“Learning never exhausts the mind.” ― Leonardo da Vinci

My attendance at the ninth International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference 2019 (LAK19) was a valuable learning experience even with the arduous travel to the USA from down under. I kicked off LAK19 with a full day Writing Analytics workshop I chaired on mapping the state of the field and future directions. In the main conference, I presented our full research paper, co-authored by Dr. Simon Knight and Prof. Simon Buckingham Shum on Contextualizable Learning Analytics Design: A Generic Model and Writing Analytics Evaluations, which was well-received by the audience and sparked further conversations. I attended various presentations and keynote talks on the emerging applications of data mining and artificial intelligence in the field of education, which widened my knowledge and perspectives on the research and practice in learning analytics. I got ample opportunities to interact with researchers, industry members, and practitioners, both previously acquainted and new, and formed networks for possible collaborations. I was thoroughly immersed in community building at the poster sessions and networking events throughout the conference. I also officially joined the Society of Learning Analytics (SOLAR) executive committee as the elected student member in its annual general meeting held at the conference. I would like to thank ACM for supporting this truly memorable experience, and look forward to more learning experiences in the future.