Throwback: Indonesia 2010

My very very first travel out of the Philippines with people apart from my family was in 2010. An international competition among Industrial Engineering university students was to be held in Bandung, Indonesia - and (3) of us, along with our mentor and friend, were chosen to represent Cebu and the Philippines in the prestigious competition.

Contrary to belief, no we never were able to really study and prepare for the competition, since we had our thesis and other subjects to worry about. That, coupled with the fact that we all had different schedules for the semester. In the end, we just ended up bringing our books and reviewing on board the plane. 

What made things funny was that we took a connecting flight to Hongkong, prior to the flight to Jakarta.

It's actually pretty funny if you think about it. How we went north, to be able to go south (see below map to laugh along with me) :D

That was a pretty long flight. The worst part is, the connecting flight got delayed, so we actually had to spend a night in the Cathay Pacific lounge in the Hongkong airport. And yet, we still weren't able to study :D

TOUCHDOWN JAKARTA! and again another travel mishap. The worst yet - we lost our luggage! :(

TEKNOLOGI INSTITUT BANDUNG was the host school for the event. Our hosts picked us up from the Jakarta airport and went to Bandung by way of land. 

We were housed in this cozy hotel with villas. Each team with about 3 members each were to stay in the same room or villa, so that they could each spend the night...dun dun dun...studying :D

ELIMINATION ROUNDS

The competition came in elimination rounds, where only 10 teams will be left to qualify for the 3rd elimination round.

1st Elimination Round
Teams are in a room and are required to complete SIX sessions, with a problem of each of the 6 areas of Industrial Engineering.

2nd Elimination Round
AMAZING RACE! Where we had to plot our routes and had to try our best to go to each post and answer problems given an allotted time. We were given clues and a map, and the guidance of our Liaison Officers.

3rd Elimination Round
BE A CONSULTANT! Where you had to read a case, and purchase data and eBooks you think you may need using your default points.
Given until lunchtime to complete your document and powerpoint presentation, and finally present and defend it in front of a panel. We were told that one of the members of our panel was the Founding Father of Industrial Engineering  in Indonesia!

The awarding ceremony was actually a cultural night that gave each region a chance to perform their native songs/dances. Indonesia alone had a very diverse culture already, it was great to be able to witness all these in a single night. 

Here are a few snippets of the evening's presentations (food and performances)

Believe it or not, we were actually more nervous about our presentation, than with the competition going on. We spent nights in our room practicing instead of studying. They probably should have sent more talented dancer students to this competition :D

We decided on dancing the Sinulog, because it is the embodiment of the Cebuano religious culture and was the most famous Cebu festival to date (and the easiest to dance.HAHAHA)

In all fairness to us though, we were able to finish the competition in 4th place. Go Philippines! :D

After the competition, we still had a few days left on our trip because we were unable to book an earlier flight home. We took the chance and went around Bandung, visited the Unibersidad Islam Indonesia (and appeared in their local paper), went to Jogjakarta and climbed the famous Borobudur Temple, witnessed a great archaeological site and find, had a fish spa, wished on a temple and bought tons of batik at the cheapest prices :D

To say that this is one of the highlights of my college life would be an understatement. I would love to visit Indonesia once again and search out the friends we made during the competition and in the days that followed.

Missing Freddy

 (This is me joining the Throwback Thursdays bandwagon)

Freddy was the coolest in the block, he was suave and sleek, and was an extremely reliable companion. We went places with Freddy, and some of our more enjoyable moments were with him...
Freddy was my friend FD's very first car. And this is me missing college life...

Cafe Georg
Cafe Georg was one of our favorite restaurants nearer the campus. Back in college, with our meager allowance, we had to divide a dish by two or three, but we didn't mind. Because Cafe Georg was a real treat, we only really ate there when a celebration was called for (right after the last exam for Finals, birthday celebrations, and it was where we took our parents out to dine when all of us finally graduated).

We all look so young here, it's almost too embarrassing to post! :D

McDonalds in Sykes
McDonalds first offered unlimited coffee for breakfast back when I was in college. There was a semester when one of our classes was done early enough for us to make it to the cutoff for McDo's breakfast meals. So from 9AM - 130PM (which was next class) on Tuesdays, we spent our time here. This leads me to my next place of interest - Ila Puti.

Ila Puti
We first saw Ila Puti in one of our Mcdo days at Sykes, and made a mental note to have our next lunch there in our long breaks. We fell in love with beef stroganovs and teryakatsus, and eventually applied our cost-saving tactics of dividing rice and viands among our group.

Starbucks
Back then, a Starbucks frappe meant almost a whole day's allowance. So treats such as these were reserved for bad days when we get low grades on exams. And when we DO buy Starbucks drinks, we had to scrimp and settle for a cheaper dinner, just so we could somehow compensate the cost :)

Campus
Finally, let's not forget the USC TC campus - where we spend majority of our college days!