New York City!

    Hi, our names are Mariapaz and Simon from Chile, and today we're going to talk about our first day in NEW YORK CITY!
    Today our day started quite early, after getting up we had some breakfast at the hotel and then we left boston to go to New york, which by the way was a looong drive, at the bus we hanged out, laugh, sleep and watch a movie___ "simon hated the movie but Mariapaz kind of liked". Lunch was in the bus, after a few hours we arrived to New York City. Our first visit was to the United Nations and we had nice tour in there, learning a little bit more about international relationships.
    During free time we went to downtown, where we did some shopping and walking around Central Park. For dinner we ate at___ and after words we had more free time, which means more shopping (parents don't freak out with your credit cards). After some funny pics we left new york city to rest ourselves and be ready for another great day in new york. we are having so much fun. This is a experience that we'll never forget,

Simon and Mariapaz

  

Boston!

    Today we were in Boston , we wake up early and went to a duck tour to meet better the city. It was really cool and people were screaming "quarck" all the time for us, it was funny! After that we went to have lunch in the quincy market and was my favorite place to stay. There was people singing, selling different stuff, a lot if good food and shopping! After that we had our free time to explore Boston, we saw really pretty parks, the capitol, churches, shopping and we realize that Boston is just a really secure and amazing city!! After all, at the noon we went to had a lot of food at zoe's and they had everything as possible, and for the last thing we went was Harvard. A really pretty, nice college and that i would just leave there because of the city , its pretty with a lot of interesting things there to do, i feel like there is a place that you could not get tired of it!!! And after that we went to the hotel to end the day :)

Ana Wilcken Giovana Zampoli

 

 

Going to Boston!

    So how do you make a nine-hour drive from Niagara Falls to Boston fun? Well there is a number of ways to do that, and let me tell you, it only becomes more fun when you mix a bunch of crazy foreign people into it. So what do you do to make time pass, well for starters you make the guy from the Easter Islands sing and rap on the bus speakers, you then take a guy from Switzerland and make him tell jokes about oblong objects, after that you offer some Asian karaoke, and you top it off with a weird Danish kid who wasted 5 minutes of everybody’s life on a story about a kid who wants to fly (yes, I did just call myself weird).

 

    But how can all that possibly sustain a bunch of teenagers? Well, it can’t. Which is why you make sure to make a stop or two. In this case we stopped at the state capital of New York, where we were once again let free to roam the city streets. Now what does a bunch of teenagers make time go with? Well first you drive the manager of a Subway crazy, and after that you start making weird pictures with the statues at the park. And if that is not enough, you can always take a walk with one of the great chaperones (unfortunately that part comes with the risk of missing the bus).

    But after a long drive our bus needed a rest, so we took a stop to switch busses and bus drivers, it all went very well, right up until we found out that our new bus had taken the other bus’s example and also wanted a break, so we ended up waiting at a nice mall while a third bus was brought to us. The mall was very nice and it was nice to do a little shopping while waiting for the bus.

    The last stop we made was used to get something to eat, and what better way to spend that time than by teaming up with a Lithuanian and pretend that you are from Mars and Jupiter (sadly I can’t tell you much about that because it has been classified by the government), after that we all bared witness to and epic eating match where Pedro the Brazilian eating machine came out on top as victor. That was then followed by a game of parking-lot football, which was interrupted by a couple of local girls who were VERY interested in the foreign guys (it’s the accents). 

 

 In short, a very long and boring day was turned into a great road trip with lots of fun and crazy moments, you cant ask for a better group to travel with than the one we have.    

 

Niagara Falls!

    On June 17th we went to the Niagara Falls one of the most beautiful places we have ever been.
After breakfast we went to explore the Niagara reservation and to take pictures of the beautiful landscape.
    We had lunch in the park and we headed for the "winds cave" where we could be very close to a small portion to the water fall! It was an amazing experience to have fun under the falls.
We also took a boat to navigate in the Niagara river. During the boat ride we had the chance to be very close to the Niagara Falls. By the end of the ride we got very wet but it was worth it because all of us had a great tie enjoying the experience.

 

    After the boat ride we had a free time when we could tale a trolley throught the park or explore a little more the small town.
    We had dinner in a pizza place, we went somewhere to do laundry and back in the hotel we took a walk by the river to enjoy the night view of the Niagara Falls.
    It was clearly one of the best days of the trip and we lived unforgettable moments as exchange students.

Mirelle Herrera & Ana Lorena Fortunato



Six Flags and Baltimore!

    After that day in Washington we were all excited to go to the amusementpark SixFlags America in Marryland. So we packed our stuff had breakfast and then left heading for Six Flags park. We arrived at the parkt at about ten, right when the park opens. But we couldnt go in quite yet, then Kirstin had to go and get the tickets. So we waited there about 20 painful minutes, because we wanted to go in, for Kirstin to give us the tickets. Then we got them and went in. In the park we splitt up into groups so we could all enjoy the rides that we were most comftable with. For example there was a Standupcoaster called Apocalipse, wich was pretty good. An other realy good ride was the Jokers Jix, a ride where the train accelerates out of the station, and feautures 4 inversions. The highest ride of the park is Superman, Man of steel, a rollercoaster with a height of 208ft (63m) and topspeed at 73mph (117kmh). The probably craziest coaster of the park is the Batwing. It is a special rollercoaster, because the passengers are laying at the start. After the lifthill there is a lie to flie element, where the passengers go from laying to hanging down. It is a really scary roallercoaster.

    In the morning there werent many people in the park, so we could do a lot of rides without waiting in the lines. But around noon the park started to fill up and the lines became longer and longer. So a lot of the groups decided to go to the waterpark that is cotigious to the amusementpark. It was really crowded in the waterpark, because it was a really hot day. They hat a lot of different things, so for example a huge wavepool and several raftslides. And then six o'clock came closer and we sadly had to leave the park.

    Then we drove to Baltimore, where we stayed in over night in a hotel. The day was awesome, we all loved it.

 

    After the exiting day at SixFlags, we had a less exciting day. In the morning we drove to Baltimore to visit Fort McHenry, tha was the birthplace of the Star-Spangeled Banner.

    After arriving there we watched a short movie, where we learnt about the legacy of Ft McHenry. After the interesting movie, we went to the Fort, where we all helped to raise the 30ft by 42ft flag which simbolized the defeat of the British at Ft McHenry in 18??.

    After that we could walk around and take a look at the cannons that were stationed around the fort. It was verry interesting and beautiful, then the from the fort we had a great view over the ocean and the city Baltimore.

    After visiting Ft McHenry the bus took us to the harbor of Baltimore, where we had lunch and then some freetime to go shopping. At about 2 we got back on the bus to complete the 7h drive to the Niagara Falls. On the bus we watched movies and a lot of people slept during the busride; we were really bored. In the evening we had lunch at a Fridays in Buffalo, NY which is close to the Niagra Falls. After that day we were all glad to arrive at our destination and went to bed early.

 

Dominic Hagmann

Day 3 - Washignton D.C.

    Welcome to Washington! Here you will experience art, airplanes, spacecrafts, history, the biggest church in America, teasing weather, and the world’s most accidental football game!

    Day 3 of our east coast trip was a long day full of great experiences, both big and small. We started out by visiting the Basilica of the National Shrine, where we got a guided tour by an old lady who quickly became a group favorite. This is huge church with a massive amount of shrines all dedicated to the Mother of Christ. The church was beautifully decorated and filled with a bunch of religious treasures, no matter what religion you follow (or if you don’t follow any at all), this masterpiece of a building is going to take your breath away.

     Our next stop was the Mall, where we were let lose to roam around in all the exciting museums freely! The mall offered a lot of different art museums, a museum for natural history, one for air and space history, and much, much more. I visited the air and space museum, which was filled with all sorts of flying machines from the very beginning of our history in the air. They had everything from spaceships to predator drones, and they offered insights in the different machines. It was a great experience to walk in through the door and be met by hundreds of huge airplanes and rockets hanging from the ceiling.

 

    After my visit at the museum, my fellow exchange students Dominic and Grazvydas took a small break outside the many museums in the park, under the shade of the trees. Here we played a small game of football. I bet it was a funny sight to see three Europeans trying to figure out how to throw a football. Our skills with the weirdly shaped ball might not be the best, but the feeling of playing an American sport in front of the Washington monument is one of the greatest feelings I have had in my life so far, it really makes you feel like you have become a part of the country, which is a feeling that not many get to experience.

     The next thing on the program was the Holocaust museum. This was quite an experience. I will admit that me and my group got completely lost in the building the first hour we were there, but after that we found our way up to the fourth floor, where the real exhibition began. We moved through years of history, and learned so much about not only how the Jews were hunted, but also how each and every country contributed to end the war. For me it was a great thing to see the efforts of my people back home (including my great-grandfather), be recognized in a country as great as America.

     Our next stop was dinner, and how that was needed. After a long day with a bunch of experiences the tummy needs to be refilled. It is not the dinner that is important however, but what happened afterwards. Continuing our game of football from earlier, six of us guys decided to play on the parking lot, yes, the parking lot. I know what you are thinking, “Those kids are crazy”, and you are probably right. Diego, Pedro, Grazvydas, Dominic, Woody, and I, started a nice little game on the parking lot….. This was not our best idea, which came to show when Diego threw a ball for Grazvydas, who was not paying attention at the time. The result, a football hitting a parking car….. Woops. After a short panic (and laugh) attack, we had the fortune of just being made fun of by the owner of the car, who then decided to play with us for a while. How lucky can we be?

    With a day as great as this there are no doubts that this was the right trip to choose. With great weather like this, great company, a team of great chaperones, a really nice busdriver, and a country as great as this, there is no way that this trip can go wrong. If the next days are just half as great as today, this trip is going to be the greatest trip that any exchange student could possibly go on!

Alexander Bering, Denmark - June 13th, 2013.

Day 2 - Philadelphia