CEBU FIELDTRIP
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| My Super Friends haha ang gay lang |
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| Marian and Me |
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| First Airplane Ride Ever |
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| CEBUUU |
This is
probably one of the most anticipated event of my college life, screw that, this
is one of the most anticipated event of my life! There were many firsts on this
trip that this became the most memorable field trip ever. I could not remember
when the hell I had my fieldtrip, and if I did, I wouldn’t because I’m sure it
sucked. Our flight was scheduled early morning on December 3 and we had to be
at UST at about 2am, this was the first time I went to anywhere that late. Knowing
that travelling that late/early is dangerous especially in our country full of
crooks, I decided to leave my stuff at Jasper’s dorm and play the entire
evening of December 2, this was another first time to play late night DOTA. At 12.45am
we decided to stop playing and get ourselves ready. We were at the bus at about
1.30am, surprisingly all of us were already there! We were at the airport at
about 2am. After some checking we were now at the waiting area, this was the
closest I’ve been to an airplane and in about two hours, I would actually ride
one for the first time in my life! While on the waiting area, one would get
thirsty and hungry and I remained thirsty due to the drastic price of
beverages! P50 for a P15 Bottled water? SCAMbags. As we were called to board
the plane, I felt tremendous excitement, I am here now, going to ride something
I only dreamt of doing, it was partly fulfiiling to ride an airplane as I originally
wanted to become a pilot. Being seated window side is a definitive plus one as I
was able to enjoy the ride. As the plane took off, I admit that I was a bit
scared, all I could think of was, if this plane would crash I would have died
single all my life! Oh Cruel world! As the plane was on the air, every turn it
made made my heart leap, ‘WE ARE GOING TO CRASH’ was the only thing I could
think of. At about 6am we were there, we
were at Cebu! For the first time in my life I was out of Luzon! An exciting
week was upon me!
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| Sinugbahan |
As we
rode the bus, our tour guide introduced himself, he was Rolly Badayos and he
would become the greatest Tour guide ever. Our first stop was breakfast at
sinugbahan, this is another first time I would eat on an all-you-can eat
buffet, this was not actually an all you can eat but an all you can eat as long
as there was food, luckily, I was full before it ran out of food, their egg was
beyond compare, and I would notice that all throughout my trip. After breakfast
our first stop was Bigfoot Studios.
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| Marian in BigFoot X> |
Bigfoot
Studios is part of the bigger Bigfoot Entertainment, was founded in 2002 by German entrepreneur
Michael Gleissner to finance and develop feature films, documentaries, and
reality TV shows. Productions have been filmed at the company's Bigfoot Studios
in the Philippines as well as on location in the United States, Hong Kong,
China, Africa, Europe, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The studio facilities
includes six sound stages and a post-production site. It was initially
constructed in 2004 to serve as a production facility for Bigfoot Entertainment
and Bigfoot Films. The company also acquired the franchises for Fashion TV(FTV)
in Singapore and Philippines. Bigfoot Studios is located in Lapu-Lapu City in
the province of Cebu, Philippines. Situated in the center of the 7,107 islands
that make up the Philippine archipelago, the province is a hub for businesses
and travelers alike. I have noticed that this company burns money like hell
especially on the part of their computers, as we went there, they were replacing
their macs with alienware, and when we asked them why they replaced their macs,
their answer was to keep up with Hollywood equipment, what was surprising more
was they disposed of the old Macs. We were taken to different studios, and me, an
amateur director, video shitman, I found them interesting, this company had
minimal to no connection to an ECE student but I have to admit I was interested
because of I also edit videos, and I find video editing fun. Their expenditures
made me think this company would pay good money, contrary to my group of
friends, I aim to earn money, not neccesarily learn more, different views in
life. Haha.
Next
up, lunch, I forgot where we had lunch, what I did remember was its Tinola,
fish dishes which I did not try and Menudo like food, this was another eat all
you can buffet so I ate and ate, as of now, I gained so much weight I’m fat
once more, I used to be buff and handsome, good thing I’m still handsome.
HAHAHAHA.
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| Bored at Smart A919 and S3 |
After
that fattening lunch, we went to Smart Communication Incorporated, it is a
wholly owned mobile phone and Internet service subsidiary of the Philippine
Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT). On June 30, 2010 the company reported
that it had over 45 million cellular subscribers. There was a seminar and the
speakers discussed the history of smart and basic principles as to how calls,
texts and internet services are provided to customers, we had a chance to go
inside their Data Centers and a room full of big capacitors, their Data Center
looks the same as most but I did notice some wires hanging here and there
without any labels, and the arrangement of some cables are surely messy, unlike
that of iBMS’ work.
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| Chopsuey + Liempo = Early Age |
Company
visit for today was over, and we went to Magellan’s Cross before checking in to
the hotel. Some picture taking and praying on churches, it was said that the
first time you enter a church, knock three times first before, entering and
your wish maybe granted, after a short while we went to Sarossa Hotel. At about
6.30pm, we ate dinner, and finally, we had the chance to try out lechon cebu,
liempo maybe? I don’t know, what I do know was that was my first time to each
such a scrumptious meal, I ate so much I became dizzy and I felt very fat. I stopped
eating the moment I felt dizzy. We were tired the whole day, the last thing we
did after that DISheartening meal, yes the food will make your heart stop with
too much consumption, was buy Ice cream for dessert, some freshening up and we
went to sleep. I’m not a drinker so I had pretty much nothing else to do so I decided
to sleep.
Tuesday
morning, we were up at 5am because our breakfast was scheduled at 6.30am, we
had breakfast at I don’t know where, I did remember I only ate egg because I do
not eat corned beef or daing. It was raining that day, but it was not as much
as the media predicted, I pray for those who suffered the wrath of Pablo. The
next company was Pentax, it is a brand name used by Pentax Ricoh Imaging
Company for cameras, sport optics (e.g. binoculars), etc., Hoya Corporation for
its medical-related products & services, TI Asahi for its surveying
instruments, and Seiko Optical Products for some of its optical lenses. Japanese
optical glass-maker Hoya Corporation said on July 1, 2011, it would sell its
Pentax camera business to copier and printer maker Ricoh, in a deal the Nikkei business
daily said was worth about 10 billion yen ($124.2 million). On July 29,
2011, Hoya transferred its Pentax imaging systems business to a newly
established subsidiary called Pentax Imaging Corporation. On October 1, 2011,
Ricoh acquired all shares of Pentax Imaging Corp. and renamed the new
subsidiary Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd. Hoya will continue to use the
Pentax brand name for their medical related products such as endoscopes. I initially
had no idea what this company was, I was surprised when Sir Weng told us that
Pentax is a company that makes cameras. When I heard that, I instantaneously
got excited, sure their camera is not the same as phone cameras but you I will
not contain my love for pictures. A few do’s and don’t and we took the tour,
this company has a keep right policy and a line to prevent people bumping each
other, there was an aisle where they were making the camera, the room was white
and people inside wore white and gas masks, their workplace was very clean, it
was because dust and other unwanted element should be filtered as much as
possible so it would not interfere with the components. After the tour, some
question and answer, and introduction of new products, I was briefly interested
on DSLR but I’d rather stick to blogging
than be a photographer, I know my cellphones would serve me well for years to
come.
Next up
was National Telecommunications Commision, this was arguably the most boring company
we visited, it was small, and you would not understand anything unless you were
on the first two rows, as we went up to the miniscule third floor, it felt as
if the place was going to breakdown due to our number, the space was so small
none of the people in the back would be able to see or hear what the operator
was talking about. We had lunch at Sinugbahan again, this time, pork, liempo
and shell fish were served, another fattening and disheartening treat.
After
lunch, we wnet to the Guitar factory and then to Teradyne Philippines, it is a
leading supplier of Automatic Test Equipment used to test semiconductors,
wireless products, data storage and complex electronic systems which serve
consumer, communications, industrial and government customers. In 2011,
Teradyne had sales of $1.4 billion and currently employs about 3,600 people
worldwide. The company's divisions, Semiconductor Test Division, Systems Test
Group, and Wireless Test are organized by the products they develop and
deliver. Teradyne is undoubtedly the best company we visited as I felt like an
ECE student, it also had the nicest speaker, as we toured the facility, one
will be able to see lines around the equipments, we were to stay off limits to
those lines at all times, there was also a room for cleaning equipment, one
thing present in Teradyne was its eye wash sink, I was not given permission to
try it cool that they really have stuff for safety measure. Another thing that
made Teradyne stand out was on its employee hiring, as long as you are willing
to be trained you can get a job. This was the last company for today, we were
set to go to Ayala but it was closed so we ate dinner and checked back in the
hotel.
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| Gwapo |
This was
a slightly different night because I bought ice cream and shared them with
friends, after a little while of chatting, and eating ice cream, some of them
were drinking, but I won’t tell who haha, I went to bed.
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| Pagod na pagod kami |
Wednesday,
we were Bohol bound today but sailing were temporarily canceled due to the
weather, we visited Cebu Taoist Temple and went to Ayala Mall, at about 12pm we
were off to Cebu, this was the 2nd time I rode this kind of ferry or
whatever this boat type thing is called, the view above the ferry was amazing. As
we landed on Cebu we ate a very controlled lunch as it was done on short
notice, after lunch we were set to see some Tarsiers but we did not make it in
time, the final destination for today before the hotel was Chocolate Hills. Some
pictures here and there and we were off to Bohol Divers. As we arrived on the
resort, I was greatly amazed on how the place looked magnificent, it was night time
by then but it simply looked amazing, after checking in to our room, we found
out that there was a ghost in our room as said by Jarell. After freshening up, dinner
was served, the selection of dishes were beyond compare, beef, pork, and more
pork was served, sadly, it did not taste as good as those in Cebu. After dinner,
we went swimming, I left early to sleep. Haha.
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| Guess Who? Haha |
Thursday
came, I was perspiring because there was no freaking electricity, and the
electricity never came back! What a rip-off! Some of my classmates were
fortunate enough to stay on a separate villa where the aircon was cold and
electricity was never cut. Adding to my disdain
was the selection of food served, longganisa, danggit and sunny side up egg,
the aforementioned food were the worst all week. Fortunately for them, the
beach looked great, the water was clean, after about an hour, I decided to fix
my stuff as we were set to leave at 10am. We visited the Tarsier reserve where
there were only three Tarsiers present. Before lunch we visited the Loboc church,
three knocks and a wish and we were set for lunch. For lunch, we took the Loboc
River Cruise, it was a very cool experience, the water looked muddy but we were
assured it was clean, our guide, not Kuya Rolly, told us that if the River was
brown the chocolate hills were green and vice versa, COOOL! The view on Loboc
was tantalizing as it looked like it had been well preserved, natural beauty of
nature! After lunch we went to another church, more picture taking and we went
to souvenir shops to buy uhm souvenirs, THE CHOCOLATE HILL CHOCOLATE TASTED
CHOCOLATEYLY HEAVENLY! If I had known it tasted that good I would have bought
more. At about 5pm, we went back to the boat thingy and rode back to Cebu, I
slept earlier than usual because of the TV’s busted Cable.
The
Final Day at Cebu : ( We had breakfast at Ding Qua Qua, this was the best
breakfast I had because it served Soup, eggs and hotdog, I have missed hotdog
the whole fieldtrip, I shove many down my throat HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The first company
to visit was ABS-CBN, it is a major commercial television network in the
Philippines owned and operated by the publicly traded Filipino media
conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation. It is the country's leading television
network with an advertising revenues amounted to 17.5 billion pesos for the
fiscal year 2011. It was launched on 23 October 1953 and is among the first
commercial television networks in Asia. Its headquarters is in Quezon City with
regional offices and news bureaus in over 25 provincial areas throughout the
country. This was also a company I wanted to work for, there were minimal to no
connection for an ECE student here, well at least no ECE stuff was discussed as
we just had a tour around, though I did find the room where they watch what was
broadcasted interesting. We also visited their FM Radio room, another first,
and learned that everything that was on the radio was run by a single person!
Kudos to FM DJs everywhere, what they say were all spontaneous and impromptu I salute
you guys! Before leaving, I asked what does an ECE professional do here, the
guide said they were multi-tasking between broadcasting and being the
cameraman! I don’t know why but I found it awesome! The
last lunch was the best lunch! Giniling and Beef with mushroom, partnered with
do your own halo halo was divine! This is the place I ate the most, lucky for
me I never needed to go to the bathroom all trip long! Yeah!
The
last company we visited was Management Information and Computer Services, The
Cebu City Government created the Electronic Data Processing Department through
Ordinance No. 1343 approved Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña in 1989 and later renamed to
Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) through No. 1343 in the
same year. Integration of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS ) Center to
MICS in 1999 was made possible through
Ordinance No. 1831. MICS shall take the lead in utilizing ICT in the Cebu City
Government. For Cisco and networking lovers, this is the job for you, Cisco or
computer networking, not networking scam, is a subject I don’t really hate, I actually
like it but not to that much. MICS is located on Cebu City Hall, there were
relatively no safety procedures that could be seen immediately as the office
was small, the speaker dicussed how their networks work, how they maintain and
secure it etc.
After
the company visit, we were set for Mactan Shrine, this is where I was scammed
P700 for a guitar which did not function as a real guitar, outside the Shrine
that guitar only costed P600, FUCK! I should have just bought the Ukelele K anyways, Mactan Shrine was relatively small,
and the place you to be was of course at the shrine and the water form near it, after that my classmates
headed for dinner and we went back to the airport. I was not as excited because
I knew stepping back to Manila would be a step back to reality of bombardment
of quizzes, projects and Thesis. There was nothing I could do but be thankful
for the wonderful Cebu-Bohol experience brought by our Travel Agent and our
super Tour Guide Kuya Rolly! I decided to look on the positive side of going
back to manila. I am now a 5th year Graduating student, a little
more push and I am there, with the world not ending in 21 only made me stronger
as I have passed numerous end of the worlds, 2000, May 21st Shit,
and the recent December 21st Mayan shit , I know I will graduate on
time no matter how long it takes. So for now, work work muna! This blog will
serve not only as a blog entry but a preamble to the requirement for field trip
class. This is the end of 2012, I am glad to have had this fieldtrip, when I get
rich, I’ll surely go back to Cebu! Happy New Year Everyone J