Day 14 - June 26

The day today was really fun, and in my opinion the best day! I don’t know if is because I always wanted go to Hollywood, but now I know, that there is more then what they show in a movie, its just amazing! So, our day began at the principal streets at Hollywood, Rodeo Dr, its really fancy, with so many famous stores, the place is gorgeous, with just rich people, everything is so clean, and really look like you are inside a movie street!

After that we went to Hollywood observatory, but the day was kind of cloudy so we couldn’t see very well the famous letters where has written Hollywood that show in every movies. And between, it is really far away, almost you can’t see when you take a picture with that…

After that we went to the famous Walk of Fame, that is really cool and interesting with so many artist names there, it was an amazing day to take a lot of picture, and buy gifts. Also there we saw the place where the Oscar happens every year, and it is just amazing! After that we went to eat at Hard Rock Café, the place is wonderful and the food is so good! Then we had to leave there and go back to the bus, so we could go to Farmers Market and a really cool shopping mall by there. Farmers Market it is a place where the sell a bunch of different kinds of fruits, gift and food, there I found a place where sell Brazilian barbeque, and that was really excited! The mall it’s really nice and different, it was kind of an open mall, with some bands to attract people to there, and had a lot of people sitting in the table to listen the bands.

So, it was time to go back to the hotel. Arriving at the hotel the people from bus II was already there, and it was so nice see them again, we went to the pool, and after that we had a meeting, to see who won some of categories that we decided during the trip and it was hilarious! After that, we got together to a meeting with bus II, and there we had a talent show together, it was so funny! So, we had a party with music, dance and so much funny, with both bus! And the last day of the amazing trip was done!

Amanda Araújo
Brasil

Day 13 - June 25

Looking for volunteers to post this day.

Day 12: June 24

Today was quite a relaxing day. We could sleep in because the bus left at 11, which is quite late compared to what we’re used to. Some still decided to get up early so they could spend time swimming in the pool. Others, like me, slept in till 10.
Then we left for Los Angeles, but before we got there, we stopped at an outlet. After a while it was decided that we would meet again at 2 to eat lunch at a diner, but we could only choose a burger even though a few exceptions were made because not everybody eats meat.
After everybody got done eating, we drove to a rather big mall that confused most of us. The bus dropped us off and we walked into the first store we saw. After walking confused around for a little bit we found out that the store wasn’t connected to the mall, so we had to walk all the way around in order to find the other stores. A lot of us were confused because we had trouble finding an ATM machine.
At 8 we met to have dinner at a restaurant similar to the one we ate lunch at yesterday which meant a lot of us, once again, ate way too much food. But who cares, we only live once. It was decided that the lunch yesterday was better than the dinner today.
Mia Stavad, Denmark

Where are they? Going to LOS ANGELES

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Day 11: June 23

Ok, today was such a fun day. We went through a lot of things and had new experiences together.
At first I didn’t expect that today was going to be fun. I was really tired from yesterday after Fred gave us almost whole night long to stay up. Me and my room-mates got up at 7.30 and try to find a good outfit to wear. I was so excited to put a skirt on and let my friend borrow one of my dresses and my jacket. But after that I was tired again.

In the bus today, it was so different; everyone was quiet. It was surprising because we are always loud, you know. And then we arrived to the U.S.S. Midway museum. At the beginning honestly, nobody liked it (haha) we just wanted to get it done as fast as we can to have more time to go to the San Diego Zoo; our next place. But when we went in the museum it was very interesting. I enjoyed the gray ship, which has a ton of ready gun and bomb, so much. More than 60 airplanes were used for the war. This place was telling us a lot of things from the past. I think this is a great idea to learn American’s history.
Somehow, the lunch today was the best. Everyone liked it so much. It had TOO MANY different kinds of foods. I ate a lot. Some guy even asked me how many months I have been pregnant (because I ate too much and my stomach was huge). After that I quit eating immediately.

After lunch we went to the San Diego Zoo! We met a lot of animal friends. The panda was one of my new friends; the highlight of the zoo. And I really like it. We walked everywhere and saw every animal. We got to go up on the Skyfari - this thing so cool! You can feel the wind and see the view. I was so excited! But my friend is scared of heights. It’s probably not fun for her. The zoo pretty much has every single animal that I know of and some of animals that I have never seen before.

Finally, the end of the zoo was the souvenir store. They have a ton of animal stuffs; so creative. Everything was really cute I spent a lot of money with ridiculous stuff (haha) I don’t even know how to carry it back home. But it’s alright. After that, we went to Denny’s restaurant. The food was a very good price. $6 for a whole meal, how’s that? We had a cheesecake for dessert, because we celebrated 2 birthdays: Henry’s and Michael’s. It was delicious and a lot of fun. Then we headed back to the hotel.
This blog shows you how awesome today was. I really enjoyed it. This is a great day!
Written by: cute Polly (Jitpitchaya Wimonchaijit) from Thailand <3

Day 10: June 22

This morning most of us were in a bad mood because we had a 9 hour bus trip in front of us and everybody was still half asleep because most people had just 5 to 6 hours of sleep.
The first hours of the trip were quieter, because the most people took a nap or watched a movie and the view was desert all the time. But after a few hours everybody started to starve and we had to find a place to grab some lunch, but the second we left the bus we all experienced the feeling of summer in the desert. We all had to survive the temperature of 45 to 48 degrees Celsius. The place where we had our lunch was extremely crowded and we all had to fight for our tables.
After lunch we all had to wait with a full belly in 48 degrees outside of the restaurant till we finally were able step back in the cool bus where everybody, like always, took a nap again.
When we arrived at the hotel we all were sick of driving the whole day and it was nice to get out of the stinking bus.
For dinner we got monster-pizzas and we had a Talent Show in which there were acts ranging from Thai 'punishment' dances to German drinking songs and from French rap to Brazilian dancing.
For the rest of the evening we just started to relax and to hang out.
The End
Ben Zijlstra (Germany)

Where are they? Going to SAN DIEGO

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Day 9: June 21

Day 9 just started. The alarm rings at 7 o’clock. It’s a hot day at almost 100 degrees. At 8 o’clock, after we have breakfast, we head to the Grand Canyon, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We are all looking forward to this day so much that we want to jump up on the roof. After an hour bus ride, we realize how long an hour can be. And then we are there, the Grand Canyon! When we get out of the bus, the first thing everybody thought is “WOW, this amazing view is just unbelievable!” But then the heat hits us like a hot oven! Because of the heat, the most important thing for everybody is putting on a lot of sunscreen. (People still got burned today!)

Here we start our hiking tour in the Grand Canyon. We can’t wait to run down the path so we go really fast. After a while a group of mules with passengers pass us, which make everything even more exciting. Unfortunately the mules poop all over the path. Besides the scary trail now we also have to watch out for the poop. Every ten feet people stop to take pictures of the different angles of the Canyon. It was almost like a competition about the best shot. After a hike down there is obviously also a walk back up, which is a challenge for a lot of exchange students who have been in America for one year. ^^
Boys take of their shirts, girls… well they have to walk with shirts on! When we get back to the top everybody is thirsty, sweaty and hungry! So we go to have lunch. Today on the menu is Pizza Hut or Chinese food. After the good lunch we watch an “Imax” movie about the Secrets of the Grand Canyon. A couple of people have a good time with the movie but others use the opportunity for a good nap after the long walk.

Later on we drive to a view point called “Desert View”. Once again we have a chance to take lots of pictures of the wide, open view. This is the last stop of our Grand Canyon tour. Now we head back to the hotel. Shortly after we arrive, we have dinner. The day ends with free time until 12 o’clock, which is 30 minutes longer then yesterday’s, because we are such a great group! 
Writing by: Valli Florack from Germany
Chih Jour, Lu(Zoe) from Taiwan

Day 8: June 20

Beep, Beep, Beep……the alarm clock is ringing and 8th day of our trip starts.
The morning was pretty relaxed. After having breakfast, everybody had time to hang out at the pool, check his or her e-mails and go shopping in the stores, which surround the hotel.
At 11 o’ clock we are leaving the hotel in order to hit the road to our next destination. Grand Canyon, here we come! While driving through the desert and watching a movie, the time is going by rapidly. Around noon the bus stops. It is lunch time. KFC, Panda express, or McDonalds? That is a hard decision that we have to make. For today we want to go with Chinese food, so the group picks Panda express. After having enjoyed our meals, got to play American football or got to tan in the sun, we continue our trip to the Grand Canyon.

At 4.30 we finally arrive at our hotel. Well, actually it is not really a hotel but a super cool Ranch where we have a lot of different options to spend the evening. Some refresh themselves in the pool or play sports such as Volleyball, Tennis or American Football while others just relax and tan in the sun of Arizona. But the really athletic ones burn some calories and get a good work out in the gym.
At 7.30 it is time for dinner, which takes place at the Ranch.
Today’s curfew is at 11.30.
Everybody has to get some good sleep in order to be fit for the next day when the alarm clock will ring pretty early again. Beep, Beep, Beep….. And day 9 of our trip will start.
Carolin Wallmeyer from Germany.

Where are they? Going to GRAND CANYON

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Day 7: June 19

Happy Father’s Day to all our Dads and Host-Dads everywhere!
When we left our hotel this morning at 9am, we got to enjoy a drive through the mountains. During the drive, everyone told the funniest or the more awkward story that happened to us during our exchange. We learned some interesting things such as don’t wash your underwear in the sink or don’t let anyone push you in the snow. Before lunch we entered the state of Nevada and the desert. We had lunch on the road at Subway for most of us. This afternoon the drive wasn’t very exciting until we actually got to Las Vegas!! We saw it from far away and we were all disappointed not to go closer to the city of lights… But everything got better at night. After enjoying the swimming pool and the beautiful sun outside, we all met to go to dinner. And there, Surprise! We went to Las Vegas, drove down the Strip; saw all the Casinos, the (fake) Eiffel Tower, the (fake) Statue of Liberty… It was amazing and we all really liked it! For dinner, Walmart was our destination. Tomorrow we will be back on the road again, but we are not leaving until 11am!! It’s going to be a “Grasse Matinée” as we call it in French! See you tomorrow for some others good news!
Fiona Rappin, France

Photo Gallery

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Day 6: June 18th

Today we had to get up veeery early because we had a six hour ride to get to Yosemite National Park. We left at 7:30 from San Francisco and started the day watching a funny movie, and the time went by fast. One of us, Polly from Thailand, had her 17th birthday today and we sang birthday songs in all available languages. We stopped at an awesome Californian market at which there were a lot of animals. Some of the parrots even spoke English better than us. Many of us bought fresh Californian fruit. Most of us fell asleep and woke up within the amazing scenes of the park. It was very busy but we got the chance to get close to the highest water fall in the U.S. We counted two broken cameras and many soaked bodies as casualties. Fortunately it was very hot and therefore we were happy about the cooling water. Over the afternoon we saw some more amazing places and took many beautiful pictures. The most surprising and exciting was that there were actually some places with a lot of snow still around while we could walk around in shorts. Some of us used this opportunity to do some rolls through the snow and the snowballs were flying through the hot Californian air. On our whole ride through the beautiful countryside with sand hills on one side and snow, frozen lakes or swamps on the other side we were taking pictures and just enjoyed while we also watched another movie. We arrived in a little town at around 6:00pm and had time to relax and go to the pool before we had dinner at an Italian restaurant. After we opened a couple of trash cans around the hotel to make the bears come in. Everyone went to bed at 10:30. The four incredible writers of this blog voluntarily stayed up to write the blog because we still didn’t give up with seeing a bear through the window. Tonight we can sleep a little longer because we are not leaving until 9:00 A.M. If you want to hire the European writers of this post for any important and high paid work you can contact Fred.
Written by: Monica Sciannimanico from “Pastaland”, Karlo Konig from Croatia, Jan Wujec from Poland and Julius Loebbecke from Germany.
Written in Mammoth Lakes, CA

Day 5: June 17

Today, I had a lot of fun, so I decided to write the blog (:

This morning we woke up knowing that we would have a busy day in San Francisco. It is a big and beautiful city, full of hills and cute shops. After breakfast, we left the hotel and headed to San Francisco Bay. The group of 54 was divided in two; one would explore the area, while the other one would visit Alcatraz Island; my group visited the Island first. Alcatraz Island is located about a mile from San Francisco and it is now a National Park. The island was once an army fort and later on it became a penitentiary for high risk criminals. We visited the prison and learned a lot about its story; we also bought souvenirs, of course. We took the ferry back to the land and headed to Hard Rock Café to have lunch.

After lunch, my group had free time to enjoy San Francisco. We walked around Fisherman's Wharf, went to all the souvenir stores, and finally rode the famous San Francisco’s cable car. The afternoon was really enjoyable; we all liked the free time to shop. At 5:30pm, we left Pier 39 and went to the Golden Gate Bridge. The Bridge was once considered impossible to be built, but it was completed with less money than they would expect to spend. It is glorious and red, so we took a lot of pictures.

Then, we visited China Town. This area is filled with Chinese culture, so we couldn’t understand most of the signs in the stores. There were a lot of stores and restaurants. We chose to have dinner in one of those restaurants, which was a really good choice, in my opinion. We had a big meal with a lot of tasty Chinese dishes. After dinner, we came back to the hotel and now we have to sleep, because we leave early tomorrow.
Giovanna Querido Marcondes de Assis - Brazil

Day 4: June 16

And the sun shone today… amid fog, and this apparently sad weather was not enough to stop we- the 54 most awesome, smart and beautiful exchange students on this side of the universe - to have one more incredible day in California.

We woke up in San Simon (some needed the extra help of the pool to wake up), packed up, had breakfast and headed to a little trip to see Sea Elephants (Elephant Seals). After a while, paying close attention to the shore as we drove by, we were able to spot those majestic, and quite smelly, mammals of the sea, that according to Fred looks like “exchange students by the end of the exchange year”.
Afterwards we hit the road and went up to Monterey, with a little stop so the bus could get fueled up. There we were able to do some shopping, spend some time with our friends and then have lunch.
Then we went to Carmel to enjoy some time at the beach, although it was cold, some were brave enough to go for a swim, some were happy taking pictures, but all had fun.

Back in Monterey we had about 45 minutes to enjoy the city, look around the stores, enjoy the beach, have some Ice Cream; after all we are all living life to the fullest, right?
Back on the road, heading to San Francisco, there is no way to describe the excitement to explore one of the most glorious, terrific, beautiful city in California, but we managed to wait for day 5, so we had dinner and came back to the hotel so we could have our nightly meeting and then we elected the IDIOT OF THE DAY!
That was…
(drum roll)
Epic suspense
(more drum rolls)

CHARLES, from France, I think I spelled it right, that went looking for a watch to buy and ended up negotiating a $15,000.00 watch, he eventually revealed that he could not afford such a luxury and was directed to the nearby drugstore where he could find a more affordable one.

Now we are all looking forward to Friday! (FUN FUN FUN)
Stay tuned for more news from bus II from West Coast Tour, we are having a heck of a good time!
Natan Araujo Moura, Brazil

Where are they? Going to SAN FRANCISCO!

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Day 3: June 15

The first sentence in every text used to be the hardest to come up with. Well, we are already done with this one.
Let’s start with our first stop- Santa Monica. No more than half an hour from polluted and always busy Los Angeles you can find the first (and not the last of today) “heaven on the earth”. You can say a lot about this place but the best word to describe it would be “peace”. Want a break from whatever you are busy with? That’s the place for you.
Now, dear reader, consider our situation. You have just left Santa Monica and you are supposed to visit identically same place- beaches, palm trees, and great views of valley packed between mountains and ocean. Do you expect anything better than what you just saw? Probably no. Are you going to experience something better than you just have?
Oh yes, as long as you are going to face east and get to Malibu. Hmmm, quite a famous place isn’t it? In fact, during my 45-minute long walk I met an allegedly famous actor. I still have no clue who that was, but he caused some excitement among people who actually knew him.
And now we are moving to the best part of June 16, 2011.

Santa Barbara.
Two words. Perfect spot. If I had to pick one place to live in the US that would be Santa Barbara. Wide beaches, yachts, and all these things you want to experience after watching 007 movies are here. I am sorry I will not be able to describe the view of the valley out there, but when anyone anytime will ask me to make a list of “5 must-see places in the world” – Santa Barbara is one of those.
I would really love to write more and add some detail to my juicy post, but you know what – I am just sitting and typing some stuff on a computer when 53 other exchange students have pool party here- in sunny California. Goodbye and goodnight.
Michal Stefanski, Poland (Host District: 6440)

Day 2: June 14

“Wow” was the first thing I could say once we left the Universal Studios and Theme Park, location number one of our California Trip. We left the hotel at 9:30-ish this morning to drive to the Universal Studios, not knowing what we could expect. Well, all of us knew that there would be some kind of theme park with a bunch of rides and many opportunities to spend a lot of money but as soon as we went on the “Studio Tour” which led us through the history of “Universal” and showed us the “Art” of movies and most of us were quite amazed. The fact that most of us still haven’t really realized that we’re in California and we’re going to see a lot of places that are considered to be “must see locations of a lifetime” didn’t really help with that.

It is like a dream: just yesterday we got on a plane in different parts of the country and today we sit all together in a hotel in L.A., a city that all of us have seen at least a dozen times in movies. A city of glamour and stars, a city built on show and made out of dreams.
As soon as we start to consider that, it only seems logically that we would start such a trip here, a trip of a bunch of young adults that dream of their life in 10, 15 or 30 years.
To conclude our first day of our trip it would be appropriate to say that all of us had a great and very warm and sunny day. It was the perfect start for our journey, and even though some students may have gotten a slight sun burn that is not enough to say only one single bad word about our first day here.

Chris K. Kochtokrax, Germany

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The Trip will start soon, we are getting ready to have the best time of our lives.

West Coast 2011 - Bus II