So here's my schedule for the next few days:

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Sunday 3/29: NYC > SF

Tuesday, 4/01: SF > Amsterdam

Thursday, 4/03: Next Web Conference in Amsterdam

Friday, 4/04: Doing my presentation

Saturday, 4/05: Hanging out with my Dutch friends

Sunday, 4/06: Back to New York

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Will keep you all posted!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore at early collegeBard College at Simon's Rock.

She loves chatting with fellow students, readers, and entrepreneurs, so don't hesitate to email her or message her on AIM! Feel free to subscribe to her blog or stalk her twitter.

As you probably know, I'll be headed to the Next Web Conference in Amsterdam in two weeks to speak about the future of web. And no, I do not know what on earth I'll be talking about. If you have any ideas, please email me!

I know that I promised to cut back on my conference going, but I figured that I'd get to visit the Netherlands for my first time, hang out with friends I met at Harvard, and learn how to speak in front of 750 people. It's over my spring break, so no class cutting required!

Anyhow, if you feel like dragging yourself out to Amsterdam to learn about the future of web and network with cool people like Kevin Rose, Robert Scoble, Leah Culver, and ME, then totally sign up!

See you there!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com. She's totally overrated and you all know it.

I try not to splurge, but sometimes I have no choice! Take for example SxSW: You guys convinced me to go to the South by Southwest Conference, so I'm going. Few issues:

1) The only flight out that worked for me cost $620. It was only $100 for an upgrade to first class, so I bought it. Some call it splurging but I call it well deserved.

2) Every half decent hotel in Austin is completely booked. What can I say, the only so-so hotel I found was this place called the Four Seasons. Hopefully I'll find myself a successful, sexy, (wealthy) business man while I'm there? I'll dream on.

3) I had to upload a picture of my face to South by Southwest's website in order to claim my badge. I don't have many photos of me on the internet, but I figured I'll show you guys what I have:

Fugley or what? Whatever, it's better than my driver's license photo. Funny enough, this is the first real photo I've shown to you publicly via my blog.

I'll promise to take lots and lots of pictures for you guys! I'll be lonely, so please shower me with visits.

PS - I'm underage so I can't check into the hotel. Their stupid company policy is that I have to be at least 19 years old. Any of you want to help me? I'm offering a reward!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com. In her free time, she enjoys the prospect of being an underage angel investor while partying like a rock star. (and traveling to random cities and checking into hotels while being underage)

1) Don't fly on United. Their customer service is slow and frustrating. Their frequent flyer program is incredibly flawed.

2) Don't fly with connecting flights if you don't have to. Look at me, I'm stranded in Denver because I was silly enough to take a connecting flight. Kayak.com fixes this problem.

3) Don't travel to new places with friends or family. Half of the fun in going to a new place is meeting new people. Leaving your friends/family at home forces you to make due with the new environment. Some may call this culture shock, but I call it adventure. Deal with it! :p br>
Now with that said, here's a list of things I do before going to any new city:

1) How to fly? I usually use Kayak.com, because it compares the airfare for all airlines on multiple websites at the same time. Super user friendly, great for those bargain hunters, and comes highly recommended.

2) Where to stay? You have three options: 1) Make friends with people who'll let you sleep with them (not literally) 2) CouchSurfat some stranger's house or 3) Stay at a hotel recommended by TripAdvisor. I've only done #1 and #3.

7) How to get around? Print out some Google Maps of the areas you'll be hanging out in. Choose a limo driver to escort you to wherever. I usually use CitySearch for this.

8) What are you going to do? Touristy attractions are for tourists. You're a wannabe entrepreneur, I assume, so checkout upcoming.org and meetup.com for events and gatherings in the city you'll be in. I first used meetup.com to get myself acquainted with San Francisco. After going to two or three meetups, I had solid connections I could depend on. Before leaving ANY city, make it a goal to meet at least one awesome person who you plan on keeping in touch with.

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com. In her free time, she enjoys the prospect of being an underage angel investor while partying like a rock star.

Ahh! Only 1 more day before I fly out to Vancouver for the Northern Voice conference! If you don't know already, Northern Voice is a "two-day, non-profit personal blogging and social media conference that's being held at the Forestry Sciences Centre, 2424 Main Mall, UBC main campus, Vancouver, Canada on February 22-23, 2008." I first heard about it through a reader, Phillip Jeffrey. I first thought something among the lines of, "ugh.. it's all the way in Canada?" But then I realized that it's only a short plane ride from San Francisco. Why not?

Like all conferences, you go for and only for the people. Few people actually leave the conference learning something they couldn't have learned by reading books. Normally, it would be a pretty expensive trip, but I was lucky enough to have my entire vacation paid for thanks to the good old press pass and frequent flyer miles. If you're in the area, let me know!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com. In her free time, she enjoys the prospect of being an underage angel investor while partying like a rock star.

If you don't know already, the TED conference is “held annually in Long Beach with 1450 members in attendance. The event sells out a year in advance and the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy.” They added only 150 seats and have been sold out for the past few years, and I was added on the waiting list after I applied last year.

Excited to go, will write more about the event soon.

Why, hello! Just putting another event out there: Thanks to a recommendation by reader Phillip Jeffrey, I'm thinking of attending the Northern Voice conference in Vancouver in a few weeks. In a nutshell, Northern Voice is a "two-day, non-profit personal blogging and social media conference that's being held at the Forestry Sciences Centre, 2424 Main Mall, UBC main campus, Vancouver, Canada on February 22-23, 2008."

I've been especially lucky in getting press passes in the past, but I'm not sure how likely it is to get a press pass into a press/blog related conference... Yet again, the two-day pass only costs $60. Every penny counts for a starving college student!

Hope to see you there! Comment or email me if you plan on attending.

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com. In her free time, she enjoys the prospect of being an underage angel investor while partying like a rock star.

Wee! I got myself a press pass to Macworld! They claim that there's no more room for me to get into the keynote, but I'll find a way as always. Remember the front row seats at Web 2.0 expo? Can't even wait!

More to come next Tuesday the 15th. :)

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com. In her free time, she enjoys the prospect of being an underage angel investor while partying like a rock star.

I'm happy to tell you all about the upcoming South by Soutwest festival that will be held from March 7-16 in Austin, Texas! In a nutshell, here's what it is:

The SXSW MUSIC AND MEDIA CONFERENCE showcases hundreds of musical acts from around the globe on over fifty stages in downtown Austin. By day, conference registrants do business in the SXSW Trade Show in the Austin Convention Center and partake of a full agenda of informative, provocative panel discussions featuring hundreds of speakers of international stature.

The SXSW INTERACTIVE FESTIVAL celebrates the creativity and passion behind the coolest new media technologies. In addition to panel sessions that cover everything from web design to bootstrapping to social networks, attendees make new business connections at the three-day Trade Show & Exhibition. The newest element of the event is ScreenBurn, which adds specific gaming industry programming as well as a two-day Arcade to the mix.

TThe SXSW FILM CONFERENCE AND FESTIVAL emphasizes all aspects of the art and business of independent filmmaking. The Festival has gained international acclaim for the quality of its programming with a special focus on emerging talents who benefit from having their films in the company of the cinematic greats whose work is regularly presented.

Interested in attending? Click here. Look forward to convering the event!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, SimonsRockers.com, and Jessicamah.com.

It's 8AM, and my colleagues and I are preparing to head to our nation's capitol to lobby for the Warner-Lieberman Bill, The Energy Bill, and/or the Waxman and Sanders-Boxer Bill. Our friends from PowerShift set up appointments with Senators so that fellow PowerShift attendees can lobby for change. Funny enough, I ran into an organizer who just so happened to go to my high school!

I'll try to get my meetings on film - will keep you updated!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, SimonsRockers.com, and Jessicamah.com.