West Coast 2014 BUS I ends today!

WEST and EAST COAST 2014 Trips are ending today! Wow! We had amazing trips this year! Lots of fun together on the road and on the most famous cities from each coast! We would like to thank Rotary International, Chairmen and Inbound Coordinators, Families and Host Families, also our coordinators, guides, drivers and suppliers! Thanks for all the support!
Our special thanks to you Exchange Student! Thanks for traveling with Terra North America - we do hope you enjoyed this trip so much as we did! Thanks! :)

Terra North America Staff

14th Day - 24th of June - Los Angeles Tour

13th Day - 23th of June - Disney Land and California Adventure

Disneyland a place where your imagination flies. Today we woke up early and got there at 9 am. As a group the first ride we did together in California Adventure and for my opinion was the best on the park, we did at least 10 times; we spent the entire morning and half of the afternoon in this park. Everybody could choose to do any ride they wanted. After being in California Adventure for most of the day we went to Disneyland, personally I think there was so many people there! I think I haven't seen that many people in just one place, we did couple rides there but we return to California Adventure.  The time passes so fast, it was already 9pm . We were supposed to meet everybody in Disneyland at 10pm and then return to the hotel, but a guy told us that that show was not good at all so we stayed there for a few minutes and the guys from our group started saying that we had to leave and we were going to be late but I never saw what time was it, we started running and I just couldn't run, because I was so tired but I was not the only one so I took my shoes off we run we found the group but the show started 30 minutes after we got there, the show was called Fantasmic it was awesome like a fairy tale with Mickey Mouse and princesses, it was awesome, it was totally worth, even if we were there until 11 pm I loved this place because here are magical moments and they are forever.

12th Day - 22th of June - San Diego Zoo

Today we started the day of by taking the bus to San Diego zoo. In San Diego zoo, we started off as a group taking the bus ride around to see some different animal species. We saw different interresting animals, for example a baby giraffe that was born this monday.
After the bus ride, most of us, took the skyfari up the hill, to see the pandas. The pandas were very quiet and didn't move much, but they were definitely cute. After a few hours in the zoo, we had to say goodbye to the animals and hello to the bus driver. We drove for a short while, and got to our buffet where we were going to eat lunch. This was our 3rd time at that kind of restaurant. After the meal, we went back to the bus, to drive about 3 hours to get to a shopping mall in LA. In the bus, there were times where the entire group of us were sleeping. We have had many long days, and lack of sleep. 

When we arrived at the mall we had a couple hours to do some shopping on our own. The mall had a big variety of different stores. We went back to the bus, and drove for a short while to get to our hotel. In the bus, our lovely chaperone Fred, decided that we have been so nice, that we deserved to choose our roommates for our last hotel. We all are very grateful that he trusts us. Once we were settled in, we walked down the street to eat our dinner at Subway. The rest of the night, we have spent time in the lobby, hanging out, playing cards, and had fun. It has been an eventful and great day.

Helene Myrdal

11th Day - 21th of June - San Diego Sea World

Hi everyone this is Paul and Boby, we gonna talk about our experience in San Diego Sea world and about the Talent Show at night. We arrived around 9 in the morning at Sea World and went straight to the roller coaster ride, Manta Ride. Most of the people went 2-3 times because there weren't a lot of people in the line. After the ride, we went to the Dolphin show. The dolphin show was awesome, the dolphins are so smart. After 20 minutes of the show, we went to the Shamu the Orca show. A lot people got wet because of the tail of the whale. After the Orca show, we were free to go anywhere. After a whole day spending time in Sea World, we met again in the entrance door at 6.15, but me, Paul, and Antonio were late due to the Atlantic ride. It was closed for a few hours because they had problems with the lift in the roller coaster and short before we wanted to leave it opened again so we had to do the ride one more time. We had pizza from Pizza Hut for dinner before the talent show. After that we had the Talent Show. Almost everybody had a talent to show to the group. Many of those talents were really good. There were people dancing, singing, acting and telling jokes. It was a lot of fun to watch and to see how talented some people are. After the Talent show we had some free time until 0:30.

10th Day - 20th of June - On the Road

Today we spent most of the day on the road. We had students from the countries that are playing on that day in the World Cup to come to the microphone and talk about their countries. We had Italy, France and Switzerland today.

We also watched movies and prepared for the talent show. And, of course, slept a lot.

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9th Day - 19th of June - Grand Canyon

"Don't forget to bring tennis shoes - if don't have those, you're not going - put on sunblock and bring a lot of water! This is gonna be the best view of your life!"

When we arrived to Grand Canyon, one of the first things I remember was how everybody's hands were in excitement grabbing cameras and their walking suddenly got faster. There we were. The first sight of GC. "Be careful, don't go too close to the edges and don't take pics now we gotta go. Remember, walking all the way down is optional, but walking back up is mandatory. Not everybody can make it."

As we started walking on almost-not-slippery path we got to see something. Something bigger than us, something internal. But great things mean great challenges. And that's exactly what Grand Canyon is, we think. Walking down on an endless paths with sun shining right on top of your heads (-unless you actually brought a hat). We're walking, talking, posing. Yeah!!! We made it to Oooh Aaah point! Beautiful view, pictures which will make our friends jealous, laughing, showing our flags to Grand Canyon..walking down is such a fun!

There was like half an hour left to go to our final point. Some folks stayed at ooh aah point and didn't continue. But we did!!! But I wasn't the first one in our final point. I actually met people who were on their way back from the final point. "Why did their faces changed from joyful to funeral mode?" "This is so terrible" - a guy giving me a hug full of hopelessness. Well...I went all the way down, took pictures (& selfies of course) and started to walk back. And it really was big difference. Especially when you saw how much is still left. But we all survived!!! Even our plastic not-really-useful Italian friend Giuseppe who we've met in Vegas.

Few advice?

-Squirrels are cute, but feed them carefully, they bite.
-In this case, disability of smell is a pro (saying hi to mules and their 'leftovers').
-Try not to talk on the way back, save your energy!
-Charge (and also take) your camera.
-Take short breaks in shadows.
-Actually bring a lot of water!
-But the most important...don't forget good attitude! :)

Eduard, Kia, Otto.