CHECK!

I’m almost done with my ‘activities to do before I’m 30’ list. In fact, I can stop now because I have done my ultimate extreme adventure dream which is to skydive. It took one failed attempt with my younger sister 3 years ago but now, it finally pushed through. At last! Too bad I wasn’t with my sister when I did it. It would’ve been much more fun if we did it together. I hope she’ll also be able to do it soon.

Anyway!

The skydive was exciting, exhilarating and so much fun! It didn’t disappoint. It was quite expensive too but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I’ve wanted to do it for almost a decade already but I was always hesitant because of the cost. Now is actually not the perfect time because I’m a student and currently unemployed but a desire is a desire. Sometimes, when I really want something, I become impractical and unreasonable.

I am treating this splurge as an advanced Christmas gift to myself in order to reduce my guilt of spending too much. This is the most expensive Christmas gift I have given myself so far but I don’t have any remorse. I enjoyed every minute of it. For me, the experience was priceless.

I’ll let the photos and video do the talking =)

Waiver Form: signing the waiver form made me more excited rather than nervous. By signing the form, I also became a member of the Australian Parachute Federation (APF) How cool is that?!

On the way to Innisfail (the dive site):

The headquarters:

Interview before diving:

Where it happens:

While going up to 14,000 feet (took about 20 minutes)

Ready to jump!

Free fall (took about a minute)

Parachuting: (took approximately 3 minutes)

Back to earth:

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Watch the video here
Check out the photos here

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade

2011-11-22T17:15:00.002+11:00

I'm sad today because of two things. First, I got a disappointing mark for my finance mid-term exam. I passed but it wasn't the grade that I was expecting. That subject is really tough. Haaay. Second, I just got news from the repair shop that my camera is repairable but it will cost a lot to do it so it's better for me to buy a new one. *sniff*. My Canon S90 served me well. It's too young to die!!! It's less than 2 years old.*another sniff* I feel so bad that I was careless. Oh well. I'll take better care of my next camera, I promise!

Anyway, I felt a little better after watching this video. Shame on me for feeling sad for trivial matters such as an exam grade and a dead cam. My worries are far lighter than the one this child had to deal with.

Have you seen this video?

It struck a nerve in me. I was teary-eyed at first but in the course of watching it, tears started pouring down my cheeks. Kaka-touch. What a brave child.

Just shows how lucky I am to be healthy, to have a supportive (and healthy) family and to have this opportunity to have a world-class education.

I don't have the right to be sad! I must CHEER UP!!! I'm not called "HappyGaile" for nothing. ;)

Cairns and Port Douglas

2011-11-20T11:37:00.003+11:00

My trip was last November 12-14, Saturday-Monday but Monday was just for departure. I knew it was too short but that was the only available time I had. After all, I am a full-time student and a part-time traveller. ;)

I went to Cairns alone since my fellow exchange students cum travel buddies went the weekend before I did. They informed me of their dates way in advance but I couldn’t join them because I had a scheduled exam on their planned dates (we’re taking different electives). The thought of not having any companion didn’t dampen my resolve to go to Cairns because I didn’t want to leave Australia without seeing the Great Barrier Reef and Cairns is the gateway to this wonder of nature.

I didn’t go to Cairns unprepared. I searched for the best deals and experiences over the internet as soon as my flight booking was finalized. The flight itself was already expensive so I tried to find the best tour and accommodation deals. However, I knew that this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity so I decided to get the best experience which led me to booking the best Great Barrier Reef tour company, Silverswift and doing the Skydive. More on that in my next entries.

Two days before departure, I remembered my friend, Jelaine, mentioned she had relatives in Cairns. I immediately sent her an email and asked if she could introduce me to them. Incidentally, her cousin Peter was free during my entire stay. Evenings were the only available time I had as doing the skydive (on day 1) and going to the Great Barrier Reef (on day 2) took the whole day, so I agreed to meet with Peter after every tour.

I felt so lucky to have met him! I am forever grateful to Jelaine for introducing me to him. He turned out to be a great tour guide. He toured me around Cairns on my first night and brought me to Port Douglas on my second night. Mind you, Port Douglas was a 1.5-hour drive from Cairns but he wanted to show me a classier version of Cairns so he insisted on bringing me there. On both nights, he brought me to 2 Filipino –themed dinner parties so I got all my dinners for FREE! Gosh! I really felt lucky! I hope I can repay his kindness when it’s his turn to visit the Philippines.

Let me share with you photos of Cairns and Port Douglas. I wasn’t able to take a lot of photos in Port Douglas coz we arrived there at night and my camera couldn’t capture good photos when it’s dark (even if it’s on night mode).

Cairns:

Esplanade:

Wharf:

View of Cairns from the hills:

Filipino dinner party at Peter's house: (L-R: Peter's mom, Peter, moi, Patrick)

Port Douglas:

more photos here

Weekend in Cairns

2011-11-15T12:02:00.003+11:00

The pinnacle of my Australian adventure is over!

Other than a possibly dead camera because of carelessness in packing, my weekend went better than I expected. I couldn’t join the other exchange students during their Cairns trip because I already had prior commitments. But Cairns, particularly the Great Barrier Reef, is really a must-see for me so I booked a separate trip without any companions and said, “bahala na”. I’ll try to weave the story in my next entries.

I only went for literally one (whirlwind) weekend because that’s the only available time I had given my increasing school load. We only have 3 weeks of classes left plus one week of final exams at the end so work and deliverables have been piling up.

I’m planning to divide my blog entries into three parts because I did some major activities that are worth expounding. Besides, I probably won’t have any more exciting Oz adventures after this because I’m planning to concentrate on doing schoolwork and my travel budget has been wiped out. This trip cost me a lot of moolah despite of its briefness because I decided to do some really exciting AND expensive activities. I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I will probably not have the chance to do the activities that I did in the near future so I decided to just go ahead and do them.

I’ll be making separate entries for the following:

Cairns and Port Douglas:

Sky Diving Experience:

The Great Barrier Reef:

Let me organize my thoughts and sort through almost a thousand photos (most of which were taken under the sea) first before I proceed. Not sure how long it will take but I’ll do it!

Yarra Valley

2011-11-11T19:04:00.003+11:00

To my simple mind, Yarra Valley is the Australian equivalent of the American Napa Valley. Both have one thing in as their main attraction: wineries.

Like my other trips, this has been in my ‘list of places to explore in Australia’. I’m almost done with my list, just in time for my imminent departure.

Over the past years, I’ve started drinking wine. Even in the Philippines, I’ve visited a number of wine restaurants like Galileo Enoteca, Barcino, Aubergine and Cav to name a few. I also attended a wine and cheese tasting course in Manchester to develop my appreciation for it. Whenever I go out for drinks, I oftentimes choose wine instead of beer (which I hate) or hard drinks (like vodka, gin or rum, which are relatively more affordable).

Why do I explore the world of wine? Because I want to be one of those sophisticated ladies who drink wine with their steaks (or meals in general) or ladies who just drink wine before heading to bed. Ang sosyal diba? Hahahaha. I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, such a trying hard copy cat!

But seriously, I want to appreciate wine like most sophisticated people do that’s why I check out all these restos, go to wine tastings and explore the wineries of the Yarra Valley.

To tell you the truth, I don’t think I have developed a sincere appreciation for wine. I am most often baffled by this fact. No matter how many wines I’ve tasted and no matter how hard I tried to appreciate wine and cheese/meal pairings, I just couldn’t. If there is anything I’ve developed in doing all these, it is that my tolerance for alcohol has increased. I can drink a bottle of wine without getting drunk (just tipsy, hehe).

I haven’t been to Napa Valley and I wish I’ll be able to go there in this lifetime. I figured doing the Yarra Valley winery tour is the closest I can get to a “Napa Valley” experience.

To accomplish my goal of going to Yarra Valley, I joined Melbourne Business School’s Wine and Philosophy Club for two reasons: to be able to do the Yarra Valley winery tour cheaply and with the company of like-minded individuals.

Our route:

Closer look at our route:

I must say, the trip was well-organized...kudos to Eliza and Allan!

During the winery tour, I still wasn’t able to appreciate the tastes despite of all the detailed descriptions of the owners/sales people. For me, sparkling wines and ciders are the best because they suit my taste, but I have yet to appreciate the intricate tastes of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon. Heck, I can’t even pronounce them properly!

In general, I’m a slow learner and a late bloomer so I am not a hopeless case! I’m still hoping I’ll appreciate the art of drinking wine in the future.

In the meantime, let me share the 4 wineries we visited. I won’t be able to give a detailed description of each wine we tasted because for me, they’re all the same! This is probably one of the reasons why the universe hasn’t given me the opportunity to visit Napa Valley yet. It’s giving me time to truly appreciate wines, so that when I finally get to visit THE valley, I’ll be able to give detailed descriptions of the wines I’ve tasted and be able to pick those that really taste good.

Our party bus and our emcee:

The Wine and Philosophy Club Members (notice how 'wine' strategically goes first ;)

First stop: Punt Road

Second stop: St. Huberts

Third stop: Train Trak Vineyard

Fourth and last stop: Kellybrook Winery

more photos here

Welcome to the Philippines!!!

2011-11-09T08:06:00.001+11:00

Mabuhay!!!

My first visitors from South America (my classmates from Manchester Business School) have arrived in Manila. Hay salamat! Nagbunga ang pagiging Ms. Tourism ko. Hahaha.

Out of my 131 classmates in Manchester, only a few have been to the Philippines. Sad isn’t it? It’s a good thing the school has a Filipino contingent (represent!) to promote the Philippines. :D

I feel bad that I won’t be in Manila to give Tomas (from Peru) and Jose (from Colombia) a personal tour. On the bright side, I still have a lot of visitors to expect next year because my other classmates have expressed their interest to explore the Philippines too!

Special thanks to mom and dad for providing my visitors transportation and a packaged tour of Manila. See? Even my parents are excited for their arrival.

To Tomas and Jose, Enjoy Manila and Boracay! Next time you visit, please make sure I’m there. ;)

Meet Tomas (top) and Jose (bottom):

A Happy First Weekend of November

2011-11-08T08:37:00.003+11:00

I just wanted to make a new entry for the new week given that the past weekend has been fantastic and worth sharing. My Manchester classmate who’s on exchange in Sydney, Jehan, came to Melbourne to visit. I gave him a day tour of the city last Saturday, November 5th. I brought him to St. Kilda beach to end his tour and was able to take a photo of this beautiful sunset:

Last Sunday, November 6th, I did a winery tour at Yarra Valley together with my Melbourne Business School colleagues...some exchange students, some from class of 2012 and some from class of 2013.

I haven’t had time to organize my thoughts and photos so I’ll probably do it next week, if I won’t be able to do so in the next days. This week is pretty hectic because I have a lot of exams, readings, papers (hundreds of pages to read!) and syndicate meetings. Fortunately, I’ll be going somewhere really, REALLY exciting this coming weekend, which will be a great way to unwind!

If everything goes as planned, this coming weekend will be the highlight of my whole Oz adventure so I’m keeping my fingers (and if possible feet) crossed! I’m so EXCITED!!! My weekend trip will serve as an inspiration to get me through this hell week.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this message (kalokohan lang, for the single peeps, pampalubag loob. haha):

Have a great week everyone!
Oh and another random thought... I’ll be home in a month! Yipee! =)

Getting Ready

2011-11-04T12:58:00.000+11:00

My MBA journey is coming to an end. In five months, all this will be over. The whole experience has been AMAZING. Gosh, even that word is an understatement. The experience is priceless. With five months left in the programme, I’m sure I will still be learning a lot, still meet a lot of people, discover new places, discover more about myself and all the rest of it!

On the other hand, by taking this 18-month MBA programme, I’ve put my so-called real life at a standstill. I left everything and everyone behind to experience something completely new and to undergo a major upgrade of my knowledge and skills. There have been a lot of trade-offs but there have been a lot of positive outcomes as well.

It is with relief and sadness that I reflect on my journey. At some points, I felt it was fast while at some points, I felt it was slow. My perspectives change according to my emotions and longing, but one thing is certain: I am going home. I may have entertained the prospect of working in the UK or in Australia because I’ve experienced living in both countries. Both are great places to work and live in, but my happiness lies in being with my loved ones. My happiness lies in Manila. In fact, every time I leave the Philippines, it only reaffirms my conviction that there is no other place I want to spend the rest of my life in. It is where majority of my loved ones are so it is where I will be happiest.

I’ve started to slowly plan what I’ll do when I get back. I’ve left a lot of things hanging so I’m planning to resume them as soon as I get back. I’m also planning on exploring new skills and areas of interest aside from focusing on our businesses. After having learned so much the past year, I wouldn’t want to stop learning just because I’m done with grad school. The learning continues, not inside the classroom but outside of it.

I missed my family and close friends terribly, so being with them will be my utmost priority. Second would be preparing to start working again. I know a lot of people have high expectations. I hope I’ll be able live up to those expectations, or even exceed them.

I’ll resume baking and running. I hope my baking skills are still intact! For running, I hope I can finally join a marathon so I’m planning to start training for it. I’m eyeing the Milo Marathon if it doesn’t coincide with my graduation. If not, I’m sure there are a lot more marathons I can join.

What I’ve mentioned are just some of the major activities that I look forward to doing when I go home for good. Of course, there are a lot more like regularly watching plays, food adventures, exploring the Philippines once again, trying out Yoga, go surfing and all the rest of it! Ang dami-dami pa!

So, even if this 18-month stint (which I consider my journey of a lifetime) is coming to an end, I still have a lot to look forward to. There are more journeys to be made. For all I know, there’s a more exciting one ahead waiting for me. =)

3 Reaons to Travel While You're Young

2011-11-01T17:39:00.005+11:00

I came across this nice article about travelling from a number of Facebook contacts and I just had to repost it here to encourage young readers to travel and to remind myself to keep on exploring the world. I can somehow relate to what the author's saying because travelling the world has been sort of my goal before I reach 30 and get serious with my life. It's not that I am not serious now. I've always been serious about life and I've always had plans for myself. I do have plans. I'm even trying to balance getting my MBA degree with travelling. I consider myself very blessed to be young and not have major responsibilities yet. Of course, I have my family, especially my dad, to thank for the support. I would not have been able to study nor see the wonderful places I've seen the past year if it weren't for them.

To passionate travellers and life-learners like me, enjoy reading the article:

source: http://goinswriter.com/travel-young/

The other night, I had a conversation with a young woman who had a number of decisions ahead of her, one of which was whether she should go to grad school or travel the world.

I told her to travel. Hands down. No excuse. Just go.
Travel While You're Young

She sighed.
“Yeah, but…”

Never were more fatal words spoken.

Yeah, but… what about debt?
Yeah, but… what about my job?
Yeah, but… what about my boyfriend (or dog or car or whatever)?

“Yeah, but…” is pernicious. Because it makes it sound like we have the best of intentions when really we are just too scared to do what we should.

It allows us to be cowards, while sounding noble.

Most people I know who waited to travel the world never did. Conversely, plenty of people who waited for grad school or a steady job and traveled still did those things — eventually.

Be careful of the yeah-but. The yeah-but will kill your dreams.

I was so stirred by this conversation that I shared it with a group of about thirty young adults last night, many of which are asking these very questions.
The life you’ve always wanted

When you get older, life seems to just sort of happen to you. Your youth is a time of total empowerment.

You get to do what you want. As you mature and gain new responsibilities, you have to be very intentional about making sure you don’t lose sight of what’s important.

So if you still have a reasonable amount of control over your circumstances, you should do what really matters. Because life won’t always be just about you.

During early adulthood, your worldview is still being formed. It’s important to steward this time — to give yourself opportunities to grow. A good way to do that is to travel.

So, young person, travel.

Travel wide and far.
Travel boldly.
Travel with full abandon.

You will regret few risks you take, when it comes to this. I promise you.

There are three reasons to travel while you’re young:

1. Traveling teaches you to live an adventure

When you look back on your life, you will have moments of which you are proud and maybe a few you regret. It’s likely that the following won’t be on the latter list:

Bicycled across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Appeared on Italian TV.
Hiked a Mayan ruin.
Learned Spanish in three months.
Toured Europe by train.

They’re not on mine (fun fact: I’ve done all of the above)

What, then, will be?

Holding back.
Being afraid.
Making excuses.
Not taking more risks.
Waiting.

While you’re young, you should travel.

You should take the time to see the world and taste the fullness of life. It is worth whatever monetary investment or time sacrifice that is required on your part.

It’s not about being a tourist. It’s about learning the importance of experiencing true risk and adventure so that you don’t have to live in fear for the rest of your life.

2. Traveling helps you encounter compassion

In your youth, you will make choices that will define you. The disciplines you begin now will be with you for the rest of your life.

Traveling will change you like little else can. It will put you in places that will force you to care for issues that are bigger than you.

If you go to southeast Asia, you may encounter the slave trade. If eastern Europe, you may see the effects of genocide and religious persecution. If Haiti, you’ll witness the the ugly side Western paternalism.

Your heart will break.

You will begin to understand that the world is both a big and small place. You will have a newfound respect for the pain and suffering that over half of the world takes for granted on a daily basis. And you will feel more connected to your fellow human beings in a deep and lasting way.

You will learn to care.

3. Traveling allows you to get some culture

While you’re still young, you should get cultured. Get to know the world and the magnificent people that fill it.

There’s nothing quite like walking alongside the Coliseum or seeing Michelangelo’s David in person. I can describe the city of San Juan and its amazing beaches and historic sites to you, but you really have to see it for yourself to experience it. You can read all the books in the world about the Great Wall of China or The Louvre, but being there is a different story.

The world is a stunning place, full of outstanding works of art. See it.

Do this while you’re still young. Do not squander this time. You will never have it again.

You have a crucial opportunity to invest in the next season of your life now. Whatever you sow, you will eventually reap.

Please. For your sake, do this.

You won’t always be young. And life won’t always be just about you. So travel. Experience the world for all it’s worth. Become a person of culture, adventure, and compassion.
“What if I’m not young?”

Travel, anyway. It may not be easy to do, but find a way to get out of your comfort zone. It’s really never too late.

But if you haven’t gotten sucked into the routine of life yet, I implore you — travel. It will never be easier than it is right now for you to do that which really matters.

If you’re young, have you traveled yet? Have you seen what the world has to offer and how it can change you? What’s holding you back?

If you’re older, did you travel when you were young? What regrets do you have?

My ‘First’ Halloween

2011-10-31T13:41:00.005+11:00

At the ripe age of 28, I’m not ashamed to admit that this is my ‘first’ Halloween. I said first because it’s my first time to go to a party and actually wear a ‘costume’ (as far as I can remember!). Over the past years, I’ve always prepared parties for the children of our employees and decorated our home for the kids in our village.

I missed the Halloween celebration last year when I was in Manchester, but I couldn’t remember the reason anymore. Knowing me, I was probably travelling or doing schoolwork. To be honest, going to a party was the least of my priorities. I’ve missed a lot on purpose. Some of you might think this is untrue since my facebook and multiply albums show a lot of parties but really, I haven’t attended many. I only attend so I wouldn’t be called a party pooper, a label which I got during my first few months in Manchester because I literally avoided all parties. I eventually got rid of that label by carefully choosing to attend more relevant parties. Even if I did attend, I didn’t stay long. I arrived early, grab 1 or 2 drinks at the most, stayed and mingled for a few hours then leave.

This year, I decided at the last minute to attend a Halloween party, Melbourne style. I originally wasn’t planning because I didn’t want to spend money on costume. I’d rather spend on food, travel or some form of adventure. However, I talked to one of the organizers, a good friend of mine and also an exchange student. She was so excited about the party, it rubbed off on me! So while talking to her, I decided to attend! Besides, I haven't attended any party here yet so I thought I might as well go to this one.

I didn’t have time to look for a costume. Being a first-timer, my creative juices when it comes to thinking of a costume were at an all-time low. I didn’t know where to find a costume nor improvise so I left my decision to fate. A few hours before the party, I went to Queen Victoria Market to look for possible costumes. I had no idea what I was looking for so I just walked around. Just a few minutes after entering the market, I saw a wig store. I came in, fitted different wigs of different colors and lengths, then finally decided to get the red shoulder-length wig, as suggested by the saleslady. I’ve always wanted to wear a wig (don’t ask me why! Haha). What sealed the deal was the price. It was affordable so I bought it!

I got excited as I walked back home. I looked for an appropriate dress to go with the wig as soon as I entered my flat. I only brought 3 dresses and there was only one dress which somehow matched my wig so I had no choice but to wear it. I then looked for an accessory to match the dress and the wig and found a pair of strange-looking shades! Voila! I had no particular celebrity in mind when I bought the wig. I just wanted to buy it. This was the most I could do given the limited time and budget. Heck, I’m not going as myself so I thought that was a good enough costume!

Before going to the party: (nagpa-practice ng mga poses for the party. Di ko naman nagawa. Nahiya ako eh!)

The party was fun! There were free drinks, some finger food and a whole lot of people in costumes! I was entertained just by checking out what people were wearing!

During the party:
The best costume for me: Allan as Kim Kardashian

Kissed by 2 beautiful swans, black and white / American and French ;)

With fellow exchange students:

With Melbourne Business School's Class of 2013: (some of them)

Other photos:

My Halloween

2011-10-29T16:53:00.003+11:00

I'll be celebrating halloween this year by going to a party! Quite unusual from my previous halloweens where I prepare for hundreds of kids! I actually dunno what costume to wear and I'm not willing to spend a lot. This is a result of a crammed trip to Melbourne's 'palengke', Queen Victoria Market. Hehe. Will give an update of how my halloween turned out next week!

Blue Mountains

2011-10-25T16:49:00.009+11:00

Last weekend, I again went to Sydney to attend my cousin’s engagement party. I knew that she and her fiance have been together for quite a while but only at the party did I know that they’ve been together for 12 years already. Can you imagine that? I honestly can’t imagine how two people can stay together that long before marriage without getting tired of each other. That’s what true love is, I suppose. =)

Meet the newly engaged couple, Tin-Tin and RJ:

With the couple:

With my cousins+niece+engaged couple:

Anyway, off to my recent adventure...

I didn’t get to see two friends and former co-workers, Allan and Patrick, the last time I went to Sydney because Allan got sick. I'm not sure if I'll still get to visit Sydney before I leave Australia in December so I made it a priority to see them. Luckily, both of were free last Saturday so they brought me to Blue Mountains as I requested. Teeheee! I got to tick another one off my ‘places to see in Australia’ checklist. =)

Blue Mountains National Park is a popular tourist destination outside of Sydney but still within the boundaries of the state of New South Wales. It’s 1.5-2 hours away from the city by car. The park is so big; one day is not enough to see all its splendid glory. Unfortunately, one day was all I got to tour it. Like most of my trips, I just made the most out of the time I've got.

I’ve been curious why the park was named ‘blue mountains’ because I couldn’t imagine how mountains can be blue. Literally speaking, it couldn’t possibly be. I got the answer to my curiosity when I finally saw the mountains.

Literally BLUE Mountains!

Look at that beauty! Of course, the mountains weren’t really blue but the sky’s colour somehow managed to envelope the mountains. Hence, the name.

Here are more photos of what we were able to visit and see during the short trip: (more photos here)

With a cuckatoo!

Vera's Grotto:

The majestic Katoomba Falls:

The Three Sisters, one of Blue Mountains' most popular attractions:

An Aborigine!

With Patrick (left) and Allan (middle):

Thank you Allan and Patrick!!! Had so much fun! Owe you two BIG TIME! :D

The End

2011-10-19T11:04:00.004+11:00

All stories have an end, some happy, some sad.

In romantic relationships, almost everyone wishes for his or her own version of ‘happily ever after’.

I won’t pretend that I’m not one of those who do. I am a sucker for romance and hope that someday, somehow, my prince charming will come my way, sweep me off my feet and we’ll both live happily ever after (with children of course!).

I thought I had it before but it wasn’t the case. I thought I had it again with my recent relationship with Jesy but sadly it wasn’t the case either.

I met Jesy when I was about to leave for my studies abroad, which was the worst timing ever. Nevertheless we mutually decided to enter into a relationship even if we both knew how risky it was.

Before leaving, Jesy promised he’ll visit me and that we’ll do everything in our capacity to make the relationship work.

The first few months were good. We managed pretty well. As the months dragged on, communication became tougher. It didn’t help that we were both busy with our personal lives. The worst part was the time zone and internet availability. Of course, I also had my shortcomings.

We saw each other again after eight months of being apart. He fulfilled his promise of a visit and we rendezvoused in no less than Amsterdam. We toured Europe together and had a blast.

After that, the struggle to continue the relationship dragged on. We celebrated our anniversary without fanfare, just greetings from both sides.

I went home for the summer break and we tried to spend as much quality time with each other as we possibly could. We had a blast.

We went back with coping with the distance when I left for Melbourne and it got harder than ever. One party eventually couldn’t take the distance anymore so both agreed to part for the time being. It was a mutual decision that we hope would free us from the burden of dealing with a long distance relationship.

After having gone through two different long distance relationships in the past with both as failures (in my opinion), a part of me still believes that it could last. I know some of my closest friends who have undergone one and are now happily married, and I know of one particular couple who has been doing it for at least five years already. I am still a believer, but I guess there’s a difference between that belief and trying again in the future. I think two is enough. Clearly, long distance relationship is not for me.

October 12 was the date we decided to part ways. It was a hard decision especially on my end because I still wanted to hold on to someone who already clearly decided to give up. It takes two committed individuals to form a strong relationship so I knew it was a useless case. I had to let go.

I dealt with a much worse break-up before and emerged out of it stronger than ever. I’m sure I’ll deal with this one in the same way, or even better. My heart has been broken (once again, ouch!) but it will heal again. I feel it’s even sooner than I think (or I think it’s even sooner than I feel?). It’s been only a week but I’m feeling much better already.

For now, I’ll continue to have a positive attitude. I will try to go through my daily routines as if it’s just like any other day. I will still seek adventures as I usually do and finish this term with good marks! Life has to go on.

I appreciate how my parents, family, friends and relatives have been so supportive, just like the last time. It’s not easy to deal with a break-up but these are the times when I really feel loved by everybody. The shows of care and concern have been overwhelming. You know who you are. THANK YOU. I love you all so much!

To end this sad entry, let me borrow lines from Adele’s “Someone Like You”:

Never mind, I’ll find someone like you,
I wish nothing but the best for you, too,
Don’t forget me, I beg,
I remember you said,
Sometimes it lasts in love,
But sometimes it hurts instead

Nothing compares,
No worries or cares,
Regrets and mistakes,
They’re memories made,
Who would have known how
Bittersweet this would taste?

To Jesy, thank you for sharing yourself with me. I will forever treasure our wonderful times together.

my favorite photo of us =)

Roadtrip to the Great Ocean Road

2011-10-17T18:24:00.011+11:00

This was the one I briefly mentioned we were planning after the Phillip Island road trip. We had to reschedule it to this past weekend because of the weather. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t that cooperative the whole time either. Looking back, it would have been better if we pushed through with the original schedule. Nevertheless, weather was beyond our control so there was really nothing we could do but go on! Besides, the rest of my travel buddies have scheduled trips to different parts of Australia after this one so we really had to push through. It’s now or never kumbaga.

I personally enjoyed Phillip Island more than this one for two reasons. First was because I am not at my happiest this past weekend. Last week was emotionally tough for me because Jesy and I decided to break up. The long distance finally took its toll. I’ll probably write a separate entry about it when I’m ready. I tried very hard to be cheerful and social but I think I failed. I think my travel buddies noticed it but just didn’t say anything. Second was because the Great Ocean Road itself was, to put it bluntly, boring. Maybe this perspective is also a result of my somewhat negative mood.

The thing is, everything was beautiful and the company was great. The towns that we passed by namely Torquay and Anglesea were beautiful. We even spent a few hours in their pristine beaches because we just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to enjoy them. All the views were picturesque. There were mountains, numerous beaches and a lot of koala sightings! The 12 Apostles, the highlight of the Great Ocean Road, were spectacular.

I’ll just show some photos and let you judge for yourself. I hope I was still able to capture the beauty of it all even if my mind was somewhere else.

You may read the description of the Great Ocean Road here.

Transportation:
We again rented a car instead of joining a bus tour. There was only 8 of us so we rented an 8-seater van.

I spent most of the time sleeping while on the road. In that way, it’s easier to forget what’s occupying my mind. Having said this, can you imagine how much I’ve been sleeping lately? Hehe.

Accommodation:
We rented a whole house instead of the usual hostel because it adds up to the same cost. We spent 2 nights at this beautiful place which was just a 40-minute drive away from the Great Ocean Road. At the end of each day, we just drank wine, played cards, table tennis and pool. We loved it so much we didn’t want to leave!

Where we went and what we’ve seen:

St. Regis Vineyard and Winery

Lots of beautiful beaches

The 12 Apostles

Surfers of all ages (surfer boys, surfer dads and of course, surfer dudes!)

Great Otway National Park where we spotted at least 20 koalas

Check out this mother-baby koala video:

Group shot:

At one of our scenic stops

At one of our food stops

Dramatic solo shots courtesy of Flavio:

Click here for more photos

My Best Photo of Melbourne

2011-10-10T13:45:00.004+11:00

I’m making a special entry for one photo simply because it’s really beautiful. I took it myself. I didn’t grab it from another website so I’m doubly proud!

I think this photo is my best one EVER. As in since I started holding a camera. Ang ganda talaga! Even I was amazed at how beautiful this shot turned out. Ehem. It already has 38 likes on Facebook. Naks. It definitely isn’t 1,000 but 38 likes is a lot! (*update: as of November 8, it already has 57 likes! hihihi. Kilig!)

This photo really showed how beautiful the city is.

Enjoy! =)

Road Trip to Phillip Island

2011-10-06T15:24:00.013+11:00

3 words for the island: small but terrible!

The island was so small, you can tour it in a day but there are so many activities you can do! Personally, I wanted to go there just to witness the Penguin Parade but since there were 10 of us in the group and the consensus was overnight, I had no choice but to succumb to what the majority wanted. I’m glad I did! The island was so beautiful that you could just stare at its beauty for hours! Of course, being an energetic lady (naks), I wanted to do more than stare at its beauty. I wanted to experience it and maximize all that it had to offer. But alas, it offered so much ranging from food trips, water sports, helicopter tours, winery tours, hiking and sky diving to name a few. In addition, it has a number of wildlife and nature parks wherein you can interact with Australia's native animals such as koalas and kangaroos. Time passes so quickly when you’re having a lot of fun and that’s what I felt during the trip. We wanted to see and do a lot of things but we had to prioritize and even split up into 2 groups on our second day given that we only had 2 days to ‘conquer’ the island and people wanted to do so much more!

It was my first time to go on a trip with my fellow exchange students so I had low expectations. Phillip Island is in my list of places to see while here in Australia so I decided to join them and see how it goes. I decided that if the trip goes well, I wouldn’t mind going on other trips with them as companions. If not, I’d have to find somebody else or tour other places by myself. Fortunately, the trip went smoothly. It had some glitches but they were so minor and we had a lot of fun along the way so those can be ignored. I’m already looking forward to our next one. It’s supposed to be this weekend but the weather will not be that nice, so we’re thinking of postponing it to next weekend. Hopefully the weather cooperates and that planned trip pushes through.

On to the trip itself!

Weather:
It rained really hard the whole week up until the night before our trip. I was worried that our Sunday-Monday trip to the island would be the same. Fortunately, the sun decided to come out. The weather was perfect! We were all thankful because as with any trips, the weather plays a huge part in determining the activities and sometimes even the moods of the travellers.

Transportation:
There were available bus tours to the island but we hired 2 awesome but cheap cars for the ten of us. It’s more private, relaxed and fun that way. At least we could go on our own pace and at the budget we set for ourselves. No need to take a plane or a ferry to get there since there’s a bridge that connects it from the mainland. Besides, the island was only 1.5 hours away from Melbourne. However, it took us longer because we relied on our iphones’ GPS to guide us and somehow we got lost along the way. It didn’t matter to me coz I personally felt that our journey was as important as the destination itself. The views to and from the island were amazing. We also got to know more about each other through endless conversations. We played games in between too. Suffice it to say, we had a lot of things up our sleeves to keep us entertained until we reached our destination. Going back was faster since we already knew the way. We were all tired from the trip so most of us just slept. I felt bad for our drivers though, coz they weren’t able to sleep and I bet they were more tired than we were.

Accommodation:
As students, it’s a given that we’re on a budget. As such, hotels were not an option. Finding an affordable but decent hostel was the only option. We got really lucky with our hostel. It was new, clean, spacious and had a lot of amenities such as a TV room, lounge room and an internet cafe. Most importantly, it was very affordable. Flavio did a great job in finding it!

At our hostel, The Island Accommodation:

Our master planner, driver and all-around tourguide, Flavio:

What we’ve seen and what we did:

First stop, I dunno where exactly but it's pristine!

Second stop, sort of the centre of the island. There were lots of commercial establishments within the area (not shown here):

Koala Conservation Centre:

Phillip Island Vineyard and Winery:

The Nobbies:

Penguin Parade: (notice how cold we were! Temperature dropped from dusk onwards. All this sacrifice to watch the cute penguins strut their stuff!):
Before the show (above), during the show (below). Note: We were not allowed to take photos during the parade so I had to take photos from here and here to show what we saw. ;)

Maru Koala and Animal Park: (notice the difference between my photos from Sydney and here. Na-at home na ako sa mga hayop na ito.Haha. Close na kami.)

Up close with Kelly the Koala: cutie patootsie!
Watch Kelly the Koala eat:

It’s been 3 days since we got back but we all enjoyed the trip so much we’re still talking about it (while at the same time planning for the next one)! I’m really looking forward to our next trips together. Even if I’ll only be with my fellow exchange students for a limited amount of time, I hope I’ll be able to form good relationships with them and that we’ll remember our experiences with fondness.

Here’s to more fun trips together!

Meet some of my fellow exchange students!

Group Photo 1:
bottom(L-R)> Yani from Bulgaria & Catherine from Belgium. Top (L-R)> Flavio from Portugal, Marta from Spain, Divya from India, David from France (his family migrated from China), moi from the Philippines and Javier from Spain:

Group Photo 2: Clockwise from top>Catherine, Divya, Javier, Flavio, David, moi, Ade from Spain, Marta and Ana from Spain.
More photos here

HappyGaile now on its 6th year!!!

2011-10-05T12:57:00.001+11:00

Gasgas na pero...ang bilis talaga ng panahon!

I always start with ’time flies so fast!’ in every anniversary blog post because I cannot believe that I’ve been blogging for this long already!

Every time I celebrate my blog anniversary, I try to recall its history. Six years ago, I was not really planning on creating a blog but I decided to leave everybody behind and try a new life in the States, which I aptly called ‘The Land of Milk and Honey’. Back then, it was still the land of opportunities. I had a different boyfriend then and we were thinking of ways to update each other aside from the usual instant messages, skype dates and emails. Technology was not yet as advanced as it is now but at least we didn’t have to wait months to receive letters from each other. We both decided to create a blog so that we’d have access to each other’s thoughts anytime we feel like it. I thought it was a brilliant idea not just for updating him but also for updating the rest of my family and friends. Our relationship didn’t last but this blog continues to live on!

Like every blog, there’s an address and a title. Mine is happygaile.blogspot.com and my current title is ‘The World is My Playground’. I didn’t just derive these out of thin air. There’s a story behind them.

The main purpose of the address is to remind me to be happy because when I created this, I was struggling to be happy. Just a few years out of college and approaching 25, I didn’t know what to do with my life. I was at my quarter life crisis. I was miserable, insecure and pessimistic about life. This blog, in a way, helped me see the brighter aspects of my life. I try to write just happy thoughts, events and experiences so that when I look back and read, I’ll only remember the good stuff! Happy memories make for a happy person! You can quote me on that. ;p

My blog’s original title was ‘My Adventures in the Land of Milk and Honey’. I changed it because it no longer applied when I went home. The new title became ‘The World is My Playground’ as coined by a friend I met while living in the States who said, ‘why limit your horizon to just the US if you are young and the world is your oyster?’ That statement got stuck in my head which eventually found its way to this blog.

As I matured, this blog also matured with me. It has witnessed a lot of happy moments in my life. I guess I haven’t stopped blogging because I’ve never had a diary and will probably never have one so I consider this blog as my diary, an open one for anybody to read. Everything I write here is wholesome so I have nothing to worry about. The advantage of having a blog instead of a diary is that I can access it no matter where I am for as long as there’s internet.

I know I haven’t been religiously updating this blog as much as I want to and I know I’m not a good writer, but I’ll still continue to blog for as long as I can. At least when I’m old, retired and forgetful, I’ll have this blog to help me remember the happy moments of my life. As I’ve said in one of my previous anniversary posts, my grandchildren might have the chance to read this blog and think that their lola is such an adventure-seeker and led a happy life!

This blog has been a witness to a lot of fortunate events, new experiences, abundant blessings and a lot of happiness. Writing here taught me to reflect on what’s going on with my life and pick out the parts that are worth writing about--the parts that become the ‘highlights’ of my life. Too bad it’s not complete! (mahirap kasi mag-blog pag di magaling magsulat at kulang sa panahon makapag-isip nang maayos!).

At this point, I can say I have achieved happiness and inner peace. I still feel confused and sad at times but I make it a point to always see the positive side of every situation. I always strive to be happy because as I’ve said before, happiness is a choice. I’ve realized that I do not need to lead a perfect life to be happy. It also helps that I regularly do what makes me happy which is travelling. I’ve been to just a few countries back when I changed the name of this blog. Making the blog’s title into “The World Is My Playground” when the world wasn’t my playground yet was like requesting the universe to make the world my playground (gets?). Sometimes, you just have to say it and the universe will grant your wish. Since changing the title of this blog, I’ve travelled to a number of cities, countries and continents I could not have thought possible travelling at this age! For that, I am truly grateful.

To conclude, I’d like to borrow Elizabeth Gilbert’s words because she succinctly describes what I’ve been trying to achieve by maintaining this blog:

People universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you’re fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don’t, you will leak away your innate contentment.

Happy 6th anniversary to me! =) *pat on the back!*

Sydney

2011-09-26T18:35:00.016+10:00

How I got there

Australia has budget airlines such as Tiger Airways and Jetstar, much like our local Cebu Pacific and PAL Express. They regularly give seat sales or give cheaper alternatives compared to other airlines. I considered several options in planning for my first local trip within Australia. I considered booking a flight, bus or train. In the end, I opted for a 12-hour bus ride instead of a 1-2 hour plane ride or even an overnight train ride because it’s the cheapest. I wasn’t able to get a cheap airfare because I didn’t plan ahead. For my bus ride, I took the overnight trip so that at least I don’t get to waste precious day time on the road. Trips like this one are somewhat impulsive in a sense that I immediately decided to go the week before because my Thursday class professor announced that we won’t be having classes the next week due to a prior commitment she made before the term started. So I was faced with a 5-day long weekend that started from September 22 and ended yesterday, September 26. I decided to leave on the evening of September 21st. I had a class in the afternoon so I left right after and walked to the train station which was 30 minutes away from my flat. I left Sydney on the 4th day of the long weekend so at least I have the last day to rest and do school stuff.

My bus at Southern Cross Station:

I’ve done long bus rides several times in the Philippines, specifically when I went to Sagada and Naga. There was a lot of discomfort involved, especially when it’s time to sleep but somehow I didn’t mind it just to save on cost. I’m lucky that I’m healthy and still young enough to do these things. I take comfort in thinking that I will stop doing this when I’m rich! I’ve also decided not to go farther than Sydney for bus trips because it takes up so much time and energy.

Long intro, eh? Sorry about that! Just wanted to share that one. Anyway, on to what happened in Sydney.

My trip

Like most trips, I had a blast! Sydney was beautiful. It had a different aura compared to Melbourne but equally (if not more) beautiful. The weather was perfect on the first 2 days of my trip but went downhill (i.e. it rained) on the last two. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed all my days in the city with the company of my cousins whom I haven’t seen for 7 years and my classmate from Manchester Business School who’s there for exchange.

The main reason why I also wanted to push through with the trip despite of the hassle is that I wanted to attend my niece’s (my cousin’s daughter) first birthday party. I was originally planning to go the week after but my schedule freed up and everything just fell into place. I’m glad I did. I was able to help in preparing for the party and also helped clean up after. I also had the chance to babysit my niece a few times. She was super cute but super likot at the same time! She was amusing and playing with her was a source of entertainment.

Baked goodies for my niece Victoria: (I miss baking!)

At Victoria's first birthday party:

With the birthday princess:

Having relatives and friends in the city, I was fortunate to get free accommodation, free tours, most of the time free food and sometimes free transportation. Special thanks to Asuncion family for their hospitality and my classmate Jehan for a hectic but very productive day tour of the city!

Where I've been and What I've done

Featherdale Wildlife Park (nagkakahiyaan kami ng koala):
Featherdale Wildlife Park (With a kangaroo.I don't like touching animals, so even if I could, I didn't):

Opera House at the top, Harbour Bridge at the bottom:

Manly Beach:

Bondi Beach:

Bondi beach must do: eat fried Mars bar!

Darling Harbour:

Mrs. Macquaries Chair:has one of the best views of the sunset, Opera House and Harbour Bridge:

Spending 4 days was not enough. I’ll probably need to return to explore the city and places of interest outside of it (Blue Mountain is at the top of my list!). I already received an invitation from my cousin Tin-tin to attend her engagement party next month so I’ll see if I can. It’s right after my mid-term exams so it might be a good time to relax a little. I’ll see. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

With my cousins (L-R): Tin-Tin, moi, Maricel, Nene

More photos here

Melbourne

2011-09-18T09:43:00.012+10:00

I’ve been here for two weeks and I must say, I haven’t explored half of Melbourne yet! It’s waayyyyyy bigger than Manchester! There are more tourist attractions to go to and restaurants to explore. I will have to allot a few hours every weekend to go to at least one or two places of interest. I’d also love to go to attractions outside the city such as Philip Island, Yarra Valley wineries and the Great Ocean tour. Hopefully I’ll also be able to explore the Gold Coast especially the Great Barrier Reef! Diving, or at the very least snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef is in my bucket list (I brought my diver’s license just in case). I hope I’ll be lucky enough to tick that off while I’m here (*fingers crossed!*).

Melbourne is beautiful! I always look forward to exploring the city because I always discover something interesting. I walked around the city centre during my first four days here. I was bent on spending as little transportation cost as possible but on my fifth day, I had to go to a suburb called Richmond. It was probably an hour and a half walk from where I live so I finally succumbed and took the train. On other days, I still get to spend zero $$$ because there are free city trams and shuttle buses for tourists.

Tram 25, the free tourist tram on Flinders Street. On the right is Flinders Station

Here are some sights I've managed to see so far:

Richmonde, home of the Vietnamese community (pho alert!) and the AAMI Stadium.

Chinatown, but more of a China Street.

RMIT University, the most bizarre-looking Uni I've seen. Probably because it's an artsy fartsy school.

State Library of Victoria. There are free exhibits regularly, interesting books, a Wii area (how cool is that?!) and most importantly, it has free wifi!

Town Hall on the left, one of the grandest and oldest buildings in the city. Royal Arcade on the right, one of the oldest if not the oldest retail outlet in the city.

Federation Square. A very touristy area. The main tourist centre is located here.

Eureka Tower. The tallest residential building in the Southern Hemisphere. I have yet to go up the tower to see a bird's eye view of the city.

Gardens/Parks (clockwise: garden clock, Carlton Gardens, Alexandra and Queen Victoria Gardens)

Melbourne Central. A uniquely designed mall. I'm not familiar with most of the retail stores inside it so I find it really interesting to explore. The food court is very diverse too. I already have a list of restaurants to try here.

The Royal Exhibition Building, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Favorite pre-nup/post-nup spot as well. I didn't include the photos here, but there were two newly-weds doing photo-ops when I went.

St. Paul's Cathedral. Not a Catholic church though so I go to another church every Sunday.

Queen Victoria Market. A major landmark in Melbourne. A must-visit tourist destination. The largest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere. The only surviving 19th century market in the CBD. It's the Aussie's version of a 'palengke', only theirs is cleaner and dry. I loooooove the food section. There are plenty of cuisines available and the prices are more affordable than the rest of the restos in the CBD.

Victoria Barracks. A 19th Century government building. Reminds me of Intramuros.

New Quay. Part of the Docklands. There's the private marina, residential buildings, restaurants, cafes and bars. Reminds me of Subic Yacht Club

Docklands. A few minutes tram-ride from the CBD. Residential, commercial/business district. There are also a lot of of new restos, parks and museums here. The view is spectacular too.

The Arts Centre. Home of the performing arts in Melbourne. Like our CCP.

Shrine of Remembrance. The state of Victoria's largest and most visited war memorial.

Random photos within the CBD (clockwise: kid street performer, street art, Flinders Street and a tourist kalesa)

Yarra River

The face of Melbourne in tourist ads. CBD on the right, Southbank on the left.

Foodtrips so far. I haven't been splurging since I arrived. I'm still trying to adjust my budget based on the living costs here. Once I've 'mastered' the art of grocery shopping here, I'll probably treat myself to more food adventures.

Isn’t the city a beauty? Ayluveeet! There are still a lot of places to explore! I hope I can add a lot more to these before I leave.

*Photo album to follow. Need to filter tons of photos!

Missing Manila

2011-09-16T13:36:00.002+10:00

I've been here in Melbourne for almost 2 weeks already but I'm still missing Manila. The vacation was just too short! However, I know that it will still feel short even if I stayed a little longer. At this very moment, I just wish I were in Manila and not here. I knew I'd feel homesick even before I came home from Manchester. It's just so hard to leave again after being away for a year. If the flights haven't been booked and my enrolment here hasn't been confirmed, I'd still find myself in Manila now. Good thing I have these photos to remember the happy moments by.

Anyway! Enough of the ranting. Moving on...

Week 1 of classes has finished. I'm taking 5 subjects, all pre-registered before coming here but after attending all of them and sitting-in in some unregistered classes, I decided to drop 2 original ones and replace them with 2 new ones.

I've also been able to tour a lot of sites last week so I'll try to make an entry about that soon.

I'm planning to go to Sydney next weekend to visit relatives, friends and former colleagues. I hope it pushes through! I'm already looking forward to that trip to help fight this homesickness. In the meantime, gotta go back to studying. Must keep myself busy in order to keep my mind away from thinking of home.

From MBS to MBS

2011-09-15T08:30:00.005+10:00

That is, from Manchester Business School to Melbourne Business School. I love studying at MBS, what can I say?

This entry is just to show you around my exchange school because I’m quite impressed with the facilities. The University of Melbourne campus itself is beautiful but let me focus on this one particular building for now. After all, I won’t be going to any building except this one for the rest of the term. Everything is modern compared to my school’s facilities. Of course, there are a lot of factors why this is so, and I dare not go into a lengthy discussion about it. I’ll probably write another post comparing the two schools after I’m done with the term IF I’m not too lazy to actually write a post. In the meantime, let me tour you around the building.

The building's facade

Lobby at the top, foyers are the bottom. Super spacious!

Student Center which was closed the time I took this photo. I went to school a little too early. Excited much?

My ultimate tambayan, the library!

Lecture theatre. Simply world-class and very high-tech. Projector-check. White boards-check. Overhead projectors-check. Surround-sound system-check. COMFY chairs--double check!

Syndicate Rooms. They're so conducive to meetings, I'll probably request for group meetings more often. Haha. Kidding.

Student lounge. Quiet, relaxing and comfy. There's even free coffee til 11pm. Expect my caffeine levels to soar during my time here coz I'm a sucker for free stuff.
Courtyard. It will be lovely to hangout here once the weather gets warmer.

I dunno if my photos did justice to the building. I hope it did. Basta, maganda! Nakaka-engganyo mag-aral! BUT, my loyalty still lies to my original choice, which is Manchester Business School. ;)

*Doing this entry made me realize that I haven’t done a virtual tour of my own school! I’ll have to remember that and give a tour such as this one once I’m back in Manchester.

Welcome to my Melbourne flat!

2011-09-10T10:25:00.002+10:00

Welcome to my third and final flat for the year!

I can now officially call myself an ‘NPA’ (no permanent address) simply because for the past year, I’ve been transferring from one flat to another. Such is the life of an overseas student. Contracts expire and student exchange occurs. Same time last year, I would think of this whole experience as just plain exciting. Now that I have experienced moving flats, moving schools, moving countries and moving continents, it gets pretty tiring. Reality sets in. There’s the hassle of worrying about where to live after a contract or tenancy expires, the early application of visa, the electives to enrol in, tuition fee deadlines to think about, good airfares to catch, school deliverables to submit and all the rest of it! It can get pretty crazy. But once the preparations are done, I can at least concentrate on my education, which is the main reason I do all these things.

Before I start talking about my exchange school, I’d like to show my new flat. It is a student accommodation so it’s just a bit better than my first accommodation in Manchester which was Victoria Hall. This time, it’s a studio flat. I have no flatmates and no common area. Everything is in a tiny little space (not sure about the size, 3m x 5m more or less).

Since I’ll be here for just a little over 3 months (3 months and 6 days to be exact), it was difficult to look for a contract because usually contracts last at least 6 months. To help the incoming exchange students look for an accommodation, Melbourne Business School’s exchange coordinator sent a list of flats being rented out by outgoing exchange students. There are just about 10 of them and I was lucky enough to rent a flat from one named Samuele, an Italian (a very nice one if I may add), who’s going on exchange to UCLA.

I was originally hoping I could find a place that’s at the same price range as my rentals in Manchester but realizing that Melbourne is quite an expensive city compared to Manchester, I had to adjust my budget higher for the next 3 months. Call me ignorant, but I wasn’t expecting rates to be a lot higher than Manchester’s. I didn’t have a choice but to pay the high price because I already accepted Melbourne Business School’s offer and there’s no turning back. Hopefully, the electives are worth it and this new learning environment will prove to be more enriching (more because everything is more expensive here than in Manchester, hehe).

So, with much ado, the tour begins! (as if ang laki, haha)

One step, you’re in the kitchen area. Another step you’re in the bathroom area. Three to four steps you’re in the study area and one step you’re on the bed! Haha! See? It only takes half a minute to tour my cute flat! On the bright side, at least it’s easy to clean and just 2 minutes away from school. =)

Greetings from Melbourne!

2011-09-07T13:22:00.004+10:00

photo credit: Images Australia

I arrived from Melbourne early yesterday morning. I’m thankful that my trip went smoothly from the time I left Manila to the time I arrived in my new flat here in Melbourne.

I’ve been to my exchange school, Melbourne Business School, a few times already and it’s beautiful! The building is more modern and the facilities are awesome! I've familiarized myself to the building as well, thanks to a current Italian student here who showed me around. I’m also renting his flat during my whole stay here since he’s leaving for exchange in California.

My situation now is very much like my first days in Manchester last year: no internet and no 3g and just my roaming phone on hand. Having been used to using a smartphone with 3G, I feel so disconnected to the world. I’m currently blogging from the school’s public PC so at least I get to use the internet for a few hours per day. All the apps I use to connect with my family, friends and Jesy back home are in my iphone. I won’t be getting any username and password to access the school’s wifi until our orientation on Friday so I still need to wait a few more days.

I started touring the city yesterday. It’s beautiful! It’s a little different from Manchester but beautiful nonetheless. I’ll again explore the city today after doing this short post.

Everything’s been smooth so far. It’s a little cold because winter just finished and Spring just started. I kind of underpacked assuming that it’s already warm here. Tsktsk. I brought just one coat and one denim jacket. (perfect excuse to shop? Hehe).

Since living here in more expensive than living in Manchester, I will need to further tighten my leash. I’m on my last 6 months of studying and with that comes my last few pesos!

Hopefully I’ll still get to tour some parts of Australia cheaply. If not, I’ll have to be satisfied touring just Melbourne.

*Thought that I couldn’t let go since doing grocery shopping yesterday: I cannot believe that 4 pieces of bananas cost AUD8.50 (app Php382.50 or Php96/pc)! Those are the most expensive bananas I bought EVER!

Melbourne Bound!

2011-09-05T17:49:00.002+10:00

I'll be leaving our home in about 30 minutes! It's been a tiring but fun vacation in Manila! The weather was not cooperative most of the time. Good thing all my planned activities were indoors. My main reason for going home was to catch up with friends and loved ones anyway. At least I was able to do that! Haven't had time to rest though. Good thing classes don't start until Friday! At least I have a few days to rest and tour the city.

all packed and ready to go!

Goodbye Manila! I shall return in December =)

Van Gogh Is Bipolar

2011-09-03T17:35:00.006+10:00

Aside from being an interesting trivia about the famous artist, the name doesn't sound like a restaurant, right?

It sounds eccentric, don't you think?
As I said in my previous blog post, I've always wanted to try this resto simply because it created a buzz way before I left last year. I've seen it featured in a number of famous food blogs, lifestyle sections of newspapers and facebook albums of friends.

In my opinion, I think this resto has the most unique marketing tactic. It attracts customers out of curiosity about the main attraction, the chef himself. Tawagin na lang natin siya sa pangalang Jetro (his real name actually,hehe).

Jetro is bipolar. He used to take medications to fight his disorder but he claimed that he only got worse. He decided to stop taking meds and researched on how he could improve. He researched foods that can help him feel better. I guess he also has an entrepreneurial spirit that's why he decided to put up his very own resto. Take note, he only serves food that can improve your mood (i.e.can make you happy). There was no beef, chicken or pork on his menu so I guess they don't help. What he serves are veggies, herbs from his garden, salmon, turkey and tuna to name a few. There are also homemade teas made from dried native leaves.

my main course: tuna

ate Cha's main course: turkey

dessert: vodka+super dark chocolate+walnuts. sapul!

native tea

Legend (or fact?) has it that Jetro used to cook only with his apron on when his disorder is in full force. It would've been interesting to witness that but I heard it happened during the early days of his resto.
For a resto along the famous UP Maginhawa Street, its price is relatively expensive. Prices start at Php600 for 3 course meals and it goes higher if one opts for 4,5 or 6course meals. Jetro has no help except for 1 or 2 relatives so everything is self-service. He explains how his resto works upon arrival if it's your first time (like me). The food and presentation was above average, considering the fact that he has no formal training. It takes time for meals to be served, it's a good thing I didn't have plans after when I went there. Dining there is an experience in itself. And talking to Jetro about his experiences and travels is worth it.
The resto only seats 12 people at a time. It's highly recommended to reserve seats at least a week before. I went there with my sister, cousin and her boyfriend without any reservation and we were refused...at first. My cousin used my short vacation in Manila to convince Jetro to accept us. Since it was fully booked, he had no choice but to give the table outside where his garden was. The ambiance was nice but the mosquitos kept biting my legs the whole time! Still, I'm happy I was able to finally try it.

Kudos to Jetro for making his disorder a source of productivity and not a hindrance to living life. Galing!

As the new fad line goes, ikaw na Jetro! Ikaw na ang bipolar pero astig!

Thanks to Ate Mayve for the treat! =)

(L-R: Conrad, Ate Cha, Ate Mayve)

Walk This Way!

2011-08-28T17:14:00.011+10:00

I've been curious about Carlos Celdran's tours for years now. I've been hearing rave reviews about them and I've always wanted to try one of his tours but never got the chance to do so until now.

I've done Ivan Man Dy's Binondo Food tour many years ago and it was fun. The thing is, there's food involved so I was sure back then that even if he wasn't a good tour guide, I'll enjoy for as long as the food was good. Fortunately, both him and the food was good.

In recent years, Carlos Celdran has become more famous than Ivan Man Dy, at least in my perspective. They don't poach each other's territory which is good. Both have their own styles that endear them to the audience.

I have my friend Caress to thank for inviting me to experience 'Walk This Way!'. She didn't just arrange everything, she also paid for my fee! Gosh, my friends and family have been so kind to me the whole time I'm in Manila. Knowing that I'm unemployed, they just volunteer to pay for the meals we ate and all the rest of it! (ehem, thanks Charm! Thanks Ate Mayve! Thanks Jesy! Thanks Dad!)

We got the Livin' La Vida Imelda tour. If I were to choose, I would have chosen Celdran's Intramuros tour because I prefer exploring the outdoors. I like walking along the streets while listening to a tour guide. The Imelda Marcos tour was the opposite. It was indoors and we sat a lot. There were just two venues: CCP and PICC. There was no special technology used. Just the tourguide's portable mic, a casette player and a photo album. That's it. I've been to CCP and PICC a number of times before but I know little of their history until I did the tour. Carlos brought us to the 'untrodden' paths of CCP and PICC. He gave us both useless (yet entertaining) and insightful information during the 2.5 hour tour. We walked around the buildings and sat for a few minutes to listen to facts and his own interpretation of history, particularly involving Imelda Marcos. His tour wasn't an ordinary tour. He makes you think. He challenges your own version of history. And at the end of the tour, he'll make you appreciate our rich history as well as our country.

Carlos Celdran is amusing even if he's not talking!

Carlos Celdran showing photos of what Imelda Marcos did in this room at PICC

It was an entertaining and thought-provoking tour. Carlos Celdran went beyond my expectations. I highly recommend this tour. I'm even planning on joining his other tours when I get back in December. =)

As the cliche goes, huwag maging dayuhan sa sariling bayan!

Kai, me, Carlos, Chee and Caress after the tour

My Manila Vacay So Far

2011-08-23T01:32:00.004+10:00

I couldn't believe that it's been almost a week since I arrived from Manchester. Time flies doubly faster when you especially like it to slow down. :(

So far I've spent quality time with my family, Jesy, Jesy's family, Questronix peeps, Questech peeps and some friends. I was also able to put a check mark to the resto that I've always wanted to try before leaving but never did, which was Van Gogh Is Bipolar. Diba, pangalan pa lang, mukhang promising na. That resto didn't diasppoint!

In other news, I just finished putting the finishing touches to the first of 3 pending schoolworks I took home for summer term. Tomorrow I'm planning to finish another one so I only have one work left before my vacation ends and also before the new term in Melbourne starts.

Hap-Hap-Happppy!!! =)

Here's a photo collage of my first 6 days in Manila. I only used my iphone for taking all these random photos coz I was too lazy to bring my camera which explains some of the poor quality photos. I missed to take photos of a lot of occasions actually. At least I was able to take some snapshots of some of what I've been up to so far, for my poor memory's sake. :)

check out my newly rebonded hair and my pretty feet! nakakahiya man aminin, 1 taon akong walang bisita sa salon. talagang todo bawi pag-uwi!haha

I can feel Manila!

2011-08-16T03:09:00.004+10:00

Greetings from Abu Dhabi International Airport! I survived 1/3 of my journey already. Woopeedoo!!!!

Even if Abu Dhabi is not like Manila at all, there are a lot of Filipino employees and travellers so I feel quite at home. I miss talking in Tagalog so bumping into a few Filipinos here is a welcome change. =)

My journey back home is 23.5 hours from Manchester Airport to NAIA 1 via Etihad, the same airline I took going to Manchester last year. Frankly, I'm quite tired already. I've had 4 hours of sleep coz I did some last minute packing. Another reason why I feel so tired is that I watched movies all the way from Manchester to Abu Dhabi. Hehe. Libre, sayang naman diba?

I have a layover of 7 hours here and just like that, 2 hours have already gone by. Thank God for free internet! Hehe.

Anyway, I should probably get some zzzZZZZZ's before my next flight coz I might be tempted to watch movies again instead of sleeping.

Manila peeps, see you in a few hours!!!

**P.S. I felt really sad and senti on my journey from the flat to the airport this morning. Even if I'm excited to leave after a year in Manchester, I also made a lot of fond memories and life-time friends over there. It's as if I had cold feet and didn't want to leave the city I've grown to love. But then, family and loved ones await back home. Haaay. Life is full of trade offs,noh? Still, I'm glad that I had a fantastic time even if the studying part was quite difficult. I'm also glad that my stay in Manchester has been smooth for the most part. =)

Hairytale

2011-08-12T01:49:00.004+10:00

My hair hasn't been cut in one year. I cut it really short before leaving Manila because I knew I'd be so stingy to spend even for a haircut. To be honest, I'm afraid of getting a haircut. More often than not, I always come out of the salon displeased. I remember on my 6th month here, I decided to get one. I already looked for affordable salons, most of which can be found in Chinatown. For some reason, I decided to scrap the idea and let my hair grow long instead. I'll be attending a wedding in December anyway. It would be nice to do something girly with my hair..like curling it. Growing my hair in a country with low humidity is actually easier because for some reason, my hair is less disheveled. I guess the weather is a big factor. The only thing I don't like about having long hair is experiencing more hairfalls. I don't know if it's just me or if it's normal. I have thin hair and hairstrands so as much as possible I like to minimize hairfall. I don't wanna go bald when I get old! *shudder*

Anyway, just wanna share the evolution of my hair, from August 2010-August 2011. I'd like to think it grew longer as I gained knowledge and wisdom. Hehe.

Manchester Riots!

2011-08-10T07:11:00.003+10:00

Manchester riots started a few hours after my London riots entry today. Been hearing helicopters and police cars all night. Heck, even policemen on horses have been sighted! I've never seen them in Manchester before, only in London.

There's no sense in all of this. It's no longer about the death of Mr. Duggan. It's just a bunch of non-educated youths desperate for attention. Fortunately, I'm going home soon. In the next few weeks, Manila will at least be safer than Manchester.

Good thing I've been busy with schoolwork, I stayed indoors the whole day.

click here and here for the latest news.

London Riots

2011-08-10T01:00:00.004+10:00

You may have heard of the riots in London the past few days (click here for the news). They have actually spread to Birmingham and nearby Liverpool. My only hope is that they wouldn't reach Manchester. I hope my classmates doing internships in London are all safe.

I am actually scheduled to go for a last visit 'down under' (because Manchester is up North) on Saturday. I timed it 2 days before I leave for Manila. I bought the ticket a month and a half ago because it was relatively cheaper. I wanted to tour the city one last time before going home. I'm not sure how long the riots will last or even if it is safe to travel. I still want to go, but if my safety is in question, I'd rather not.

Half a minute of FAME

2011-08-08T00:55:00.005+10:00

Here's the video invite of the welcome party Manchester Business School is preparing for the incoming batch of 2013. Check out the 'poster girl'. *wink, wink*.

Too bad the 'poster girl' won't be around to actually witness and savor her moment of fame & glory because while they'll be in Manchester partying the night away, she'll be rubbing elbows with the Aussies. =)

3 Weeks To Goooo!!!

2011-07-25T02:02:00.002+10:00

I'll be home in 3 weeks!

I will be returning exactly a year after I left. I cannot believe I survived being away from home this long. I feel really homesick already. I cannot wait to be home!

Weeks before I arrived from a 6-month stint in the U.S. a few years ago, I made a list of things I wanna do when I arrive. Since I still have a lot of schoolwork to finish before my imminent departure, I don't have time to think of things to do nor places to see. I just want to see my loved ones during my very short vacation (20 days to be exact) and REST. It's been a restless year for me. Hopefully I'll get to have 20 worry-free days in Manila.

In the meantime, I have to get back to work! I'm hoping to finish all my summer term deliverables before I get really excited and feel lazy to do them (result would be crappy papers which would then lead to crappy grades).

Wish me luck!

To my loved ones in Manila, I'll see you soon! =)

Food Adventures in Manchester

2011-07-08T22:21:00.015+10:00

One hobby that I don't get to do while here in Manchester is trying out different restaurants. Living abroad whilst unemployed means spending for just the essentials. I try to stick to the monthly budget I set at the beginning of this whole MBA adventure. Expenses are prioritized according to need, most of the time just to plain essentials. In Manila, I used to be the one who initiates trying out new restos. Here it's quite the opposite. I restrain myself from asking classmates to try different restaurants even if I see a lot of interesting ones for fear of going beyond my budget. I buy from the most affordable grocery stores all the time, even if it takes longer to go to and from these stores (take note, I never take the bus, I just walk, walk and walk!). In short, my practical side is in full blast! Special occasions such as a classmate's birthday or a simple celebration to mark a successful project are instances when I let myself loose. Other than that, my restaurant spending is on a tight leash. Given my limited budget, my priority next to studying is exploring the many wonderful places that UK has to offer. Indeed, because I was able to successfully control the temptation of eating out, I was able to discover a lot of cities.

For someone who is used to eating out, I don't feel deprived of this small luxury because my food adventures didn't stop just because I am on a budget. Instead, it took a different form. As I said before, I am fortunate to have classmates from all over the world who have a vast array of experiences whom I can learn from. BUT, as I discovered, that was just a PART of it. The greater (or greatest?) part is, my classmates are fantastic cooks too! I guess it's universal for people to turn to food when stressed. Being MBAs, our stress levels are at an all time high. So what do we do with it? We channel it on cooking and eating what we cook!

Trying out different cuisines made by classmates coming from their respective countries is something I regularly looked forward to. Dinner invitations have been endless. I attend at least one food adventure (aka dinner at a classmate's flat) every week and I enjoyed it each time. The good thing about this set-up is that I don't spend an arm and a leg just to try out good food. In return, I also make an effort to cook for my classmates. I have prepared adobo, turon, lumpiang shanghai and turon countless of times. My classmates love them and I love what my classmates prepare too.

Below are some of the photos of my gustatory delights: (forgive me for the incomplete labels. I forgot the names of most of the dishes)

Chinese-Peruvian:

Mexican:

Japanese:

Peruvian-Filipino (the only Filipino dish here is adobo, the rest are Peruvian)

Taiwanese Shabu-Shabu:

Jam and Napoleones all the way from Kazakhstan:

Taiwanese:

Brazilian BBQ:

Different Versions of Crepes made by an Indian, Peruvian and Russian(left-right):

Russian Borscht (left)and Adobo (right):

Filipino:

Sometimes, we decide to have an international buffet. Each of us contributes to dinner. The result is a mouthwatering buffet spread!

Clockwise: Turkish desserts,Canadian cheesecake,Canadian pork roast, Romanian mushrooms with cheese, Romanian appetizer and Indian meal:

Clockwise: Chinese, Filipino, Thai, Iranian, Iranian, Indian, Iranian and Romanian

I ♥ Manchester

2011-06-26T00:00:00.028+10:00

I never really appreciated Manchester until now. I've always seen this city as a gateway to more interesting cities in the UK. Oh, if you can only see my list of places to see in the UK, you'll be overwhelmed! The sad part is, because I'm always too excited to explore other cities, I neglected to explore my temporary home. I've been here for almost a year but I've only been to school, city centre and some museums and bars. (Check out the places I've seen before here).

When curious friends ask me what they can see and do here, my usual reply was 'nothing' or 'just take a day or two days at most to tour the city, there's nothing much to see anyway'. Gosh, if only they knew how little I know of Manchester.

Embarassing as it is, I discovered the beauty of Manchester not by choice, but because of lack of budget to travel to other places. Living here has its toll you know. Its not as expensive as living in London or the US, but it is still relatively expensive compared to how I lived back in Manila. So, having explored a lot of places in Great Britain and having done the Euro tour, I can humbly say that my budget is already running low.

During the summer break, I made the most of my time here and tried to explore every nook and cranny of the city. After almost a year of living here, I can finally say that I have SEEN and FELT Manchester, not everything of course, but enough of it to appreciate and LOVE it.

Walang sinabi ang London!

Folks, behold the beauty of Manchester. I tried to capture as many beautiful photos as I could so at least you can see that the city I live in is also beautiful and worth visiting. =)

I will be leaving Manchester in less than two months but I feel that I haven't explored Manchester enough now that I have been 'enlightened' about the city's beauty. I hope that when I return in December, I will have time to see other places and have more memorable experiences so I can say that I have truly lived a Mancunian life by the time I graduate. After all, this is the only city outside of Manila that I've lived in this long.

Bird's Eye View of Manchester (photo credit: MOSI)

Manchester Day Parade 2011

Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI)

People's History Museum

Town Hall

City Centre: The bottom page shows the historic Midland Hotel, the place where Rolls met Royce. Isn't that cool?!

City Centre: Manchester Central at the top and Bridgewater Hall at the bottom

City Centre: shopping area and Urbis (lower left)

The Cathedral

Deansgate

Spinningfields

Castlefield: My favorite part!

Some of the Parks

Random photos

With that, I leave you with Manchester's unofficial theme song (sang to the tune of Old Saints Marching In)

Oh Manchester is wonderful,
Oh Manchester is wonderful!
It's full of beer rain and football,
Oh Manchester is wonderful!!!

BOW.

My MBAT Journey

2011-06-23T21:32:00.011+10:00

I've been mentioning training for MBAT in my past blog posts such that I find it silly not to blog about the event itself..even if it's over a month late. This is the piece I wrote for Manchester Business School's official blog site. I'm reposting it here so I also have a copy for my online diary.
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Read on =)

(Note: Organized by HEC Paris, MBA Tournament or MBAT is the largest annual gathering of MBA students from top business schools across Europe.)

During autumn term last year, our VP for sports, Sean, already gave us bits of information about MBAT. We were given a list of sports we could join. The excitement of participating in the annual sporting tradition built up and unofficial teams were formed. I signed up for four different sports assuming that the primary purpose was having fun rather than just being competitive. These sports were salsa, wall climbing, football and cross country. Preparation for the competition first began as amateur ‘practice sessions’ which soon transformed into professional-level training (I’m exaggerating a little here) two months before the actual event. Salsa and football practices started as early as October while wall climbing started in January. As for cross country, the team never really trained together but I regularly ran to prepare.

As the event drew near, a Facebook page was created for MBAT2011. Other competing schools began uploading photos and videos of their trainings. I realized that these schools were serious. Of course they joined for fun but they also joined with the goal of winning! Pressure was building up! Still, we at MBS made sure that we would make this one of the most enjoyable events. Instead of uploading our actual trainings, a group of students collaborated and came up with this brilliant video.

(note: If you are unable to view the video with sound, click here)

Juggling trainings for all three events whilst being in an intense MBA program (not to mention trying to have a life outside of it) was tough! Sleep is a luxury in the whole MBA program, but with MBAT training in full gear, it became an extravagance. Time seemed to go faster than the past two semesters combined. My daily schedule was packed!

Amidst the craziness of spring term, MBAT trainings helped maintain my sanity. I would've gone crazy if I did just DICE (Designing Internationally Competitive Enterprises), UK consultancy project and MIS (Management Information Systems). In my daily routine, I always looked forward to training with my teams as they took my mind off the academic deliverables.

Now that MBAT is officially over and we’re back in doing our usual routine, I cannot help but reminisce some of the memorable moments in the past seven months that lead to MBAT and during MBAT. There were a lot of fun and funny moments during trainings and a lot of memorable experiences!

Pre-MBAT
Salsa practices were tough because the performance was choreographed (we had to memorize the steps!) and more notably because only one of us happened to be a trained salsa dancer. The rest had to start from scratch. It was amusing watching each other learn the complicated steps that our coach, Hector, was teaching us. It took patience and a lot of practice to finally get those steps right!

Photo credit: Tarun Sakhrani

On the other hand, wall climbing was a breeze...NOT! Our team captain, Vladimir, was really tough on us. He was bent on training us at least once a week, and never allowed us to give up in the middle of climbing a difficult wall. He pushed us to reach the top ALL THE TIME! We did have a lot of light moments too. We made fun of each other's butt, and saw humour in the rocks on the wall. But what amazed me was the level of trust we had in each other as we took turns belaying a teammate because anything could happen to a climber while climbing a difficult wall and the climber’s life was literally in the belayer’s hands!

Lastly, football training… ahhh.. football. I figured I might as well learn it since I’m already here in Manchester, the capital of football. A part of me felt like I haven’t lived a true Mancunian life if I didn’t at least try kicking a ball! But now that MBAT is officially over, I can finally say (yes, I’ve been keeping this secret to avoid upsetting the team) that football is not for me. Believe me, I tried, but I have never kicked a ball successfully towards the goal. I was just too happy to always be on the defence. Having five more ladies playing a little better than me but equally amateurs was comforting, but having good players (such as Lisa, Lynne and Laura) gave me confidence that at least we wouldn’t be making a fool of ourselves in the actual games. Thanks to our coach Jorge and the support of the men’s football team, we were able to play a notch higher than beginners during the actual tournament!

MBAT!!!
At the actual event, everybody was in high spirits! We wanted to bring home as many medals as we possibly could. We managed to get gold in table tennis and a bronze each in wall climbing, cricket and men’s football. We placed fifth out of fourteen participating schools, trailing behind HEC, LBS, SAID and IE.

photo credits: Tomas Chun, Helen Dowd, Yuichiro Kawasaki and Maria Surkova

Our performance at MBAT, even if we were not the greatest team, proved our camaraderie and teamwork. We all did our best to support each team, and each of the players did his/her best in representing the school.

The parties at the end of every sporting day helped us unwind after a long day of being 'athletes' and allowed us to interact with representatives from other schools outside of the competitive sports environment.

Photo credits: Tomas Chun and Yuichiro Kawasaki

Overall it was 3 fantastic days of non-stop sports, camaraderie, teamwork, parties, booze and a whole lot more!!!

The journey towards MBAT was challenging but A LOT OF FUN! I may forget the skills I have learned in salsa, wall climbing and football but I will definitely treasure the deeper friendships I’ve gained beyond the walls of Manchester Business School and beyond the programme itself.

Salsa Team

photo credit: Claire Plangsiri

Wall climbing team

photo credit: Levi Alvarado

Football team

To the incoming class of 2013, MBAT is one of the many experiences in MBS that you definitely shouldn’t miss!!!

Click on the title above for more photos.

Welcome to my new temporary flat!!!

2011-06-22T01:21:00.009+10:00

New and temporary? Sounds weird right? But yeah, new yet temporary. New because the tenancy from my old flat has expired (I have no choice but to move out) and temporary because I'll only be staying here for two months. I'll then go home for two weeks, proceed to Melbourne for student exchange until December then fly back here in Manchester to finish the last term. Too bad it's only temporary because I'm loving it, and it costs as much as my old flat. Can you believe that? I lived in a small, old room in a university hall for 10 months! The ambiance was incomparable to where I am living now (click here to see my old flat). But I'm still thankful I get to experience 'the good life' even just for a few months. Hehe.

Check out my new CRIB!:
My bedroom. Take note, double na ang size ng kama ko, goodbye single! :D

Bathroom:

Kitchen and Dining Area:

Living Room: notice the flat screen TV!!! I'm not TV-deprived anymore! Yey!

This is actually my classmate Leandra's flat. I together with another classmate, Vladimir, temporarily took over while she's doing internship in London. Vlad and I, on the other hand, are staying here in Manchester and will be taking electives starting next week.

The only downside of staying here is that school is 13 minutes away instead of just 2. I can't go back to the flat anymore just to eat lunch and I can't forget anything anymore because it will be such a hassle to do so. But I think that's a small price to pay if I have this more comfy place to call 'home'.

Cool flat, doncha think? You are welcome to visit me before I leave! =D

The Hills are Alive in Salzburg!

2011-06-20T07:21:00.009+10:00

The last city of our Euro adventure (finally!) was Salzburg. This was not originally part of the itinerary but Jesy wanted to add one more country to our 'list' so he decided to go on a day trip to Salzburg, Austria instead of going to the equally beautiful Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany as originally planned (with our consent of course!). The trip from Munich was just 2.5 hours. We left around 9am and got back around 7pm. It was that brief. The city was small so we toured in a leisurely manner with plenty of time to spare in the end.

I got particularly excited when I finally saw the places where the movie 'The Sound of Music' was filmed. I must admit, I have forgotten a lot of the scenes from the movie because I haven't watched it in over a decade. I remembered most of the songs though. I kept on humming 'The Sound of Music', 'Do-Re-Mi', 'My Favorite Things' and 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen' while touring the Mirabell Palace and the cemetery (sorry couldn't remember the name).

The Mirabell Palace:

The Cemetery:

Aside from 'The Sound of Music', what attracts tourists to the city is Mozart. Call me ignorant, but I didn't know that Mozart was born in Salzburg. This was a bonus! We didn't go inside his birthplace-turned-museum though. First because it had a fee, and second because we'd rather tour the city.

Mozart's Birthplace:

We saw budding Mozarts all over the city, probably inspired to be just like one of the greatest musicians who ever lived.

Aspiring Mozarts:

Other attractions are the Salzach River (below), Salzburg Cathedral and the Hohensalzburg Castle.
I personally felt that we could've seen more of Salzburg if we had more time, but being able to see the city itself is already a bonus.

That concludes my 2011 Euro Adventure--8 cities and 6 countries in 13 days! It was a whirlwind adventure but it was so much fun. I hope I can go on this type of adventure with my family too. We haven't travelled together in a long time. I'm sure we'll have a grand time as well.

Haaaay. The thing with travelling is that once you see places, you'll want to see MORE! Oh dear. I'll have to work really hard after my MBA so I can go on more adventures! I still have a lot of places to conquer...Africa, Canada, Latin America.. ETC, ETC!!!! Ok lang, one city and one country at a time. Till my next bongga but not-so-bongga adventure! (if you know what I mean). ;)
More photos of Salzburg here.

Munchen

2011-06-18T22:24:00.024+10:00

After one week of vacation, I finally have time to sit down and blog. The contract of my flat has expired so I was busy moving my stuff to my new and definitely better flat. Hence, the absence from blog updates even if I am on vacation. I'll share photos of my new flat soon.

I shall continue my Euro adventure story as if it were just yesterday. ;)

**********

Our second to the last destination was the land of BMW, beer and sausages, Munchen or more commonly known as Munich.

We got off to a wrong start because of the rain that automatically dampened my mood. Munich is the coldest city we visited and the rain made the weather worse. All I wanted to do for the remainder of the trip was go back to the hotel and enjoy the warmth of my bed.

Marienplatz:

Fortunately, the skies cleared in the afternoon, which made us appreciate the beauty of the city.

The Residenz:

Olimpiapark:

BMW Welt (World)

The highlight of our trip was the last night when we went to Hofbrauhaus, the most famous beer house. I'm not a beer-drinker but I drank (a little!) just because I was there. I particularly enjoyed the ambiance and entertainment that came with the food and beer. The food was relatively cheap and good, so there was still something to order other than beer.

Hofbrauhaus:

What impressed me most in Munich was how its people managed to rebuild it after World War II. As a tourist, I particularly enjoyed commuting because its public transportation was modern, clean and very efficient. The public transportation was actually a reflection of the whole city--very modern, well-planned, orderly and super clean!

Subway:

More photos here

50% Done! :)

2011-06-13T03:18:00.002+10:00

On the last day of spring term (which was 2 days ago), I didn’t really think of what I have accomplished so far. I was just relieved that the hardest term I’ve experienced has finally ended. Only after reading my classmates’ Facebook statuses about having COMPLETED the first year (diploma stage) did I realize that the end of spring term was not just the end of another difficult term, but the end of a difficult year (even if it’s only for 9 months, we call it year).

I don’t know most of my final grades yet so I still can’t breathe a long sigh of relief, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed and praying harder than ever (with the intercession of St. Jude, the patron of hopeless cases!) that I pass all my courses.

I had a tough time, not just in school, but in battling homesickness. 9 months of being away from home made me miss it even more. My increased levels of stress made me want to go back to Manila and seek the comfort of the environment I left behind. That is not to say that I am not enjoying despite of the hardships in school (and finances!). I made sure to still have fun with the monthly budget I allotted for myself, with the simple joys of good company, home cooked food or occasional cheap out-of-town trips.

I’m currently on a 2-week vacation, trying to re-energize my body, mind and spirit for the upcoming summer term. I took the toughest elective offered by the school by choice (I don’t know what’s gotten into me!) so I’m bracing myself for another tough term ahead. The thought of my homecoming in August will hopefully be enough to push me to live through another two months of school hell. Just two more months and I will be home for vacation. It will only be for two weeks but hopefully it will be enough for me to battle 9 more months of living away from home.

I am halfway done. Sometimes, I still can’t believe that I am pursuing such a tough course and at a place far,far away! After having gone this far, I am quite confident that I will make it through the end. I am homesick but at the same time this stage in my life is one of the best. I feel so lucky to be experiencing this. The knowledge, maturity, wisdom, friends, experiences and everything else that I gained by getting this MBA are priceless.

With that, I’d like to give myself a pat on the back for making it this far and shout outs to my family, relatives and friends who have been very supportive since the beginning! *high five!*

*I'll post some photos of my Manchester life on my online photo album soon. =)

This is how I pretty much looked during the term. Tired, stressed and always sleepy because of lack of sleep. Thank God for this break!

Brits and their penchant for hats

2011-06-07T05:22:00.005+10:00

British (hat) fashion is getting into me. It came into full gear upon watching the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I was so amused by the different styles of hats and how royalties and celebrities alike wore it.

I chanced upon a photo of Kate Middleton wearing a beautiful peace of hat as well.

Oh, how I wish I can go to an event wearing a hat as pretty as Kate's!

Now I appreciate a photo (taken in jest) at my friend's wedding 2 years ago.

In the Philippines, it would be tacky to wear a hat because it's not part of our culture, unless the host requires it or unless it's a themed party. Haaay. I wish I can attend an event that REQUIRES wearing a hat,like attending a royal wedding. Hehe. Libre mangarap! Walang kokontra!

**another one of my wala lang posts. Just thinking (or should I say dreaming?) out aloud. =)

Last Week of The Term!!!

2011-06-05T21:11:00.004+10:00

I am halfway there! I'm 50% done! I just have to endure this remaining gruelling week. Spring term will be over soon!!!

Just for laughs (and to commemorate the wedding of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge), I decided to share this hilarious photo, even if it doesn't have anything to do with school nor my life..well, it sort of has a connection because I'm living in England and this event was a BIG deal, like the wedding of Mikee Cojuangco and Dodot Jaworski years ago. Ganung level, or baka hindi nga ka-level. Mas bongga pa. Haha.

So yeah, this is a nonsense blog entry. Just wanted to post and say I'm still alive and hopefully successfully survive this term!

Venezia, Italia!

2011-05-22T03:39:00.002+10:00

A lot of people who have been to Venice say that one must visit Venice with his/her romantic partner because it just screams ROMANCE!!!!!!

The place was indeed romantic and very unique. Although it is quite similar to Amsterdam in the way it was built (think: canals), Venice has a charm that Amsterdam doesn’t have. Maybe it’s the elegant decay, maybe it’s the food, maybe it’s the gondolas. It can be one of these or it can be all of the above.

Venice is a beautiful maze. There’s no point in using maps because Venice’s streets are just crazy. Having no sense of direction, Venice makes me feel on equal grounds to those that can read maps. Hehe. ;)

Leaving the ‘oldies’ back at the hotel, Jesy and I allowed ourselves to get lost amidst the hustle and bustle of the streets. We just strolled along, trying to take in everything that Venice has to offer and trying to maximize the remaining time left in our trip. Just 2 more stops and my Euro adventure story will be over…which is a good thing because I have new adventures to share!

More photos here

M.I.A. once again

2011-05-17T21:23:00.003+10:00

I've stopped writing new posts once again. It's the time of the term (again) when everything goes crazy! Will try to continue my Euro adventure as soon as I can!

Take care dear readers! (if there are still any, haha)

Cheers! =)

at the library. DND.

Roma, Eatalia!

2011-05-03T05:55:00.004+10:00

Rome has been one of my dream destinations for two reasons: first, it’s where the Holy See is; second, its history is quite rich. I actually couldn’t believe that I was touring the streets of Rome. I had to pinch myself several times just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming!

If I can describe Rome in one word, it has to be SURREAL. I just can’t believe I’ve actually been to the Pantheon, Colloseum and Roman Forums where the likes of Octavian, Julius Caesar, Giordano Bruno, Horace and Napoleon III used to walk. Seeing St. Peter’s Basilica where the seat of my religion lies is an experience of a lifetime. Seeing Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel, is simply astounding. I felt giddy seeing the Trevi Fountain where countless of movies were shot (I tossed a coin and wished that someday I’ll be able to return). We also visited a lot of places from Dan Brown’s books namely The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.

And the food!!! How can I forget that?! I was finally able to taste an authentic tiramisu, pizza, pasta, and a whole lot more! A trip to Rome and Italy in general is not complete without the gastronomic adventure. At some point, I even felt like I was Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love. Haha =)

As I’ve been saying so often, I’m not that good with words, so I hope these photos will make up for it!

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Colosseum

St. Peter's Square

St. Peter's Basilica

Sistine Chapel

hmmmm....tiramisu!!!

EATALY!!!

click here for more photos

Viva Barcelona!!!

2011-04-26T02:03:00.009+10:00

Barcelona is my favorite city for this European adventure. I loved the weather, the ambiance, the architecture, the people, the food...I loved just about everything. If it weren't for the unfortunate incident of stolen passports (of Tita Belle and Jesy, long story) and an 'angel' returning it (it was a miracle I'm telling you!), this city would've been perfect.

We visited a lot of the renowned architect Antonio Gaudi's creations, from the 128-year old work-in-progress La Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera to Parc Guell. His architectural style is quite interesting, a must-see at least once in your life (yup, it's THAT interesting)!

Other sights that are worth going to are Torre Agbar, Palau Nacional, La Rambla, Plaza Catalunya and Plaza de Espanya. As with our other destinations, the time allotted for touring Barcelona wasn't enough. This city will be at the top of my list of places I would definitely return to. But in that next trip, I'll make sure that nothing gets stolen from me or any of my companions. It's way too stressful! I'm just glad that Jesy and Tita Belle's passports were returned. Or else, this trip would've been our last stop.

With that, I'll leave you with fond memories of Barcelona. =)

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia: with the giant clam/holy water container from the Philippines!

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia

Casa Mila aka La Pedrera

Parc Guell

Torre Agbar

Palau Nacional

click here for more photos =)

Next stop: Italia!

Sunny and Warm Valencia!

2011-04-19T04:17:00.006+10:00

After touring chilly Amsterdam and Paris (not to mention coming from rainy Manchester), I was just too happy to finally feel the warmth of the sun! The weather was perfect for touring, although it still gets cold at night (that's how it goes on this side of the world).

Valencia has never been in my list of must-see destinations. Top of mind for Spain would be Madrid and Barcelona. However, I was busy with schoolwork when Jesy made the itinerary so I didn't have time to 'lobby or debate' about which cities to go to. Being an architecture enthusiast and a fan of Santiago Calatrava, Jesy couldn't pass up the chance to visit Valencia, with the sole purpose of seeing Valencia's most famous tourist destination, The City of Arts and Sciences aka Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. I must say, it was pretty impressive. We were also able to go on a quick trip to the beach and eat authentic seafood paella at a beachfront resto called La Pepica. By the end of our very brief trip to Valencia, I was a convert. Valencia is beautiful and is worth seeing.

What about Madrid? I'll save that for next time, whenever that is. =)

The City of Arts and Sciences: L'Hemisferic building

The City of Arts and Sciences: L'Agora building

The City of Arts and Sciences: outside the Principe Felipe Science Museum

Playa de Malvarossa: the most famous beach in Valencia

with the paella chef of La Pepica

when in Valencia, eat paella!

off to our next destination: Barcelona!

more photos of Valencia here =)

The City of Luuurrrrv!

2011-04-15T00:04:00.006+10:00

Ahhhh...Parisssss!!!!! What can I say? I'm fortunate enough to visit Paris with my boyfriend...lovers in Paris kumbaga. Hahahaha. Ang cheesy, sorry!!!

I didn't have time to savour the city of love or the city of lights. I only had a day and a half to explore the city so I just visited as many tourist spots as I could. Jesy and his family had more chance to tour the city coz they went back after their London trip for Jesy's marathon. They had a day at Disneyland, a day at Versailles, a day for Jesy's marathon and one final day to just take in everything that Paris had to offer. I wasn't able to join them anymore because of my school commitments (I had to prioritize!).

Nevertheless, I'm grateful that I was finally able to see the much talked about Eiffel tower, Champs Elysees where I got to see the LV (Louis Vuitton) flagship store (not that I care, lol), and explore the Louvre! The Louvre was AMAZING. We spent almost the whole day inside it and it still wasn't enough! That museum is one reason I wanna go back to Paris. I haven't explored enough of it yet!

Jesy planned the itinerary for all our trips and my only request was for us to eat Laduree macarons at their main store. Because of our hectic schedule, we weren't able to go to the main store, but because of Jesy's good eyesight, he was able to spot a cute Laduree store at the airport! So, I still fulfilled my wish of eating Laduree macarons in Paris, even if it's not at the main store. It's another reason why I'd want to go back to Paris again (babaw ba? hehe).

Here are some of my snapshots of Paris. More photos here. =)

shining shimmering tower!

outside The Louvre

my fave artworks at the Louvre:The Winged Victory of Samothrace, Psyche and Cupid by A. Canova, the Mercury drug statue (I forgot the name of the sculpture!) and Captive by Michelangelo

Laduree!!! I looooove the pistachio (green one) macarons! =)

Wholesome tour of Amsterdam, anyone?

2011-04-09T03:39:00.012+10:00

The first stop of our great European adventure was Amsterdam! One thing that comes to mind when visiting this city is that you can do anything illegal (viewed in our country at least) legally. Prostitution? Check. Drugs? Check. I actually wanted to go to this city because I was curious. Not that I'd want to experience these illegal activities myself, but more to witness how it happens. I mentioned this trip to a friend who visited the city last December and he told me it's hard to recommend wholesome activities and cafes.

Contrary to what my friend said, there were a lot of wholesome activities to do in Amsterdam. My personal highlights are Anne Frank House, tour along the man-made canal and the Rijksmuseum. I also enjoyed touring the not-so-wholesome Red Light District and seeing the prostitutes luring costumers. We only had one full day to tour but we were able to do a lot. I liked Amsterdam because it is a well-planned city, it has good public transportation, clean and beautiful surroundings, good food and chill vibes. It definitely is one city worth visiting again, and the next time I do, I’ll make sure to try out the ‘brownies’. Hahahaha. =)

Fave Spots:

Anne Frank Huis: too bad I had few photos inside the house coz photography was not allowed

Anne Frank Huis: too bad I had few photos inside the house coz photography was not allowed man-made canal cruise man-made canal cruise Red Light District: guess what these are ;) Red Light District: I got this from here coz I had a hard time taking photos of the prostitutes. They move away from their doors when they see a camera.

Ofcourse, the most memorable moment for me was finally seeing Jesy after 8 months of being apart! Bongga kami diba. Rendezvous in Amsterdam. *wink* May kasama pang mommy, daddy and ninang si Jesy! Bongga talaga! =D

reunited!!! :D

reunited! :))

Tita Lally (Jesy's mom), Tito Lito (Jesy's dad), Tita Belle (Jesy's ninang) & Jesy at the tram stop

One kuwento down, 7 more kuwentos to go!!!

Note: I personally was able to see 8 cities in 13 days while Jesy and his family were able to see 14 cities in 3 weeks. I couldn’t join them in their first city (Brussels) and last 5 cities (London, Bath, Stonehenge, Windsor and Paris) because of my school schedule. I also wouldn’t be able to witness Jesy run at the Paris Marathon because of it.

click here for more photos :)

Spring Break is Overrrr!!!!

2011-04-07T06:57:00.003+10:00

Haaaay. Spring break went pretty fast! I had a lot of fun though! Jesy, his parents and ninang all came to visit me and we had our first ever great European adventure. There were misfortunes and sad moments but over-all the trip was fantastic! I had the time of my life and I'm sure they did too. It was our first time to tour Europe without booking any formal tours to save on costs. I would hate not to blog about it so I hope I'll still be able to find time to blog about each city I visited. Guess how many cities I was able too see in 13 days? Stay tuned. ;)

I'm Alive and Kickin'!!!

2011-03-16T02:33:00.004+11:00

Winter term is finally drawing to a close!!! What a term it has been. It was more hectic, crazy, fun and exciting! So many things have happened, I feel bad that I wasn't able to turn some memorable events into writing. Balancing my time between schoolwork, group projects, gym, preparation for MBA Olympics in May (I joined 4 sports! Rock climbing, salsa, football and cross country) and social life was really a challenge! Blogging, as predicted, became the least of my priorities. To tell you the truth, the last thing I wanted to do was write as I've been writing so much for school.

Today's the start of revision, while next week will be for finals. Until then, I have time to review, travel a little, socialize, read books that are not related to school and watch movies!!!

A lot has transpired since my Christmas break in NYC and I'm not about to recount them in detail here. Feel free to check out my photo albums in multiply here (Asian Night, Ainsdale, London, Latin American Night, Manchester). As you may have noticed, I didn't have as many travels as I had last term simply because I've been swamped with schoolwork.

What was particularly significant since my last entry was that....I TURNED A YEAR WISER!!! Last March 5 to be exact. I was lucky enough to have a celebration on the exact day (view the photos here). AND! I celebrated it with a fellow Filipina classmate who turned 28 as well!! How cool is that?! So, even if I celebrated my 28th away from my family, friends, relatives and Jesy, it still was memorable. Christine (my Filipina classmate) and I prepared a Filipino feast for some of our dearest friends in class and went out to a bar after. Celebrating my birthday with newfound friends here in Manchester is something I will cherish for the rest of my life!

What's next?! Aside from the upcoming final exams, I'm really looking forward to Jesy and his parents' visit. We have been planning a budget European trip since last year and I'm quite glad and excited that it's actually going to happen! I'll keep our itinerary to ourselves first, I'm afraid I'll somehow jinx it if I say something now. All I can say is that it's going to be one HECTIC trip. I will have no rest this spring break but who cares! Gotta make the most out of living here in Europe! =)

NYC Food Adventure:Hill Country

2011-01-11T00:04:00.006+11:00

Apart from having a restaurant, my sister expressed her desire to have a cooking show back home because she thinks it's gonna be fun and exciting (not to mention a lucrative career too). Lisa, Am's flatmate and constant food adventurer in nyc, agreed with the idea. So, on the eve of December 31, 2010, a dream has been formed . They started the year right by taking baby steps toward achieving that dream.

I helped Am and her 'partner in crime' Lisa conceptualize how they're gonna achieve the goal and suggested to have a food video blog showing their culinary adventures in the big apple, both in the different restaurants they try and their own adventures in the kitchen. The goal is to have someone (uhm, a producer or a big TV station, hehe) notice their videos back home. Suntok man sa buwan, we're also aiming for either Ellen Degeneres or Oprah feature at least one of their videos!

I'm sharing with you their second video because it's way better than their first (and because their first one was only uploaded on facebook, not on you tube).

Please, be an angel and help us promote their videos! I'll forever be grateful!

Here goes their Hill Country Food Adventure!

Comments and suggestions to improve their videos are very much welcome! =)

Exciting Reads for an Exciting Term!

2011-01-08T05:55:00.005+11:00

I'M BACK IN MANCHESTERRRRRR!!!! :D

...AndI'm just about done collecting my set of books for the winter term. They sure look more interesting than last term's! For one, they look more readable. Last term's books had gazillion pages and were way tooo boring. Suffice it to say, I wasn't able to finish any. I've started reading all of these and already have two to three chapters down, just for the first week! I hope I can keep the pace even if work has been piling up.

With that said, I'll probably have few to zero entries once again, at least until spring break. The lessons and projects are tougher this term so again, blogging will be the least of my priorities.

Travels and adventures might take a back seat as well, to allow me to recover from my not-so-grand trip to the land of milk and honey (aka USA). It wasn't grand but hey, I'm jobless so every penny, dollar and peso counts!

Until my next entry! Whenever that is! Wish me luck! =)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2011-01-06T00:27:00.003+11:00

Sorry for the late greeting (as usual) but, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!

I hope all of us will have a healthy and prosperous 2011!!!

New Year in New York!

More NY celebration photos here

More photos of my Big Apple vacation here

CHEERS!!! :D

The Year That Was (An Advanced Year-End Post)

2010-12-30T13:10:00.002+11:00

The year is ending in 2 days. Gosh, if there’s one statement I’ve been saying in this blog repeatedly, it is that TIME FLIES!!!

Where has my 2010 gone? Well, it didn’t just pass by. I was everywhere this year! I’ve been extremely blessed, extremely happy and extremely lucky. I’ve had my share of bad vibes too, but I’d rather forget about them and just concentrate on remembering the happy moments that made up my year. This is by no means exhaustive, just a random recollection of my year’s highlights from my forgetful brain:

This year…
- I got accepted and eventually enrolled at Manchester Business School (4 months down! 14 months to go! Konti na lang! Haha!)
- I met a lot of amazing people from all over the world!

- I was able to spend quality time with friends and family
- I got to travel a lot locally and internationally (naks, world class!)
- I got to watch one play on Broadway (Phantom of the Opera) and one play on West End (Les Miz) (woohoo!!!these are two things off my bucket list!)
- I got not a lot, but enough financial blessing to satisfy my wanderlust and other simple luxuries.
- My family and I didn’t get seriously sick (health is wealth!)
- I fell in love again (eeek. Cheesy! Sorry!)
- Most importantly, in spite of life’s imperfections and challenges, I still managed to stay happy. Homesick at times, but still HAPPY!!!

My resolutions for 2011? Nothing specific. I’ll just continue to do my best, continue to learn, continue to grow, continue to live life to the fullest and most importantly, continue my happy disposition.

2010 has been AWESOME!!! I hope 2011 will just be as AWESOME as 2010!!!

To the people who made 2010 the best year of my life, THANK YOU!!! =)