June 26th - Last Day

First of all, I fell pretty important writing about the last day of our
awesome two weeks in the east coast. We had a pretty easy morning,
sleeping a little later and preparing to leave NY. We left NY at 11:30am and
we got in the road to Pensilvania.  During the trip we stopped to have
lunch, which it was our last lunch together. We arrived in Philadelphia. We
went to the liberty bell. And, Arnaud, Felipe and I went to the Congress
Hall and to the Independence Hall in our free time.  Which, the movie
Benjamin Gates and the National Treasure took place. Also, in the Congress
Hall we saw where the Declaration of Independence had been signed.  Then, we
went to the hotel, which we had our good bye party. In the party we had
pizza and we had our talent show. That was so much fun. Almost everybody
made something. Including Hugo drawing Kamila's face or the Asians dancing!
Also, Andin from indonesia dancing a traditional dance. Also, we had so much
fun with our presenting guys, including Hanna and Tom! Tonight, for the fist
time we don't have a curfew! We went to Denny's to eat ice cream at 11:30pm.

Everybody is already sad with the end of the trip. It's funny to think
that two weeks ago we were here in the same hotel so excited for see NY.
One of the hardest things when we meet people from all over the world in a
trip is that we never know when we will see them again. We enjoyed every
minute of this trip. I am sure that no one of us will never forget our
moments together!
Thank Kierstern, Betsey, Elli and Teresa for everything!!  You are awesome!

June 22nd - Heading for New York City

Hello dear family and friends,

Friday, June 22th probably the day that everyone was waiting for it!! New York.
It was our first day in the gorgeous city of New York, starting with a roof morning that start for most of us at 5:00 am to go from Boston to our appointment in the United Nations. We left Boston at 6:00 am and I'm pretty sure most of us were sleepy and tired but after 5 hours driving and when we started to see the far away skyscraper from NY we started to get really excited and woke up and take pictures to every single thing that we saw.
Finally we were at the UN, with a humed and warm weather outside that didn't help too much waiting for get inside of the building. The tour in the United Nations was really interesting, we saw the places were every country meet to discuss issues around the world and make solutions to make the world work.
After that we went to get lunch the huge but beautiful metro station were we take pictures because most of the girl remembered some romantics comedies movies were filmed there, pretty excited for us uh?.
And then where the exciting part for us, FREE time for the rest of the evening to go for the streets of NY, some people went to 5th avenue, Time square, Central Park, see the outiside of broadway and for some of them take the subway for first time and of course shopping in all those originals stores that always dream about it.
The weather didn't look really good and was time to meet with our chaperones to eat dinner in the front of central park and just when the time come to go there a hard and really strong rain storm come to give us a free a shower!! Literally A shower... After that totally experience all we were tired and hungry, was almost funny the picture of us eating all wet in the market ready to go to the hotel and get some rest.
For sure was a excellent day for everyone and getting our dream realized to come to New York and be in one of the most famous cities in United States.
After the day went so fats we were in bed to be ready to next day visit the statue of liberty!

Valentina Vasquez (Chile)

June 21st - Last Day on Boston

We spend the last Thursday in Boston. We left the hotel at 8:30 to get a
dock tour in Boston downtown but the traffic in the big city of Boston made
us late! A little bit later we took the dock tour with Harley Davidson (his
real name; I promise) our guide! Our vehicle was a old truck/boat used
during World War II to carrying the troops. We did a tour of old Boston. We
saw a bunch of old buildings like churches surrounded by higher towers. We
saw also the "Boston Public Garden" with his famous George Washington statue
that it's the most popular picture of Boston. The park is surrounded by
towers that makes the view beautiful. The Boston Capitol is on the side of
the park and is the office of the governor of Massachusetts. We crossed the
Charles river and got in the water with our vehicle for a little tour on the
river and then we just came back to the Science Museum. Our guide was
fantastic during this tour!
Our bus drove us to a open market with a bunch of cafés and restaurants.
After lunch we had all the afternoon free. A lot people went shopping,
others went visiting the city. But me I went to Fenway Park with Elli.
Fenway Park is the mythic baseball stadium of the Boston Red Sox build in
early 1900. After that we came back to the market square and walked into
downtown.
At 6:15 everybody met in front of the Hard Rock Café. We ate our dinner
there and listened some good music. Little story: a young girl from Boston
had her birthday that evening. So every student sang Happy Birthday in his
own language (English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, German, Thai, Mandarin,
Russian, Japanese, Danish, Lithuanian and Czech).
After this awesome birthday party we came back very tired to our hotel
outside Boston for a short night because we left Boston at 6 in the morning
to go to New York and other adventures.

Arnaud Laurent Christophe Henri Dubois (from Belgium)

June 19th - Seaside Heights

    Today we went to the beach in Boltimal, we stayed there from 12 o'clock to 6 in the afternoon. It was a nice and sunny day. Almost everybody swimming, it was so much fun with a big wave and cold water. After we got money for our lunch, we all seperated into groups, to eat and do something else. Around the beach there were a lot of games, food, clothes store and a small amusment park. We got on the bus and went to do our laundry. We went there and put our clothes in the washing machine then went to the hotel and took a '5 minutes' shower, quick shower after went to the beach. Then we went back to finished our laundry, put our clothes in the dryer. Some people never went to the laundry  place and do they laundry there before,  it was a good experience. After that it was the time for dinner, we went to 'T.G.I. Friday'. It took a long time to wait for the food but it was delicious. These day was anther fun day for us. 

Some Photos...

June 17th - Busch Gardens

Hey everyone!

    How was your day? I'm pretty sure that it was awesome. Because since in the morning we had late morning and we didn't have to wake up early. We didn't feel like we were running out of time, also we got to go to the Busch Gardens, which is a fun amusement park. We could ride roller coasters, skyride, and other games. We could also see the animals. They have some animals like eagles, hawk, owl, deer and wolves. In the Busch Gardens there are ten beautiful different gardens. And all of them were named from European countries, such as Germany, France, England, Ireland, Italy, and some other else.

    When we arrived there, we had a free time; which was the best part of it, because we didn't have to be controlled where to go or what to do from anyone. Then, we made small groups, and each of group was going to the different games. For our group, the first game was 'the escape from pompeii'. It was a game that we're riding a boat and we went into the building that has been decorated by the old fashion and kind of like an ancient building. Then at the end, there is a big water slide and all of us slide down into the water, and eventually we got wet on our first game. Then we went to other games, but we didn’t go to any roller coaster, because we are too scared. For us it’s too extremely scary game, and not for so long one of us was got hungry, and at that time we were in Italy garden, so we stopped at the restaurant, and we had lunch in there.

    Now we will tell you a little bit about the meals we had today. We had lunch at Busch Gardens. All of the foods in the park were a little expensive, but they actually tasted really good. As we told you earlier, the concepts they are using is Busch Gardens to name the sorts of areas in the park are the names of some countries in Europe and the meals they serve in each area are suiting to the concept. What we had was Italian food in the area of Italy and the quality was very high (We supposed!) For the dinner, we had fast food at Hatreds. We were getting a little tired of fast food, but guess what? WE ARE IN AMERICA. Once we get back to our countries (Indonesia and Japan), it is not that easy to get tired of fast food... Anyways, we would love to tell you that the meals are one of the most enjoyable parts of the trip.

    We have to say goodbye to our awesome driver, Paul in two days. He has taken us to a lot of places. sometimes he takes a while to get those places. I am sure he gets tired, but he is always nice to us. The other night, we got a few rules, we need to keep clean the bus; do not throw away any garbage, do not use restroom in a bus, do not shoot people by water gun HAHA. In these couple days, we have a lot of free times. The good thing is that we have been able to come back to each meeting places by the time. This is really important thing. That means we are doing well! However, we also have to pay attention when we get free time. Our three leaders, they trust us, that's why we must show them our attitudes because they give us great opportunities, so we thank leaders, bus driver, and all people who we meet. They have taken care of us every single time. We should not forget every helps, and we should not forget the most important thing, we have awesome time!!

Written by: Andin (INDONESIA), YASUHO (JAPAN), AMI (JAPAN)

June 16th - Virginia Beach!

Hey friends and parents and people who love us! Happy birthday to Miguel! Saturday was a party day, our favorite boy from Mexico – starting with an M at least – had his birthday on this fine day and boy, what a day! Most of the day was spent in the bus driving from Washington to Virginia Beach. Due to traffic and a couple of shopping stops plus picking up another student, Kevin, from the airport, we didn’t get there until 6-7-ish at night.

    The beach was beautiful but a slightly bit cold and the waves were high. We unfortunately couldn’t swim because of those conditions so instead the night was spent with some more shopping, relaxation and hanging out. Later in the evening we all sat around by the beach and listened to a local band playing for us. Soon we all got up and started dancing like crazy. At first people around us were just watching but soon more people joined us in a circle of love and good vibes. Miguel got his birthday songs for the day and he even got to be held up in the air in celebration of his 19th birthday! When we had been dancing for a couple of songs it was time for late supper. The choice was between good old McDonalds and Subway. We’re all getting a little tired of fast food but it’s fast and easy when you have a big group like we do. Once more we got back to the bus where Miguel, once more, got celebrated with ice cream and a pretty pink “birthday girl” banner – he looked stunning! He also made a long speech and it was very emotional, we all cried as he told us how much he loves us. Miguel is the man and he told us that this was one of the best birthdays he has ever had. Next year we will all come and visit him in Mexico for his 20th birthday – hah, we wish!  It was a long day but another good one. The days are flying by in a fast pace but we’re all enjoying this trip as much as possible. We don’t get a lot of sleep but that’s what keeps us busy. 

Best wishes from the birthday boy Miguel (Mexico) and Siri (Denmark).

June 15th - Washington DC

Hello everyone, today we had our third and last day in Washington D.C. Our day started with a delicious breakfast in the hotel. After that we went to the Capitol building. In there we took a very interesting tour in the halls of the building. Our touristic guide showed us statues that represent important personalities of each state. After that we went to the congress library, and had some free time to walk around and see some interesting things, like the Thomas Jefferson collection of books. Later on we had free time to walk around the city; most of us went to the museums. They were awesome and we actually had an adventure on the way there trying to figure out where to go. The Natural History Museum was wonderful.

    Our favorite parts were the exposition about the rescue of the Chilean Miners, we could see the machine that they used to save them, and also see letters of support that people sent to them. And to see the staff working with fossils in the middle of the museum! The next museum that we went was the Air and Space Museum, the first thing we noticed was the airplanes hanging on the ceiling. It was very interesting too. After that we met with the group and had dinner at Olive Garden. It was pretty nice to eat a great Italian meal and interact with the others exchange students and get to know them better, even though we are in the end of the fourth day of our trip we can really tell that the time is flying and it’s amazing to see how connected we are in such a little amount of time.

Felipe Madruga

Debora Dalla Costa

June 14th - Washington DC

    Today, sunshine, blue sky it was such a great day to start in Washington D.C. We went to white house so we had just a few minute to spend there it was too busy there. We had to took pictures really fast. That was the high light in Washington DC. Then we got on the bus again and drove to the church which was the white church and pretty big . A lots of mosaics, pretty architecture and beautiful drawing, also lots of variety for Christian such as American style, Vietnamese, etc. We had lunch there and sat in the cafeteria that full of pretty and colorful glass windows which illustrated the story of christ, God, the lat supper. Then we drove around Washington DC. We passed a lots of interesting places but we didn't have a chance to go. I was so sad about that. And then We went to the Declaration of independence, that one was so interesting. It was all about how to be United State like right now.

    Then we walked along the path with as much respect we could, the weather was sunny and so hot. After that we arrived back at the hotel, we got to choose those places near by to eat; some one went to Wendy's or McDonald or seafood, panda express, etc.Then we had free time until 10.30 pm. At 10.30pm in our very important meeting, Kiersten said, Tomm need to talk to us, he said about we had to clean the bus because we didn't clean the bus nicely by he drove us to Thomas Jefferson memorial; with a comfortable look in our pajamas, we took several picture. The weather was nice outside and we had a great bonding time with each other. Finally we got back almost 2am. So everyone were ready for bed. Nigh time!!!!  

Karn, Arpa and Fern

YE Thailand

June 13th - Message from August V. Katte

Hello Everybody!

    Today was a great first full day we all spent together. We left our Hotel in Philadelphia early in the morning at about 9 30 and loaded all our luggage in Bus and went off to the Philadelphia City Hall. In the City Hall we had a wonderful tour guide who took us around the very impressive and important building of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was found by William Penn, who originally came from England where his dad taught him, in Williams opinion, bad habits about religions.

    So William Penn founded Philadelphia in 1682 to serve as a port and provincial capital, with religious freedom. We also had the opportunity to get up to the top of the tower, where William Penn is on top of. It was great weather so we had a beatiful view out on the city. After that we went to the market place where we had a big choise of all different kinds of food and relaxing conversations outside of the market. Satisfied and ready to go, we went to the famous Art Museum. They had a great variety of different art from all over the world. And what the museum or the stairs in front of the museum are also famous for are the Rocky movies. Where Rocky Balboa runs up the stairs to get in shape for his boxing competitions.

    We spent about two hours at the museum which was plenty for all of us to get around in the museum. Many of us were hanging out on the stairs where you have a beautiful view on the buildings and the long avenues. Shortly after we were out of the museum we went back to the bus to move to the next city, Washington DC. Now we are really excited for the next day and are already fighting about the curfew. So long!

August v. Katte

June 12th - Message from Siri (Denmark)

    As I woke up this morning at 3 o’clock I knew it was the beginning of a big adventure. It was the 12th of July 2012 and the big exchange student trip to the East Coast was about to start. The excitement of getting the adventure started and to meet a ton of new people made the awfully early morning a tad easier. For me the trip started in Fargo where I flew in with a couple of other exchange students to Chicago where our next flight to Philadelphia would be. As we sat in Chicago and waited to board more young people came and sat around me and my friend. We were curiously watching them wondering whether they could be exchange students heading the same direction as us. Finally a girl took courage to go and ask us if we were heading towards the east coast and with friendly greets our adventure of meeting new people could begin. Soon we were about 10 exchange students gathered on the uncomfortable seats in the gate – about one third of the whole group. We were already talking with each other, each one of us with a smile on our face and excitement in our eyes. Part of the excitement disappeared as we heard our plane was delayed due to a combination of bad weather in Philadelphia and the President Barack Obama’s arrival. Well, the second reason most of us found kinda cool, I mean, how often do you get to say that your flight was delayed because of the President of the United States?!

    A couple of hours later than planned we got to board and head towards Philadelphia. As we finally arrived to gloomy weather, we went to get out luggage and soon one of our guides, Elle, met us and led us to the bus that should bring us to the hotel was another group of exchange students were anxiously waiting. Names and greets were exchanged and although there are 35 names to remember (!!!) we’ve all been practicing and we are already doing pretty well. After our luggage had been placed in our assigned rooms we went to go to Danny’s – a good old American fast food chain. After eating way too much food we had a short orientation meeting where Kiersten told us about the different rules that we would need to follow unless we wanted to get send home early. One of the rules was for example that we have to speak English to each other – a rule that seems fairly simple but since there are a bunch of people from the same country it can be hard to avoid not to speak our native language. I’m sure that we will all give it our best as we all are very excited for the next two weeks to get started. It’s about time to go to bed because we have a busy day waiting ahead of us tomorrow with different museum trips and so on. This is the first night of our journey and it already started off great. I’m sure that this trip will fly by but that’s mostly because we will be having so much fun. I’m sure this will be a trip to remember forever! Thank you so much for reading this post, we will keep you updated every day.

From SIRI (Denmark).

EAST COAST 2012 has started!

Exchange Students living in USA from all over the world are meeting today at Philadelphia Airport to start one of their biggest adventures on the Exchange Year - the East Coast Trip! For the next 14 days, exchange students will live together traveling around USA and visiting unforgetable and exciting places like Washington DC, Boston, New York City, Busch Gardens, Virginia Beach and much more! Follow our blog to keep posted on what's happening at the tour...

East Coast 2012 - Coming soon!