SUNDAY 6/10/12

Today was wonderful! As soon as I woke up I got breakfast and sat with my friends. I had two cups of coffee, the hotel has Starbucks! When we arrived in D.C. and met with our tour guide, Ciceila. She took us all around Washington D.C. We went to the White house, The capitol, The Jefferson memorial, The Vietnam memorial, the world war II memorial , and my favorite the Lincoln memorial! Then we got lunch at the Smithsonian museums, but while everyone ate their lunch there I had other lunch plans at the white house with President Obama. Haha, yeah right. After lunch (I had a delicious sandwich) we got on the bus and finished our tour. We had to say our goodbyes to Ciceila and HELLO to shopping in Georgetown. There is so many shops there I loved it. Later, we had dinner at a BBQ place called, "Old Glory" and I just have one complaint about it... It was too good for me to want to stop eating! YUM! Well tomorrow is a big day, we are headed to Myrtle Beach and I want to go swimming at the pool so goodnight until next time everyone!

Nickol- BOLIVIA 

Such a hot day in D.C. but wow did I learn a lot about Washington D.C. I really was excited to see the White house, smaller than I expected but beautiful. We walked all around and got lunch a the Smithsonian's ,I went to the Air and Space museum and the Natural history museum. I think my favorite was the Natural history museum, I love dinosaurs and they had an awesome bug exhibit. After lunch it was time to see the Lincoln memorial and other memorials! We saw the Martin Luther king memorial the newest one, I really enjoyed seeing that one. Then  it was time to shop in Georgetown. Afterwards we went to dinner, very yummy and a lot of food. Its time for bed now, I am so tired and ready for tomorrow!

Marta-NORWAY

 Today we woke up earlier than yesterday because we had to take our stuff to the bus for Philadelphia!! We had breakfast and  brushed our teeth , after that we went to the bus and  jammed out to music! We listened my favorite Justin Beiber! When we got there we went to a really awesome organic market were they had tons of good food, flowers, CHOCOLATE it was called Reading terminal, very famous. we had lunch there and went back to the bus and headed to meet our tour guide who later took us on a walking tour of the historic parts of Philly! It was awesome to see old churches and the liberty bell!! So excited for tomorrow because we will be in Washington D.C. maybe I will see Obama??

Carola Saegesser - Switzerland 

My favorite part of Philadelphia was this really really really interesting museum about the constitution, we played with the computers and took pictures with the president of the USA! But it was just a statue, I think the president might be a little bit busy JK. After that we met our tour guide, we walked around in the HOT(summer is here!) Philly, took more pictures, visited a church, saw the most awesome bell in the universe, we saw the LOVE statue in the love park(my favorite). After we headed to dinner and had delicious Italian food, very authentic. Now we are back at the hotel and I am so ready for bed! Cheryl Vaterlaus - Switzerland

We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. We had salad, pasta, and ice cream I think that was my favorite part. JUST KIDDING! I loved the Philly cheese steak sandwiches we got at the awesome reading terminal market. Everything you ever wanted to eat this place had! Even really good Mexican food, almost better than my home, shhh don’t tell! Later we went to the Constitution  museum and watched a really amazing and very insightful show about the history of the constitution. Then we met the tour guide who was great! She took us everywhere even the stairs from the movie, “Rocky”! We all ran as fast as we could up the stairs just like in the movie. It was so much fun. After we went to dinner had some laughs and good times with my new friends! Now I need a bed...

Natalia Osuna - Mexico.

Once again our day started early with the traditional WAKY WAKY Belo! While some of us really appreciated it, others just hoped that this will be Tici’s whole message… because sometimes she starts singing…
After about an hour we arrived in New York, after surviving Tici’s wonderful singing. Our first stop was at the Empire State building. In order to save money , we climbed up like King Kong on the walls of the building. Thanks to all the monkeys who taught us how this works! (jk) It was more than worth to climb up there, because the view was amazing!
After our exhausting climbing activity we had lunch in a park, where we relaxed and tanned in New Yorks summer sun.
After our lunch break, Garrett, our New Yorker tour guide, was already waiting for us to show us some interesting sights, and in-between he drew our attention to some funny things, like facts, cars, weird people, etc. ,,, really weird people (remember the guy with the funny umbrella hat???!)
  We saw Ground Zero, which is no longer considered as Ground Zero, as new buildings are under construction and some of them are already done. After that we discovered the finical district, checked the value of our stocks and traded some at stock market. Good thing that we all had our parents credit cards with us - now we are praying that they don’t lose their value, we invested in some really weird stuff!
Garritt showed us the America was born, it didn’t really look like the baby station in a hospital, but it was interesting! We kept on walking through New Yorks streets, listened to Garritts stories and got smarter and smarter! Even though we were really tired, he kept us awake with beat boxing, singing (he is a serious competition for Tici…) and joking.
Finally we crossed the famous Brooklyn Bridge, where we took a lot of pictures and ate Mango-flowers, which caused sticky sticky fingers. After an ice-cream break the fabulous bus picked us up and took us to Times Square where we had two hours SHOPPING time.
After a looong and fun day in New York we had an amazing and very healthy dinner (just 1200 calories) at a Hard rock Café.
We finished our last amazing day in New York with a bus ride home and a Happy Birthday song for our two birthday girls in 13 languages!

Blog written by the most amazing girls representing Austria and Germany.

Waky-Waky BELO!!!
We needed more than a cup of coffee to start a new day in NYC, so what about Lady Liberty?
After a not that long of a ride on the bus, the BELO heroes went through the security and got on a boat. Final destination? That Lady Liberty! Looking pretty good and big! We were all a little  tired from the other big day we had but  had NYC to wake us up. After we hoped back on the boat and headed towards the city’s skyline. Our BELO heroes got off the b oat and headed to the subway station! We rode the subway which was extremely fast and full of New Yorkers! Our stop to get off was one of the most filmed stations in the world, Grand Central Station. We had no idea what to expect, I mean, it’s huge! A food court with every kind of food from all over the world, and the real melting pot! And what about the Apple store? face book time!!

As Jay - Z says, in New York there’s nothing you can’t do, other than being yourself, that’s what New York is about, I learned. As we were waiting for  “Fabulous”, something funny  happened! An old guy, dressed in a crazy pink outfit, on a pink bike approached us… hilarious moment and guess what? Picture time!! You never know what to expect in NYC, that’s for sure. But the day was not already over. Party time? Not yet. Our BELO heroes wanted to make a significant change…..United Nations here we come! Not fully satisfied by a whole year in a different country, we wanted to be even more international and discover that place that we only see on TV.
After the  audio tour of the united nations, our amazing coordinators gave us the best news ever…it’s time for some crazy shopping in Soho! Mission impossible accomplished. How many stores can you enter in less than two hours?
(you guys have no idea of how much our Italian friends will be jealous of our new bags! JK)
After shopping our butts off we were ready to have dinner in Chinatown. Even if the smell of fish was really strong, we had an amazing time at the Chinese restaurant, eating with chopsticks (well, trying to at least) and watching our monitor, Alex(who is awesome) dropping rice everywhere.

After the end of WWIII with the food, we couldn’t just stop laughing because our friend Christian from Chile almost fell into the garbage! But luckily he didn’t, but it’s a very funny moment that I will never forget.
During the ride back home and after Tici’s amazing singing performance, everyone enjoyed their times in different ways. Laughing, playing around, singing, dancing and sleeping. Tired but happy, our heroes finally arrived at the hotel and “chillaxed”  before going to bed.
Sooo ready for our last day in New York City….WOOOP WOOOP!!

Lisa and Federica from Italy

OH YEAH!!! We got to New York City, everybody very excited, first we went to the Public Library and met our tour, a New Yorker, very funny. Then we went to the Central Park, and had a great time there, entertaining ourselves with some "shows". We got to see the Fifth Avenue, and had lunch in the West Village as well. After we went to the Metropolitan Museum! It was amazing , I cant believe how big this museum is. After walking around the MET we got to go to the Time Square, the most amazing place! There is people everywhere walking fast and taking pictures with characters such as Spider man, hello kitty, and even Elmo was there!  Some of us wanted to walk around Times Square but most of  wanted to go see a Broadway play! Yes that’s right we  got to go to the most amazing play that I have ever seen, and the longest running play in the Broadway, “The Phantom of the Opera“. Later, we sadly had to leave NYC, the "city that never sleeps", because we DO in fact need to sleep, a very big day tomorrow in NYC again! So this is goodnight for now and thanks for reading!

Dankann Madi De Biasi - BRAZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL!!

I had a great day today. I am very happy to be here with Belo and most of all to be in NYC with other students from all over the world! Never knew I could have a great friend all the from BOLIVIA! We met our tour guide, Garrett who is SO funny. He showed us 5th avenue, Rockefeller center and central park! I love central park very peaceful and full of trees. We had lunch in a really trendy part of NYC, I saw a lot of fashionable people. Then we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After it was time for dinner, which was Italian cuisine. A huge buffet of pizza, salad, pastas and more! Some people went to the Broadway show but  I did not go to the show. Instead of the show I went to hang out at Times Square for some time. So I discovered with a small group of  new international friends super exciting things, such as- the M&M World, Toy R Us, Hershey's super store, the Disney store and so much much more. It was so awesome and I could feel my heart falling in love with the city around me. We even got to be on the big LED screens, which is a huge screen over times square that allows everyone to see a picture of you! New York city is so beautiful and diverse in so many ways, but there is way too much traffic! The people are super fast while walking, Garret told us that NYC is the 2nd most fast walking place in the world! The first is Tokyo, Japan. Well, Goodnight for now I am very tired.
Johannes Bullinger - GERMANY

Today is our first day of the East coast trip ! After we got up early in the morning with our tiredness, we jumped on the “Fabulous” bus and started to head out to the Niagara Falls! We started to walk around and took some pictures with our friend and the wonderful falls, never seen anything that powerful before. We then went to the cruise boat and started ” the maid of the mist ” , tour. We sailed along the river to get closer to the falls. Oh my! we all got wet from the falls, my feet were soaked, but luckily we had awesome blue ponchos. Afterwards  we got some time for lunch, I had a eally good chicken sandwich and delicious chocolate ice cream.

Later that afternoon, we went to see the “Cave of the winds.” The guides told us that we would get wet but I didn’t know THAT wet! It was so much fun and much needed on a hot day. It’s so awesome !

At 3:00PM, we got on the bus and headed to New York City ! On the way, we stopped for dinner at Uno Italian restaurant, there we had Chicago style deep dish pizza, yummy! 

Then we continued our 7 hours drive with our full tummies. It was a long long drive but that’s good because I got to make new friends and watch one of my favorite movies. “Inception.” Well we just got to the hotel so its time for me to say goodnight to everyone that is reading this, until next time!

Pakpoom - Thailand

Today was the official start on our two week long adventure! At 8am sharp, we headed to one of the seven world wonders, the beautiful Niagara Falls. After taking at least hundred pictures at the first view point, we got to go on the “Maid of the Mist” tour, a boat driving us super close to the waterfalls. We all got beautiful ponchos to wear, but ponchos were not enough to keep us dry from the mist of the massive waterfalls! But we all agreed that it was a small sacrifice to make for the beautiful view we got to see. 

After a nice lunch break and some shopping at the gift shop, we headed to the Cave of the Winds! As if the beautiful ponchos weren’t enough, we got matching flip flops on this tour. Perfect for exploring the waterfalls closer! We got to go all the way to the waterfall, so close we could even touch it! We all got soaked!

We changed into dry clothes and got ready for a long ride to NYC. After 7-8 hours that seemed like 2 minutes because of all the fun I was having on the bus! We arrived in the city that never sleeps! Can’t wait for the adventures New York has to offer!

Malin-Norway

ARRIVAL DAY!!

Today is so exciting! Everyone look  so happy to be here.  I cant believe this trip has finally come. Its like the whole world is in one hotel! I met so many people today and everyone is from everywhere. I can tell i will make many long term friends on this trip. This is just the beginning of one of the greatest adventures of my life. I already can feel my heart racing for tomorrows day! We are going to one of the seven wonders of the world- Niagra falls! I cannot wait to see this.  Well, I should get some rest before my big day tomorrow. You will hear from all of us soon and see all of our awesome pics!! WHOOHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!