God is being so generous to me. He's been showering me with blessing after another. This time, I had the chance to go to Cebu for free. Yes, you heard me right. FREE. All thanks to Citibank!
All the graduating accountancy students were required to submit our applications to the 10th Citi Junior Bankers Congress. 13 of us were chosen to join in the Congress of 50. Our destination? CEBU. Okay, so I'm not exactly thrilled to be a part of the congress since it's gonna be tiresome since it means being absent in some of my classes and we have some requirements to be submitted the following week. Perhaps, it was all expense paid trip that reeled me in plus it's my first time to set foot in the Queen City of the South.
The Congress started in the afternoon of July 19 and ended before lunch the following day. The organizers are pretty generous because they sent us to Cebu on the afternoon of the 18th. So basically, we had the whole evening of the 18th to settle down.
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| While waiting for our flight to Cebu |
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| My seat mate, Sharm |
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| First night out together at ZUBOCHON, with our classmate, err, teacher, Ma'am Meiji. |
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The best pig EVER says Anthony Bourdain.
I say let's dig in cause I'm dying of hunger already. hahaha
Zubochon, Pork sisig, and tasty sinigang for dinner.
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The Maxwell Hotel
I have to admit I expected something grander. |
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| Meet my fellow delegates. |
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Word for the day: SOUL SEARCHING
Meet the CFO of ABS-CBN. He's the coolest speaker we had for the congress. |
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It was as though fate wanted for us to meet, my dear LECHON BELLY.
Cebu's lechon are really really really delicious. My classmates ended up eating another round before we went home and we also brought some our friends. |
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| Coz some foods are better eaten without utensils :) |
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| Nightout with our supportive teacher |
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| And kruffins for midnight snack. Yum. |
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| Cookies and Cream sundae (i think) and Banana Split! Since we don't drink, Jessel, Sharmane, Krizza and I opted to have dessert while the others drink T-ice and red horse. Ma'am Meiji even offered to pay for our T-ice we wanted to drink. |
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| A view of Cebu from atop the Maxwell Hotel |
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| Waiting for our delayed flight. |
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| The rain welcomed us as we arrived at Iloilo. |
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| The UPV delegates with Mr. Ronnie Alcantara (President, Insular Investment Corp.), Ms. Elah Czarina Andal (Senior Manager, Audit&Assurance Head, People&Culture, Punongbayan and Araullo) and Mr. Aldrin Cerrado (CFO, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.) |
The day started a little late for us because we all woke up around 10 am with our bodies still aching after our school hopping adventure the other day. We decided to hear mass later in the afternoon at the famed Manila Cathedral and then proceed to Intramuros. Then Luneta will be our last stop for the day.
Due to the tradition that the recently employed batch of upperclassmen will give the OJTs a treat, we had to adjust our schedule. At first, we were pretty hesitant to come since we already made plans for the day. Nonetheless, we did enjoy the treat. Who would have thought that those delightful cheese kutsinta could silence us?
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| The upperclassmen treat us with Amber's pancit malabon, spaghetti, and kutsinta. :) Soo yummy! Since we were seated at the table where all the food are placed, we ended up eating more and more and more cheese kutsinta. haha |
After saying our thanks and goodbyes, we moved on to our next destination. MANILA! It was a really fun and memorable experience. I just can't help but laugh at ourselves every time I think of our little probinsyano adventures. Here's the gist of it: We just crossed the street without even bothering to look at the traffic light that we looked liked fools playing patintero with fast cars.
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| This is our second time to see the Manila City Hall and the KKK monument. The first time was on our way to Divisoria, but we weren't able to take pictures. This time, we made sure we have some photographs to match our memories. |
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| The Manila Cathedral. How unfortunate for us to have never gotten a glimpse of the inside of this church. We weren't informed that it was closed for renovations. |
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| The San Agustin Church. We ended hearing mass here. It was a beautiful find. |
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| Palacio del Gobernador and some building near the San Agustin Church |
And finally, Luneta!
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Those dancing fountains was just WOW. Really cool and amazing.
And it was shame we couldn't get near Jose Rizal's statue. |
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We wanted to ride the calesa. They've got student prices but sad to say, we preferred to hear mass first and there weren't any calesa anymore when the mass ended.
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