What an amazing week! Lessons and Messages from our West Adventure! Final Day

See You Later Messages for Friends from Friends:

It was a great week!!! I will miss you all so much.     

Anne Weinberg, Germany

I’m really thankful for getting the chance to see all the things, I’ve seen in just 1 week. And I’m really happy that I got to meet all these other exchange students and talk with them about being an exchange student. And thank you Belo.                

Trine Linea, Denmark

I’ve seen so many new things this week!  And it has been awesome. I’m so glad that I’ve met all the other amazing exchange students. I’ve had an unforgettable week! I’m going to miss you all! And thank you to Belo for organize the trip so well.      

Desiree Boonen, Denmark

This week was one of my best weeks in the US so far and I’m so glad that I took the chance to go on this wonderful trip through amazing cities on the West coast. All the people here are amazing and I’m gonna miss you so much!!! Love ya Belo for organizing everything so perfect 

J Rebecca Mann, Germany

This week has been amazing! You guys are amazing! 

Lisa Stein, Germany

Thank you for that amazing week! It was very interesting to see another part of the US. "See u later!" 

Josefine Reinke, Germany

Thank you Belo and all the  amazing people who made this week the best! I had so much fun and I saw so much cool stuff!  

Janni Vuorenoja, Finland

Thank you Belo for this amaing experience. I hope to see you all again! 

Gloria Laviano, Italy

I had really good time and I’ll never forget this trip. Thank you very much. I  hope to see you again. 

Shogo Kasai , Japan

Sometimes we don’t know how lucky we are! These days showed me how perfect life could be J Thank you for this wonderful unfortunately short week in AMERICA!! 

Anouk Elias, Germany

I had so much fun, too bad it was only one week! Hopefully we’ll meet again soon, thank you BELO for this amazing trip 

J Teoodra von Frenckell, Finland

I did not expect to have such an amazing week! I met so many people I didn’t know before who I’ll never forget. I know I’ll see them again no matter where they live! I love you guys! I learned that you should never stop believing!  

Wanja Boehme, Germany

This week I learned that love is difficult. Anyway thank you guys. Just this 1 week has changed my life immensely.  See you again guys somewhere on earth. 

Jim.Japan

I had an amazing time on the west coast. I can not say I know more than half of the group, but the people I know are great and I would love to see them again. This was the best weeks of the last 3 months, and I hate that it’s over. Thanks Belo! 

Carl, Germany

I so glad to meet all these great people and I had an awesome week and a lot of fun. Sad that it is already over. See you later. 

Cheyenne, Germany.

I know many people from this trip. This trip taught me so many things about the U.S. I'm happy to be in this trip. I can see many things that I never saw before. I met good friends in this trip and we became great friends. I love them so much. I hope I will be back again.   

FOLK LIM, THAILAND

I really had such a wonderful time with my new friends, the best time ever! 

Mint THAILAND

I have seen so much in this short week and I have had so much fun with all these amazing people from all over the world. I’m sad to leave already but I hope that some of us will see each other again. I’m pretty sure that everybody will remember this trip. Thank you Belo! 

Janne von Rahden, Germany

I had the best week of my life and I’m so glad that I could do this and that I meet all these people! It was awesome! Thank  you!! 

Janique Perren, Switzerland

I am very glad I decided to come to this trip because I had a wonderful time with beautiful people. I met some awesome people with whom I got very close and it is very hard to leave knowing that I may not see most of the people ever again. I am very thankful for BELO, I had great time and I am happy that you guys do it for all the exchange students. 

Gerli, Estonia

It was such a great time! It was one of the best weeks in my life. I made friends from all over the whole world and see beautiful cities in America. Thank you for this great week.  

Larissa Meister, Switzerland

Thank you everyone for making this week so great! I have enjoyed every single minute of this trip, and no doubt, I will miss a lot of you. Some of you have become really close to me, and I do hope that we will meet again sometime. I love you, Belo. 

Maria Kjaerhede, Denmark

It really was a great week ! I won't forget the places we saw and the people I met ! 

Anouck Lenseigne, France

Thank you for this amazing week! We had so much fun together. We saw amazing places and we met people that we are going to remember forever.
See you guys! 

Michela Gasperini, Italy!

Thank you for showing me the beauty of the horizon. – lots of love and see you later; 

Astrid, Germany

I really enjoyed the great time we had. Not only, did I see all these amazing places, but I made friends from all over the world. I hope I see you guys again! 

Anja, Germany

I love this trip. It was the best time of my life!!! I loved making friends with people from all over the world. And I love dancing!! Yay!   

Avery Shi , China

I think there are too many people to say thank u to each. So I don’t say it, because we are friends with each other.  I do not need to say thank you between friends. I just want to say that I am happy to meet u my friend. 我爱你!   

By Peilin Ye from China

I had such an amazing time and Iwill never forget the impressions I gained, so thank you to everyone who was a part of this trip!!

Cindy,Germay

I had an amazing week in this trip. I met a lot of wonderful friend, this is an unforgettable  memory for me. I wanna say Thank you for all people who were on this trip. I'll miss you so much. 

Rikako Terada, Japan

LOVE YOOOOOOOOOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

Takumi, Japan

This is the most amazing thing since I’ve been in USA!!! I won’t forget this experience. I love you guys so much. BELOOOOOOOOOOOO Chun Ruk Khun 

Pleng, Thailand

This trip is the best trip for me. I made lots of new friends from others countries and had so many new experiences that I couldn't find by myself. I love Belo =) 

Dunkin, Thailand

This trip has given me the chance to visit places that I’ve never thought I would visit. It has also created the opportunity for me to make new friends. I hope to see everyone on this trip again in the future J 

(Momoe) Nonpavit Jitjaeng, Thailand

We wish you all the best of luck on this amazing adventure.  May the days ahead be filled with love, laughter and growth.  Take the time to appreciate your host families  and the experiences you're so fortunate to be gaining.  Time will slip through your fingers like sand if you don't embrace all the amazing opportunities coming your way.  This is your moment, enjoy it!  Thanks for reminding us how to have fun and that when you jump head first, arms and heart open great things happen.  It was a true pleasure spending the week exploring with each of you and we hope to see you all again soon.

Nathalia and TiCi (Hawaii and Brazil)

The Happiest Place on Earth (Day 5)

Today we went to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. At first, I thought it's not really big but I changed my mind when I saw it. When we arrived Disneyland we had to take a tram to the entrance of Disneyland. Then we got tickets, all with images of Disney characters and we went inside.  There are two parks; Disneyland and California Adventure.  The entrances were right across from each other making it easy to go between the two.

We were very confused at first because it's too big, we didn't know where we have to go...there were so many choices!  The first thing ride we decided to visit was Finding Nemo. We took a submarine dive into the water to watch the story about Nemo.  It was a wonderful world under the sea! After that, we went to Mickey's Toontown. We rode a roller coaster for kids. That was so cute. Next, we went to ride Space Moutain, its an awesome rollercoaster completely in the dark!



After visiting Disneyland we headed to California Adventure. I love California Adventure!  The feeling in Disneyland is classic, but the adventure park has more adventure rides. The first thing that we went to play is Tower of Terror!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is a haunted hotel that takes you to the "Twilight Zone."  You go up 13 floors in an elevator, before it drops all the way down very fast.  We went to Cars Land. I was so excited about this part, because everything in this part was the same thing as in the movie named Cars. We wanted to ride the ride, but not wait in the line, so we did the fast pass!  We went to California Screamin'. It's like a very big roller coaster. But guess what!?? We played it 2 times. It's a very high roller coaster so I can see the view.



We saw the ferris wheel but the Ferris wheel here is different from the other place. The Ferris wheel here doesn't just goes around and around it also sways in the air. So  we decided not to play on this ride because we never seen the Ferris wheel like this before. We played so many things here and had so much fun that we almost forgot time to meet Belo Staff in Disneyland!  Uh oh!  So we ran as fast as we could to make it to the meeting point, across 2 parks!  And we did it!

The great thing was that when we arrived in Disneyland to meet Belo the Sleeping Beauty castle started to sparkle* and snow started to come out all over the park.  It was beautiful.  We then went to dinner and afterwards we watched the Disney firework show.  Later, we went to Haunted House. The Huanted House here is very awesome because they use a 4D system. The last thing that we played was the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I think if we went here in the afternoon we have to wait like 30 minutes but we went there after the fireworks, so nobody was there and we didn't have to wait!!! After we were done with this thing and we thought we might be late again, so we have to run again!  And again, we made it in time! Today was the greatest day ever...Disneyland might really be the happiest place on earth : )






Folk Lim & Mint  from Thailand YFU16

Say Hello to California!!

Hey! It's time to say good bye to Las Vegas and say hi to the sunny land of California!

Los Angeles

We had to get up early today to get a head start on our way to Cali.  I'm sad that we have to leave Vegas, but we all know that we will be back again one day. Everyone decided to watch the movie called 'what happens in VEGAS!' just take Vegas with us a little longer before reaching our next destination.
I loved that movie :)

One of the amazing thing about traveling by bus, beside the movies and all being together is that we get to see the beautiful landscapes of America.

First thing we did in L.A. was visit the famous Beverly Hills

We had some free time here to walk around and explore.  We started with Rodeo Drive, the famous shopping street. You can tell by some of the pictures below that this is a luxury part of the city.  All the people were looking fancy and the store windows had very big displays.  Some students saw Sharon Ozborne walking around, the judge on American Idol and wife of Ozzy Ozborne.

After that we went to Santa monica beach! This is our first time to see Pacific Ocean! It is very beautiful!  The sunset was absolutely stunning, with all different colors.  We got to explore the Santa Monica Pier that has rides and cafes.  It was fun.  We found the arcade and played some air hockey!

We had dinner at Bubba Gump. Have you ever seen Forrest Gump? It is the best movie ever! We had a good time there. The food is so good! And the waiters are so funny!  We played a Forest Gump trivia game too.

After the fun day and writing this blog I feel very exhausted and ready for bed. LOL
I want to be ready to hit all of the rides tomorrow at Disneyland and California Adventure!
Pleng Iamteerapaiboon (Thailand)

Fun in Las Vegas; Day 4

Yesterday we spent all day on the Las Vegas strip and it was wonderful!

There are so many huge and glamorous hotels all with Casinos. Each hotel has a theme, some of us went to Paris, others to New York, Rome and even Egypt.  The views were so amazing. 

We were so lucky to have the entire day to explore the area, seeing anything we dreamt of.

The photo below is from inside of the hotel!  Can you believe it? There's shopping mall in side of the hotel and the ceiling is painted like sky.So you can feel like you are outside, when really you are in.

Then, here is VEGAS, there are huge Casinos!Of course we cannot play but its fun even just watch views!

We walked around Las Vegas for couple hours and then we went to  the Stratosphere. That's a really high tower that overlooks all of Vegas.  It was a great opportunity for city photos and some people even took photos in the photo booth.  Unfortunately, it was windy day so we couldn't ride any of the attractions at the tower, but there are nice view so we enjoyed a lot!

 After we went to this tower we went back to hotel to get ready for another night out in Vegas and dinner at...HARD ROCK CAFE!!!!!  Everyone was so excited to go there and the dinner was awesome. We even  got a free gift from the  Hard Rock cafe. We had really great time there. 

That day was the last day of  LasVegas and it was  an absolutely unforgettable memory for all of us.

Rikako Terada (Japan)

After the dinner some of us took the opportunity to see the Vegas show Cirque du Soleil; Mystere. This was optional. It was amazing to see all the artists performing. It is truly unbelievable what they are able to do and it just takes your breath away.The show told an entire story and connected all kinds of artistic arts. It was definitely a great experience and the show just blows your mind with all the great costumes and live music. We could also go in the gift shop and get some merchandise. Afterwards we even got to ride a limousine back to the hotel.

Anja Class (Germany)

Route 66 and the famous city Las Vegas (Day 3)

Yesterday we left the Grand Canyon and made our way through the desert of Arizona to the hilly landscape of Nevada.
On our way to Las Vegas we stopped in a little old and famous town called Seligman in Arizona.
It's so famous because Route 66 goes through it, one of America's original highway systems.
We took a lot of pictures and were so amazed by the little shops and the spirit of this town.

As we made our way towards Vegas we spotted the Hoover Dam, which was actually quite beautiful.  When we arrived in Las Vegas we visited an outlet mall where there were big sales from the Black Friday weekend..

After this we were went to our hotel and changed our clothes because we were going to downtown LAS VEGAS...everyone looked so nice!

We had dinner at Boulder Station in a Casino, the buffet had all sorts of food choices and was unlimited!  The Thai students loved that there was Pad Thai, though they said it wasn't as good as back home.  We emptied the ice cream machine!

We left this place and went to Fremont Street, the original Las Vegas, before "the strip" was built.

It was so amazing and breath taking. While we were there they played a video/song on this massive ceiling screen...apparently the longest one in the world.

Our jaws were open. OHH MY GOD we were really in Vegas.

We took a lot of pictures and looked a live performance from a band.

From the Fremont Street we went to Bellagio to see the awesome water show in front of this famous hotel.  It reminded some of us of the movie Oceans 11.

The strip has all kinds of different features, from an active volcano to a sphinx and a replica Eiffel tower.

Were we really in Las Vegas or in Paris ??!!!

And of course not to forget, we visited the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign.

The lights in Las Vegas are incredibly amazing, we couldn't believe that this was all real!

Thanks for checking in!

Anne Weinberg (Germany)

Grand Canyon - Day 2

Hey guys:)
Today is our second day of the trip and it was a travel day, so we got on the bus after enjoying a wonderful breakfast at the hotel in Phoenix, it was really delicious!
They had a lot of different fruits, cereals, meat and all other stuff (yummy):D
It took us four hours to arrive at the Grand Canyon, after a short stop.
We all were very excited when we were heading towards the Grand Canyon, but when we finally looked at it... FOG! Everywhere.
Fortunately it was lunch time anyways, so we all went eating at the Bright Angel Lodge.
After lunchtime we went out again and suddenly everything was clear and the view was absolutely breath taking. Grand Canyon is beautiful.
Some of us went hiking down the Bright Angle Trial, took a lot of pictures and enjoyed the wonderful view. Going down was rather easy, but going up... that is a different story. We felt like we were dying ;) It was a psychically tough thing to do...  But it was definitely worth the exercise.
Others chose to take the Shuttle Bus, which took them to different view points around the Canyon.
We met just in time for the pretty sunset - and in some cases, hot chocolate.
The bus was waiting for us, and we drove to dinner at Maswik Lodge. The food was yet again a delicious buffet with salad and pasta, meatballs and chicken. We finished off with a piece of cake. With the bellies full, we drove to our next hotel, were most people went swimming in the indoor pool, while others were chatting in the lobby.
Ultimately, this day has been amazing, and we all enjoyed Grand Canyon. Tomorrow, we will be heading towards the lively Las Vegas. Hopefully, no one will get married to some random Elvis guy in a casino :D (That would be fun though)...
Well, see you tomorrow guys. Don't get into too much trouble, save it for Vegas...
Night Night!
Nanna Larson (Denamrk) & Rebecca Mann (Germany)

Phoenix! Day 1

Hello everyone !

Welcome to the first day of our west adventure trip report. For most of us, the day started pretty early and after a long journey on different flights, we were all happy to finally be in the hotel. After a brief check-in we got our trip t-shirts and our roommates. Some of us spent their free time at the pool, while others enjoyed some time in their rooms, with new international friends.

After about two hours we were all ready to leave for a trip in and around Phoenix. Our first destination was the Arizona State University, were we saw a lot of people tailgating for the football game. On our ride to the second destination of our trip, we were impressed by the typical variety of westcoast plants, including palm trees and cacti.

We stopped by to see the Capitol building of Phoenix and had a chance to take pictures and a closer look at the giant cactus.

Shortly after that, the bus took us to our third and final destination, the hole in a rock, located in Papago Park.

Fascinated by the red, 6-15 million year-old rock, we made our way up to the top, where the view gave us the chance to take some breathtaking pictures.

Exhausted and hungry, we made our way down again, ready for dinner at the hotel. On our way home, Arizona showed all of its nature’s beauty again, with an incredibly amazing sunset behind the mountains.

At seven o’ clock we were all ready for the delicious dinner, which was already waiting for us. With our bellies and minds filled with good food and new impressions, we all enjoyed the brief presentation about Belo USA and our upcoming trip, which we are all incredibly excited about. Tomorrow we’re leaving early to take on the Grand Canyon.

We’ll keep you updated !

Anouk Elias (Germany) & Johanna Pinn (Germany)

Welcome to the West Adventure Trip!

Here it is, the WEST ADVENTURE! Get ready to take in the best of the West: historical Phoenix, the amazing Grand Canyon, fabulous Las Vegas, and glamorous Los Angeles!

It's going to be 8 days of adventure, culture 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!!!