Day 4

April 30^th 2013 The Phantom of the Opera!

 Today in New York we all had a great time! It was the best way that I could think of to end our trip here. We started off the day with a tour on the boat “Zephyr” it was completely awesome! They told us to dress for Alaska but it was actually kind of hot. We toured around New York and it’s harbor also getting to see the Lady Liberty herself too. Unfortunately she was unable to harbor visitors due to the recent hurricane(which I completely forgot the name of).  We took so many pictures and enjoyed it so much.

 After that we went off to the one and only Times Square and went shopping and just liquidated money. We were everywhere down there. It seemed like almost every store you went into there was one of the fellow Belo kids there. Time square was so chaotic during the day with people yelling at you to give money to taxis honking their horn at you. We all absolutely had fun there today!  Two of our people had to run to the bus to make it on time though. Ha that was pretty funny.

Next we went to the United Nations to have a pretty long tour. When we got there it was just like airport security with all the hoops and whistles. When we were about to begin our tour we had to be split up into three groups. When the tour started she was stating random fact about the UN and asking us questions like “How many countries are with the UN?”(193 I was the one who got it right but no reward :P). We learned about the UN’s purpose and what they have done, are doing, and will do to help make and keep peace. We learned about a cool site that we can donate rice for free to starving kids (freerice.com). We even got to see where all the meeting are help and how they do it. The gift shop was awesome! A lot of us bought stuff there mostly flags and pins with flags.

Then we went to go eat at Sbarro’s.  It was a one trip buffet and everyone’s eyes were bigger than their stomach if you know what I mean. I ate about three-fourths of my food and gave my dessert away. The food was one of the closet things to Italian food that I have ever had!

Finally we went to go see………. Phantom of The Opera!!! It was so amazing! It had to be my favorite part of the whole trip. The way that the stage was set up and how easily they could set everything up. These people had dedicated their whole lives to dancing and singing to do what they love and it was totally awesome. The way that their voices harmonized and were still clearly audible was outrageously awesome. The whole theater stood and clapped for what seemed like an eternity. Well thanks for reading byeeeeeeeeee. I am David Robin Wooten the one and only.

Day 3, Our amazing walk around the city

Dear people of the world,

Our day began at 6:30 in the morning in the beautiful but rainy New York City/New Jersey. After an enormous breakfast we took off for the amazing, gigantic, Empire State Building.  After a little bit of history we got up to the 86^th floor of the giant skyscraper. Even though it was kind of cloudy and windy we had an amazing view of the big Apple. We took tons of awesome pictures. Our great bus driver drove us to the famous Grant Central Station. We felt like we were in Madagascar, Out of the Zoo. Everybody split up for lunch and tasted the variety of New York’s flavors. Some went to the 5^th avenue to spend some money, and some more money. Stuffed with food, we met Garrett our real New Yorker Guide at the Battery Park. After we took pictures with the famous bull and its famous body part right in the middle of the financial district, we went over to the Wall Street. Garrett told us a lot about the Wall Street history and we explored the federal hall.  Ground zero was our next destination! We experienced the atmosphere of Ground Zero and spent time at the St. Paul chapel. It was a memorable impression of Ground Zero, thanks Garrett.  After that we walked over the historical Brooklyn Bridge, as a matter of fact this year it is the 130^th anniversary. We got a little city tour of Brooklyn, because Garrett is from there. SoHo the shopping place where everybody goes in NYC was next on our agenda. We had time to shop like a New Yorker and got to know how busy NY actually is. After SoHo we went to Chinatown and experienced some Asian food and we took a deep breath of Chinatown. Tired and exhausted we went back to New Jersey where we spent the rest of the night having fun with all our new friends of the whole and beautiful world.  

Greetings from the foreign exchange students Hanne Meyer & Luis Rieken from Germany and Nicolas Diez.

Day of Arrival-April 27^th

^{Dinner together: After everyone arrived at the hotel in New Jersey, we met in the dining hall to all eat dinner together. BeloUSA held a presentation about the trip to give us a first impression of what the trip is going to be like.}

^{First day- April 28th}

^{In the morning we all met eaaaarly in the morning to have breakfast together. We talked about some main things about today and then all enjoyed the good breakfast J}

^{Our first stop was the Public Library in New York City. From there we walked to the Rockefeller Center and had a little Sightseeing Tour with our Tour Guide Garret. Then we went to the amazing Central Park. Nothing in the park is natural and it took them 14 years to plant all the trees. A lot of New Yorkers go running in the park, just like you see it in all these American movies.} 

^{The bus took us to the St. John The Divine Cathedral, it was so huge, the Statue of Liberty would even fit in it. Another impressive thing about it was that the statues on the left side are not on the right side, they are still finishing it up. It is supposed to be done in 2180.}  

^{After that we walked to the famous Columbia University which is one of the best universities all over the world. It kind of amazed us how the campus looked because it was pretty small, but Garret told us that New York was the campus of the students there. The university is famous for their medical and law program which made some of us think of studying there.}

^{Of course we were hungry after all that stuff that we did in the morning, so we went to Greenwich Village to eat. We walked around with our slice of pizza or Starbucks coffee and enjoyed New York’s streets.}

^{The Metropolitan Museum is so big and impressive, it takes 4 days to see everything in the museum. If y’all guys have seen the Mr. and Mrs. Smith movie, you would recognize the temple in which Brangelina were dancing.}

^{Afterwards the bus dropped us off at Alvin Ailey’s dance studio and we had a Hip-Hop class. It was really fun and we had a wonderful view of New York from the room in the 5th floor.}

^{After the hip hop class we we were all exhausted so we went to eat at a special place every tourist has to see: The Hard Rock Café! Everyone was so excited because it is always something special to eat there. It was a cool experience and we all had a ton of fun buying souvenirs and eating delicious food,( their cookies were the best)J}

^{On the ride there we already knew what we were going to do afterwards. The Hard Rock Café is located right on the beginning of the Times Square which we saw while we drove there. It seemed like a whole other world in New York. I have never seen an amazing place like this! Everyone took a million pictures just to remember this amazing place and some of us went up the stairs to be seen on one of the big screens, we kind of had to get our elbows out and fight for some space there J  This was such an amazing day and we can’t wait till tomorrow and the rest of the trip! We hope you like this Blog entry and the pictures we took J}

Goodnight from the Big Apple!!
Melina (Germany) and Elizabeth (Germany)

WELCOME TO THE NEW YORK CITY, PHILLY & DC TRIP BLOG!

WELCOME TO THE NEW YORK CITY, PHILLY & DC TRIP BLOG!

 

This will be our day-to-day journal... each day, you'll get news, information and pictures from the students. Join us on our adventure!

Get ready for a week in the exciting cities of New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC!! 
The trip will be starting out in the great city of New York! There is no place like it in the world! A nice walk in Central Park, shopping in the cool and modern neighborhood of Soho, exploring the ritzy Upper East Side…the possibilities are infinite!

Continuing on to Philadelphia- we will see American history come to life! We will explore the National Constitution Center, see where the Declaration of Independence was signed –even try one of Philly's famous delicacies, the “Philly Cheesesteak”.
 

Next, we will head to Washington DC – the nation's capitol. Here, we will explore the many monuments and memorials in this important city! Enjoy an afternoon on the Smithsonian Museum campus, visit the quaint neighborhood of Georgetown, explore the life of George Washington on his Mt. Vernon estate…and more!

Join us on this journey through three of America's most vibrant, exciting, and historical cities!

Have Fun!!!