Thursday, June 27, 2013

End of the Trip!

WEST and EAST COAST 2013 trips have ended! It was an awesome experience! We could visit amazing places, learn about history and tourism and discover a total new side of the United States! Most of all, we have made the biggest friends! Terra North America would like to thank all the students, chaperones, monitors, drivers and suppliers for those incredible trips! We really hope you have enjoyed every minute and built great memories!
Thanks!
Terra North America Team.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Day 12 - June 23rd - Disneyland

    Well, people may differ but this was the best day for me. It was the longest day for sure, cause we were in the park since 9:00 am until 11:30 pm. Personally it was the best day, I loved it, me and Mathias were together pretty much the whole day and in the course of day we find diferent persons of the group. The first thing we did was Soaring Over California, that is a simulator that takes flying you over different landscapes of California, then we went to California's screaming, the big roller coaster of the park, we ride it two times, afterwards we went with some other people to the Toy Story's attraction (the largest line, 55 minutos waiting). We went to eat at around 1 o'clock and then we went to the Aladin's show. We had fast pass for the Hollywood Tower Of Terror at 4, so in the meantime we ride California's Screaming again.

After riding the Hollywood Tower Of Terror (which by the way was my favorite attraction) we crossed over to Magic Kingdom and then went to the Space Mountain (a roller coaster in the dark) the wait time said 75 minutes, but luckly there were some people of the group already in the line so the wait was like half and hour. Afterwards we went to Pirates Of The Caribbean and then to Indiana Jones. Went to have dinner at like 8:30 and then we met the rest of the group by the Walt Disney's statue at 9:30. At 10 o'clock the fireworks started in the castle, that was really amazing. The last thing we went to was Fantasmic, a show about Mickey Mouse's imagination.
 
By the time we arrived in the hotel it was already past 11:30, we were all exhausted and with feet sore, but it was worth it!


Written by Quique

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Day 13 - June 22nd - Zoo


Today we spent the morning in the famous Zoo in San Diego, one of the biggest zoo's, were they even have mechanic stairs.
we walk around, did the bus tour,the cable car and even Aryaman paint his face as a panda.

After the zoo we hit back to LA, but first we went shopping to the mall and some of the guys went downtown San Diego, it was something pretty to see and we kinda bought a lot.

After 2 hours in the bus finally we got to LA were we had free time and dinner at Arbis.



Friday, June 21, 2013

Day 10 - June 21st - Sea World


    Saturday, we went to see world, we left the hotel right on time to be there at the opening! when we were inside the park, we started by the killer Whale show who was amazing, these animal are able to jump in the air, wave to us, dance, splash us and to do many more stuff. After that we all split up and went in the different way. The important rides were Manta, Journey to Atlantis but we had the opportunity to do many more things like touch Manta, go to the top af ''skytower'', feed dolphins. Between the killer Whale show we also saw shows like the dolphins show which was amazing and the pets show who was also pretty good! We had a very good lunch inside the Park. Even though it was really hot outside, i think we all had an amazing day! Everyone likes it and had so much fun there! After the park we just came back at the hotel and went the Dennys for dinner.

Sido.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Day 9 - June 20th - Grand Canyon/San Diego

    Today is the 9th day on this trip, after we're spending really fun time in the Grand Canyon now it's time to leave and move on to San Diego. After had a quick breakfast in the morning we got to leave early at 7:30, San Diego it's pretty far from Grand Canyon so we will have a long trip for today. During the ride we spending more time on watch movie first movie we watch The Blind Side it's really inspiring and based on the true story, then after we watch it we stop for lunch and continue the ride with The Hangover, it's really entertaining movie. When we're arriving at the hotel we had a free time for swim, hang out, or some of us prepare for the talent show tonight. The talent show were great! Some of us play music such as piano, harmonica, and trumpet, the group from the same country were sing their own song or even solo, and some of us were dancing too, also telling the joke. It's a really great night because we got to know everybody's talent and also the cultures, songs, dances from different country.
Thalia Azdhani

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

PICS

Day 8 - June 19th - Grand Canyon

Hello from Arizona!

    Today was probably one of the most exciting days for all of us because we got to pack ourselves into a bus which was heading to Crand Canyon!!
     Some of us got up real early and some of us didn’t even make it to the breakfast but somehow we managed to start our one hour drive at 8 AM.

    We got the perfect day in every ways. It was super sunny, warm, no clouds, tiny breeze and extremely dry. I love Arizona, this is how summer suppose to be back in Finland too!

     Everyone of us were carrying a bottle of water which really came in need. The moment when we first stepped on the edge of this amazingly beautiful creation of nature. How should I explain it or even describe it? You feel so small just standing there next to something so much bigger, something that people didn't have anything to do with. After taking five million pictures on the top, we started to work our way down to the valley. The paths were steep and dusty so I really didn't have time to check the views while walking, I just remember how the path looked like and what color was the sand..

    We were warned that the hike might be really exhausting because of the heat combined with the steep paths. Well when we walked down, it went fast and of course it wasn't hard or exhausting! At that time we all were still making our happy hike with a big smile on our faces enjoying the views. Our destination was to make it to the first ”trail stop”, where we then took some more pictures (like we didn't have those enough already) and then we started the HARDEST part of the hike...Going back up.

     Now all the meters you walked down felt 5 times longer, and after the 10 minute walk downhill, the same distance took at least 30 minutes. Definitely one of the hardest and coolest experiences I've ever had. We all got back up safely and now we can proudly say we hiked in Grand Canyon.

     After the hike we all were starving, so we went to have lunch together into this small town close to Grand Canyon. After eating we saw an Imax movie about Grand Canyon. We all were so exhausted because of the hike, so 90% of us just fell a sleep during the movie. I stayed awake pretty long so I can say it was a well made movie!

    We came back to our hotel after lunch, and had free time couple hours before taking off again. There was a small village near by our hotel that we drove into. Before having our amazing dinner we saw a gun show presented by traditional cowboys. It was fun and so AMERICAN, although the gunshots were way too loud!

     With our bellies full, we headed back to our hotel for dessert. For me, the Grand Canyon was the most amazing national park I've ever visited in.
    Hiking in there is also thing you have to experience at least once in your life. Next post coming up soon!

Susa Palviala
 Finland
(Cass City, Michigan)

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Day 7- June 18th - Las Vegas to Grand Canyon


    We left the hotel in Las Vegas/Henderson early in the morning to start our way to the Grand Canyon. On the road we stopped at a really funny store in the historic Route 66 where we were able to buy some souvenirs. We stopped at Wal-Mart to buy our food for the party at night.Then we kept going and made our way to a little town where we had lunch at a restaurant. After lunch the drive to the hotel was really short and we had the entire afternoon for ourselves , the hotel has tennis courts, a pool and a hot tub, a volleyball court and a Basketball court. At night we had the little party to celebrate the birthdays that people have on this trip, it was a lot of fun and food. After the party some people went to the pool, some played cards, others soccer or volleyball or simply just hung out.

Kristin and Fernanda :)

Day 6 - June 17th - Las Vegas


    Today we started in a long bus trip during the morning from Yosemite to Las Vegas (kind of somewhere close). But anyways we had a fun ride to Henderson. We stopped for lunch time in a buffet which was really good and after we got back from lunch to the bus we saw in the screen that the temperature was over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, the sun was pretty bright and we were really warm. After an hour of riding the bus we got in the hotel where we had some free time to get ready and hang out with our new friends.
    Finally we got in hour final destination to the fabulous Las Vegas! first of all we stopped by the biggest souvenir store in the world  and then we went trough the city and watched the lights of this awesome place of course we went to the center of the city to have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe where we had time to enjoy Las Vegas and take some pictures.
    During the trip we were very good and organized so we had a really cool surprise, they took us to the fountain show in front of the famous Eiffel tower restaurant this show was awesome and we felt like we were in the middle of Paris.
    After a long day everybody went to the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the night we all had a great time enjoying LAS VEGAS!
'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! (shhhh)
Wrote by: Fernanda Carballo and Lilla Toth

Monday, June 17, 2013

Day 5 - June 16th - Yosemite



Today we had a great time at Yosemite National Park!!!

After driving the whole morning we arrived at the park and had a picnic with all the students. We share our food between everybody and ate a lot. Afterwards some people took a little swim in the creek and some others stayed by the picnic tables resting. Later we all went to the waterfall to take pictures. It was a really fun afternoon at the park. At 4 we took again the bus and drive two more hours until we arrived in the hotel. We ate dinner at a buffet but most people were still full from the picnic so we didn't eat too much. In the hotel we hang out in the pool until bed time. It was nice day
 
Written by Quique

Day 4 - June 15th - San Francisco

    If you're going to San Francisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you are going to San Francisco you're gonna meet some gentle people there
-Scott Mc Kenzie-

    This is the song we played in the bus on our way to San Francisco, everyone was excited. We divided in two smaller groups, while one group went to Alcatraz the other one enjoyed their free time in San Francisco downtown. riding the cable car, walking on the piers, shopping and sight seeing were some of the things that we could do, our operations were unlimited.

    We met to have lunch together at the Hard Rock cafe, it was a great time. After that the groups switched the activities.

    We road the bus and headed to what everyone was waiting for, the golden gate bridge. Dinner was next, we ate Chinese food in Chinatown.

    Even when the weather was cloudy and windy, we still had a great time! We're all looking for some new adventures.

Written bye: Michelle Velácquec, Saskia Glück
Supervised bye: Marlene Scholz, Chung Wei Wang (Amy)

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Day 3 - June 14th - Monterey, Carmel

    Today our first stop was in Carmel where we had some free time to explore the city, pretty much everybody went together to the beach down in the road from where we parked. We took some pictures and some crazy people went to the Pacific Ocean to swim! Uhuuuuuulll. After that we visited Monterrey where got the chance to try 5 different  types of Clam soup as samples while we were walking on the pier, they were good… and free! At the end of the pier we stop to see the view, take more pictures and see the seals lying on the rocks and swimming. Our meal at the restaurant was good and we had a nice view of the seals taking a sun bath from there, it was nice place.

    After lunch we took the bus one more time to visit Cannery Row in another city, that street is famous for canning and producing good chocolate. So guess what ? We took the bus again but now for our final destination San Francisco, but we stopped in a mall to have a dinner which was a nice buffet we ate so much, and shop a little bit (who can resist shopping in America).
Finally we arrived and everybody is looking forward for the day tomorrow… San Francisco is
going to be fun!

Friday, June 14, 2013

Day 2 - JUN 13th - Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Solvang

    Today we checked out from the hotel in LA, headed to Santa Monica and stopped in Venice Beach on the way. When we arrived in Santa Monica, we had some free time to go to the Santa Monica Pier. While we were there a really cool thing happened: there was a  free photo booth and some of us went there. The thing is that the machine was not actually taking pictures. Instead of it that was a voice of a woman that started talking to us and making some questions like where we were from, how old we were and stuff about our countries. After we got out of the machine, two people came to us and told that the photo booth was actually a prank with hidden cameras from Jay Leno's Tonight Show, and that we are gonna be on the show on CBS on the 26th of June! So stay tunned!! We left the pier and walked to Denny's for lunch.

    We went back to the bus to go to Santa Barbara passing by Malibu Beach and had some more free time there after a beautiful ride.
The weather was perfect and the view was great so we got a lot of good pictures. After that, we went Solvang, a Danish village that had old fashioned buildings. While there we went to a Danish bakery and tried some typical pastries.

    Our final destination for the day was King City, where we are spending the night. We checked in the hotel and went to Subway for dinner. When we came back to the hotel, some of us jumped in the pool even though it was a little chilly.

This was another great day and this experience has been awesome so far!!

Written by Isabella Toy, Johanne Ovesen and Ana Mendes

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Day 1 - JUN 12th - Los Angeles - Universal Studios


Today we started what is probably going to be one of the best two weeks of our life; getting to know the other 47 exchange students from all around the world was so fun and exciting.
We got the chance to go to Universal Studios in Hollywood. We got to see the filming sets of Desperate Housewife, the Grinch,  CSI, Fast & Furious 6, Jurassic Park, and more, we also learned some of Hollywood's secrets. Afterwards we were allowed to split up into groups and go the park and see all the attractions like Jurassic Park, Transformers, The Simpsons, The Mummy, The Horror House. We also saw lots of different shows like Waterworld, Special Effects, The Blues Brothers, and Animals Actors. After talking with the other students we all decided that the two best rides were Transformers and The Mummy and the best show was Waterworld.

After leaving the park we all went to eat dinner at Bubba Gump, which is a restaurant based on the movie Forrest Gump and famous for its fried shrimps. After the meal we went to hang out around the stores and the Hard Rock Cafe. Before leaving this awesome place we took a picture all together in front of the Universal Studios globe. It was a great first day and we all had an amazing time. We are so excited to experience many more adventures.



Written by Quique and Sido.
Supervised by Felix