June 21st - San Francisco

Dinner in Chinatown

Riding on San Francisco Trollys

Joonas (Finland), Athos (Brazil), Maria (Chile), Sara (Italy), Hanna (Norway), Steffany (Chile), Sarah (Switzerland) & Olivia (Germany)

Visiting the Sea Lions on Pier 39

Gustavo (Brazil), Carina (Germany), Giovanni (Italy), Matteo (Italy), Olivia (Germany) & Simone (Italy)

Pier 39

San Francisco, the town of infinite opportunities, dreams, hopes and diverse people. The day started while we toured through this beautiful city, beginning at Pier 39, one of the most famous places here. We shopped for "I love San Francisco" shirts and envied the Sea Lions who just chilled all day on the water.

The cable cars were the next attraction and was fun, but leaning out of them was a little scary on the steep roads. The free time for lunch gave us time to shop in various stores.

After that, a well traveled tour guide (our hero!) joined us and told us all about the different areas and ethnic groups that live here. We went through the Latino, Italian, Gay and Hippie neighborhoods and finally ended up in Chinatown for dinner.

With many expressions for a wonderful day, we went back to the hotel to hang out and look forward to tomorrow....our last day here!

Jennifer Erbetta - Switzerland

Nadine Keller - Germany

Nut (Popo) Visavarungroj - Thailand

San Francisco, California - June 20th

Alex (Germany), Joana (Spain), Michelle (Switzerland), Emile (Norway) & Pear (Thailand)

Group at Twin Peaks Park overlooking San Francisco.

San Francisco

San Francisco here we come!

San Francisco is a great city! after we left the hotel close to Yosemite National Park, we arrive in San Francisco 2 hours later. We stopped in downtown San Francisco and had 3 hours of free time. We saw the famous cable cars and walked up the streets to see as much as possible of this amazing city.

Later that day, we went to the "Twin Peaks Park". We had a great view of San Francisco there. We took many pictures and had a fun time together. After arriving at the Hilton hotel, we checked in and had a great dinner. We spent the rest of the night sitting together and telling funny stories. I think we had a great day. Thank you!

Philipp Hernes (Germany)

Yosemite National Park - July 19th

From the top of Vernal Falls.

Group at the top of the falls.

Vernal Falls.

Popo, Mint, Noey, Eve, Pear, Wow & Yang (Thailand) hiking up the falls.

Yosemite National Park

Ascending all the way from the Yosemite Valley, that is located in the center of the two cliff fronts enclosing the park, all the way to the top of "Vernal Fall:, considered one of the most magnificent and picturesque waterfalls of the world, we got to see big and small rainbows and got dripping wet. The top of the Vernal Fall is 1538m above sea level. It was definitely exciting and breathtaking from the difference in altitude while hiking along a long, narrow path that had been carved in the vertical cliff.

Recently Yosemite has gotten a lot of rainfall, which made it impossible for us to go rafting on the Merced river that crosses the entire valley. Instead, we were able to explore the park by bike. On the remote trails through the woods, seeing blue birds, snakes, deer, and hit any crossing squirrels ;-). Besides the many wonderful waterfalls, some of us biked to the famous cliff formation called El Capitan. This is located at the far west end of Yosemite. The formation of the two almost identical cliffs, facing each other on either side of the river, are still a mystery for geologists today. The Native Americans explained this formation with a story: A husband and his wife were arguing in an unacceptable way, so the displeased spirit changed them in to rocks to stay facing each other.

All in all, Yosemite's beauty was overwhelming for all of us. There are varied conditions in four geographic areas. There is much diversity such as: high sierra(mountain peaks), granite cliffs, sequoia groves and valleys. The grey, huge, and vertical cliffs encompassing a flat, and incredibly lush valley created an unforgettable contrast. Yosemite is definitely a place for us to come back to!

"It's by far the grandest of all the special temples of nature."-John Muir

"This is the most beautiful nature I've ever seen."-Floris Van Dort (in this group from Denmark)

Gustavo Furlan (Brazil)

Yvonne Weber (Germany)

Michelle Rickenbach (Switzerland)

Hollywood & Merced, CA - June 18th

Volleyball in the pool.

Everyone at the hot tub.

Rodeo Drive.

Hollywood sign.

This morning we left the hotel at 8 o'clock and headed to the Los Angeles Observatory. There we took pictures of the famous Hollywood sign and appreciated the great view of The City and it's surrounding area.

We boarded the bus and drove to the luxurious neighborhood of Beverly Hills where we had a free time to go shopping and have lunch where the celebrities used to go. We actually met a lot of them but unfortunately we couldn't figure out who they were.

After our arrival in Merced we went to a cool restaurant to have dinner and later on we had lots of free time to spend in the hotel's pool and in the lobby together.

To quote one of our belo USA travelers Floris: "Beverly Hills a neighborhood in Los Angeles in the State of California in the United States. I thought the trees and the landscape, the city arhitecture and the whole feeling I got by

walking through this piece of history was amazing. I feel so good. I feel super good. Yes. This is like a dream. This is almost like having a cold icecream when you are really warm. Like if you are hikikng, and you don't bring water. You know, then you are so hot. And thirsty. So if you eat ice cream. That feels good. My favorite is banana. But that doesnt matter. I loved it " Nice words spoken by a Dutch student.

Athos Dutra - Brazil

Floris Van Dort - Netherlands

Daniel Schlette - Germany

Disney Land - June 17th

Students hanging out in the hot tub.

Group at Disney Land.

June 16 - Newport Beach/Hollywood

Daniel (Germany), Tulio (Brazil), Floris (Netherlands) and Alex (Germany)

Students playing soccer at Newport Beach.

June 15th - Las Angeles, California

Entrance to the Jurassic Park ride (we all rode together).

Sights on the Back lot Studio Tour

Group pictures in front of the Universal Studios Globe.

June 14th - Las Vegas - Day 2

Some of the group in front of the limo at the hotel.

Students in one of the limos after Cirque du Soleil

Las Vegas Skyline from the top of the Stratosphere

Students in front of the Bellagio

June 14th - Las Vegas

Limo Tour

Group picture at the Bellagio

Watching the water show at the Bellagio

Group at Freemont Street

Viva Las Vegas!

Group at the Las Vegas sign.

"Sorry guys, but we're going to Vegas!"

So at 8:00 a.m. we left our hotel near the Grand Canyon and headed to the silver state, Nevada. On the 5 hour trip we had a short stop and watched two movies...one of them was "What Happens in Vegas." We crossed the Colorado River, the border between Arizona and Nevada and soon saw the kingdom of gambling in the middle of the desert. Since we're not allowed to gamble, we spent our money in the outlet mall. At 4:00 p.m. we left the mall and got on the bus for the last time today because in the evening we would have a different kind of transportation. It would become a night to remember forever!

At 7:00 p.m. we went all dressed up to dinner at an Italian restaurant, from which we were picked up by limos......but not just any limos. STRETCH HUMMER LIMOS!! Four of them! Let's get the party started....loud music, flashing cameras and excited people...

Our first stop was at the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, where lots of pictures were taken...our official welcome to Las Vegas. Stop number 2 was at Freemont Street, which literally rocked! It got dark and Queen rocked the ceiling, one big screen, with "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions." Due to the traffic we got to the Bellagio right on time to watch its famous water show. Water fountains directed by music. One last time we jumped into the limos and drove back to the hotel, where we said goodbye to Raphael, who would leave the next morning.

We all agreed on hanging out at the pool for a little while and that was the end of an amazing day.

Johanna - Germany

Valerie - Belgium