I wish you also had a blog so I could read your thoughts.

(Jan. 21 to 22) I went to Tali aka Talifornia with my college best friends, Bea and Nissy. We used to party a lot together in college and a bit after but after college I guess we grew up and gradually graduated from going to the club. Although, we are still very much young, wild and free girls who like having fun. I had a super amazing time with my super cool girls. It was Bea’s birthday weekend, too :) Photo credit to Nissy <3

(Repost) Urgently needed: Anyone with a BS degree in Civil Engineering or Environmental Engineering

Graduate Degree Offered: MS Environmental Engineering (2-year course)
Parallel Work: Research Assistant for Water Resources Laboratory under the Environmental Engineering Department of KOREA UNIVERSITY

Requirement: GPA of 90/100 or 4.0/4.5 and TOEFL score of at least 90 to qualify for foreign scholarship A and a keen interest on water resources :)
See Details of Requirements for Scholarship: http://graduate2.korea.ac.kr/admission/admission09.jsp

Deadline of Application: March 10, 2012
Start of Semester: September 2012 (Fall Term)

For inquiries send an email to arguelles.anya@live.com. Thank you!

(Repost) ITPP Selection of Students for 2O12 Fall

We are very pleased to inform you that we have started to recruit new ITPP
students for 2O12 fall.

ITPP, sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy, offers a
customized master’s and doctoral degree program for government officials,
employees of public institutions or senior-level researchers at national
research centers working in the IT fields of foreign countries. All the
students will receive scholarships, up to 2 years for master’s students and
up to 3 years for doctorate students.

Please contact us if you have any inquiries or need our assistance.
Thank you.

Best Regards,
Prof. Junseok, Hwang 
Director of ITPP
Seoul National University, Republic of Korea

Qualifications of Applicants
- IT related government officials or Senior-level researchers at National
Research Centers working in the IT related fields.
- A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in the IT- related area (an applicant for
Ph.D should hold Master’s degree, Master’s should hold Bachelor’s degree)

Financial Support
- Tuition fees (Master’s Degree: up to 2 years/ Doctorate: up to 3 years)
- Airfare (One way, Economy class)
- Living cost (1,5OO,OOO Korean won* per month)
- Initial moving and re-location expenses and medical insurance
* 1,14O Korean won : (approximately) 1.00 US dollar (as of Jan 2012).

Admissions Time line
- Application deadline: February 21(Tue), 2012
- Interviews (TBA)
- Announcement of Admissions Decision: April 2O(Fri), 2012
- Registration: August 2012 (TBA) / Start of the semester: September 2O12

Contact Details of Coordinator
- Ms. Yeojin Lee, Coordinator
International IT Policy Program(ITPP)
Seoul National UniversitY
Mail: itpp@snu.ac.kr / Tel:. +82-2-88O-914O

Studying in a foreign land, we have lots of opportunities to be unofficial ambassadors for our home country. My schoolmates participate in these kind of programs all the time. So some time in October last year, I volunteered for my first camp :)

The International Youth Exchange Association in Korea organized what they called the “Let’s Global Camp!” inviting middle and high school students from all over Korea to the Seoul Olympic Parktel. Apart from the Korean students and volunteers, we also met the other volunteers from Cambodia, Germany, Mexico, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and India.

There were 3 of us from the Philippines - it was Kuya Carlo, Lia and me - and since Kuya was the most prepared, Lia and I just helped him with his presentation. One of the things he shared was the different ways Muslim Filipinos wear the malong (tube skirt). I didn’t know there were so many ways to do it! And it all depended on the person’s place in society, gender, and also whether he/she is looking for a mate.

Here is a photo of Kuya Carlo educating me using a stunning malong from Mindanao.

After that, Lia and I went around the beautiful Seoul Olympic Park! One of the things that I find amazing about Korea is that though Korea is relatively a small country, they have looots of parks! And they really take care of it, too. Wouldn’t it be fun to have something like this in the middle of Manila?

All in all, it was an awesome October day. It was reeeeally great meeting people curious about where you came from and also learning about other parts of the world from a local’s perspective :) 

Thank you, Lia for the photos :) Here is a photo of Lia and I with our Korean roommate.

The truth is we always remember our first.

Incheon, May 2011.

A barely readable scribble I found in my planner. Probably wrote this some time this year when I was en route to Manila, Korea or the States.

“Leaving a place is hard but you just have to have an open mind. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. It is at those moments you are uncomfortable, challenged, scared when you discover your greatness.”

I am a prouuud Iskolar ng Bayan. I had the best Professors that challenged me to go out of my comfort zone and “stretch” and top-notch blockmates that stirred my creativity and no doubt also my competitiveness. I love UP, it was a great eye-opening and mind-opening stage of my life.

However, when it comes to thesis-writing, I guess it is something I did not learn how to do. In the College of Business Administration (CBA), I think unlike most colleges in UP which had a thesis, the CBA requirement for final year was a group feasibility study. We were 4 people in our group and we were each allowed to concentrate or take charge of a specific field like Finance, Marketing, Operations, etc. Of course, during that time we were happy cause it meant we shared the load with 3 other people and we only worked on that certain area we were interested in. On hindsight though, now that I should be working on my graduate thesis, I am struggling. For one, this is my last semester and I still haven’t decided on a topic yet. I know it’s my fault but still, allow me to get this out waste more time and write this haha!