We Love San Francisco!

We woke up today to an amazing start with a great breakfast!

The sun was shining, the air was warm, and there was no fog over the bay – all things unusual for San Francisco…so we knew it was going to be a wonderful day.

First stop – Pier 39 to meet the famous sea lions, who were enjoying the sun as much as we were!

Then we walked along Fisherman’s Wharf to start our adventure across the city on a cable car. The cable car ride was a great way to get to around and offered a great view of the entire city. And a way we have never traveled before!

We ended up in Union Square – one of the city’s central shopping districts! Some of us had Thai food, others continued our crazy shopping sprees – it was a challenge to get as much stuff done as possible!

Next was time to continue our city tour with a local expert, our tour guide. We stopped at City Hall to take some pictures, then headed to Alamo Square where we saw beautiful San Franciscan style houses against a backdrop of the entire city! It was so cute.

We headed to the deYoung Art Museum to explore some amazing art pieces of the Americas. We saw cool paintings and sculptures – including a nice outside garden with a beautiful fountain. We made a lot of wishes because, why not?!

After the museum, we headed to the famous Lombard Street, known as the curviest street in the world! Here was beautiful, like city and nature combined. We walked down the street and had another great view of the Bay from here.

Our last stop for the day was Chinatown! We stopped at a fortune cookie factory, and had some free time to shop. Although our friend from China said it didn’t look much like China, it was interesting to explore. We walked to the big gate at the entrance of this neighborhood and then headed to a restaurant for dinner.

Our dinner in Chinatown was fun, with so much food – but really good and fun to try something new!

It was great to explore a new fabulous city today and although we are sad tomorrow is our last day – we know it will be a great one!

Shari, Fiona, Nathalie from Germany and Alex from Thailand

Goodbye LA...Hello San Francisco!

Today we said farewell to Los Angeles and headed to San Francisco!

After a little road trip... filled with movies, music, and a true California experience; a stop at In -N -Out Burger...we arrived in San Francisco!

Our first glimpse was a stunning view from Twin Peaks...a point that overlooks the city. We could see the skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay...just everything! It was like out of a dream.

Afterwards we headed to Pier 39 for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and some shopping.

We can't wait to see what adventures San Fran has in store for us!

A Magical Day at Disney

We woke up in the morning feeling excited like we were five years old again…because we were headed to Disneyland!!!!

When we arrived we took the tram to the entrance of both Disneyland and California Adventure. After we got our tickets we ran to the park, grabbed some maps, and were ready to explore! There are so many amazing attractions here, we even marked our ‘must go’ places on the map, to make sure we hit up everything we wanted.

First we went on California Screamer – a huge rollercoaster! And after to calm our nerves we went on a Little Mermaid ride. We went swinging on the big ferris wheel to get a great view of the park, and then…we met Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story!

We took pictures with Buzz then headed to Grizzly Run, a water ride where we got soaking wet!

After, we headed back to Disneyland where we saw Snow White! (she was very concerned we were so wet!) and we met with the group to ride the Matterhorn together.

For the rest afternoon we rode more rides, and of course saw more characters – Mickey and Goofy!

We ate dinner at Carsland at a place that looked like an old fashioned diner…so fun!

We experienced so many emotions! Being terrified on the Tower of Terror…completely happy in the Princess Castle…this is all part of the magic!

The day ended with an incredible lights show where they projected Disney classics on huge water fountains, it was amazing.

This day was just magical. Here we were, 41 exchange students from around the world running around in Mickey Mouse ears, eating cotton candy, taking pictures with Disney characters, screaming on rides – and laughing thru out it all! Just like we were five years old again J What a day!

Iga from Poland and Vanessa from Germany



Exploring Los Angeles...Wow!

What a day!

Today we started our exploring in Hollywood!

We saw so many celebrities…at the wax museum! We were impressed by how real these people look! We took a lot of pictures with them and had fun finding our favorite stars.

Afterwards we had a chance to shop in Hollywood, and also look at all the stars on the Walk of Fame! We also saw the hand and foot prints of stars like the Harry Potter cast outside the Chinese Theater…it was awesome!

It was crazy to think how many celebrities have been in the exact same spot that we were today…it was an incredible feeling.

Next we met our tour guide and we headed to Beverly Hills! Our guide taught us some awesome things about LA, like where some movies were filmed – where famous people hang out.

We had some free time to explore Beverly Hills and it was awesome. We walked down Rodeo Drive – and it was so fancy! It was crazy. Some shops you can’t even get in without buying an appointment! We saw the hotel from the movie Pretty Woman…right there!

Last stop of our city tour – Santa Monica! This day was perfect. We played soccer on the beach and had just a ‘picture perfect straight out of the movies’ afternoon on a California beach! Some of us hung out on the beach, some went on the ferris wheel on the pier, some of us couldn’t resist a jump into the freezing cold Pacific Ocean! It was really nice.

It was another awesome day, this trip just keeps getting better! And tomorrow, we get to go to Disneyland and be a kid again…how amazing! J

Until then,

Elisa from Finland

Our Amazingly Awesome First Day!

Hello from sunny California!

Today was our first full day together, the beginning of our adventure…and it was AWESOME!

It started with a good breakfast and then we headed to the Griffith Observatory for a stunning view of Los Angeles! Seeing these sights we just couldn’t believe we were actually here! We felt like Miley Cyrus, we looked to the right…and we saw the Hollywood sign!

Next we were off to Universal Studios! This is the perfect place to learn about the history of movies…and have fun! It’s a theme park set among working film studios, so we got to experience so much!

We spent the day riding the rides based off of movies! The Transformers ride was amazing – a 3D virtual simulation roller coaster and it felt like we were in a movie because of all the special effects! The Jurassic Park ride was a great place to cool down – a water ride complete with dinosaurs that jump in your face! The Simpson’s Ride was another virtual roller coaster that was so cool…we went thru a Haunted House where we danced with zombies…we saw a Shrek 4D movie and it was really nice.

And that’s not all…

We also had a chance to go on a Studio Tour. This was definitely a highlight. We learned about special effects, saw the set of Desperate Housewives and other famous movie sets like Back to the Future, we met Jaws, experienced a King Kong attack, and an earthquake in a train station! Amazing.

After our time at Universal Studios, we headed to Universal City Walk…a place with a lot of screens, bright lights, and music – felt almost like Times Square in New York! We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Café and it was delicious. After dinner we had some free time to do some shopping!

It was the perfect start to our California Adventure and we can’t wait for tomorrow…and the day after, and the day after… J We already cancelled our flights back so we can stay forever! Heh…just kidding! J

-Fiona, Nathalie, and Shari from Germany

Here it is, the CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE TRIP! Get ready to visit glamorous Los Angeles and funky San Francisco! We will be going to the place where dreams come true: DISNEY LAND and the place where movies are made: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!  It's going to be a week of adventure, excitement and friendship...we hope you are as excited as we are!

This blog will be our journal of all the fun things we'll be doing. Every day, we'll be posting our stories and our pictures so our families and friends can experience the trip along with us. It's going to be a wonderful time, so get ready...IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!