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Before flying to New Orleans, Louisiana for the Miss Universe pageant, the Philippines' bet Celeste Cortesi had a small meet-and-greet and send-off party at the Titas of Manila restaurant in the Filipino hub of West Covina, California on Monday night.

Cortesi received a blessing from Father Thomas Asia of St. Martha Catholic Church. She also took the time to snap some pics with her fans and supporters.

Cortesi and her team have spent the past couple of weeks in Los Angeles, putting in their final preparations for the 71st Miss Universe pageant that is taking place on January 14th.

"It's amazing. This is my first time in the US and I really enjoyed so much, and the people are so welcoming and of course I had to focus a lot on my training and I did that and I spent a lot of time with my team. I'm very grateful for that," she shared.

"I'm ready. I really cannot wait. I had a lot of time to be by myself, just my own thoughts to process everything. I cannot believe that everything will be done in two weeks already so I really had the time to focus on myself more than anything else."

Fans have high hopes for the 25-year-old Filipina Italian model.

"It’s so exciting to have a really strong candidate this year like we have in previous years. I've been able to meet Gazini (Ganados), Rabiya (Mateo), and now Celeste," Los Angeles resident Brian Ferrer said. "She's very eloquent, beautiful. I think she will be a great queen for Miss Universe."

While the registration begins this week, the orientation will take place on January 6th and the preliminaries will begin on the 11th.