DAY 14 - DEPARTURE DAY

As you board your planes and realize that this amazing journey has finally come to an end, think back to the first day in Phoenix, over 1250+ miles ago.   Forty-seven anxious students arriving from host families from all corners of the United States, studying abroad from all corners of the world!  All with the same desire and passion to discover new places and new cultures.  Since then we have visited some of the most popular destinations in the US, in just two weeks!

This was an outstanding group that should be proud of how they represented themselves, their countries, their student organizations and Belo.  We really enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you and we hope that you have built friendships and memories that will last a lifetime!

Lauren(coordinator), Brianna(monitor) and Sheri(chaperone)

 

DAY 13 - ALCATRAZ AND GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!

Today we had to get up early, because our first stop was at the pier to catch the cruise to Alcatraz. We had to split up in groups of seven and each group got a chaperone. When we arrived to the island, we started an audio tour. We saw the former cells, pictures of inmates and officers and guards. We learned a lot about the people, the history of Alcatraz and everybody was very impressed and interested. In the end of this great tour, we were able to talk to a former prisoner and to purchase his book. That helped to understand more about the prison and to realize that about 50 years ago, there were actually people in the cells we visited.

Then we went back to the port and had two hours to have lunch and walk around at pier 39 or to rest for the following adventure: Seeing the Golden Gate Bridge from close up and walk over it. It was very windy, but we had nice weather, so it was not too bad. And anyways; the amazing view we had rewarded us for walking the 1.71 miles. It was a great day; we learned a lot and enjoyed our last day together before we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our party.

By: Nele & Johanna

 

DAY 12 - SAN FRANCISCO

Today was basically a sightseeing day. In the morning, we rode on the famous cable cars!  Then, we had some free time to go shopping and eat lunch. Then at 1ish we started our sightseeing with a travel guide, who was full of energy but very funny! She showed us the city hall what was everything else that I had thought; it was HUGE and very gorgeous!

After that we walked a short street(Balmy Alley) which had all kinds of painted pictures at the walls of the houses that were on that street. All of the pictures have some kind of connection to history, so it was quite interesting.

After that we drove around San Francisco and then went to the top of one of the hills to take pictures of the view(Twin Peaks). It was unbelievable! S

ome of us (including me) already fell asleep while we were on our way there. =D We ended our tour in China town for dinner and actually met the President of Belo, who is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil and that’s how Belo got its name. It was fun to talk with him.

By: Julia from Finland

 

DAY 11 - ARRIVAL TO SAN FRANCISCO

Today we drove from Merced to San Francisco. On the three hours long bus ride we watched the amazing movie Forrest Gump.

After a stop for lunch we arrived in San Francisco and visited the De Young museum which had a lot of interesting pieces of art. It also had an observatory where we had an awesome view over San Francisco to take some beautiful pictures.

After that we jumped on the bus to drive to Pier 39. We ate dinner at the Bubba Gump restaurant which was based on the movie Forrest Gump. That was the main reason why we watched the movie, because they quizzed us about the story. It is an amazing restaurant. After dinner we had free time to buy some souvenirs on Pier 39. We had a good first impression about San Francisco with the beautiful houses and views.

By: Johanna from Germany

DAY 10 - YOSEMITE!

Today was an adventure day to Yosemite, National  Park! We had a couple hours  driving from our hotel.  When we got closer to Yosemite we all were excited because the view outside the windows was so terrific!

Our first stop was Yosemite Lodge and we started talking about how the National Park Service protects bears , what we can do to help , and how can we avoid them when we see them accidentally. After an interesting talk we had options to go hiking or take shuttle bus around the park. Me and my friends chose the shuttle bus tour. We went to Yosemite Fall first before we got there we took  few  pictures with a big rock which ancient people used to cook there. They made holes in various sizes for different uses. It’s really interesting to see how smart they were. When we got to the falls there were many people already so we decided to hike a little bit to get closer and to get better pictures.

After we explored Yosemite Fall, we took a shuttle bus to Curry Village for lunch. We got a chance to share experiences with the hiking people. They said it was a really nice hike and the view and the Vernal Falls was wonderful. After we grabbed some lunch, we headed to rafting. There were three or four people per boat. It was so much fun because we had to paddle by ourselves all the way.  Our boat we got stuck in the rocks or the logs every five minutes. So it was not only figuring out how to paddle but also solving how to get out of the things when we were stuck. But it was kind of good because that means we have more time to see the wonderful nature around us. And yeah we were the last boat of our group! We wish we could take photos but we could not bring any cameras.

After rafting we took a shuttle bus to Yosemite Lodge to have dinner. And it was time to say goodbye to Yosemite, the fabulous place in California.

By: Amy from Thailand

 

 

DAY 9 - BEVERLY HILLS AND MERCED!

For our last day in Los Angeles, we stopped at the Griffith Park Observatory, from where we could see Los Angeles and the big Hollywood sign.  After that we drove to Beverly Hills and took one last quick group and individual picture in front of the Beverly Hills sign. Then we got to go to Rodeo Drive, an expensive shopping street where we had lunch and got the chance to walk around there like we were rich people. We all secretly wished we would meet some famous person but unfortunately we didn’t … (I personally took a picture with one of the girls in the group, posted it on Instagram and faked she was a model. I think it was funny and my friends got jealous). Then we headed back to the bus and moved on to the next adventure.

On our way to Yosemite, we watched some movies (5hours with a little break in between.. but we always find a way to make the time move fast! ). We finally arrived in Merced, stopped for dinner and… HAD PIZZA! And some of us had a Jamba Juice for dessert. At the hotel, the brave ones jumped in the pool and hung out in the lobby, while the others, after a long trip, decided to go to bed to rest (which, I realize now, was a better idea.)  

By: Raphaela from Switzerland

 

DAY 8 - DISNEYLAND!

Early in the morning we did a short bus ride to Disneyland – the happiest place on earth! First, when we arrived we took a picture in front of the big castle and then we had free time to explore all the rides and attractions in both Disneyland and California Adventure. One of our favorite rides was the rollercoaster ‘California Screamin’ in California Adventure. ‘Big Thunder Mountain Railroad’ also was lots of fun and we all got wet at ‘Splash Mountain’ in Disneyland. We had the ‘parkhopper’ ticket, that enabled us to go from one park to the other whenever we wanted to.

At 3:30, we all met and many of us watched the Disney Parade. It started with Elsa, Olaf, Hans and many more characters from the movie ‘Frozen’. Since the parade took a very long time not all of us stayed because we wanted to try more rides. Disneyland was special because a lot of Disney characters like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck were walking down the street and you could talk or take pictures with them.

After we spent an entire day in Disneyland and California Adventure, we met to see the beautiful fireworks in front of the Disney Castle.  Then, we went back to the hotel and we all were exhausted from an amazing day full of fun, screaming and becoming closer friends!

By: Mara from Germany