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