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