June 12 Hollywood Blvd, Huntington Beach

     After having an delicious breakfast at the hotel and a "party" on the bus, we went to the Madame Tussaud's Wax museum; we saw a lot of famous people like Brad Pitt, Michael Jackson, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, President Obama and Beyoncé. We took a lot of funny pictures! After we walked on the Walk of Fame, to see the different celebrities and musicians plaques, we did a little bit of shopping. From an over pass in a mall there we could see the famous Hollywood sign. It wasn’t what most of us had expected. With all those tourists and people selling stuff on the street “Hollywood” seemed to have lost most of its glamour.

     After checking out the ”must-see place” in LA we headed to Huntington Beach. It is a nice beach city, also known as the “Surf City, USA” because of its nice waves and mild climate. The beach itself turned out to be nice and wide even though we had to wait for sunshine for almost two hours. But finally at about 4 ‘o’ clock, as Carleigh forecast, the sun came out and we enjoyed another two hours in the fairly cold water or playing beach volleyball. Some of us seemed to have underestimated the sun though, especially Nils and Arnie looked more red than white a few hours afterwards. Nevertheless, the beach was one of the highlights until now and it was also a nice compensator to the crowded Hollywood.

    From there we drove to an Italian restaurant, officially named “buca di beppo”. Carleigh, Liz and Sarah however, were unable to pronounce such an unusual name, so instead they joked and just renamed it to “Bibidi babidi buuu”. In any way, we had a great time there as well! We enjoyed salad, Italian Pasta and we had delicious cake for dessert. 

     Back at the hotel we brought the day to a nice close spending the last few hours in the pool and hot tub, talking, and jumping in the pool. And with that the first week of our journey ended, leaving us with another 1.5 days in Los Angelas, then Yosemite National Park, and finally San Francisco.

Andrea Boonin Cadogan, Paraguay

Jacqueline Koch, Germany

Ramon Marques Pastre, Brazil,

Finn Grotheer, Germany

At Madame Tussaud's Wax museum with President Obama! 

Beach volleyball!

Huntington Beach, CA

Belo USA Travel West Coast Trip June 6!

YAY!

June 11 Las Vegas, NV to Los Angeles, CA

     We got on the bus early this morning to begin our journey to Los Angeles, CA. On the five hour drive, we passed the time by watching two movies and listening to music. Our first stop in LA was Universal Studios. After taking a group picture in front of the famous Universal Studios globe, we went on the Studio Tour together as a large group. We saw many different movie and television show sets and even experienced some interactive attractions. Our favorite attractions on the Studio Tour were the King Kong 360 3D Experience and the Jaws Shark Attack. 
     After the Studio Tour, we broke off into small groups to check out some of the other rides and attractions, including The Mummy ride, the Transformers 3D Experiences, the Simpsons ride, and the Water World Stunt Show. All of the rides and attractions captured the essence of the movie or television show that was being featured. 
     Exhausted from a day at the park, we all headed over to the City Walk shopping and dining center and had our first celebrity spotting - Jay Leno, late night talk show host on NBC! Many students were able to take pictures of him. We gathered together at the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and looked at all of the different rock 'n roll memorabilia. On the bus ride home, we shared funny stories from our experiences in the USA so far. We are looking forward to seeing the Walk of Fame up close tomorrow and spending our afternoon at the beach!

Pier, Italy & Laura, Spain

Universal Studios Hollywood!

The Simpson's Ride

The massive guitar at Hard Rock Cafe

June 10 Las Vegas, NV

Day 5 - Viva Las Vegas!

     Today we slept in till 8.30 and were on the move at around 9.30 after a great breakfast with classic American waffles. We made a quick pitstop to Hard Rock Hotel and then we were off to the famous Strip, where we got free time to explore. 

We, "Los Dales", consisting of Dominik, Guix, Miguel, and Will, started off exploring the Bellagio, followed by the great Caesar's Palace. All the amazing sculptures and Caesar's Forum Shop's imaginary blue sky astonished us to the fullest. 

     After wandering around fabulous Vegas Boulevard we were starving to death. In the Aria Hotel's mall we found a cool little spot, a Spanish restaurant (best new restaurant in LV in 2010) with delicious Tapas foods. High on our delightful Tapas lunch Miguel of course decided to leave his fortune behind, aka his beloved credit card at the restaurant Juliano Serrano. We met up with the rest of the foreign crew and headed back to the hotel for relaxation by the pool. 

     At 4 we all went to The Stratosphere, where two of Los Dales (Guix and Miguel) and other students dared themselves to experience the second highest roller coaster in the world, XScream. An exhilarating feeling of being dropped down from 350 meters was successful for everyone, even Miguel. DALE! During our free time inside The Stratosphere Tower we stumbled upon an awesome magician, Dennis, who fooled all of us with several breathtaking tricks (although Guix figured out most of them). 

     We ate dinner at the Stratosphere’s buffet and afterwards drove back to The Strip to continue our encounter of amazing Las Vegas. At the Venetian Hotel we saw the famous Venice gondola canals and the fake skies. It all might be fake, but it still feels like you actually are in Venice because of its authentic atmosphere. On our tour down the Vegas Blvd. we felt obligated to stop and take a closer look at the Mirage's fantastic fire show, wow (though this does not top the Bellagio's water fountain show). Many of our fellow students walked down to the New York New York Hotel, the Luxor, Hooters, Hard Rock Cafe etc. and also had tons of fun. 

     Everybody had an overwhelmingly awesome time here in Sin City and we are without a doubt ready for The Golden State, California. Tomorrow we are going to Universal studios - everyone is hyped! 

Uno, dos, tres, LOS DALES!

- Dominik Hayden- Austria, Guillaume Rey- Switzerland, Miguel Gonzales - Dominican Republic, and William Bjerager- Denmark. 

"Los Dales" 

Never a dull moment with our group!

The X-Scream at the Stratosphere!!!

Best friends on top of the Stratosphere.

THE X-SCREAM! AH!

Everyone's favorite character from "The Hangover", Alan.

June 9 Grand Canyon to Las Vegas

We started our day out by leaving the cute little hotel we enjoyed for a couple nights. We were all in a good mood because the sun was shining and we were on our way to Las Vegas. On our way we stopped at Seligman, AZ. It is a small town with some awesome unique gift shops. There were some really old cars and weird things all around this little old town. It is located on Route 66, an old American "past time" highway.

When we finally made it to Las Vegas IT WAS SO HOT! It was over 40c. The temperature was shown in our bus and we watched it increase the whole trip and then we knew we made it to Vegas when it was over 40!  We stopped at an Outlet Center to have lunch and to do some shopping. There was a variety of things to eat!

After lunch we made it to the hotel! We immediately went to the pool to swim and cool off. The water felt so good! After some time relaxing we started to get ready for our night out on the town in VEGAS! We went out to eat at a typical Vegas buffet. There was so much international food for everyone to enjoy. It was our first taste of the Vegas atmosphere. After filling up on so much food we got picked up in Hummer limos to explore the city.

We all started our night by getting into the limos with sass and class. After 3 hours of dancing in our limos, taking pictures at the best spots, we were exhausted. We went to Fremont street to see a Bon Jovi  light show and check out the famous tourist spot. Then we went to the Bellagio! The hotel is so big and beautiful. The hotel is best known for it's water fountain show out front. The fountains spray water out of spouts set to music. It is a very beautiful thing to watch. There were so many tourists waiting and watching each show! Our last stop was the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. We all got to take pictures with the sign behind us. The sign welcomes tourists, gamblers and locals to the beginning of The Strip!

It was such an amazing night!  It is hard to tell which spot will be our favorite. So far there is no comparison, they have all been great! We have loved taking pictures of all these awesome places on our West Coast Trip!

Some of our girls ready for the night in Vegas!

WE LOVE LAS VEGAS!

So much fun, music and dancing in the Hummer limos!

A beautiful shot of part of The Strip. 

June 8 Grand Canyon, AZ

     At breakfast, everyone was pumped for our visit to the Grand Canyon. After a scenic drive, we arrived at Grand Canyon National Park. We piled out of the bus and climbed the stairs to catch our first glimpse of the canyon. It's beauty and vast size left us speechless. Everyone's first instinct was to take out their cameras to capture the wonder of the canyon - it was almost as if the Grand Canyon was a celebrity and we were the paparazzi photographing it from every possible angle. 

     After the initial photo shoot of the canyon, we gathered together to stretch for our hike down into the canyon. We hiked 1.5 miles down dusty trails with pit stops along the way to admire the changing surroundings. We noticed that the color of the rocks changed from white to pink and then red by the time we arrived at our final stop, the location of our group photograph. However, as we climbed back up through the red, pink, and, at last, white trail, we became sweaty and exhausted. When we finally got back up to the top, we felt like we had accomplished a great feat. Many of us were thinking, "So where is the food?" 

     After eating lunch at the canyon lodge, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the various scenic panoramic views of the park. We ended our visit to the Grand Canyon by eating a nourishing dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and salad. On the bus ride back home, we felt surprisingly energized and completely at peace - the sun was setting over the mountains and lighting our faces with a soft glow. 

     There was one last surprise waiting for us when we arrived back at the hotel. Nils's 17th birthday was celebrated with a special birthday treat. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him. We are excited to continue our journey through the stark desert landscape of the Southwest as we head towards Las Vegas tomorrow!

Martin, Czech Republic

A beautiful shot of the Grand Canyon, edited by Tim from Germany!

Down in the beautiful Grand Canyon after 1.5 miles of hiking!

Lots of pictures with friends.

We have so many Germans in our group!

A fun view through a "fish eye" lens!

One more group picture, in front of Bright Angel Lodge.

Another fun edit of the canyon!

Happy 17th Birthday Nils!

June 7 Phoenix, AZ to Grand Canyon, AZ

    We started our day with a ride through Phoenix. We went to see the capital of Arizona; a beautiful building full of history and interesting artifacts. After driving through the The University of Arizona (ASU) we went on a short hike up a picturesque hill to discover the "Hole in the Rock" - a small opening in the side of the cliff overlooking a beautiful desert oasis. On top, we took a picture in front of the hole! We cooled off at the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall and had some time for lunch and shopping.

    We contiued along our journey and stopped to take photos of the beautiful rock formations and desert landscapes in Sedona, AZ. We also had some time to browse in the small shops around Sedona. When we finally arrived in Williams, AZ, where our hotel is located, we settled in and had fun playing soccer, basketball, and tennis in the outdoor courtyard. We finished the day eating a classic American dinner outside our hotel, watching the sunset over the unique landscape. What a fantastic start to our adventure! 

Ameile from Germany

View from the Hole in the Rock

All of the students!

The hole looks so small from the ground! 

Three new friends, bros.

Group picture in Sedona, AZ

Such a beautiful and unique area!

So excited to be on our trip!

June 6 Arrival Day, Phoenix, AZ

Today was arrival day! Exchange students from all over the world spending their exchange year here in the United States came to Phoenix. There are students on the trip from nearly twenty different countries! Some were already friends, but most didn't know each other at all.

At the airport and the hotel, we hung out together and started to get to know each other a little bit better. We spent some time cooling off at the hotel pool (temperatures reached over 40c 100f degrees today!), and we talked about all of our experiences during our year in the USA. We ended our first day by gathering together for a delicious dinner and orientation. 

I feel like I have already made some new friends, and I can't wait to start this amazing adventure! I am so excited for our two week trip!

Lori from Italy