Goodbye for now, West Coast!

Our last day in California started with a visit to the Griffith Observatory to get a view of the entire city of Los Angeles - and the famous Hollywood sign!

Next up was Hollywood, for a morning of 'star gazing!' We had time to explore the Walk of Fame, take pictures at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, and touch the hands (ok, hand prints!!!) of our favorite celebrities outside the Chinese Theater.

After Hollywood, it was time to go to the BEACH! (EACH!) We headed to Huntington Beach - Surf Capital of the USA! We spent the afternoon stepping in the VERY cold Pacific Ocean, playing beach volleyball, and roaming this quaint little surf town. As the sun set into the ocean, creating a backdrop of beautiful colors, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our 'Goodbye Party."

The night was unforgettable, dancing the night away to the beats of DJ Uno! It's amazing to think that just one week ago, these 71 students from around the world arrived in Phoenix as strangers, and in just 7 days they became forever friends.

To California we say - goodbye for now.

To each other we say - see you next time, somewhere in the world!

A Special, Magic, Amazing Day in Disneyland

It was a special day today for some of the European students...St. Nicklas Day! And since we were such good boys and girls, we went to Disneyland!

It was an awesome exciting adventure that took us back to childhood. Pure magic.

We saw Mickey and Minne...prince and princesses...and other characters too. It was so cool.

We went to Disneyland and California Adventure so we could go on TONS of rides. Our favorite was Tower of Terror. No, Splash Mountain. Or...maybe Soarin'. The carousel was awesome too, and it felt like Mary Poppins.

The highlight of this amazing day - was the Colors or Wonder show. It was a show of our childhood...brought back memories so great, so fantastic. We sang along to every word of the music...and we just can't even describe how amazing.



This day was just perfect. Not just because of where we were at... but also because of the people we got to spend it with. When we are all together we just have so much fun. Exchange students understand eachother and get along so easily. We have truly become one big happy family.

And tonight, we are one big happy tired family.

Goodnight from California!

Sarah from Denmark

Simone and Ramon from Switzerland

Simon from Austria

Maria from Chile

Karlien from Belgium

On to California!!!!!!

Today we woke up early to leave Las Vegas and head to Los Angeles!

We stopped half way for lunch at In n' Out Burger...a West Coast favorite. It was nice quality and a good break for lunch, then we hit the road again.

Finally we arrived to LA, first stop...Beverly Hills. There were a lot of really nice cars here, you could tell we were arriving in a ritzy area! We walked down Rodeo Drive, saw stores so expensive that we couldn't even get in...and we even ran into one of the members of the Pussycat Dolls!!!! We felt like paparazzi. We thought we saw the singer Sean Paul...and some of us even started taking pictures with him only to realize...it was not him. LOL.

Next we had a guided tour of Los Angeles and saw exciting places around the city. We learned a lot about the history, where all celebrities hang out...stopped at La Brea Tar Pit...then ended up driving thru Venice Beach and ending at Santa Monica.

We walked around the Santa Monica Promenade which is a little pedestrian street filled with shops and Christmas lights.

A dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp ended the day...at the very pier that a scene from Forrest Gump was set.

Now we are at the hotel enjoying a nice evening at the pool.

California is already treating us great, and we know we're going to have a great time here. Tomorrow...Disneyland!!!

-Christian and Jacob from Denmark

Waking up in Vegas!

In the Cesar Palace we could see were the first Hangover movie was made.  And from Rome some of us went to Venezia. That casino was very impressive with the canals inside and between the shops and the painting in the wall that showed the sky.  Three of us even enjoyed a tour on a 'Gondola'. 

After the tour through all the Casinos we went to the Stratosphere tower. After a security check it went high up to have a fantastic view over Las Vegas.   About 100 pictures we made from Vegas at night. The brave people rode the ' Big Shot' or the 'Insanity'. The crazy people shot over the edge of the tower with the 'X-Scream' rolleat aster. 

After a long day on our feet we served to eat in the Hard Rock Cafe of Las Vegas. After  a burger and some cookies some of us went back to the hotel and a few people went to Treasure Island to see one of over 20 shows of Cirque du soleille. We saw the fantastic show ' Mystere'. The costumes and the music were awesome and of cause the artistic was spectacular. It was really cool and we didn't noticed that the time run so fast. One and 

a half house felt like 45 minutes.

After we went to our vehicle that brought us back to the hotel, we couldn't believe what we saw! - A party bus! Ahhhhhhhhhh

With a  lot of loud music, lights and photos we went in the direction of our beds. After that long but I would say fantastic day everyone fell a sleep very quickly.

And that was the last day in Las Vegas. 

Bye!

JoJo from Germany

Viva Las Vegas!

Vegas baby!

After an amazing breakfast, we left our hotel at the cold grand canyon and hit the road to sunny Las Vegas, on the famous (and also very historical) route 66. We had a little trip back in time and tok pictures with old time cars and chilled with Elvis Presley and co.

The drive to Las Vegas was long but absolutely worth it as we finally saw the skyline of the city appear on the horizon. At some point along the way the bus turned into a full fledged party bus--and we rolled into town blasting Katy Perry and Gagnam Style.

Before we went to the hotel, we did some shopping in the Las Vegas outlet mall! We found some magical outfits for the evening as we were preparing for our Vegas night tour, we wanted to shine as bright as those lights!

After dinner in a casino with a mile-long buffet with both American and international food, we had the pleasure of wishing a happy birthday to Mirabelle who was lucky enough to turn 16 in Las Vegas! Then we went to the awesome Fremont street full of casinos, people in costumes and millions of people. We saw an amazing lights show, and rocked out to a concert - even forming one giant conga line!!!!

Next stop - the Bellagio for some more Vegas magic. We saw the fountain show and explored the inside of the where we saw a giant Christmas tree, a chocolate fountain, and huge polar bears made out of flowers. Just incredible!

Our last stop to this amazing night was at the Las Vegas sign.

It's safe to say we OUTSHINED those Vegas lights!!!!!!!!

-Charlotte, Lola, and others



Happy 16th birthday to Mirabelle!

      Enjoying Fremont Street

  Getting comfy for the rock and roll light show!

   It's always time for a YFU conga line!

         VIVA LAS VEGAS, BABY!!!!!

            The Belagio fountain show

       It's Christmastime in Vegas!

 Bring on day 2!

Photo Pit Stop at Route 66!

Next stop...VEGAS!