June 13 (Saturday)

Today we had an early start. We got on the bus at 7:15 this morning to go to Alcatraz Island. It was rather cold and windy, but with a cup of coffee and great company we managed to keep up the good spirit while we waited for the ferry. Alcatraz was really cool! It is an old prison on an island about 1.5 miles outside San Francisco. We took and audio tour as we were walking around. The tour was guided by old prisoners and employees, which gave a better and more capturing experience. Especially the story about three men who escaped and was never found was interesting.

Alcatraz

We took the ferry back to Pier 33 and had free time for lunch and shopping at pier 39.

Afterwards we went to the famous Golden Gate Bridge where we took lots of pictures before heading out onto the bridge. It was super windy on the bridge and a lot of pictures ended up with hair flying all over the place (for many of the girls at least). We walked all the way across the bridge. On the other side the bus was waiting to take us back to the hotel.

A cloudy day on the Golden Gate

me and Clara on the bridge

Tonight we are having dinner followed by a party with a DJ, which we are all super excited about. Tonight is also the last night of our trip, and tomorrow is departure day.. So sad! The memories and friends we have made here are unforgettable, and we could not imagine a better way to end our year!

-- Nanna, Denmark and Clara, Denmark

Friday (June 14) started out like any other day. Wake up, eat breakfast and jump on the bus. This was probably the best breakfast so far. They had a huge variety to choose from. Something for everybody! When breakfast was consumed, we took the bus to downtown San Francisco, where a cable car was waiting. This was an amazing experience, something which can only be experienced in this beautiful city.

Riding in style!

A San Francisco icon

After the  cable car we had time to do some shopping or check out some of the more exotic parts of the city like Chinatown and Little Italy. Chinatown was quite an experience. It was like stepping into a whole new country. With just one step you were in a completely new environment. The smell, the people and the shops were all what made it so different from the rest of the city.

When we return to the place where the cable car dropped us off we got on the bus. This time a tour guide showed us the most interesting parts of San Francisco. She took us to the city hall and Twin Peaks. Here we had an incredible view of the city. Everybody wanted to have their picture taken on top of the peak which rose high over the city skyline.

Beautiful San Francisco!

Now it was about time for dinner. Therefore we returned to Chinatown. We had about 30 minutes before dinner to enjoy this beautiful place and purchase a few souvenirs. Dinner was being enjoyed at one of the many restaurants in Chinatown. The food was really good and the variety was big.

After dinner we were heading home. But half way we stopped to enjoy the sunset. Now we are about to go to bed. See you tomorrow where another big day is waiting.

Day 11 (June 13)

     San Francisco, here we come!! Today, we got to sleep in a little bit. We left Los Angeles and started heading to San Francisco at 10. We stopped for a lunch. All of us only had a limited time to eat because we needed to be on time for the schedule. We arrived at the 'de Young' art museum around 3. The museum was really interesting because it did not only have portraits, it also had a lot of ancient objects and statues from places all over the world such as, Greenland and Mexico. There was a picture that had the name of all the countries in the world. It took us a while to find Thailand in it. We really had fun at the museum but sadly, we didn't have enough time to look around everything in the museum.

At the museum

     After that, we went to the famous 'Pier 39' for the dinner at the 'Bubba Gum Shrimp co.'. A lot of you might have heard about this restaurant before. Yes! It's from the movie 'Forrest Gump' which we were watching along the way on the bus to San Francisco. Before dinner, we had a free time to shop for souvenirs and look around the pier. Surprisingly, the prices of the souvenirs were not as bad as we thought. In fact, they were pretty cheap. We also saw big black creatures hanging around the pier, sea lions!!! They were really adorable. That is why they were famous around here.

The sea lions

Candy, Muk, Chris, Dave and me at the pier

    Today was absolutely an amazing day for us because we got to experience a lot of new and interesting things we have never experienced before. This was only the beginning of the trip in San Francisco and we already loved it! See you tomorrow for more fun San Francisco!!

-- Dear, Thailand, Candy, Thailand, Tho, Thailand and Dave, Thailand

Let's climb these mountains, bears!

Early alarms settled and a fast breakfast and we were pumped for adventure in one of the most surprising places of the trip: Yosemite national park!

Our first look at the park: Yosemite Falls

After an hour drive, that many used to get ready for the day, hills and mountains surrounded us and everybody jumped off the seat to take the first incredible pictures. We got to see the El  Capitan, one of the most famous rock for climbers and mountains lovers.

We were introduced to the park by the professional rangers who also gave us useful hints for surviving in the wildness. Something that we kept well in mind was not to feed a wild animals and stand up screaming if you see a bear.

Our bear talk!

All excited to see a bear we started our hike to one of the biggest waterfalls of Yosemite Park. We stopped several times to take pictures and admire the beauty of the nature. You could hear the fresh water running down the mist surrounded by old trees and curious squirrels. After one hour walking we arrived at the bottom of the waterfall. All our exhaustion was forgotten. An amazing few allowed us to take many pictures and make life memories.

At the bridge on our hike

Our destination: Vernal Falls

After a fast way back many of us went to eat lunch and check out the souvenir stores. After lunch we all were ready for another adventure: rafting down one of the Yosemite rivers. For many of us it was the first time rafting. The water was cold but the brave ones tired to swim and hang out at some of the beaches. The rafting was a lot of fun!

After rafting we went to hang out at one of the lunch places and change for dinner. At six we all met at the restaurant. We were all very hungry after a long day outside. After dinner and getting everybody together we went to the bus and headed to the hotel. Just seated many of us fell asleep after a beautiful and exciting day in the nature.

Leo, Germany/Arkansas and Betta, Italy / Missouri

                                                                                                                    (June 11)
BEVERLY HILLS, that's where I wanna be! 

On the notes of the famous tune, we got into our last day in Los Angeles. After we checked out from the hotel, we hopped on our beloved "party bus" off to see the Hollywood sign and the neighborhood of Beverly Hills. 

me and Laura (Belgium) in Hollywood!

To have a great view of the sign, we went to the Griffith Observatory, where we all took pictures with the sign as our background and let the landscape of the city of LA sink in our eyes for the last time. 

The lovely Los Angeles

And then off to glamour! Rodeo Drive with all its fabulous stores certainly fascinated most of us. 

Hello, Beverly Hills!

In the early afternoon it was time for another long trip, off to the wonders of the Yosemite National Park. The drive was long, because of some technical problems we had to the change bus as we left Beverly Hills. Waiting and waiting, a new bus joined the awesome Belo crew, ready for new adventures, places to see and things to do! In the late evening we finally got to Merced, really tired and looking forward to a night of short but good sleep!

Camilla, Italy 

Disneyland (June 10)-  The happiest place in the World

Today we had the amazing opportunity to visit one of the best amusement parks in America, Disneyland in Los Angeles, California. First of all we all enjoyed an extra hour of sleep that gave us energy to seize this day.

When we got to the park we all could feel the magic in the air. Everything was so happy and full of joy, it was impossible to resist the temptation of following that vibe. The park was full of people, so as you can imagine the lines were really long, but we all found a way to enjoy that waiting time by sharing with each other our stories and experiences of this year.

Ready for the "happiest place on earth!"

To make this day even better we had the chance to visit not one but two parks. Across the street from Disneyland we had the Disney California Adventure park. We spent the first part of this day on Disneyland where we started by going on the least popular rides but not the least amusing, such as Pirates of Caribbean and Haunted House. The weather got warmer so we all wanted to get a little splash, so we decided to go on one of the most well known rides of the park: the Splash Mountain, it was really fun and we got completely wet! We still had some time to go to another rides on this park before lunch, for example the Mad Tea Party, Indiana Jones and Space Mountain.

Excited for the Mad Tea Cups!

After lunch we head up to the other park, where some amazing roller coaster was waiting for us. One of our favorite rides was definitely the Hollywood Tower of Terror, that actually was pretty scary, but still a lot of fun!

Tower of Terror

We found some other Belo adventurers and decided to joined them and enjoy the  many rides that the park still had to offer together, such as California Screamin’, a huge roller coaster that made us scream louder than we knew we could, and Grizzly River Run, another water roller coaster that made us even more wet than the other one.

Mickey loves us!

Finally at 9:30 we watched the firework show, it was unbelievable, all the music, lights and magic made this the most incredible firework show we have ever seen. Disneyland is for sure a magical place!

-- Joana, Portugal and Laura, Belgium

After a fresh but small breakfast this morning we left at about 9 o'clock for the Hollywood Boulevard, to visit Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Two hours and about 2000 pictures with all kinds of sometimes surprisingly famous humans, manufactured in hundreds of hours later, it was time for shopping and picture taking with literal stars at the world famous walk of fame.

Me and the guys from Star Trek

Walk of Fame!

Many L.A. traffic minutes later, we were standing at Huntington Beach—the City of Surf. Three and a half hours of free time were to spend. Some of us went straight to the beach and enjoyed the clouds and the cold waves, some went shopping, some people such as myself enjoyed a late lunch at one of the various (fast food) restaurants, and some of us found hot surfer guys you might find in Baywatch or one of the many other TV shows about and around the two coasts of the US of A. I personally enjoyed the conversation between two of our girls and one of these well trained surfer "athletes" where I heard such hilarious quotes as "Stay tuned for my model career!" or "I can show you what L.A. is all about". But my absolute favorite was the help this, apparently attractive surfer asked for to stretch his muscles.

Later this scene was repeated by me and one of the girls. The only two things I want to say to about this are: 1. She called me sweet, and 2. I asked her if she could stretch my muscles.

Yes, it happened.

While the day was quite American, the supper was Italian or maybe better Italian-American.  With a lot of salad and (of course) spaghetti (yay, finally something I haven't eaten like 3 times before on this trip), and a strawberry-ish cheesecake (sooooo Italian) the supper was complete. The supper was super delicious, but it had a clearly American influence, just like every other foreign food here and other exchange students will know what I am talking about.

So if I would have to match this day with a song it would be “In Too Deep” by Sum 41. Simply because we were in L.A. so deep today, relaxed but still had amazing, funny, and foolish moments.

-- Max, Germany

Today is Saturday 8th.

In the early morning we had to wake up because California was waiting for us!

So after a big breakfast, we headed to the bus and we said "goodbye" to the beautiful Las Vegas. The bus ride was a little bit more than 5 hours and we stopped to grab some lunch on our way. Like usual, the back of the bus is full of crazy exchange students that danced for most of the ride (at least we had fun!!) and we also watched two movies.

Finally we arrived to the Universal Studios in the amazing LA, around 1:30 pm. The first thing we did together was to go to the studio tour in the universal studios. At this tour, we could see different places where famous people make movies. It was a great tour. After this everybody went their different ways to go to the attractions. 

Group shot at Universal!

Clara (Denmark), Kaktus (Denmark), Esra (Germany), Karoline (Denmark),
me (Domincan Republic), Rebecka (Sweden) and Joakim  (Norway) posing with Despicable Me 2!

Everybody took lots of pictures and enjoyed to the maximum level at the park. In the night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. We had a delicious dinner together. Then we had some free time to take more pictures and to go shopping if we want to do it. After our great night at Universal Studios and at Hard Rock Cafe we went to the hotel to keep having fun with everybody together at the pool and just hang out. 

Shrek 4D with Marco (Italy), Rebecka (Sweden), me (Domincan Republic)
and Joakim (Norway)

Exploring City Walk after dinner!

me and Rebecka 

So tomorrow is going be another great day and we are so excited to enjoy it!

-- Nicole, Domincan Republic and Rebecka, Sweden

      Good plans for today (June 7th), we were really excited to know a little bit more about Las Vegas. We had good breakfast in the morning (which is no surprise in a hotel!).  Las Vegas is huge, which showed us that the adventure was just beginning. For the adventurers, it was worth to go 1 hour away from where we arrived on the strip to get to know the “New York New York” stores, as well as the huge and amazing roller coaster. I was lucky ‘cause I was part of this group and I could enjoy all of that right before we left. I hope other people enjoyed it as much as I did!

Imitating the girls on the escalators 

        Time for a quick lunch (or we had to run for lunch, I should say); we were too late so we just ate while we were in a hurry on the tram. We all got home really excited to get in the pool, too bad for us, because the pool was closed until 4pm for cleaning (the same time we would be leaving again). Thus, that was free time for us to do whatever we wanted to. Some of us decided to take a nap, other ones just walked around and there were even those who decided to be the first ones to laundry (but the hotel didn’t even has washing machines hahaha). At 4, everyone got really excited to visit the tallest building of Las Vegas: The Stratosphere Tower. Nice and scary rides and panoramic views were the reason of excitement, also a huge dinner with unlimited desserts was waiting for us (huuummmm..).

Ready for the Big Shot

So fun!

"Insanity" overlooking all of Las Vegas

          Later, most of the exchange students went to the Cirque du Soleil show, I didn’t go ‘cause it’s really not my thing, but I know they all had a good time, and I’m glad for that. We finished the day with no issues. We did well today, tomorrow is going to be even better, L.A, here we go…

-- João Paulo, Brazil

Yesterday morning we left our hotel on the Grand Canyon at 8 in the morning to go to LAS VEGAS! It was a 5 hours bus trip which we interrupted to stop at the world famous Route 66, where we took pictures and bought souvenirs for friends and family. After like 30 minutes we left to head to Vegas and watched some typical Nevada movies like “Cars” and “What Happens in Vegas.” We arrived in Las Vegas around noon and stopped in an outlet mall, where we had the chance to do some last minute shopping!

When we got to the hotel we had some time to relax and hang out in our rooms and then we had enough time to get ready for our night out. All the girls dressed up in nice dresses and skirts and even the guys put on some nice clothes.

At 7 we left to go to a really nice restaurant attached to a casino so we could see a casino from the inside in Las Vegas for the first time in our life! In the restaurant, we had food of all the different countries and it was amazing!

Dressed to impress!

After we finished dinner we took pictures and went outside to wait for our 3 luxurious limos! (we had white, red and pink) And when they came we were all just freaking about because we couldn’t wait to get in and ride in these limos through the streets of Las Vegas, so we took some more pictures in front of the limos and then we finally got in and started our limo trip.

Camilla (Italy), Marco (Italy), Costi (Italy), me (Germany), Laura (Belgium),
Valeria (Italy) and Roberta (Italy) waiting for the limo

Our first stop was Freemont Street where they had a free concert that we stayed for an hour and we rocked this concert! We were dancing and singing and it was so much fun. All the people around us where starring at us but we had a blast!

Rebecka (Sweden), Nicole (Dominican Republic), me (Germany)
and Laura (Belgium) on Freemont St. 

Group shot!

After that we got back to the limo and our next stop was the Bellagio. When we got there we were allowed to go in the hotel and look at the beautiful reception and take pictures and go in the chocolate store and outside one of the best things was the water show right in front of the hotel, they played music and had lights and it was really beautiful. We even saw a couple getting married there, one of the best things you can possibly do in Vegas.

Our last stop was the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign where we took some last pictures and we even met a guy dressed up like Elvis there and after that we were happy to go back to the hotel and back in our beds because it was already really late.

Welcome to Las Vegas!!!

All in all, we had a great night out in Vegas and got the chance to be a celebrity driving around in a limo for one night and it was AWESOME!

--- Kim, Germany and Costi, Italy

The Grand Canyon- our first glimpse of Arizona’s breathtaking scenery

On our official second day we left our hotel early in the morning to see one of the seven wonders of the world- the Grand Canyon. We visited the Grand Canyon National Park which is one of the first and the most famous national park in the United States.

We had with us a lot of water, our hiking shoes and a hat and not to forget a lot of sunscreen so the blaring sun did not burn us. Once we arrived, we were all amazed by the beautiful scenery. Everybody took out their cameras and made their first shots of the fantastic view. We had a few minutes to fill our water bottles because it was really important to stay hydrated and then we started our 3 mile long hike.  

Me (Austria), Cami (Belgium) and Laura (Belgium)

West Coast Trip '13!!!

We all were really excited to see from different spots in the Grand Canyon.  It took us like half an hour to walk to halfway down.  We stopped for a little bit but we were not that exhausted as we were after the whole hike.  On our way down the canyon we listened to music, joked around or just told each other stories or chatted.  After another half an hour we finally arrived at the lookout point. It was an indescribable view. Everybody was able to take an individual photo on a big rock which looked really, really cool. Afterwards we took a group photo.

We made it! Pure happiness.

Now was the time for the last restroom and fill our water bottles before we hiked up. The Belo staff told us that it will take us twice as long as to walk up. Everybody could take their own speed and can take as many stops as they want. Which I thought was cool because there was no stress or hurry. It was really, really, really warm and since we walked upwards it was way more exhausting than walking down. At the beginning, it was not bad for me, but after half an hour hiking I felt the heat. We made twice as many stops going up which was really necessary.

After like an hour and 40 minutes my group arrived where we started. Everybody had their own speed but it took us between one hour and a half to three hours where the last person arrived. Afterwards we all had free time where we could go for lunch and take a shuttle bus which took us to a lot of different spots. The photos which I personally took were amazing! The scenery from the Grand Canyon was AMAZING!

We all met up at 6pm for dinner and after dinner we finished a funny movie in the bus and ‘’slapped our air-bass!’’ We arrived at the hotel and relaxed in the pool or the hot tub after an amazing, exciting and breathtaking day.

-- Pauline, Austria 

First day in Arizona!

We started the day off by leaving our hotel at 9am for a city tour of Phoenix! We spent an hour there, some looking around the building and others taking pictures with cactuses, since we are in the Home of the Cactus! Then we got back on the bus, touring Phoenix, seeing the University of Arizona, saw the Gammage Auditorium designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and then we drove to Papago Park and hiked up to a view of Phoenix and the rest of the park. 

City Hall in Phoenix 

The Music Building at the University of Arizona (we thought it was cool looking!)

After that, we drove to a gigantic mall in Scottsdale where we had a chance to buy the last necessities before we are headed to the Grand Canyon tomorrow!

After lunch and shopping at the mall, we drove for about one and half hours to Sedona where we had an hour to look around the small shops, eat some ice cream and enjoy the amazing view!

Jumping pic in Sedona! (me, Esra and Clara) 

Group picture in Sedona!

Now, after 2 more hours in the bus, we are at a resort in Williams (about an hour drive from the Grand Canyon). We have had a good dinner and then played a name game to try to learn all of the 50 students names before we continue our trip. We are right now sitting by the pool under the stars, all very excited to hike down the Grand Canyon tomorrow!

Personally, we think the short stop in Sedona was the best part about our first day, we loved all the little gift shops and the view was breathtaking!

It was surely a great way to start our West Coast Trip!

--Karoline Gronert, Denmark and Esra Otto, Germany

Today we finally arrived in the West Coast and we were welcomed by the best weather and awesome new friends! The trip is going to be awesome according to how it started!!!

Students have been arriving all day and had to do a brief check in, just to be safe, you know! We jumped in the pool as soon as possible and hung out with our fellow exchange students! As everybody arrived there was a bigger international welcome group! We told our stories and shared our experiences, ready to make a new one together!

Follow our blog EVERY DAY because we are going to share our awesome experience DAY by DAY!!

Signed,
Ila from Chicago - Milan

Here it is,

THE WEST COAST TRIP! 

Get ready to take in the best of the West: historical Phoenix, the amazing Grand Canyon, fabulous Las Vegas, glamorous Los Angeles, beautiful Yosemite, and funky San Francisco! It's going to be 14 days of adventure, excitement and friendship...we hope you are as excited as we are!

This blog will be our journal of all the fun things we'll be doing. Every day, we'll be posting our stories and our pictures so our families and friends can experience the trip along with us. It's going to be a wonderful time, so get ready...IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!

BELO USA TRAVEL