LA

Once upon a freakin' time there was a group of exchange students that went on their west coast trip to have the best time of their life. They all didn't know each other on the first day but as those days past by. They all got really close and I can surely tell that those relationships will last forever. At the trip there has been fun times and sad times but within those times they just knew that these will make the foundation of their friendship better and today is the last day of their trip. The trip that will change  their lives forever. A trip that made them realize that they are almost done with their exchange. It might be sad but just think about how much our parents miss us. Today, we started to travel back to los angeles where the magic of our friendship happened. We had 5 agendas. First was to go to the observatory where we saw the hollywood sign but unfortunately it is really far away. On the other hand, the observatory was closed so we never had to go inside it but it is pretty cool looking so we had pictures of it too. Second was visiting the hollywood walk of fame where in we saw a lot of spider man, darth vader, captain america, and more costumed guys. We also saw the stars of differents famous people that we idolize like michael jackson, walt disney and more. Third was to eat lunch at the farmers' market. There were also shops in the plaza so we did some window shopping afterwards. Then, we had to go to beverly hills where we saw some really awesome cars which are almost all of them are my dream cars. Lastly, we got to enjoy a surprise party from Terra North America in which it was a joint party for Bus 1 and 2. It was really exhausting yet fun. By the end of the night, we said good bye to each other, cried the tears of joy and signing each others flag. We might have said good bye but remember good byes are not the end they are just the beginning of the next big thing. 

Amiel Kit Christian Maranan, Philippines 

Disneyland

We started our day by having breakfast outside of the room. Breakfast is usually biscuit and gravy, eggs, pancakes, cereals and more. We got done by 8:30 and started walking to Disneyland. By 8:45 we go to Disneyland and got in by 9:00. My group and I went on to explore the Disneyland first before the California Adventure. The castle is beautiful and it just brings back childhood memories. Roller coasters are pretty fast but not as fast as I wanted. There are rides that ceased operation but after a while they continued operation. I had that experience that we just waited for at least 15 minutes instead of 45 minutes just because of cease operation. At exactly 11:30 we had to meet up in front of the castle for a check in and a handout of the meal voucher. My group and I explored the California Adventure in late afternoon and had some thrilling rides. After all those, at last we got the meal voucher for dinner. We ate dinner by 7:30 pm and surprisingly we found a dance party at road and we just blasted and had fun with it. We also met new friends on rides we go. There is also a big dance party by the Hollywood studios and this made our Disney experience a blast. There were electronic music and rock music where I lost my voice. Unfortunately, because of these we had to miss the fireworks but after the mini concert is done. We rushed to the world of colors show and it was just AMAZING how they made those special effects. Finally, we went back to our hotel. Sharing our experiences about dazzling magic that Walt Disney shared to us.
Amiel, Philippines 

San Diego

We first woke up, ate breakfast and got ready to take on a day in San Diego. Our day got exciting when DJ Alberto drove us to the most fun San Diego Zoo. Being at the zoo was fun. Seeing the animals that we don't normally find on our countries. After that we drove to the hometown buffet to get lunch. We had to admit it, it is the best lunch we had since we came. There are some students (like me) who had three plates of main course and a plate of dessert. The next thing we did is go to the outlet stores. We spent a couple of hours just burning the cash from our pockets at the outlet stores. Finally, we go to our hotel and had some rest to get ready for tomorrow's activities.
Amiel, Philippines 

The bus left at 7.30 or more like 7.45. I don't know what other people were doing but I was sleeping from 8 to 10.30, so what ever you guys were doing I hope you didn't have too much fun so I missed out of anything. Around 11 we had a bathroom break, and it was 37 celsius outside. After peeing or pooping we went back on the bus and at 1 we got money for food. (First time I got to hold a 100 dollar bill). After the food we went back on the bus for like 3 hours, I slept some more. We came to the hotel and had our normal rutin with the keys. After checking in, a lot of people started practicing on their talent for the talent show. Everyone did an amazing job but especially the spice girls, Carlos with his bird sounds, the Danish quiz, yoga class, Nam singing, topless germans, Japanese dancing, piano playing and much more. But what tops all was probably when Anna stopped us while dancing to an inappropriate song, and of course my card trick. I hope you all enjoyed the looong but fun day.
 Your swede Mika

We woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel and left in the bus at 8am, headed to Grand Canyon! We stayed at Grand Canyon for about 3 hours, where we took a lot of pictures and walked around! We took a shuttle around, which took us to three different views of the amazing Grand Canyon! Then we went to a movie theater, where we ate lunch in the cafeteria, followed by a movie about the Grand Canyon, and then a look at the gift shop! Then we drove back to the hotel, where we had around two hours of relaxing time! At 6pm we went to the city, where we saw a little cowboy show, and then we ate dinner. After dinner we had until 10pm to walk around, eat ice cream, dance or look in shops!

-Marie Mølgaard, Denmark

Today was a really long and warm day. We traveled from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon in the bus for few hours with a couple of stops. Alberto, our bus driver, decided to stop in a shop called Route 66 owned by his friend. It was a really cool shop full of vintage objects and cars, I really loved it! Later on we arrived in the hotel, it was a really cool place, only 40 mins far from the Grand Canyon Park, we checked in our rooms and then we went downtown to have lunch. Lunch time, the Chaperons asked us to choose between different meal options because we were going to eat in a really cute and typical local place. The food choices weren't a lot and almost everyone ended up with the typical Cheeseburger, that looks like being the safest choice everywhere. After lunch we had some free time so we went exploring around the area and the shops. There was a little shop that sold dead cricket, to eat, so that's what a big part of the group did.. Yucky!! After the free time we went back to enjoy the pool and relax a little while, so to get ready to the busy and long day that we're going to have tomorrow.

Chiara, Italy

The seventh day of the west coast trip was awesome, After spending eight hours in the bus we finally arrived at the magical Las Vegas, the city is so awesome and different than anything I've seen before! In the night the majority of the group went bowling, unfortunately I was exhausted and I decided I had to go to bed, but looking at the pictures the place is awesome and very fun, what a busy day!

Guilherme Basilio - Brazil

Hi! I am Kashio from Japan. This time, I will write a blog!

This morning we headed to San Francisco! San Francisco is one of my favorite cities in the world, so I was very excited to see everything there. First, we went to the prison island, called Alcatraz. It is a small island only 1.5 miles away from San Francisco, but it is difficult to escape. It is because of the coldness of the ocean water and also the strict security. I entered one of the cells, and I felt so lonely and was so scared. I could clearly see the island from the bay of San Francisco. Since they are so close to each other, It is said that people in the prison could hear the laughter and music on New Years Day. It was definitely worth visiting and I thought that the history of Alcatraz shows the U.S. history too. After that, we explored San Francisco! I really enjoyed that. Always when I find a Hard Rock Cafe, I get one pin. So do this time! My favorite thing in that city was the performers on the streets! My friends and I watched magic show,some splayed painting, and people playing different kinds of instrument. There were lots of entertainment. I enjoyed myself very much. At the end of the day, we had dinner in China town. surprisingly, there are lots of steep road around there. It felt like roller coasters in the bus. I don't know how to drive but I could tell that it is difficult to drive around there. Otherwise Mr. bus driver did really great job. I appreciated it. We had delicious Chinese food there. The funny thing for me was that not many people can use chopsticks. For Japanese people, it is nothing to use chopsticks. So I fought how to use chopsticks for other exchange students. After we had the dinner, we were walking down the street to go back to the bus. And there was the very small park. I'm the park lots of Chinese people were exercising there. So most of exchange students joined them and danced one song. It was very exciting and funny moment. People were so kind and we just had fun. I really love being an exchange student so much.

Kashio Nakajima, Japan

Day 3

Today was a great day! 
We drove around the California coast and had lots of fun on the bus. We stopped in Monterey and Carmel. We saw beautiful beaches and had some very good with a very good view out to the harbor and sea lions! 
We got to do some shopping too, both in the cute local shops in Carmel but also in the mall, we visited. We are dinner at the mall, and had a good time spending some money and walking around together. 
When we arrived to the hotel, many of us were very tired but there's a pool and also a late curfew, which means: More fun! (we can sleep when we get older!)
After the pool, we stayed in the lobby having fun with the strangest security man or bodyguard ever. Fun times! 
Then time for bed and ready for a new great day! 
Laura, Denmark

Day 2: Let's hit the California beaches

On our way to our new day-destination, which was Santa Barbara, we stopped at some of the very famous, beautiful and huge beaches towards the north of LA. 
We started the day with a breakfast in the hotel we were staying at for the last two days following by the checking out of our rooms to actually start the bus trip around California. We left the hotel at around 8am and made our way to Venice Beach--aka Muscles Beach but I think it was too early to be able to see anything interesting --where we could feel the sand of the California beaches for the first time. To be honest, it was sand like sand anywhere else around the globe but the location was a good spot to make our friends back home jealous by posting on our snapchats stories or even just to make our American Dream even more bigger. We didn't stay very long but it was enough for unfortunately making one of us experience something that none of us wants to experience during this trip. Now we all are aware that very important belongings should not be carried all around the place in our back-packs because they are susceptible to be forgotten at a place but this is not the only thing that can happen to the traveler's best friend. They also can be a good target for robbers that are looking at us and analyzing every moment where they could be a possibility to steal them without us noticing it at the right moment.
Myles has not only lost his back-pack but also what was in there and he first thought that his passport was one the things that were in there but there was a "happy ending", he found his passport again as he opened his suitcase when we arrived at our hotel in the evening. He lost a lot but at least his passport is with him now and he doesn't have to worry about getting a new passport to fly home. As the chaperons keep telling us all the time, we must be careful with our belongings!! 
So then, we went back on the bus and waited for Myles for a while but then we ended up going without him but Andy and him would catch up and meet us later in Santa Monica. We went to Santa Monica, CA, a place I had seen so many times in movies so it was really fun but the sun was shy. It came out as we left.... We all took lots of pictures on the beach and in the water. We had a lunch at the Santa Monica Pier. We were all stretched out, I was with a smaller group. We all know that time flies by fast so after lunch we already had to head back to the bus so we could make our way to the next beach--Malibu!! We spent a little longer on the bus but we were not bored (at least I was not) somebody has a speaker so we could listen to music and sing so it didn't seem that long. As we arrived at Malibu, I was surprised that the sand beach was not that big but the pier we walked on was huge and very pretty. The pier was high above the water so it was really tempting to jump in the water but unfortunately for all of us who wanted to jump, after asking to the chaperons, they found out that it actually is against the law so we left disappointed not being able to jump... Anyways! We didn't stay too long because besides water, surfers that were pretty far away, the pier and a bit of a beach, there was not much to see so we went back to sit on the bus. We sat on it for a longer time so we did something I had waited for since the very beginning, we all got to talk a bit about ourselves. We went in the front of the bus and introduced ourselves to everyone in the microphone, it was a lot of fun because we could say anything about us. Everyone got to do it and the trip didn't even feel long. Then we arrived in Santa Barbara where some of us went to the beach and play volleyball and some of the others went to do something else. My little group and I went on the pier and shopped a little bit, it was fun! As normal we had limited time so we had to be back a certain time at the bus so we could reach the final destination of the day. We stopped at Panera bread which was really fun because I don't think it's very common for the employees to have about 50 exchange students coming all at once to have dinner. I thought it was very funny!! After dinner we got to our hotel, got our rooms and new roommates assigned. I think it is a really smart idea from the chaperons to switch the people we share the room with almost every night. I really like this concept! We all got into our rooms and had a bit of free time before the daily meeting at 10pm in the lobby of the hotel to talk about the day and the following one. We all had to be in our rooms at 11pm to go to sleep so we can all be 100% recharged for the next day of our western trip! 
Caro, Lyon, France

Day 1

First day of the most exciting trip of our life! We had breakfast in our hotel at 7am and had an orientation meeting an hour later with the chaperons and the students of both the buses! The meeting was about the rules that we should fallow in order to enjoy the trip and some advice about how to spend money. After the meeting bus one and bus two took different ways. In bus one, where I belong, we went to the universal studios. We arrived there, took some pictures while our chaperon Anna bought the ticket and than after we decided at what time we had to meet for dinner, we were free to move alone inside the park. I moved with a group of 4-5 people and the fun thing is that I started with certain people and ended up with new one. The rides were awesome and really technological, almost all of them were 3D. There were lots of Movie characters waking around the park, so you where able to take pictures with them. The park was divided per zones. The upper part was divided by the universal studio tour which was a tour around the stages where some of the most famous movies are produced, that was my favorite part of the day.. My dream finally came true. Another zone was the Simpson's, it was divided in restaurants, rides and street games. The cool thing of this part of the park was the feeling of being part of the cartoon, eating at The Krusty Burger and taking picture with the Simpson family; the upper zone was than composed by few other rides, mostly for younger people. Moving to the down part, with escalators or stairs, there where three main and big rides: Jurassic park, the mummy and Transformers. My favorite was absolutely the Jurassic park one;

It was a water ride so most of us got socked on it, but I assure that it was worth!! 

Each ride was really fun and cool, but the only bad/annoying thing about them was the lines waiting time, between 40 mins and an hour or more each. Other than that, amazing day and awesome experience. The park was really clean and organized. At 6.45 pm we were supposed to meet all  in the park entrance so at 7 pm we went for dinner in a street by the park to a restaurant called Bubble Gum, really cute and crazy.. The food not the best but neither the worst. 

Awesome way to start the trip! We can't wait to go through this two weeks living as much as possible

each moment, making unforgettable memories with this amazing people. 

Chiara, Italy