Las Vegas!

We left the Mountain Lodge in Arizona and head to LAS VEGAS BABY!!! It was a 5 hour drive, with two stops, first was at the Route 66, the infamous route that’s popularized by the movie Cars. There were fake cars painted as characters from the movie. The second stop was in a random gas station. On the way we also passed the Hoover Dam, although it was only for a second, it was still an awesome view. Not to forget we watched the movie “21”, a movie about Las Vegas that actually make some of us paranoid about how the casinos in Vegas works.

After we arrive in Vegas, of course our first stop was the mall. It was an outlet mall and we bought a lot of stuff, especially clothes for the night, because we are going to ride on a Hummer Limousine!!!! The limousine ride was so AWESOME! The music was loud. The dance was crazy. We toured around Vegas, from a place with a screen above our heads, playing Bon Jovi’s songs to the Eiffel Tower in “Paris” to the welcome sign in Las Vegas. At last the night has come to an end and we got back to the hotel at midnight. It was an awesome night and definitely a night to remember. 

~Fad

The Grand Canyon!

We saw THE Grand Canyon today. Can you believe it? In the morning we hiked down a trail into the canyon.  It was very hot and sunny and we were all super sweaty – the trail was pretty hard on the way up -  but the views were amazing and it was all worth it.  We took a lot of water and sunscreen, and we also took sooooooooooo many pictures.  It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience! 

When we came to the top again, we had time to get lunch.  We could also go gift shopping, and take a shuttle bus to many different viewpoints.  All of them were so amazing!  I think some of us took almost 1000 pictures on our cameras today!  We are so happy we could see this beautiful place.

~Yuka, Natsuki, Minami, Miku

Day in Phoenix

We woke up this morning to really hot Phoenix weather, loaded our heavy suitcases in the bus and got on a road early for our first full day on the West Coast Trip. The first stop on our tour was the state capital building of Arizona. Inside the building were few exhibits talking about the history of Phoenix. We took plenty of pictures with the building and its shiny copper roof and got back on the bus. Our second stop was a short hike to the Hole in the Rock, which was much more interesting than it sounds. 

After our little hike in the desert weather we saw a beautiful view and the skyline of Phoenix. After, we took even more pictures and then we headed to a big mall to eat lunch and go shopping. Our big Brazilian group watched the world cup soccer game in the bus on the way to Sedona. We made a quick stop to take pictures with huge cacti and with our flags. When we got to Sedona we took some more pictures with the beautiful red mountains and headed to the downtown area to get an ice cream. 

After spending some time in the little downtown area and buying some cool souvenirs we continued on to the Mountain Ranch hotel. The hotel has a big outside area where we could play volleyball, basketball, soccer, go to the pool or watch little bunnies hopping around. We enjoyed our great first day, saw some very cool places and we are excited to see the Grand Canyon tomorrow!

Sylvie (Czech Republic), Emma (Taiwan)

Arrival Day!

Today we all arrived in beautiful Phoenix.  After getting to the hotel we relaxed by the pool and tried to get used to the hot desert heat!  It was so fun meeting all the other exchange students and getting to know everyone who will be on our two week West Coast Trip.  Also, we all talked about the upcoming World Cup matches, which start tomorrow.  There were some debates about who will win the first matches.

After everyone arrived we had a welcome dinner at the hotel and then we had an orientation/meeting about everything we will be doing on the trip.  We are most excited to see the Grand Canyon (one of the 7 wonders of the World!)  Also, we can't wait to see Las Vegas, Hollywood, and San Francisco.

Can't wait for tomorrow!

~Nahyun Kim and Ping

Welcome to the West Coast!

Here it is,

THE WEST COAST TRIP! 

Get ready to take in the best of the West: historical Phoenix, the amazing Grand Canyon, fabulous Las Vegas, glamorous Los Angeles, beautiful Yosemite, and funky San Francisco! It's going to be 14 days of adventure, excitement 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!!!