Friday was the final day of the YFU California Adventure! To start off our day, we took the ferry to Alcatraz where we took a fascinating audio tour! We listened to the stories of former prisoners and guards while wandering around this historical site.

After the tour, we had some time for lunch at the famous Pier 39. We had a beautiful, sunny day in San Francisco and it was perfect for walking around! Taking advantage of the weather, we headed to Twin Peaks for an incredible view of the city. The air was so clear that we could see for miles! Next, we drove to the Golden Gate Bridge to begin the 1.7 mile walk to the other side. We saw surfers braving the waves beneath and we were lucky enough to see dolphins, too!

After an action packed day of sight-seeing, we headed back to the hotel to pack and to get ready for our last night together. After dinner, we danced the night away, laughing and exchanging final moments with our new friends.

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Today it is time to say goodbye to sunny California and to the wonderful Belo USA Staff. Thank you for making our trip so special! We will never forget our California Adventure!    

Today,  March 21^st 2013, with a beautiful sun in the sky, we went to the art museum which holds the famous “Girl with a Pearl Earring” exhibit. We saw beautiful African and European art. The next stop was the cable cars at the Embarcadero which were cool! They were old, but very unique because it was like we were back in time. 

We did a lot of up and downs because of those big hills on which San Francisco is built.

The cable cars dropped us at Union Square. There were a lot of really fancy shops but we could find some of ‘our stores’ like H&M, Pink, and Forever 21 … 

Then we met our tour guide who was very nice, she took us to the city hall where we saw many brides and grooms.  We had the opportunity  to eat Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, SOOOOO GOOOOODDD, at the corner of Haight and Ashbury.  We took amazing pictures of the different Victorians houses on Lombard Street and in general of the fabulous landscapes!

At night we went to Chinatown where we enjoyed some shopping and we took pictures of the gate! The shops were really particular and they look cool and familiar to our Chinese friends J

The day was long but we had so much fun… at the end we ate at a famous Chinese restaurant where like a big family we sat laughing together …as you can expect from boys they started a competition of who could eat more spicy sauce …

The ride back was just awesome we stopped to take pictures of the bridge and we sang in the bus like it was a party …we still had so much energy and happiness because of the fantastic and busy day.

----Charlene, Belgium, Frederica, Italy, & Emily, Germany

Yesterday we went to Disneyland and it was amazing, I can say that this is the best trip so far, I love the people and the places that we are going its super fun!! In Disneyland and California Adventure one of the best rides was when we were flying around California (on California Soarin’). 

We saw everything was super cool. Another one was about Cars and all that stuff. It was really fun. The Space Mountain, we had a blast in one day, and the most important thing was that we had the experience with foreign exchange students we walked all around Disneyland and California Adventure having so much fun everywhere that we went. 

Another really fun thing were the firework show at night in Disneyland by the castle. It was a great experience! If you have the opportunity to do this you should and enjoy it. It was awesome!! If I have the opportunity to do this again I will do it. I met wonderful people here and now I can say, dreams come true..  

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Today we drove from LA to San Francisco. It was 8 hours, but it was worth it. We went to Pier 39 and it was a lot of fun. We were shopping around and we saw the sea lions. It was amazing!

We ate after that in Bubba Gump and I think here it’s going to be so much fun! We are really excited for this few days here. Everyone said LA its fun, but San Francisco its better. We are going to explore and enjoy here..

--Valeria, Mexico

Hello you folks out there!

Our second day was all about wax, money, sand ,and water.  Our first stop was the Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum where our dream of meeting stars came true. From singers to athletes to movie stars and even Barack Obama, we could get pictures with a lot of celebrities. We liked Robert Pattinson and Charlie Chaplin the most. So of course we had a lot of fun posing with the figures. After we went through the museum, we had time to explore the Walk of Fame and buy souvenirs.  While walking from shop to shop, stars like Bruce Willis or Michael Jackson and even Mickey Mouse were laying to our feet. After Hollywood, we drove to Beverly Hills.

Hanging with Spiderman

Maybe it was good that we didn’t have too much time to spend on Rodeo drive because we couldn’t have afforded to buy things there anyway.  But it was fun looking at stores like Gucci, Prada or Dolce and Gabbana. The street where people like us could buy things was called Beverly Drive.

Rodeo Drive

After our little but exciting rush through beautiful and clean Beverly Hills we continued on to Santa Monica Pier. Our options there were either go shopping, go to the little Amusement Park or relax at the beach. We chose to stay at the beach, letting our feet get wet from the cold Pacific Ocean water and drawing things in the sand. We also had to fight against the high waves which tried to destroy our artworks.

Ruth (Germany), Nathalie (Germany) & Irene (Austria)

Belo USA!

After almost three hours spending time at the beach, we went to get dinner. All in all, this was an amazing and exciting day and we are looking forward to a spectacular day at Disneyland tomorrow!

---Irene, Austria & Nathalie, Germany

Hi Everyone!

The first thing we did today when all 51 students had boarded the bus was drive to Griffith Observatory which is built on one of the beautiful Hollywood hills. We had to do a small reroute because the L.A marathon was going on but the bus driver did a good job turning around our big bus and we where soon looking out over L.A and of course the famous Hollywood sign.

When we were done taking our group pictures and enjoying the view over the city we went on the bus again and headed to Universal studios that was the big goal for this day. We got the group picture in front of the universal studios earth globe spinning around with water flashing up to it and the sun giving it an extra cool touch. That is of course pretty cool seeing just that but there was more…there was the whole park to explore!  

After having some lunch the whole group went to go on the Studio Tour where we got see some filming sights for some really famous movies like: Back to the Future, Spiderman, and Bruce Almighty. We saw some really cool effects that they use when they make the movies. One picture shows a flash flood that was coming up in a curve and then just disappeared as fast as it came with some rain too. The thing that I probably liked most about the tour was that they had a king Kong simulator with awesome 4-D effects that many liked.

They also had many other cool rides/simulators with themes like: The Mummy, the Simpsons and Transformers that I probably liked the most because it had some cool simulated effects when it felt like you where falling many floors.

After spending a great day at the park we had dinner at the Hard Rock Café where almost everyone including me got a t-shirt saying “Hard Rock Café Hollywood.” Pretty cool I think.

Now it’s time to get to bed because it’s going to be a big day tomorrow with the walk of fame, Beverley hills, Santa Monica pier which is a beach and much more. I’m looking forward to seeing some cool houses and cars in Beverly Hills!

--- Petter, Sweden    

Welcome to California Adventure!

Welcome to California Adventure!!

Get ready for the trip of a lifetime in sunny California!

Whether it be the glam and glitz of Hollywood Boulevard or the gnarly waves of the Pacific Ocean in a surfer's paradise, this trip promises to be an amazing adventure for all!

We will be visiting the iconic cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco on a one week trip through the beautiful state of California! We will see such sites as the breathtaking Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the star studded Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles! And of course, we will be visiting magical Disneyland!

Join us on this week long adventure as we discover the wonders of California and creating life-long friendships along the way!

This will be our day-to-day journal... each day, you'll get news, information and pictures from the students. Join us on our adventure!

Have fun!!!