Magic Kingdom!

This morning was a good, sunny day.

We were looking forward to going to the Magic Kingdom!! Magic Kingdom is the most sweet place in all the world. I spent my day happy and having a good time with my new international friends. But today is a day of special importance. We spent our time with good friends and Disney characters!!

Our first attraction was Splash Mountain- I got so wet! But it felt very good because today was too hot. The shower was just what I wanted.

We were very reluctant to waste any time. We took many attractions. My favorite attractions were Mickey's PhilharMagic and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Mickey's PhilharMagic was awesome. It was a 3-D movie and I loved it! The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was also a very cute attraction- I really like Pooh, he's my favorite Disney Character.

At the very end of the day we got to see the greatest fireworks show! That was soooooo beautiful. That became one of the best memories of my exchange year. We have just a few more days- I want to make many more good memories with my friends!!

Written by Daiki Fujita

Disney World!!!

Yoon, Misora and Daniel prepare to enter the rain


Gabriel makes do without an umbrella


Isabell finds a new friend!


Enjoying the newly purchased Minnie Mouse ears while playing games



The beautiful dome at Epcot Center


Where did Tom's arm go?

This Thursday morning was so beautiful! The sun was shining which made us even more excited about our day at Disney World’s amusement park “Epcot.” Our bus left the hotel and headed to the land of Mickey Mouse and his friends. We spent our time at Spaceship Earth, Mission: SPACE, the Universe of Energy and Test Track. The actual topic of this park is the future world. The students who didn’t really appreciate the rides, etc. could learn more about other countries in the World Showcase. There were 11 countries represented and some of them were: China, Germany, Norway, Italy, Japan and France. When lunchtime came closer, we were really hungry and also thirsty because the temperature got ridiculously high. The World Showcase made it difficult to choose what we should eat because there were so many choices. Every country offered different food, candy and snacks. For a lot of us, it was our first time at Disney World and we wanted to meet the characters personally. A group meeting was scheduled for 3:00p.m. and around that time it also started to rain. Lightning and thunder quickly changed the beautiful day. It got colder too but it still didn’t stop us from enjoying our day. There were some great inside attractions including the ability to learn how to make the world a better place in a joyful way. One way was to say “Hello” to Nemo and his friends. The attraction called Soarin in “The Land” was the best. We had the pleasure to ride Soarin, even though the wait time was about 2 hours. It was impossible for all the students to try out due to the long wait time. However, the Mission Space ride was one of the best rides because it made us feel as if we were actually astronauts on our way to Mars. We had a huge amount of choices of food to eat, not just for lunch but also for dinner, which made us relaxed. We had some time to just hang out and talk, too. A little bit later we were wet from the rain, but happy. Our time spent back at the hotel included swimming in the pool, playing basketball and playing cards. Writing the blog at the end of the day is a good way to finish our day. Two more days of Disney World are to follow.

- Lotta Auranen and Corina Kronenberg

On the Road Again…

After a relaxing day yesterday, we had a long time in the bus today. Today we got on the bus fresh and excited to go to Orlando, Florida! We spent ten hours on the bus, sleeping, singing, watching Valentine’s Day and Shrek 2- two very nice movies! We also enjoyed the beautiful landscape of Georgia. The state is famous for its peaches and we tried some and they were delicious. We knew we arrived in Florida when we began to drive through sun showers and thunderstorms. We saw lots of lightening in the sky. We drove and drove and finally arrived to our final destination- a nice hotel in Orlando.

Tonight, after we arrived and recovered from the long and tiring bus ride, we went to this nice restaurant (Tony Roma’s) for a great dinner. It was fun and the dinner and desserts were very tasty. We spent a good time there and it was nice to eat at a sit down restaurant after the fast food on the way down.

After we walked across the parking lot to our hotel, we got free time to do what we want- swim in the pool, play cards, go online or go to sleep (haha).
See you later…. We are going to have fun now during our free time!

Lina (Germany), Moyuko (Japan) & Jessica (Germany)

Beach Invasion!

Lisa & Daniel showing off our home for the day- Myrtle Beach!!

Misora all buried in the sand.

The morning was spent playing sports in the sand...

...hanging out with friends in the water!

We proudly present… OUR TURN to write the blog: Elena, Nathalie, Iris, Ingrid & Lisa J

Today was such a relaxing day after all the fabulous, amazing, awesome, spectacular, wonderful, , beautiful and extraordinary experiences that the east coast has to offer! This morning, after an amazing breakfast (OMG we could make our own waffles!!!) we left the hotel at 9:01 because a few people slept in and ran to catch the bus, one of them was Justin Bieber :P

We finally arrived at the famous Myrtle Beach where we made ourselves comfortable in the sunshine in 100*F weather! (Welcome to the SOUTH!) We went swimming in the clear water, played volleyball, soccer, baseball, football and Frisbee. Some people enjoyed the sun too much and got back to the hotel and realized they might be the perfect employee at Red Lobster. Some people hung out on the beach and checked out the shops and ice cream places but others went back to the hotel to eat and watch the World Cup Brazil v. North Korea game and take a cool refreshing shower. Once everyone arrived back at the hotel, we got cleaned up and dressed up to go shopping at the Broadway on the Beach outdoor shopping mall.

At 7:30pm we went to dinner at the outstanding Planet Hollywood restaurant. A few people went back to the hotel afterward, but the more courageous and more energetic of us stayed to see the spectacular fireworks show at the Broadway Lake. After that the most amazing bus driver ever- STEVE- came and picked us up.

Conclusion of the day: It was amazing and SOOO much fun with Beach Beach Beach! See you tomorrow in ORLANDO!

Lisa (Austria), Ingrid (Norway), Iris (Italy), Nathalie (Denmark) & Elena (Italy)

Traveling to Myrtle Beach!!

Ben with our Fabulous bus!!

Isabell & Jennifer give dinner 2 thumbs up.

Some of the guys deep in conversation at dinner!

Alright! Today we left Washington D.C. in the morning at 09:00 am to Myrtle Beach. This trip took us a long time on the road, we spent more than 8 hours in the bus, and we finally got here at 06:00 pm. Everybody was excited about going to the beach, but we were all tired of the long trip. We had dinner in a buffet restaurant and we had a great time. The weather is getting hotter, since we are getting a little bit closer to the south everyday. So that is pretty much everything we did today.

Tomorrow is going to be THE big day. We will hang out at the beach, swim and enjoy every single second we will have. Basically, we are going to have fun, and I am definitely excited!!
-Bill-Yves

Exploring the Nation's Capital

Having a blast at the White House

Showing off some dance skills before dinner

Hooray for the Capital!

Proudly standing in front of the Washington Monument

Our nation's capital on a bright, sunny day

A view of the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial

At the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial

After a long day and a short night of sleep, we left at exactly 9:00a.m. to go to pick up our guide for the day, Sven. Our first stop was the Marines Corp. Memorial. The memorial was created from a photo that was taken during World War 2. We only had time to take some pictures and then we headed back on the road to the Jefferson Memorial. The memorial was bigger than expected – it was really, really big! We took a group picture and then we started on our way to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. Outside again today the temperatures felt like they hit the hundreds, it was hot! But the water at the memorial helped even though we could not go into the fountain. The four waterfalls represented one of each of Roosevelt’s terms in office. Shortly after that, we went to the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial showed a lot of his personality and it was probably one of the most impressive things we saw during the day. And then before we knew it we were already at the Washington Memorial. It’s unbelievable how fast time goes by when you are having fun! So, Sven was still on board at that time and he gave us a lot of information. Yes, we had time for pictures again. What a busy, but great morning! Then we headed out to Georgetown, the famous university area to eat lunch. After exploring the beautiful surroundings we left to go back to D.C. Next stop in our fabulous bus was the Holocaust Museum. A tragic and very sad part of our world’s history. It touched us all and will stay in our minds for a long time. We will always remember and think of those who died.

(Insert presidential song here). Next stop was the White House, home of Barrack Obama or as his friends called him, Barry. Even though our connections to get into the White House didn’t work that well (hehe) we took a lot of pictures. Then it was time for dinner. Bucca Di Beppo was the place we ate dinner at. It was really good! So after everyone was full and good we had about an hour of free time to go shopping or just walk around the neighborhood. Now we are at the hotel, we are tired but happy. We are going to go to bed now, what an amazing day!

- Chrissi, Hippo & Fix

Philos Adelphos!

(Above) Cinzia and Garim with one of 20 Phillies' baseball mascots



We even met Benjamin Franklin in the historic district of Philly!

Maju, Miriam and Kennedy loved seeing the Liberty Bell!

We all loved the stairs at the Museum of Art and the Rocky statue outside!




Hippolyte, Tom and Ingrid look at Benjamin Franklin's tomb

Philos Adelphos became Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love”!!! And what a beautiful day to be here!

Today is Wendy’s 17^th birthday! On the way to our tour everyone sang the “Happy Birthday" Song in English and in their own languages (German, Italian, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese) to Wendy. It was pretty awesome to hear different happy birthdays. This is the best blessing ever in Wendy’s life.

We started our tour at the Visitor Center, where we were separated into 2 groups. Our tour guides had on very unique uniforms. They resembled the costumes of women of Philadelphia in 1700s. First, she took us to see the Liberty Bell, which was designed and made in England. After it was made, it was sent to Philadelphia to represent the freedom of the United States of America from the British. But unfortunately, in 1776 it was cracked the first time it was rung. After that we took a group picture and we left for Independence Hall, which is right across the street from the Liberty bell. We took a look from the outside. It was a pretty interesting historic place.

Then we walked to a beautiful park, where the sculpture “The Signer” (Thomas Jefferson, the "father of the U.S.") is located. We walked to the nearby Franklin Library and the second national bank, which was designed to resemble the Greek Parthenon. Then we continued to Franklin Court, which had lots of replicas of the furniture and Benjamin Franklin’s belongings.

We left the court and we entered the print shop. The park ranger showed us how the old-styled printing machine worked. It was so amazing and interesting. We then continued to the first church in Philadelphia, Christ Church. The interesting thing is that there are over 20 people buried under the church and so their tombstones are on the floor.

Time for LUNCHH H H H.! We went to Philadelphia Bourse, in the historic district, and ate and shopped there.

Then we got on the bus and had a bus tour with one of the two guides. She took us through Philly's China Town and had a quick stop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We took the picture with the Rocky sculpture and ran up the museum stairs just like Rocky (Silvester Stallone) did in the movie. We also learned that one of our tour guides is married to Stallone's cousin!

We got on the bus again and the guide took us through the different neighborhoods around Philadelphia, such as Society Hill, and we also saw the house that Thomas Jefferson rented when he was drafting the Declaration of Independence.

At the end of our tour early this evening it was time to say good bye to Philadelphia and say hi to Washington D.C. after 2 and a half hours in the bus!!!

We had dinner at the Fashion Center at Pentagon City Mall. We had Thai food and Häagen-Dazs there. It was tasty!!! What a great meal for Wendy’s birthday :)

After we were done with our quick meal, we started to shop. The time was too short- for such a big mall like this we would have needed at least half the day!!! We rushed and run all over the place to visit all the stores we liked!

Finally we got to a nice and beautiful hotel, the Courtyard Marriott. Now it's time to relax and rest for the next busy and fun day in the capitol!

Ra-thre-sa-wat ka! (Good Night)

Written by Chawisa Chen (Wendy) and Pitpimon Sukpanyatham (Taew) from Thailand

I ♥ NY

Hanging out in Central Park!!

Listening to a performer in Central Park.

Fix, Tom and Elena putting on their own little performance in Central Park!!

A quick stop for a photo in downtown Manhattan.

An excited group outside of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Enjoying dinner at Hard Rock Cafe- Yum!!

Friday morning, it is day five on our trip. Slowly you can see that everyone is tired in the morning, because we all don’t get that much sleep. We started our day with the check out at our hotel in New York and it went straight to Manhattan where we picked up our awesome tour guide, Jane, who knows this city by birth. She is not the typical stressed New Yorker, she’s not a so called suit, she is special, but in a positive way. The way she thinks – in circles – shows us a totally different way to look at the Big Apple. She tells us her point of view and brings out that we don’t have to agree with her.

From Central Park to the former World Trade Center she guides us through the entire Manhattan. Passing through Greenwich Village for lunch and the department store Century 21 for shopping we could see the interesting lifestyle of the crazy New Yorkers. But the rumors about the stressing life are not totally true- New Yorkers also take their time to relax in the Central Park and listen to the different musicians that play at every corner.

After lunch we went to lose ourselves in the maze of the MET, the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art. We got the chance to take a look at different form of art from Egypt, Africa, Native American, and Antic European cultures. We had an awesome time taking group pictures on the famous stairs in front of the MET before we drove to the City of Brotherly Love.

Welcome to Philly!

After a little tour through the city we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. They prepared a great meal for us and we even got to listen to life music. Before we got to the hotel, exhausted, we had a little time for shopping in the Hard Rock Cafe Store. After a great day we can finally go to sleep. Thank you: Katie, Brooke, Makena, Talita and our amazing bus driver Steven for the patience with us.

Ben, Miriam

New York City!!!!

At the Phantom of the Opera on BROADWAY!!

So much good food at Mama S'Barro

Our own mini United Nations at the United Nations!

At the top of the Empire State Building!!

Lady Liberty!

Standing in front of the Brooklyn Bridge

On our ferry ride out to Liberty Island

Today was New York City day!! And it was an amazing day.

We started by going to see the Brooklyn Bridge- a big piece of American History.
Then we went to the Statue of Liberty!! It was awesome. We saw the most popular monument in New York. It made us realize that we seriously are in New York City! YEAH!! We also saw a movie being filmed and we saw Matt Damon!! He wasn't in the program, but of course, he was an appreciated extra!
After lunch we went to the Empire State Building. It was INCREDIBLY beautiful. It was a little cloudy, but that certainly didn't ruin the 360 degree view of this wonderful city!
We then went to the United Nations. They had guides that took us around and told us more about the United Nations. They took us into a big Council Room- a place where they filed the movie "The Interpreter."
We went to dinner in an Italian Restaurant in the middle of time square. They gave us a huge selection of food and any kind of pizza we'd want. We were so hungry and SO excited for the food. We had a very fun time in the Italian, American, loud and crazy kind of way! Then we split into 2 groups. One headed to see the Phantom of the Opera (more about that later) and the other went to spend some time in Time Square. Time Square was definitely gorgeous, full of people and lights. Although it had been a long, full day- we were ready to stay there all night, but, the bus came and picked us up. Today was an incredible day!

Some of us didn't have a chance to spend very much time enjoying our wonderful dinner at the Italian Restaurant. 31 of us took the chance to open ourselves to the world of the Broadway Theatres. At 8:00PM the longest running show in Broadway history- "The Phantom of the Opera" had its curtains rise. A. L. Webber's musical included lover, passion and a dramatically interesting story. Webber, Cameron Meckintosh and Tim Shamman created the perfect new score from the perfect romantic plot, that was written in Gaston Leroux's famous 1911 novel.

The show has amazed so many people through so many years and it still shines. The fabulous casting of singers, the amazing and beautiful costumes, modern light techniques, fire and the design of the scenes led us to the Phantom's story. It is the story of a woman, a girl really, who is manipulated forcefully by three men, all of whom she loves- the Phantom, her dad, and a bright young patrician. The story tells of her rite of passage.

At the end of the show the audience gave a standing ovation for the "phantastic" entertainment.

Written bye Carlotta Meggiorin & Panka Kaiser

Journey to NYC - Exhausted But Excited

Tom and Bill enjoy the shops of Chinatown

The group after dinner at Grand Harmony

Practicing using chopsticks at dinner

Tammo enjoys pot stickers and egg rolls

Loving the Chinese food dinner!

Maju, Chrissy and Maik use chopsticks to pick up ice

Our alarm clocks went off early and the bus left Buffalo, New York at 7:30a.m. The breakfast we had before we left was delicious - french toast, muffins, cereal, bacon, mashed potatoes, eggs were just a few of our choices. After spending a great day at Niagara Falls, everybody was looking forward to going to New York City. Our journey took longer than expected but we had good entertainment like watching a comedy and science fiction movie and listening to music. A lot of people were talking, taking pictures or sleeping on the bus. The only thing that didn't put us in a good mood was the fact it was raining almost all day. So we had to change our plans and instead of going to the Empire State Building today, we went to Little Italy and Chinatown. We enjoyed an awesome dinner in Chinatown. During the dinner, we learned some Chinese, inspired by the fortune cookies we got. Even though it was raining, we had a good time getting to know Chinatown and Little Italy. We were wet and tired when we arrived at the hotel in New Jersey. Swimming and playing ball in our hotel swimming pool made us feel better after such a long trip. Everybody was supposed to be in their room by 12:30p.m. and spend some time with their new roommates before going to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be another long, but amazing day!