Informatics IT Tour

IT Tour bus. (photo from Informatics Caloocan Facebook)

The Informatics IT Tour was about visiting IT companies, but was also a recreational tour. The popular feature in it was the last trip to Enchanted Kingdom. Later, the destination was changed to Splash Island because Enchanted Kingdom was having a renovation. Many of my classmates didn’t like that but there was no getting around that. The tour was held on April 5, 2011. 

I seriously doubted whether I could attend it because it was costly. The trip cost 950 pesos, but that did not include pocket money and other expenses. Some of the teachers did give incentives for going such as bonus grades. But the cost was too high for me that was my main problem with it. And I didn’t like to go on trips anyway. I’m not that type of person. When I asked some of my schoolmates whether they would go or not, one of them, Hershey said she was undecided though she was leaning on not going. Others were fairly decided to go like Katrina and Joanne. Some even borrowed money just to make the payment deadline.

Splash Island (photo by Anna Bucaneg)

When the news came that we were no longer going to Enchanted Kingdom, a lot of my schoolmates didn’t like that. They also didn’t like the fact that there was a seating arrangement. It was difficult to just sit with your barkadas; it was first come first serve at the reservation list. And then some of my schoolmates were even planning to bring liquor and stay late for drinking sessions. The trip was also time-consuming; we would gather at Informatics at 6 in the morning and return at about 10 in the evening. If I went, I had to wake up at 4 am and returned home at about 12 am. I was pretty decided not to go. Many of my schoolmates though were already paid and committed to go. There’s no backing out for them.

            The night before the tour I bought the black Informatics T-shirt. And Ms Jasmine said I could still come if I wanted though I missed the payment deadline, I’ll just have to pay later. A schoolmate later asked the same question to me and I told her the same answer. I was already decided not to go, so I stayed as late as I can at Informatics to surf the Internet as usual. There weren’t a lot of people at Informatics because most had already gone home to sleep early. I took things easy and was glad there was no school tomorrow.

Satellite Imaging at PAGASA. (photo by Mary Rose Borella)

            
          When classes resumed, there were not a few complaints. They said there was hardly any time to enjoy swimming. It was so short. My schoolmates hardly wasted time any time in uploading pictures from the tour. The pictures were up in Facebook early in the morning. When I saw the pictures at PAGASA I laughed, I thought it was silly to go there because that was like field trips for elementary students. Most had a good time though, but I would not have enjoyed it.

Seminar at Gardania (photo by Gab Morales)

There were three buses used in the tour. My schoolmate Kamille Mangulabnan rode on bus 1. She said their bus did not go to PAGASA. They went to Cutting Edge Productions, the company that made the Filipino animation “Dayo”. They then went to Gardania Bakeries just to meet with the other buses to go to on to Splash Island.

Lhenard Castillo, another schoolmate, rode on bus 2. He said that after their bus went to PAGASA, they went to Gardania Bakeries. They learned the step by step process that makes their bread. They also learned about the history of Gardania. Then they walked around the facilities. It took them about 1 hour. Then they went to Splash Island.

Fujitsu Ten Solutions (photo from Internet)

Anna Angela Bucaneg rode on bus 3. She said after they went to PAGASA, they went to Fujitsu Ten Solutions, a company that makes audio-video devices for vehicles; devices like GPS, stereos, etc. She said they spent about 2 hours there listening to a seminar. After that they were supposed to go Gardania, but they went instead directly to Splash Island, arriving at about 3 pm. Apparently they were behind schedule and the two other buses had already arrived at about 1 pm. At about 5 pm those in charge had already called for the students to stop swimming and prepare to go home. Their bus left Splash Island at about 7pm and they arrived at Informatics at about 10 pm.

All in all I didn't regret not coming, I saved myself from the extra expense and a lot of preparation. Though I did miss out on a lot of bonding moments with my schoolmates. The time shared together with them would of been valuable for me as a student.