Baguio · Strawberry Farm · The Mansion · Mines View · Burnham Park
Baguio's pine trees, cool air, and slower pace felt like a different country. It reminded me that the Philippines isn't just Manila — there's so much geography, culture, and history we haven't explored yet.
The PMA visit was unexpectedly moving. Seeing young Filipinos — not much older than us — already committed to something so much bigger than themselves made me think hard about what I'm building toward.
The Baguio Night Market at Burnham was chaotic in the best way — our batch scattered in every direction looking for the best deals on strawberry jam, ref magnets, and pasalubong for family back home.
But the memory that'll outlast all the souvenirs? Bus B and the karaoke machine. Our instructor belting out Love Story with a full head-bang and high-pitched chorus. We were crying laughing. Even writing this now makes me smile.
Seven days taught me that education isn't always formal. Sometimes it's standing in front of 500 CCTV screens. Sometimes it's a Ferris wheel over Taal. And sometimes it's watching your instructor give everything to a Taylor Swift song on a karaoke bus.
"Baguio was always going to be the finale, but I didn't expect it to feel this final. Walking through the Strawberry Farm, getting lost at the Night Market, standing quietly at The Mansion — every moment felt like the trip wrapping itself up gently. And then Bus B happened. Our instructor grabbed the mic, put on Love Story, and proceeded to head-bang through the high notes with absolutely zero regrets. The whole bus lost it. That moment — messy, unplanned, completely human — is the one I'll describe when someone asks what the tour was like. Not the CCTV screens. Not the Ferris wheel. The karaoke bus. That's what seven days together actually looks like."
"Seven days. Three cities. One karaoke bus.— Educational Tour 2026
From the walls of Intramuros to the CCTV screens of MMDA —
from the pine air of Baguio to the top of a 55-meter Ferris wheel —
this trip showed us what IT actually looks like in the real world.
But it also showed us something we didn't sign up to learn:
that the best classroom is a bus full of your batchmates,
and the best lesson is an instructor head-banging through Love Story
at full volume, not caring who's watching.
Your degree is just the starting point.
The rest? We're still figuring it out — together."