When I was in 1st year, this was one of my goals I've set,to be able to go to attend AUA. I was inspired by my senior residents before, they were talking of how inspiring it is to attend AUA. So nainggit ako in short.
The way I thought of how to get to AUA was to have a research paper for presentation. I submitted 4 research papers and only 1 was accepted for presentation. This is to let you have an idea of how difficult it is to get in.
So this year's AUA was held in San Francisco, California. I've never been to USA before, so I don't know what to expect either. I've always felt I'm doing something in my own effort when I go to these presentations. Even if I'm just relying on my parent's money for the expenses of the whole trip, I felt I was paying them in return in a way of presenting internationally. So I won't feel guilty that I'm spending their money despite being an adult already.
So we arrived to AUA convention 1 day before the main event to register. I was given an email beforehand already with QR code, which I printed and they will just scan it and my badge would have been printed. Good thing though that we arrived 1 day before, because during the main event, there were lots of guards/ushers and my parents couldn't get in to get pictures.