July 6 San Francisco

Our last day of our Belo West Coast :( 

We woke up very early to make our way to our Alcatraz tour! We got there early and had to wait for our ferry. When we finally got to the island a lot of us were so excited to see something so famous in US and even world history! We watched a short video about the islands history then walked up to the cell house for an audio tour. We were in groups of 7 and walked around through the prison together. The tour was narrated by past inmates and guards! It was like stepping back in time! 

For lunch we had free time at pier 39. Then we were off to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge! We arrived and it was so windy and chilly! We were happy we knew it would be cold and we had our jackets. The bridge is about 1.5 miles long and we enjoyed our walk across, stopping to take pictures every 5 minutes to make sure we don't miss a good shot. The view of the city was breath taking! 

We headed back to the hotel for our last dinner together. We also had a short orientation about our departure day. Some of our flights were canceled because of the plane crash at SFO but the Belo staff helped us right away. Our dinner was delicious and we had fun listening to the winners of the superlatives! Four of us even wrote a song for the trip- a version of "we are the world, we are the children" it was so great! After dinner and speeches it was time to party. We had a DJ the played everything we wanted, even some of our favorites from our home countries! Sadly the night did have to end and we all had to pack for departure day. 

This trip was so amazing! We would like to thank Rotary, our friends and family, and Belo for a great year in the United States and our West Coast trip! 

July 5 San Francisco

We woke up at our hotel in Oakland and had a delicious breakfast to give us energy for our long day out in the city. San Francisco is so full of life and culture we knew our day would be a good one. Our first activity was a cable car ride! It was so cool! Our group split up into two cable cars so we could all enjoy a good seat. The cable cars are the last of their kind in the world! It was so fun to go up and down the hills of San Francisco. Once we made it to our stop at Union square we had free time to have lunch and check out all that downtown San Francisco has to offer! 

After lunch we met our tour guides that would tell us all about the history and culture of the beautiful city. We went to walk down Lombard street, the most crooked street! There were so many beautiful flowers lining the street as it curved back and forth! We also saw so many neighborhoods! We stopped at the city capitol to see the beautiful buildings. There is a panoramic view of the city from a small mountain like area called Twin Peaks. You have to get there at a good time otherwise the fog rolls in and you can't see a thing! Lucky for us we could still see the city streets, buildings, homes and parks! It was an awesome view! Our last stop was China town. It's the biggest in the US! We had Chinese for dinner, so much food! We all got fortune cookies with our dessert and so many of them surly brought us good fortune :) 

Our day was a long one, but we want to see as much of San Francisco as possible! It's city is amazing! 

July 4 Yosemite to San Francisco

Happy 4th of July! 

Today we got up early to make our last big drive to a new city. We watched movies and enjoyed the beautiful landscape of California as we made our way to San Francisco. We stopped for lunch before getting into the city. 

We crossed over the Bay bridge to arrive in San Francisco! What a beautiful sky line! We could also see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge off in the distance. Our first stop in SF was at the de young museum. It is an art museum. There was so much to see and some pieces were very interesting. They had different fabrics on display, photos, paintings and pottery too! The museum even had a special look out 9 stories high that had a great view of the city. 

After time enjoying some art we went down to Pier 39. Usually this spot is busy with tourists but today it was especially busy because it was July 4! There were sooo many people! We had some free time to check out all the shops and stores before we headed to dinner. We had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. It was delicious! After dinner we had some more time to enjoy the busy streets and side walks at Fisherman's Wharf. 

Then we finally headed to our destination to watch the fire works! We made it just in time to Treasure Island. It was an amazing view of the fireworks off in the distance! The Bay bridge to our left, the city in front and the fire works to the right! It was a great show. The only bad thing about this great night was that everyone had the same idea to watch the fire works from the island. But it was okay, we watched a Forrest Gump on the bus so we weren't bored :) 

Our first day in San Francisco was a beautiful day! 

July 3 Yosemite National Park

Today we got up bright and early to drive to Yosemite National Park! Some of us went right back to sleep on the bus as soon as we left the hotel! When we arrived to the park we noticed how different it was from that Grand Canyon! Here there were so many big beautiful trees and it was all green! We couldn't believe how beautiful the park was! The big cliffs were so steep! Can you believe people climb up the sides of these mountains with no harness or ropes?! Don't worry, we only went on a hike. 

We first listened to a park ranger talk about the park and bears that live in the park. It was very interesting! After that we took a shuttle to hike up Mist Trail to see Vernal Falls. It was very steep sometimes and a work out for sure! It was so worth the sweating! When we got to see the falls the water was misting and it felt so good after our hike! 

After our hike we went to grab some much need lunch. We had pizza, salads, and other yummy foods. Some of us even splurged on ice cream! We then walked over to start our mini adventure of rafting! We got a quick orientation and then headed off to the river! It was shallow and there were not many rapids at all! It was so much fun! We all paddled together and loved seeing the beautiful view of the park! Some of us brought our water proof cameras so we got fun pictures! 

Later we took the shuttle back to the main lodge to eat dinner! It was Sandy's birthday so we all sang happy birthday to her in the middle of the cafeteria! After a delicious dinner we left for the hotel. We watched Moneyball. It was a very good long day! It is so nice to explore the beautiful nature here in the United Sates! 

July 2 Los Angeles to Yosemite

Today was a travel day for our group, and our last day in LA, which made most of us pretty sad! 
After checking out of the hotel, we drove up to Griffith Observatory, which looks out all over Beverly Hills, LA and Hollywood! 

From there we could see the Hollywood sign pretty close and get some awesome pictures. Right after that, we drove down to the famous Rodeo Drive, the chic shopping district of Beverly Hills. We took a great group picture in front of the Beverly Hill sign there, and then had lunch and explored our favorite shops, such as Gucci and Louis Vitton-- very affordable stores, you know! :)

After Rodeo Drive, we hit the highway for 5 hours, arriving in Merced, California, at around 7 pm for dinner at a pizza joint. During the drive we watching some cool movies like the Blindside and Inception.  And of course we enjoyed the beautiful view of the California countryside!! 

After dinner, we checked into the hotel (which is not too far from Yosemite), and had some free time by the pool.  We're excited to go hiking and rafting at Yosemite National Park tomorrow! 

Lots of love to our family and friends back home!

July 1 Hollywood & Huntington Beach

Los Angeles

Most of us woke up today thinking, "Welcome to Hollywood, baby!" 
We got to sleep in before heading off to the famous Hollywood Blvd! We started by visiting Madame Tussaud's wax museum, where we were able to meet some of our favorite people in wax form, such as: Justin Beiber, President Obama and Britney Spears! The visit made for some awesome pictures that look like we met the REAL celebrities. Some us tricked our friends back home that we actually met them in real life! 

After that, we had time to explore Hollywood itself, which included glimpses of the Hollywood sign and visiting our famorite actors' stars in the sidewalk, the Hollywood walk of fame. It was fun to look for celebrity  names that we knew! Some of our favorite stars were Sean Penn and Michael Jackson, the king himself! Thriller, anybody?

After our time in Hollywood we drove to Huntington Beach, which was about an hour away. Driving there made us realize just how big Los Angeles is: the 8th largest city in the world! The traffic is crazy, no matter where you go. The beach was nice, although the sun didn't come out until we had been there a few hours. It was so awesome to see the Pacific coast! It was the first time for most of us. It was so nice to play in the waves. some of us come from places where there are no big beaches! It was so peaceful to walk down the pier and look at the beach! 

We all ate, played in the waves, played football, frisbee and the REAL football: soccer. :) Many of the Brazilians and Spanish students were also glued to the TVs in nearby restaurants to see the Brazil-Spain futbol game for the final of the Confederations Cup (Brazil won)! Great game!

After our beach afternoon, we headed to a true Italian dinner at Buca di Beppo, which was not too far from our place on the beach. We ate as much pasta, chicken parmigian and salad as we could possibly handle- yum! The cheesecake for dessert was also pretty delicious.

We ended the night at the hotel with a few hours of free time, which for most of us entailed finally doing laundry and hanging out by the pool and hot tub. Overall, it was a relaxing and fun day--even some of the Scandinavians got a nice tan! ha! 

Filip- Croatia

Piotrek-Poland

June 30 Disneyland!

Disneyland!!! Today we went to the happiest place on earth! We left early in the morning so we could spend a whole 12 hours in the two Disney parks! (Disneyland and California Adventure) There was so much to do! Thank goodness it was a week day, so the park was not that busy! Most of us went on sooo many rides! Some favorites include: California Screamin, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, the new Cars ride, The Pirates of the Caribbean, and Hollywood Tower of Terror...just to name a few! 

At the park there are the Disney characters going around taking pictures with people and doing songs and dances for everyone! We got to see so many characters! It made me the happiest person ever! I was so excited to get so many character's autographs! Around dinner time we all met up in front of the castle to take our group picture! It will be so nice to have the group pictures later so we can remember all our friends from our Belo West Coast trip. 

We then went off to eat and go on more rides! After cramming in as many rides as possible we watched the fire works at night! The show was so great! The fireworks take place above/behind the castle so you are always looking at the castle lit up in color and light! Some of us went to watch the Wonderful World of color, a water and light show in California Adventure. It was so amazing!!! 

Coming to Disneyland really did make us feel a little like kids again and it was so fun to enjoy all the rides with our RYE friends! We can't believe how fast the trip is going! Tomorrow we leave for our hotel near Yosemite National Park! From man made wonder to natural wonder! Love to all our family and friends reading this! 

Raluca- Romania

Kania- Indonesia