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

DAY 7 - LOS ANGELES

Let’s meet our stars:

We started our day at the walk of fame in Hollywood… Yes… Hollywood… so so exiting!!!! We went to the Dolby Theater, where all the big events happen like the Oscars or American Idol.  Also, we had the opportunity to visit the famous Madame Tussauds wax museum.  It was so awesome when the elevator doors opened and we saw our favorite stars right in front of our eyes.  It was so weird to see them, but at the same time really special.  I can’t wait to say to my friends that I have a selfie with Taylor Lautner and pictures with Selena Gomez and Obama!

The walk of fame is worldwide known for the stars around it’s streets with the name of (as the name says) famous people.   I am sure that I have more than a 100 pictures of different artists’ stars. Our day ended at the beach, the water was cold at first but beautiful.  We had lots of fun.  I loved it so much, the L.A. air around there.  It is a place that I could go 10.000 times and I would never get tired of being there.  I Love LA!!!

Thanks for reading,

IA J 

Maria from Uruguay

 

 

DAY 6 - ARRIVAL IN LOS ANGELES

We were all tired from hot weather of Las Vegas and an awesome show. It was good that finally we had our own break time. We watched Inception and Back To The Future in the bus for 5 hours.  Back To The Future was really good choice because we went to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD!!

First, we took a group picture in front of the globe which says “Universal Studios”.  Then, we had a chance to go on a studio tour with almost every Belo student.  It was really cool that we got to ride a tram and watch awesome stuff, such as flooding, 3D effects with King Kong (This was very realistic!), earthquake in a subway station, and Jaws. (of course fake haha)  Also, we saw the cutest deer ever while we were there!

Then we had about 4 hours of free time to go and ride things.  My group went to ride Minion and Simpson attractions. Those were really cool and made us a little bit dizzy but still awesome! Also, we watched the Water World show and some parts were quite shocking(We don’t want to spoil it for you! You should’ve seen it). Oh there was a donkey from Shrek and he was HILARIOUS. He could even speak Korean and he made us laugh a lot!  After that, we were cheering for everyone who was leaving Universal Studios. We were the loudest group I guess.

Then we went to HARD ROCK CAFE! It was great that we could just walk up there! After dinner, we got some free time to walk around and have shopping time.  Now, we’re heading back to hotel! I still can’t believe I’m in Los Angeles right now, it was really a special and unique day that we will never forget! Also, we’re all excited for tomorrow!! ByeJ

By: Bokyeong and Yeonju from South Korea

 

 

 

 

DAY 5 - LAS VEGAS!

After many eventful days and early mornings we could finally sleep in for a bit which most of us really needed. We left the hotel at 10am and drove to the Vegas Strip.

We got dropped off at the Bellagio where we would meet later. Everyone split up in little groups and we made our ways through Las Vegas’ most famous hotels and malls. From the Bellagio we went into the Cosmopolitan, the Shops at Crystals (with some of the most expensive stores like Louis Vuitton, Gucci or Prada, where we didn’t even dare to look at the purses), Stupiditotic ( a really funny store), Hershey’s Store, Monte Carlo, New York - New York (the hotel with the rollercoaster around it), Excalibur (a huge hotel that looks like a castle), the Luxor (it looks like a pyramid) and many more. A lot of these places were connected so we could just walk from one to the other so we didn’t have to step out in the heat. Then we walked back on the other side of Las Vegas Boulevard where we walked through the MGM Grand, bought Souvenirs, visited the Hard Rock Café and M&M’s world. As a highlight of the day we wanted to see the gladiator show in the Caesar’s Palace which was our last stop. The show was at the other side of the hotel and started every hour. It was really amazing because of the fire and water effects.

Most of these places are so big that you easily get lost and more than once we had to ask our way out. At 3.30pm we were supposed to meet and go back to the hotel, but 10 of us were late which brought us another experience, riding through Las Vegas in a Taxi, not as glamorous as a Limo but still kind of classy.

At the hotel we had a little free-time which most of us used to get ready for the extra show. But before the show we went to the highest building in Las Vegas – The Stratosphere Tower! We got our tickets and got on the elevator the 109^th floor, the outside platform where we had an amazing view over the strip and the mountains surrounding Las Vegas. The 3 rides Insanity, X-Scream and Big Shot were welcomed by most of us but some avoided it because of the extreme height.

At 7.20 we met downstairs and went to dinner at the bottom of the Stratosphere tower, another buffet, which Las Vegas is famous for.

After dinner most of the group went to see the show: Cirque du Soleil’s “O” at the Bellagio.

By: Julia H. from Germany

 

 

DAY 4 – ARRIVAL TO LAS VEGAS!

We woke up early to get on the bus to make our way to VEGAS!  We stopped in a small town named Seligman where the movie Cars was inspired from.  We took some photos, visited the souvenir shop and saw a bunch of stickers from all over the world, even Hamburg.  Entertainment on the bus was a movie that was fitting for our destination, What Happens in Vegas.  The five hour trip didn’t seem long because we all talked and are becoming good friends.  Before we hit the Vegas strip, we stopped at an outlet mall to fill our shopping addictions.  After shopping and eating lunch, we headed to the hotel.

We checked into the hotel and found our new roommates, which we loved right away.  Some of us were lucky because we have views of the strip skyline from our rooms.  While the girls were getting prepped up for the night, we relaxed and went to the pool.  After the ladies were dressed up, we went to dinner at a buffet in a casino.  The buffet was huge, with so many choices and everything was delicious!

After dinner, we headed to our 3 stretch hummer limousines.  We were all stunned by the limos.  They were pink, green and white.  The nighttime adventure of Las Vegas started!  We blasted the music and danced in the limo.  Our first stop was at the most amazing light show at Fremont Street.  Bon Jovi was on the screen and there were people flying over our heads on zip lines. 

After the great show was over, we headed back to our limos and went to the fountain show at the Bellagio where Michael Jackson’s spirit was still alive!  People from all over the world watched the water show and listened to Michael Jackson’s legendary song Billy Jean.  We had never seen anything like that in our life.

After that we went to the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign.  We took a group photo and some more pictures in front of our limos.  We were getting jealous looks from all over the place, we felt like celebrities!  While we were singing and partying in our limos, our party spirit infected the pedestrians around us.

It was one of the best days of our lives.  We finally got to see Sin City and we are still excited to go back and see more tomorrow during the day!

By: Lasse and Lukas from Germany

 

DAY 3 - GRAND CANYON

DAY 3 – GRAND CANYON

The canyon was amazing! We arrived at the canyon at 9 o’clock in the morning. Driving through the national park was confusing. We could only see trees, and the canyon was nowhere to be found.  When we finally stopped, we saw it: the Grand Canyon. It is over 200 kilometers long, about 18 miles wide and a mile deep! We took so many pictures from the first stop it was crazy. Then some of us went hiking. I saw so many breathtaking sites on the way down to the canyon; it took me forever to get to our meeting point on the bottom. The trail was full of fat, tamed squirrels that begged for food. Climbing down was very difficult due to the steep trail and high temperatures. It was 100 degrees Fahrenheit at 10 a.m.! Going up was much faster.

After the hike most of us went to get some food and buy some souvenirs.  They were selling shirts that said “I hiked the canyon”. Then we took a shuttle bus to see more viewpoints around the canyon.  We saw lots of different rock formations and took pictures of students sitting on the edge of the canyon. I could spend two weeks just watching the Grand Canyon and taking pictures. It was so awesome! Then at night, after a filling meal, we all jumped in the hotel’s pool and had a fun time.

Aki from Finland

DAY 2 - PHOENIX

DAY 2 – PHOENIX

After we all had a good night sleep, everybody went down to the buffet for a nice breakfast!

We started our bus tour at 9 a.m. to ride around Phoenix, stop by the campus of the University of Arizona and the capitol. The next stop was the Botanic Garden of Phoenix with a lot of cactus and desert like flora. We spent a lot of time at the so called “Hole in the Rock” were we could take pictures and with a good view over the city.

Because we stayed in the heat of the desert for a long time, we got to go to shop and eat lunch in the mall. Around 2:30p.m., we left to make our way up north. The next stop was supposed to be in Sedona, a smaller city with a pretty landscape!

But you know, it doesn’t always go the way you think it would. Our bus broke down in the middle of the desert…

First we noticed that the bus is going slower and it had to stop a couple times. It changed our mood but we played games on the bus to let the time pass by. After a while the bus driver told us that we had to stop completely and he had to call a mechanic. Luckily we got to stay in the bus with air conditioning.  We all talked a lot and waited for help and a new bus, listened to music, explored the desert like landscape and got to know each other better.  Even though we had to get a new bus, it became a fun time.

With the new bus we continued our drive. After two more hours we went to dinner in a real western restaurant at the historical Route 66.  Not only the great buffet and the live band, but dancing with cowboys and an unexpected birthday party for Lasse from Germany, made our night a great experience!

Lea and Paula from Germany

DAY 1 - ARRIVAL DAY

I had to wake up at 430am to get to the airport.  Of course I was tired after about four hours of sleeping, but I was also excited and nervous; I flew out from Minneapolis and even though I've been there couple times before I'm still little bit unfamiliar with it so what made me nervous was the idea in my head that I'd have to find the right gate on my own. Other thing was, if I'm not familiar with MSP airport, I'm even less familiar with Phoenix's airport as I've never been in Phoenix or anywhere else on West Coast before. Well, what I noticed was that I really didn't have any reason to be nervous; I found the gate very very easily and in Phoenix even though I had to change the terminal to find the others it wasn't too difficult. Today we had lots of free time just hanging out at the pool or wherever we wanted to so I tried to socialize with people. Then at 7.00pm we had supper and after that the welcoming orientation where we got to know all the things we'll do during this two weeks and the rules how to behave. =D I think that's all for tonight. Someone else'll write tomorrow! Stay with us, it's going to be awesome two weeks!

-Julia from Finland

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!!!