On Saturday morning, everybody woke up early for the super good breakfast that included the already made pancakes. The majority of the students were prepered for the cold San Francisco weather. Our first stop for the day was at the pier 39. Between all the parked ships, the sea lions were also there. The main reason for us being there is to buy souvenirs, and the place was full of that kind of shops. After spending our time for shopping we went to the Golden Gate Bridge, we crossed the 2 miles onm the bridge. While walking we could see different views of the surroundings: the down town of San Francisco, the prison of Alcatraz, etc.
About 45 minutes later, we went back to the bus and drove to pier 33 where we took a boat to go to the island with Alcatraz proson. we spent 2 hours listeing to the audio guid which told us the history of the proson and made us walk around. Back the continent, we went shoppnig in the Hippie area for about 20 minutes. At 7:oo pm, we were in the Hard Rock Cafe' for our last meal together. To finish the day between happiness and sadness, Bernardo gave us this amazing speech which made think about our future. I learned that the West Cost trip was not only a trip, it's a trip with really strong friendships that will last forever.

Peace to you all. 
Lama Al-Nasser
Saudi Arabia
Assisted by Manon Lernoux from Belgium
& Isabel Abamowics from Germany

Today was our last day. And, of course, we did a lot of stuff like every day.Our day began at 9 o'clock when we rode the bus to the Alkatratz prison in the San Francisco Bay. It was interesting to see and the Audiotour was also great. After our prisonvisit we went shopping at a street where you can buy lots of Hippi stuff. I really liked it.Then we went to the Golden Gate Bridge and all of us walked across the bridge.It was so much fun to me and the view was just amazing. The last evening came closer and we went dining at the Hardrock cafe. It was a nice evening. And now we are all very said that the westcost tour is almost over. We made new friends, learned more about the United States and had a lot of FUN...Thank You BELO!!!David LehmannGermany

San Fransisco!!

Hey Everybody!!!!

Today for some people the day started kinda sad after Gerany lost against Serbia in the World Cup.
Well, there was actually no time for sadness because a wonderful day was waiting for us!!!
After having a great breakfast in the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, we took the bus to Downtown San Francisco and arrived on Pier 39. We had time to shop souveniers, see the Alctraz Island from mainland and visit the Hard Rock Cafe. Later on we walked from the Pier to the Cable Car Station. San Francisco is famous for the Cable Cars and we had the oppurtunity to ride one. In small groups we got on Cable Cars and arrived to Union Square (where we already shopped yesterday) to do more shopping and have lunch. At 2:30 we met our Tourguides to go sightseeing in San Francisco. We got to see many different spots in the city, like the famous house from the TV Show "Full House" and the City Hall. We also got out of the bus in a few places like the Lombard Street with its beautiful flowers and the "Hippie-Street" (where we hopefully go back tomorrow to continue our shopping!!!).
After we said Goodbye to awesome Tourguides we headed to the well-known Chinatown of San Francisco!!! And guess what..... WE DID MORE SHOPPING!!!!
We only had one hour but that was enough (since we are all broke.... jk). At 7 we went to have dinner at a Chinese Restaurant. We were served with almost all the chinese traditional meals. We enjoyed the good food until we were full,but even after that they served us Green Tea Ice Cream for Desert.
Satisfied we went back to the hotel! Some people enjoyed the pool or went straight to their rooms to rest after such a successful day!!!

It is amazing to realize that our West Coast trip is almost over! Tomorrow we are going to enjoy our last day in this beautiful city with all the friends that we made here, and hopefully have our last good memories about our exchange year in the US.

AGAIN HAPPY SWEET 16 TO YARA FROM SAUDI ARABIA!!!!!!

Good Night and Thank You all for making this experience possible!!!!

Maria Raymond Eder, Argentina and Michaela Geiger, Austria

Disney and Beverly hills!!! and YOSEMITE!!!!

Hi guys!

Today, after that everybody was awake, showered and ready, the two buses left the hotel full of excited students for DISNEYLAND!!!

As soon as we arrived, some choose to pay an extra to be able to also go to California Adventure when others just stayed inside the land of Mickey.

Everybody enjoyed the attractions, the food and the sun all day long. At three we all met to take the group picture and watch the parade. Disney is a show that lasts all day long. Most of the people felt like 5 year-old kids back.

The day finished with the incredible fireworks that Disney is famous for.

At 10:30 everybody met and left together to the buses which took us back to the hotel. Tonight nobody is allowed to stay awake any longer after this unforgivable day because we will leave the hotel early in the morning. We're going to leave the exciting L.A. and see the last monument we didn't see : the Hollywood sign.

good night all of you,

Justine, France and Jeremy, Switzerland

Hey there! :)

Today's trip took us back from Disney's wonderland into the real world, back into nature, into probably one of the most beautiful places on this planet: YOSEMITE National Park.

Yosemite National Park is located in the central Sierra Nevada ofCalifornia. It takes approximately 4 hours to drive to the park fromSan Francisco, approximately 6 hours from Los Angeles, and 7 hours from San Bernardino(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park)

We got off the buses about two hours after we left the hotel in the morning and split up into smaller groups, although a bigger group tried to stay together to go hiking. We had free time until about 6 o'clock which most people spent hiking and biking around the beautiful countryside. We were originally supposed to go rafting as a big group and everyone was really looking forward to it, but unfortunately the rafting got closed down due to too much water in the Colorado River. Since we all learned how to be flexible as exchange students, we just spent some more time hiking up the Mist trail to the top of the amazing Vernal Fall. Everybody who went up there got soaking wet and those who had no sweatshirts or hoodies with them almost froze to death, but we were all of the opinion that it was totally worth it in the end. Some other students also got the chance to go up the Glacier Point and they shared their pictures with the rest of us later on. The ones that wanted to take it a little easier and didn't feel like hiking up the 1.6 miles to the footbridge or even the 3 miles to the top of the Vernal Fall (I personally think they unfortunately missed out on that though...) rented bikes earlier and definitely had fun with that.

Today was a memorable day for all of us and Yosemite National park is totally worth a visit, not only for its beautiful countryside with waterfalls, forests, lakes and so on, but also for its wildlife such as all the squirrels, deer, chipmunks and birds we could see today. I am happy to say that nobody encountered and therefore got attacked and killed by a bear, although it would have been kinda cool to see one :))

Tomorrow we'll all be heading to San Francisco to see some more of California.

Peace

and once again, congrats to Johanna from Germany for winning the picture contest on bus #1 and Sabrina on bus #2!

Nadja from South-West Germany

HOLLYWOOD AND LA!

Hellooo from the Orange County of fabulous golden State California!

We just arrive here to Los Angeles yesterday from another amazing place Silver State Nevada and firstly have been in Universal Studios and it was just amazing!! Today we all wake up early in the morning and head to one of the most popular beaches in L.A that has name Huntington Beach!! We had around 25 minutes journey from hotel to beach because of the huge city of Los Angeles and then, to be honest we were just a little bit disappointed. The weather was kind of like cloudy and chilly but we were all wanted to swim in the ocean so bad and nothing could stop those crazy people from all around the world to do something and have fun in spite of the weather!! When we arrive to the beach, weather was still not so good to go and swim but as I said almost everyone wanted to get in the ocean!! We waited just a little bit and bunch of groups started to run into the crazy ocean and I was in one of those groups! :) I have to tell water was so cold at the beginning, but after that we just loved because when you stay in a little bit it feels so amazing! In another hand I have to tell that the ocean has completely different waves from the Mediterranean Sea which is I have been many times in Turkey and this is really different experience if I want to compare!! At the same time someone played beach volleyball and chill around the cool places and I and bunch of my friend went to rental place and rented a bicycle!! Around an hour w ride a bicycle and took a lot of pictures of beautiful streets of Los Angeles!!! However we stayed at the beach area until 3pm and then we came back to hotel to change and get ready to go to the heart of Hollywood which is famous Academy Awards place Kodak Theatre and the hall of fame!!!!! I have to tell I was so excited and so do everyone and we all changed and head to Hollywood! When we arrived there, I said myself that I completed another one of my dreams! Kodak Theatre was right in front of me and I was feeling like I am on the red carpet but nobody was looking at me and asking me questions about my private life! :( I would tell them that it’s my own life and I don’t have to response them just like a movie star but I thought it would be better for me to wake up and just take a picture from there and leave. So I was just doing that with a sad face and suddenly someone said to me something right behind me. He had some camera and microphone with him and I told myself one more time wake up! But t no! That was not part of my dream and he was seriously asking me something that I didn’t really understand. That was my 2nd or 3rd minute in that place and some was asking wanted to talk to me that had a camera and microphone :) :D He wanted me to ask some questions from his files and one of the Showmen named Karen or something like that was going to answer me on her show in several days! I am sorry but I could not tell him No and I was so excited to be in the TV!! I said something to camera everybody from our group was all around there and then we all had an opportunity to be a famous into he middle of the Hollywood !! lol. As Bernardo said Steven Spielberg called him and asked for some of us to use in his next work. So you can see some crazy exchange artists on your screen soon! :) As I said this part of our trip was so much fun just like another parts but I’m a little bit sorry to write it down here, it was kind of weird to see those places like a little bit different then I expected. I can’t say that it was disappointing but even if you go to hell with those people and with this amazing Belo organization, everything looks and feels like unbelievable!!! I have never had that much fun with any kind of tour or organization and I am so glad to be here and want to say thank you sooo much for giving us this opportunity to get together with many exchange students and have fun in those beautiful places such as Hollywood and Los Angeles!! I think this is our 6th day of trip (well, I am not even sure which day is today I am too busy to count down!!!) and I am extremely excited to go and see Disneyland tomorrow!! For now I have to say goodbye I need to go and sleep so I can wake up and get ready to go to my one another dream!! Good night everyone and one more Hi to the world from the heart of Magic world!!!

See you soon!! Hayri Gecim - Turkey

LA!!

We made it to LA :)

After dinner we went up the stratosphere! It was so beautiful to see the sunset over the mountains! Although it was too windy for the students to go on the rides... they still had a good time looking at the beautiful view! Then half of the students went to the show O. Which I was told was amazing and unforgettable even though all of the students were exhausted from all the walking and heat!

We arrived in LA today and went straight to Universal Studios! Where we ran into Sean Kingston! He had a concert then had an after party at the restaurant we ate at on City walk! The students all had free time for the day so unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of them but I know you will all see them sooner or later :) But here are some other pictures from the day!!

Vegas style!

Well folks,

I am terribly sorry for the delay on the blogs. But they're here! Things have been very well.. We've all been very busy. We arrived in Vegas late yesterday after we had some minor bus problems that have now been resolved. We went to an outlet mall and a little bit later we went to our hotel very fast to change for formal dinner. We sat with good company and ate good food. After we were picked up by Hummer stretch limos! We danced and partied in the limos while we got a tour of the strip at night! The nights were so beautiful and everyone was so happy to let lose and have a good time. We stopped three times.. Once at the Vegas sign to take pictures, then to a laser show then the Belagio! A quick story about the laser show. It was very special. Al and I started to cry... we were so moved by the students. During the middle of the show(they were playing Queen). Everyone got in a HUGE circle and started to sway back and forth. It was totally unplanned and so beautiful. It made me miss all of my friends and host families back in Brasil! There are videos of this that the students will have!

Today we woke up to walk the strip! Everyone got free time to walk around... We saw all kinds of sights!! Elvis, The Rock, Hotels, Casinos EVEN STAR WARS CHARACTERS! Everyone headed to dinner and then to the Stratosphere! I stayed behind so I could finish these blogs.... Now I will post some pictures for you and catch a taxi to join them and have more to write later on tonight!!! Sorry again for the late posts.

Catching up after busy times, fun times!!!

Hello guys!
What can we say about our first day on the West Coast??? First stop Phoenix... what an awesome surprise!!! Even if the weather was really HOT, we enjoyed every single moment of the day! We began with the Governor's Palace, continuing with the Papago Park and the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall. We experienced the first emotions of this amazing trip. We loved the landscape in the Papago Park and we were shocked by how the nature can create such wonderful things! An interesting thing we would like to share with you guys is that in Arizona a person can serve up to 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus. Isn't that funny??? However we would like to talk about our bus trip to the Grand Canyon. We left Phoenix around 2:15pm and we sat in the bus for four hours. We listened to music that we chose before we came here and watching movies such as Alice in Wonderland and The Wolfman. We arrived at the hotel near the Grand Canyon around 6pm and after we checked in and organized our stuff in the rooms. We played many different kind of activities such as volleyball, soccer, football, basketball, tennis, running and swimming in the pool. After that, we had dinner all together and we gathered on the basketball court so that everybody could give a brief presentation of themselves. And now here we are...writing this blog to keep you guys updated on everything we have done so far!

Your Italian bloggers,
Luca V. and Francesca P.

Howdy folks!! Welcome to the wild wild west!!
When I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time since I was 5 years old, it was amazing. It's a truly one of the worlds wonders. We hiked 1.5 miles down the canyon. Which was easy going down but going back up was very hard. The sight was beautiful. Something nobody could ever forget. It was amazing to see the colors of the layers change. Looking down the Canyon you could see the path change. First it was white then it was red and orange and pink. You needed 2 bottles of water. We had to take many breaks on the way back up. It was a relief to reach the top again! We hung out at the gift shop and looked at all the things the Indians made. This was cool to see the kinds of things they make. We then took a shuttle to see other lookout points. They were amazing. We could see the Colorado River. I was surprised at how touristic the Grand Canyon was. But once we went on the shuttle there wasn't as many tourist. I took so many pictures but the pictures and words do not do justice to the beauty of the canyon. I was memorized looking at the canyon… This was definitely the first highlight of the trip!!

Miss you all,
Veronika Dolling and Andrea (Monitor)

Hello my name is. I (Andrea the monitor) was talking with students today about they’re highlights of their year abroad. As you all know there year is coming to an end. Sad to leave and excited to go home with all their mixed emotions they were all happy as can be to have had such a wonderful experience. These are some of their most memorable moments.

Oie from Thailand- My favorite and most memorable part of my exchange was homecoming and prom because in Thailand they don’t have it at all. I don’t get to dress up like that at home. I was able to dance with beautiful girls. And of course THE WEST COAST TRIP. I love to travel so I am very excited. I am excited to go home and see my family. I miss them a lot but I am sad to leave because I miss my host family.

Saeed al-Mutairi from Saudi Arabia- I really enjoyed being in the musical with all the dancing and singing. I love all the freedom you have in the US. I really enjoyed being invited to be a part of the national team of the USA for tea kwon do. I was also in a talent show and got fifth place!! I also did 272 hours of community service and got a certificate from Obama and congress. I was also given a president award!! I am sad to leave but I am excited for the future. I was accepted to go to Boston for EF program. This is a program to make sure you have enough English to go to college. It was an honor to be on the student council. I was very happy to travel the US and see many different cultures of the US.

Winding down from a busy day.

The other two monitors!!! Heather and Hannah ^^^^^

We (the belo team) picked them up from the airport as they arrived and shuttled them back to the hotel to check in to the hotel and let them have a relaxing day. They came by the bundles! Students everywhere and from everywhere all excited for the trip of a lifetime. We had students arrive from 830am until 8pm tonight! Afterwards we had an amazing italian feast. We listened to Bernando gave us his inspiring orientation about the trip. The activites we will be doing, the rules, different cultures of the west(from riding in limos to hiking in the Grand Canyon). While getting the chance to meet his amazing host family that love him as their own son, uncle and brother. Now I am sitting by the pool watching everyone get to know each other, relaxing and having a good time. Soon to get a good night sleep. Ready for the adventures of tomorrow.