Hi Everyone!

We are writing to you from the San Francisco Airport! Yesterday was our last day in the beautiful city of San Francisco. We had an action packed day. In the morning, we took a boat ride to Alcatraz prison and were lucky enough to have sunshine the whole time! The prison was really cool. We took an audio tour that told us all about the history of Alcatraz, including prison life, attempted escapes and the officers’ stories. 

Alcatraz Prison

Although we really enjoyed the tour, it was a little bit creepy to think about what happened there.  Also, the contrast between the island and the city of San Francisco is incredible. We got some great pictures!

After returning to the mainland, we wandered around the famous Pier 39 for great views of the water and, of course, souvenirs! Then we took advantage of the beautiful weather to walk the 1.7 miles across the Golden Gate Bridge. The wind was incredible! It nearly blew us over! Everyone was singing, waving their flags and taking photos.

Lisa (Germany), Julie (Denmark), Line (Norway), Nils (Germany),
Maiken (Denmark) and Nanna (Denmark) in front of the Golden Gate Bridge

When we got back to the hotel, the fun was about to start. We had a nice goodbye dinner in the hotel ballroom which quickly turned to a killer dance party. Everyone was dancing their hearts out, hugging and enjoying their final moments together. 

When the music turned off, it was finally time to say goodbye. It was so sad because we don’t know when (or if) we are going to meet again. This trip has been such an amazing experience for us all. We made so many new friends from all over the world and by the end I think we all felt really close. It’s going to be hard to go back to our routine, but we will always remember our California Adventure! We want to say a big thank you to the Belo staff (Tici, Lauren, Kristy and Laura) for making this an amazing trip for all of us! We love you guys!

--- Line, Norway and Arianna, Italy (with a little help from our monitor, Laura)

Hellooo everyone !

Today has been such an amazing and busy day, which has become a routine during this trip; everyday’s a new adventure. We started the day off with a big, wonderful breakfast at the Hilton, then headed to Pier 39 where we watched the stinky yet adorable sea lions, then we rode the famous San Francisco cable cars to Union Square where we had a couple of hours to shop around and check out the stores and the downtown San Francisco. 

A view of Union Square from the cable car

Near the skyscrapers by the bay

After that we went on a tour of the beautiful city and learned lots of interesting information about it, we walked through the well-known Lambert street – which is a very different, to say the least, swirly street – and kept walking until we reached the bus, which took us to the awesome de Young Art Museum afterwards, and then we went to check out the amazing San Francisco skyscrapers. After seeing the gorgeous city, we went to Chinatown – which is the biggest Chinatown in the United States! – and did a little bit of shopping and walking around the streets of it. Finally, to finish up a great day, we had dinner at the Chinatown restaurant where we sang, danced, laughed, and had an exquisite time.

International love in Chinatown My two favorite parts of the day were the cable cars, which were a lot of fun and totally met up to their reputation, and the dinner at the Chinatown restaurant which was so crazy and fun, and it really felt like everyone loves each other and that we’re all one big giant family, although we come from 23 different countries <3

To finish up I want to say that this has been the best week in my entire exchange experience and I don't ever want it to end. Also I have made so many lifetime friends and remarkable memories that I would never forget :)

----Yara Mouallem, Israel (إسرائيل)

Hi everyone (สวัสดี),

Today is March 6^th, the 5th day of the trip! We left Los Angeles and heading to San Francisco!! We spent almost a whole day in the bus. It was a pretty long drive about 7 hours but we had so much fun on the bus. We got here in the afternoon. The first thing I felt was “OMG this town is so beautiful” and it’s colder than in Los Angeles and "I need to pull out my sweatshirt!" I thought I don't really need it at first. 

The first thing we did when we got to San Francisco was go to Twin Peaks and we got to see a wonderful view of San Francisco from up high such as a Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island and all of the big building.

Twin Peak viewpoint

After we saw how beautiful of the town is, we went to Pier 39 and did a little shopping. We had dinner at Bubba Gump (inspired by the Forrest Gump movie.) I like the food there! The taste was amazing. 

With friends at Bubba Gump

"Life is like a box of chocolates,
you never know what you're gonna get" --Forrest Gump

We are really excited for the San Francisco tour tomorrow! We are going to the Union Square and ride a cable car then we will have dinner at the largest Chinatown in the United States of America!

I <3 California ..... It's so much beautiful more than the word can describe.

--Araya Thongteeraparp (Joy),  Thailand ประเทศไทย

Oi people (okay I’m feeling Australian right now!),

You know what? Today was the most tiring day so far but I reckon, it was the best one. A day in Disneyland & California Adventure, it was just a day of childhood memories coming back memories (My favourite growing up was Mulan. I tried to find you EVERYWHERE). I guess I gotta say it but the USA makes everything huge and it’s just more than great! An awesome day with awesome people from all over the world, what else do you want? When we arrived at the park, we all took a group picture and then, we were able to explore.

I actually didn’t know the park was separated (Disneyland & California Adventure) but it just made even more stuff to do. So many rides on the program, I would say we did almost all of the main ones. I wish we could have spent a week in there (okay, California isn’t just Disneyland!). I got wet on Splash Mountain and I guess I didn’t choose the right time to do it because it wasn’t really sunny but anyways, it was still so much fun! I can’t even think of all of them but Paradise Pier, Cars, Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn Bobsleds, and California Screamin’ were some of all the rides available in this huge park! We were so lucky that the waiting lines weren’t that long and that we could do everything we wanted!

On the Disney's new Cars ride

To end this sunny day with the “World of Colors” show was just amazing! I couldn’t dream of a better ending… Disneyland made me dream, and I’m 18! As I say all the time, YOLO so in this case, YOGOTDC “You Only Go Once To Disneyland California.”

World of Colors show

PS: Here is a picture of Winnie the Pooh ride… I really was excited for it, but it turned out it was…for under 12 year olds. 

Me, Sophie (Belgium) and Kellie (Australia) 

--- Thomas (Belgium)

Heeeey bloggy blog,

We started our fun-filled day with a (bus) trip to the famous wax museum Madame Tussauds. The museum was filled with well known celebs from all around the world—names such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Kobe Bryant, Marilyn Monroe and so much more were all represented by their wax clones. Everyone was creative in taking pictures with the famous people which definitely resulted in some hilarious photos. After the museum the monitors gave us free time to explore Hollywood Blv. where we all could go and look for our favorite stars on the ground. The Chinese theater towered over foot and handprints of famous stars, some of the prints going back to the 1920’s. We all got lunch, shopped and enjoyed the more than pleasant weather.

(courtesy of Sophie, Norway)

Afterwards our awesome monitors and lovely bus drivers took us to Beverly Hills where we had a chance to take a group picture in front of the famous Beverly Hills sign. Furthermore, during our bus ride towards the beach we got an extended tour of interesting places around BH. Such as Marilyn Monroe’s house, FOX Studios, and Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel where Julia Roberts and Richard Gere stayed and filmed Pretty Woman.

(courtesy of Yassine, Qatar)

We were lucky enough to explore Venice Beach, where we experienced the great Californian culture, filled with awesome music, unique boutiques (and people) and of course the gorgeous beach, where only the bravest of exchange students faced the harsh cold of the water. Some rented bikes and rode down the Ocean Front road, some saw a mural of the great Jim Morrison; some inspected the graffiti for hidden meanings and symbols. The warm sun and clear sky helped to create a beautiful experience for everyone.

(courtesy of Sophie, Norway)

Santa Monica was up next! We arrived by the beach where most of us wandered towards the Santa Monica Pier. There we found fun rides, exquisite views and fun, music-playing booths (hello Harlem Shake). We walked towards the 3^rd St Promenade, where we shopped and browsed our little hearts out. Hungry and tired we drove to Sizzlers for a scrumptious meal, chatting about our amazing day and how excited we are for what tomorrow will bring: Disneyland!!!!!

Luv your fav bloggahz,

Giel & Sophie (Belgium, Norway)
(and contributing editor Trine, Denmark)

It’s our 2nd day in CA, LA!!! <3 but it was our technically our first day because yesterday was arrival day. Everyone arrived safely at LAX airport and got to know each other a little bit better at our Welcome dinner.

Today we started out our day all together eating breakfast, all 98 exchange students from 23 amazing counties, the food was amazing with eggs, bacon, muffins etc.

At 9 O'clock, the bus left to go to the Hollywood sign (which was mind blowing to see), we stayed there for about 30 min, got A LOT of pictures, and amazing memories!! It was a really great view. The buses drove us to the Griffith Observatory where we had a great view to the Hollywood sign and downtown LA. 

After that the buses drove us to Universal Studios. We all went together in front of the big Universal Studios ball, where we took a group picture! Our plan was that we should take the Universal Studio Background Tour. It was an amazing tour where we drove in a Tram, we didn't all drive together since we got split up on the way there, because we had to stop and take pictures with the figures. On the tour we saw sets from King Kong, The Mummy, Wisteria Lane from Desperate housewives and so many other cool places where they have recorded movies. You will be surprised about how much is filmed in a warehouse and not in the actually city! We all walk around on our own and tried different roller coasters. 

When it was dinner time we all gathered outside of Universal Studios and went to the Hard Rock Cafe, to get there we walked through the streets in LA, and it’s just like you imagine, everything is big, cool, and with loud music in the background! We had an amazing dinner, were Belo got the whole first floor just for us, and it was SO amazing to eat there! We got free time in LA, so we all went shopping. We went to Abercrombie and Fitch where we bought clothes! Finally, we rode the bus home playing loud music the whole way. Overall, it was an amazing day and we look forward to more fun tomorrow!

--Emma and Maiken, Denmark

Hello everyone!!! We are all set and ready for a week of adventure and FUN in sunny California! We can't wait to see your happy faces here!!!
Love,

Belo Staff... Tici, Lauren, Kristy and Laura!!! :D

Welcome to California Adventure!!

Get ready for the trip of a lifetime in sunny California!

Whether it be the glam and glitz of Hollywood Boulevard or the gnarly waves of the Pacific Ocean in a surfer's paradise, this trip promises to be an amazing adventure for all!

We will be visiting the iconic cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco on a one week trip through the beautiful state of California! We will see such sites as the breathtaking Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the star studded Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles! And of course, we will be visiting magical Disneyland!

Join us on this week long adventure as we discover the wonders of California and creating life-long friendships along the way!

This will be our day-to-day journal... each day, you'll get news, information and pictures from the students. Join us on our adventure!

Have fun!!!