This weekend, I went to the Sofitel San Francisco Bay Hotel for a conference (it’s located in Redwood city). Looking back, it was an engaging while simultaneously entertaining conference as I met future educators from all over the state.
First thing first, I checked in. I arrived at 6:05am for a 6:45am flight, to which they told me it was too late to check in. So they rescheduled my flight for 7:30 am. Even though I got to the terminal by 6:30…. When I got to the TSA checkpoint they confiscated my toothpaste and told me I had to dump out half of it, which I subserviently did. I also went through the terrible body scanners which will most likely reveal to cause cancer in 10 years. Lesigh.
I then met up with Michelle and we talked, getting onto a pretty comfortable flight to which I fell asleep in quite a peaceful slumber. We arrived, met up with Karina, and went outside to a relatively long line for a shuttle (but not as long as the Phil’s BBQ line). The shuttle eventually came, squeezed us all in, and delivered us all the way to the Sofitel hotel, where we had an engaging 2-day conference.
The speakers were mildly entertaining, some more appropriate than others. The message was pretty clear though, that we as future educators needed to involve ourselves in the political process and change the educational system from within. If more and more rights are taken away from teachers, the educational system will self-destruct and annihilate itself in the process.
The breakout sessions were also good, as I learned quite a bit about unconscious bias (the speaker illustrating that we often notice a person’s race, gender, sex, and other physical characteristics when we first meet them). We also got to collaborate with our own group at several times during the conference, which was nice considering I haven’t been to many SCTA events at Fullerton.
The hotel was clean. I didn’t have a roommate so I got to walk around naked and ruin everything inside the bathroom, so that was mildly entertaining. I had such a nice, peaceful slumber.
The food was good, but not great. It fulfilled my appetite and got me through the day. We ended up going to the bar with Karina, Michelle, & Patricia, where the bartender helped serve us some free drinks. Of course I would ignore the “for guys” section and opt to order a relatively strong girly drink. I had a nice conversation with people outside about the educational system, among other random topics.
Everyone was relatively nice, from the students in NorCal to the students in SoCal. It was refreshing seeing so many people interested in the political process (I was kind of apathetic after the Republican primaries) but my spirits have been re-enthused. Hopefully I can put everything I’ve learned to good use and continue attending SCTA events at CSUF ! š
When I got back to the airport, United somehow overbooked the flight, not guaranteeing me a seat on their plane. In combination with their rude customer service (or lack thereof), I eventually got onto the plane – although quite turbulent, and made it home safely. Orange County for lifeeeeeeee.
Two more conferences to go: next week FTC, the week after SFL.
