Day 0: ISTE19 Conference

I'm in the city of Rocky Balboa!

I was wondering why my hostel kept on playing this particular song in the lobby, and it turns out it was the theme song of Rocky Balboa's movie where he trained in this flight of stairs which is now called "Rocky Steps" before his big win.

Who would have thought that Philly has so much history? I came to Philly knowing only that it was famous for Philly Cheesesteaks but I'm about to know so much more.

Here are random photos for my Day 0 at the ISTE19 Conference. I literally had no time to rest coming from a 13-14hr flight from Manila and an overnight stay in LAX and then off to the east coast, straight to the conference as soon as I arrived in Philly! I did not thoroughly think through about how the time differences would mean literally no sleep for me.

But I'm here in Philadelphia and ISTE! Sleep is for the WEAK!

Volunteering at the ISTE Central Store

My first workshop

There's a separate category for Filipinos in Los Angeles

The map for the expo of vendors! 

Strolling along Philly with my scavenger teammates

two of my scavenger team mates, new friends!

Benjamin Franklin Institute

#ISTE19 Here I Come!

FLYING TOMORROW TO USA!!!!

Travelling has ALWAYS given my more life and purpose to live. I have been waiting for this since last year !!! And the day is almost here!

My last travel to North America was in 2017 which was halted because I had to go fly home for the passing of my grandparents. That was a really really downward event in my life. I felt like I had not enough motivation for anything. I think which is why I found myself being active in church by 2018. The entire year felt like a rehabilitation. But now I think I am back on track again and USA here I come!

I am super stoked and excited to, not only go back to Los Angeles, but also I'm going to Philadelphia for the first time! Anxious (but excited) because I literally know NO ONE. I've been connecting with fellow ISTE participants via twitter and ISTE discussions and studying the commute in Philly. God please be guide me throughout my adventure.

I can't wait to meet new friends and fellow EdTech enthusiasts. There are over 8k participants for ISTE and I hope the convention is also BIG. I really have no idea what is in-store for me but I am sure there will be a lot of positive takeaways.

Can't wait !!!!!!!!! USA & CANADA 2019: HERE I COME!

A life update #ISTE2019 #EdTech

Is this serious?

My last blog post was in January 2019 and I was talking about how I'm trying to control my emotions? Wow. Where did the time go?

I've done a bunch of things over the past months, I'm probably going to just create a separate blog post about that to summarise

February - went to Cebu for a speaking engagement
March - went to Boracay island for a short vacation
March - sponsored the Singles Encounter 27 Retreat (this kept me busy for the month of Feb)
April - attended the TED 2019 Conference Live Stream at Marriott Manila.
May - registered to ISTE 2019 Conference which will be held in Philadelphia, PA USA.

At the moment - planning my trip to USA & Canada!

Basically I just wanted to make a blog post to update my non-existent readers that:

"Hey world, I'm attending ISTE2019!" 

By invitation special event for international participants.

Monitoring twitter ISTE19 activities and I got to grab a free Philly Cheesesteak!

Excited for the Global Scavenger hunt! 

Received the hard copies of the newsletters

A taste of Philly food tour experience!

I AM SO EXCITED ON SO MANY LEVELS.

1) International Conference
2) Philadelphia
3) Travelling
4) Potential new friends

God keep me safe in my travels!

I've Got Mail! #RoadToISTE2019

I just received this from the International Society for Technology in Education!

I love receiving mail from overseas and I am so excited to be part of this year's international conference in Philadelphia! Woohoo!!!!!!!!

Who's super excited to take things to an international level? 

Me!