Last Day of the Trip! "I'm Glad You Came, I'm Glad You Came."

On this wonderful sunny morning, we boarded the bus at 9:45 am and headed to one of the Disney World Parks: Epcot. We were all stirred up in two different ways. Everybody was excited for the wonderful adventure at Epcot, but also emotional at the same time, since it was the last actual day of the Belo East Coast Trip 2013.

Epcot's Mother Earth dome at night, as we were leaving the park today!
What a beautiful sight at night.

The Epcot Park was very interesting not just because of the roller coasters, but also because Epcot has small villages which represent many countries all over the world, just like us, exchange students! It's called the World Expo. We all had an amazing time. But the time really did pass as fast as the wind, as the end came all but too quickly. 

After a long day, in the late evening at Epcot, we saw a great light, water, and firework show! It was an amazing end of this trip. 

Also we also had an amazing time in the bus on the way to the hotel with goodbyes and closing remarks.  All of us for sure had a great day, as it became a very memorable day of our lives. 

We really, really had a great time. Thank you everyone. We are awesome!

Until next time... "Wakey, wakey, Belo!"

On the bus, heading home to the hotel. Time for hugs and "until we meet again!"

Goodnight from the USA!

Clemens Gruenhagen, Germany

Kenichiro Hiro, Japan

Magic Kingdom was magical!

Close your eyes and make a wish! Because wishes can come true!

So that’s what Monday was all about. We went to Magic Kingdom.

The day started out hot and humid. Thank god for “Splash Mountain” to cool us down.  Now open your eyes to enjoy the beautiful Kingdom. Cinderella's castle right in the center. Different lands like Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Liberty Square and Frontierland made it seem like entering different worlds. …oh and of course the most important thing: shopping at Main Street, where you can see different parades and find about everything possible in crazy Disney stores. But if you happen to not like shopping fly away in the galaxy with Space Mountain, a super fast roller coaster.

A view of Magic Kingdom's merry-go-round and Cinderella's castle!

Also don’t forget to check out the different shows like “PhilharMagic”, a 3D movie, or the “Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor” for some stand-up comedy. Tired already? Lean back and enjoy the beauty of a boat ride through the world of the little Mermaid, explore the waters of the pirates, or travel with Peter Pan because after all it’s a small world. Oh and guys! Don’t forget to take a picture with the most important people in this park: the Disney characters!

But now get your cameras ready! You are about to travel back in time and be a kid again. The fireworks will bring back enchanted moments of happiness. The light show will make some of you, like some of us, cry.

So this was an amazing day; it was long, but we are happy.  We never know when we will come back, but remember: Wishes can come true!

Sophia Goswin, Germany

Bhakbhoom "Nine" Puapan

Our fairy tale just started guys! We are at Disney World!!

DISNEY: Our full first day in Orlando, Florida...

Today we went Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, two of the four major Disney World parks in Orlando. We started the day early at Animals Kingdom, where they had a lot of weird animals, such as from the African Savannah. 

Our safari ride at Animal Kingdom!

We participated in the "Yes" program at Animal Kingdom, which involved learning about Disney's conservation efforts. My favorite part of Animals Kingdom was the new Everest Roller Coaster--it is one of the fastest in all of Disney World. It was so much fun!

Here are my friends and I in front of Animal Kingdom's Everest Roller Coaster!
From the left: Brigitte (Switzerland), Felix (Sweden), Julius (Denmark), myself, and Andras (Hungary).

However, it was very humid at Animals Kingdom. Our next stop, Hollywood Studios, wasn't that bad, weather-wise. This park had some cool rides and I also had a lot of fun. 

I rode the famous Hollywood Tower of Terror ride and and Big roller coaster (The Rockin' Roller Coast, throughout which Aerosmith songs are played) 3 times each! Also, our group danced in front of the public DJ stage in the evening, and it was awesome. Unfortunately our day ended with a heavy rain, but after such an awesome day it was no big deal. 

Tomorrow I’m so looking forward to going to Magical Kingdom--it will be so much fun!!

SeongJoon Lee, South Korea

Driving Day to Orlando: South Carolina, Georgia and Florida

Yo! 

Today has been a loooong road trip day! 

We drove through three States: South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. We spent ten hours on the bus, taking only a few stops for necessary bathroom and snack breaks.

For entertainment, we watched movies. Our favorite movie was Night at the Museum because it was so cool being able to identify the places we have been few days ago, such as the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D.C.!

Before we checked into the hotel, we went to dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack for dinner in Orlando! We didn’t have a normal menu, but instead we drew on the menu with crayons—just little kids do. 

Having dinner at Joe's Crab Shack in Orlando
(Max, making a face [China], and Felix [New Zealand]).

Even though we were really tired, we still had fun with the waitresses who danced to Cotton Eyed Joe!

And now we are ready to get some rest in order to prepare for what will be one of the funnest days in DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Buona notte a tutti! (From Italians, with love!)

Giula Rotunno, Italy

Andrea Nato, Italy

South Carolina Beach Day and Planet Hollywood!

Hey everybody,

For some of us, this was the first time to swim in an ocean! For most of us, it was also the first time we saw the Atlantic. At 9 am, we went to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina and spend most of the day at the beach; playing games, enjoying the sea, and getting a nice tan (or sunburn). ;) Myrtle Beach is one of the oldest and most famous public beaches in America, and its charm soon won us over.

For most of the guys, it also was the first opportunity to play some soccer (AKA football) and beach volleyball. Many people also were taught how to throw an American Football! (Getting the spin right was very difficult). The day was so hot that sweating also occurred, but therefore the cold seawater seemed even more refreshing!

Our group on the beach and the famous ferris wheel on Myrtle Beach!

At 3:20 pm, beach-time was over, and we returned to the hotel to freshen up before we went to “Broadway at the Beach”. Broad way at the Beach is a big collection of stores and attractions in Myrtle Beach, attracting all kinds of people. We spent our time shopping checking out all the stores and different kinds of foods that were sold. 

My favorite store was an amazing Candy shop with a huge selection of chocolate covered everything, sugared candy, gummy bears, any other type of candy you can think of. We had dinner at Planet Hollywood, a restaurant similar to the “Hard Rock Café” but with a Hollywood theme. The restaurant hosts a big collection of memorabilia of different movies, such as Star Wars and Top Gun.

After dinner, we once again returned to the hotel and decompressed at the pool and in the jacuzzi. We are looking forward to a goodnight of sleep after a long day… Tomorrow it’s “wakey wakey belo!” as we drive 10 hours down to Orlando, Florida, to visit DISNEY WORLD! It is hard to believe that the trip is almost over!

Florian Britz, Germany

Robin Durkowitz, Switzerland

Wakey Wakey! Driving Day to South Carolina.

Wakey Wakey Belo ! Today we left the Capital and traveled 480 miles to the South, but we also had to say good bye to two people from our beautiful family: Stephanie and Ilya.  

Our first big travel time was filled with Inception and Forrist Gump and some stops. At 6 pm we arrived at Myrtle Beach. Afterwards, we headed to the buffet at the Golden Corral, where we found a huge chocolate fountain. Consequently some of us left to the Broadway at hthe Beach, while others enjoyed the hotel pool. 

Now we need rest to be ready for the beach tomorrow (6 hours there)! And then again: Wakey Wakey Belo!

Dinner at Golden Corral

Fabio Fusaro, Germany

Have you ever wanted to see the president of the world’s maybe most important country? Today however we were unfortunately not able to see any member of the first family, we did get a chance to take a look at his home. But of course that is not all there is in the capitol.

We had to get out of bed early, but Tici’s familiar “wakey wakey” and the excitement to see the DC gave us enough energy for the day.

 After meeting with our tour guide, a woman, who would show us around in the city full of beautiful old, white buildings and endless green fields, we started the big walking tour through DC’s streets that would lead us to the world famous buildings that are essential for the government. We started off with the US Capitol and Supreme Court but soon moved on to the Library of Congress which we saw not long ago Nicholas Cage racing through looking for the next treasure not so long ago at one of our longer bus rides.

Here we are approaching the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

Of course most of our excitement was due to another building: the current home of Barack Obama. Though I am sure some people expected to see him, the missing snipers on the top of the White House made it clear that he probably is not home at the time. We are thinking though, that he did return later that day, as we saw to helicopters in the sky when visiting the Lincoln Memorial. This possibly was a dream come true for some people (for me it was at least) but it sure was on everyone’s bucket list which we can now cross off. The only thing that could have made this experience even more perfect was if the Washington Memorial was not under construction.

The Washington Monument was under construction.  But we're standing on the Lincoln Memorial!

 Apparently Jefferson was another beloved president, having built the beautiful round Jefferson Memorial for.

It would not be a day in Washington if we haven’t visited the Smithsonian. Due to its enormous size, though, there was no way we could even run through every exhibition, so we had to choose only one which we would be able to see only a part of.

What else would we do in Georgetown in our free time other than shopping? But after spending our parents’ money (thanks mom & dad!) we ate at a real ‘Murican restaurant “The Old Glory”, where even on the plates which real fatty American food was served on an American flag was printed.

The highlight of the day came later, though, when we were amazed by one of our fellow exchange students, Felix, who is not from Germany, but Sweden when he showed us his magical abilities. 

Felix from Sweden's awesome magic show!

We even got some time to go crazy at the pool. Hopefully we did not annoy the other residents of the hotel with our continuous shrieking, but I had the impression each and every one of us had the most amazing time, except for the people doing laundry. (Sorry, guys) 

Anna Orosz, Hungary

Sara Glanzmann, Switzerland

I learned about the history of American government at school every day since I’ve been here. And my teacher taught me how the constitution was created and he showed me some pictures of the places. I can’t believe that I’m here to see all the places he was talking about. It was very interesting and I enjoyed listening about those things again (because I’ve already forgot all of them). 

Have you seen the movie Rocky?  We climbed the steps of the art museum just like Rocky did!  You can see the Philadelphia skyline in the background.

This was a cool historical spot on our tour.  Our guide, Bevan, showed us Betsy Ross' house.  Betsy Ross made the first American flag.

My favorite place was the National Constitution Center. The lady that was telling us the story impressed me. My favorite line was “WE THE PEOPLE”. It sounds strong and meaningful. And then we played a game with an American Family. First they were scored so much ahead of us but then we started to score and won by 130-115. It was fun and we beat them! :)

Wannida Artsavapongtanet, Thailand

Jatuphat Sunsaneevithayakul, Thailand

Hello Everybody,

On Monday we got 15 minutes extra sleep before we entered another country: The United Nation (U.N). There a tour guide showed us the building and explained how the U.N works. Afterwards we went to Times Square, where we had to buy a rain coat because it was one of these rainy days. At Times Square we had time to shop and eat. Also some students find out that there was the possibility to be on one of the screens of the Times Square, by buying something at the American Eagle Store. This was the absolute highlight for me because we could be famous for 15 seconds. 

Fabio and Cornelia in Times Square!  Seriously!  This is real!

After Lunch we head to a boat tour which brought us directly to the Stature of Liberty or Lady of Lighting where we could take wonderful pictures even with rain. 

Did you know that her index finger is eight feet long?!

Before dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant at Times Square we had time to buy gifts and etcetera again. Another highlight was knocking on our door: “Mama Mia” at Broadway! 

Florian, Isi, Cornelia, and Fabio at Mamma Mia on Broadway in NYC!

This show was a pleasure to be a part of. At the end we even got to see all the songs as an encore again. Tired but happy we went to bed to get a rest for another amazing day in Philadelphia and Washington DC.

Fabio Fusaro, Germany

Cornelia Hannemann, Germany

Today was a day filled with a lot of walking – and a lot of sightseeing.

We started the day out with the currently tallest building in New York, Empire State. An amazing 102 floors. The observation platform was located on 86^th  floor, but even though, we didn’t go all the way to the top, the view was definitely amazing!

View from the Empire State Building.

After that, we met up with Garrett our tour guide, and walked a bit around in the city. We walked along Broadway, went to Wall Street and saw a lot of cool things. Then we headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge, where we would walk across to Brooklyn. We were able to walk in between the two lanes – and even though the bicyclists would try as hard as they possibly could, to run you over, it was an amazing bridge, surrounded by an even more amazing view. And the view only got better, when we hit Brooklyn.
Here, we were able to see the complete skyline of Manhattan. An amazing opportunity to get some great pictures!

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

We also got some time on our own, to go shopping in Soho, one of the most popular places for shopping in New York. And after having walked around for almost all day, we finally got to sit down for a little. We would go to Chinatown, where we got dinner. Just walking around in Chinatown was an incredible experience. Signs were in Chinese, and if it wasn’t for the impressive New York skyscrapers in the background, you would almost think we had arrived in China.

And now, we can all finally get to sit down and relax for a little, and get some rest, before a new day in the Big Apple.

Kristoffer Brendstrup-Brix, Denmark

Public Library, Central Park, Columbia University, and and and … I would say we saw a lot in New York City today, even though it is such a tiny, little, quiet and boring city. Just kidding :)

After we hold our breaths “swimming” throw the Hudson river and arrive at another end of the Lincoln Tunnel, it was like a dream came true. We were finally in New York City. I believe every single one of us had an incredible experience today. If you weren’t fallen in love with the city after the Central Park by the beautiful landscape, the weird wizard and the street dancers, you would definitely fall in love with this city after visiting Times Square.  As known, New s known, New York is a really big city, such a fancy place; each corner of one same street can possibly give a total different feeling from one another.

Thus, it has a lot for you to explore yet, doesn't make you feel any bored or tired !!!

We already guessed that it would be an amazing, unforgettable experience to go to the city that never sleeps. But now after getting back to the hotel and you relive the day, realizing it wasn’t just a dream, realizing this day was a one life time experience you are even more impressed what this city hides. I think we all cant wait to go back to find out more about NYC, tomorrow.  

Today we had lunch  in Washington Square park. Some of the guys went to McDonald's, Five Guys, and other fast food restaurants. Kristoffer, Andrea, Max, Clemens and I went to a bagel shop.

Panorama from the Met!

After lunch we went to the Metropolitan Museum.  With some of the guys we went to the roof of the building and had a really nice view of New York City, Central Park and World Trade Center, where the city of New York is finishing to reconstruct the Tower 1, next to were the Twin Towers used to be before 9/11.

After the Metropolitan Museum, we went to Hard Rock Café, located in Times Square. There we kind of celebrated the 18^th birthday of Laura, and after it some of us went to the Hard Rock Café store to buy some gifts.

We had time to hang out in out in Times Square basically to take pictures because because we are coming back on Monday. Times square is amazing, so far in my opinion, the best part of the trip so far. We were in Times Square and then headed back to New Jersey.

Nicolas Alejandro Caman, Argentina

Laura Kreitl, Germany

Niagara Falls!

Today was an awesome day! We woke up early in the morning and drove all the way up to The Niagara Falls! We took a boat to get closer and to take some nice pictures. After that we had a great time walking through the bridge and getting into Canada to explore the Cave of the Winds and the Hurricane.

We got some nice ponchos and such a beautiful sandals and prepare to get all wet! It was amazing how close we could get to the falls and touch the water! Of course we got wet but it was totally worth. I think it was like one of my dreams came true.. and even better!

Excited!  We had to wear ponchos because we got wet!

Giulia and I

At Cave of the Winds on the hurricane deck!

Ceci Martinez Buais, Bolivia

Hello! Welcome everyone who is reading this to the experience with us exchange students of Belo USA East Coast Trip 2013. I’m going to tell you a little something about the trip and what my exchange student friends and I have done so far.

So, the first day was actually really good for a first day. All students got picked up at the airport and transported to the first hotel in Buffalo. Thursday was the first day of the trip. I could feel all the excitement coming from everyone. It was fun even just to think about how today was going to be like!  At the hotel we all got our first hotel rooms and then we all just hung out in the lobby just got to get to know each other. I spent most of my time talking with other exchange students who I have not even known before. Good thing was it was not awkward at all to talk to all of them. Instead, we really got along and were ready to have a good time together. It was really awesome as well to reminisce about some good things and bad things happened throughout our year. Importantly, we also got to share our thoughts and cultures through our conversations, which was on our exchange program purpose. We basically had a good time relaxing and getting to know one another.

At 7 pm we then had dinner and then we got a presentation about what is going to happen on this trip and then the rules. It was a lot of fun and the food was good. After that, some guys jumped in the hot tub. We wanted to go in the pool but it was closed, but the hot tub was just fine. We ended the evening at by going to our rooms and go to bed. We small talked for a little while and then went to bed. It was a good first day. 

Thus, although it was not really a traveling day, but I would say my time was worth this and it was so awesome to rest, be with all my friends, and hang out with them.

Julius Boing, Denmark

Opal T. Panatnok, Thailand