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.

8th Day - 18th of June - Williams

Today we were driving the whole day from Las Vegas to Arizona. From the bus we could see one of the famous big dam from the window (Hoover Dam), and after that, we stopped at a souvenir shop along route 66. We got some good pictures at the place.

We also stopped at Pine Country Restaurant, and got some delicious pies as cherry, blueberry and lime. I think the worker there was so nice because he was just smiling at us all the time lol. Then we drove for a loooong time and we arrived at hotel, in the late afternoon. We had a small party for all the people who had/have birthday on this trip. We celebrated it with a picnic inside, with an oreo and cherry pie. In the evening, we played a game where you had to figure out what animal or movie the person was trying to describe with gestures not making any sound at all.

It was so much fun!  

7th Day - 17th of June - Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS BABYYY!
What happenes in Vegas stays in Vegas!! Today, Tuesday 17 th of June; we were on the road from the morning until 4 pm. We started to watch a movie that was awful... But of course at that moment Fred changed the movie to 'Men of Honor.' It was a long drive but it was totally worth it! Finally we were in Las Vegas. 
We went to the world's biggest souvenir shop (Bonanza) in the entire world. It was cool but the best was the sexy shop! (Jk) Once we arrived to downtown Las Vegas, we were in the heaven! OMG IT WAS REAL AND AMAZING!! There were many beautiful and huge hotels and one of them (Bellagio) we watched the fountain's show (pretty amazing). We had the dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and we were able to dance and scream in Gangnam Style song. We were entertaining the people at the restaurant being crazy exchange student #wegotthepower. After a long day we got back to hotel, we were exhausted!!! But with a promise in our minds that we are gonna come back here for our 21st birthdays; having fun and be crazy!!!

6th Day - 16th of June - Yosemite

Today was Monday but I like to call it Funday! We got up and at 08:00AM and we hit the road. It took a while to get to Yosemite so we stopped on the way there to pee and to see a lot of turkeys (I am talking about the animal), there were also cockatoo (Araras in Portuguese) that were screaming so much! They were so scary except for my friend Kana Banana (from Japan) that dared to put her finger next to the bird's mouth. Nothing happened because we warned her and because the bird screamed right on her face so she finally got scared of it. It was pretty funny.
When we got to our destination of the day I got to experience one of the best moments of my life. The landscape was so amazing that made me wonder "Who are we?" and then my friend Flor (Argentina) and I laughed about it for 30 minutes, just kidding it was for about the rest of the day. Oh, I also took my corn rolls out because, well, just cuz'. My hair was really big but I liked it, it was kinda different.

We took group pictures with our flags and many selfies. I got to close my eyes and feel the nature, jk, there were so many tourists there! Its ok though, I loved it!

We had lunch at the picnic center. People did a nice job buying their food at Walmart, they are not like me that ended up eating breakfast for lunch. I was lucky enough to feed a squirrel with a piece of lettuce right from my hand ( that literally made my day and my exchange year, now,worth it just because of this fantastic event). There was the river right in front of us. Some people were playing football and Ninja and some others were just enjoying the sun on their skin, just getting tanner to look good on this coming summer. I got to get into the water but not because I wanted to (it was glacial cold) but because the wonderful Brazilian boys carried me into it until I got soaked. No, they are not wonderful and thank God I had clothes to change into because I wasn't wearing bathing suit. It's ok though, because it is one more story to tell to my grandkids.
It was sad to leave Yosemite, it was "so pretty" like Jonas (Germany) (Instagram: jonashiii) would say it. But we didn't have enough time to go to the waterfall (Right, Flor?). But all the sadness went away when Fred told us that dinner was buffet today. Everybody got to eat a good meal and to start the WWIII with straws and mini balls made of napkins. We got the Instagram of the waitress. I was supposed to keep her account name but I lost it, I think it was @lindseyy. Just follow her, she said she wanted more followers.

The hotel is not creepy as we were told. It is so nice! There are the pool, hot tub, wi-fi and also the most wanted: STARBUCKS.

We got to hang out at the pool and then we met at the lobby for some information about tomorrow #lasvegas.

This trip has been a lot of fun so far! Bus 1 rocks. Everyone is so nice even the Chaperones, that are supposed to be mean, are the sweetest thing (well, when they want to). Thank you guys, but first just one more thing: What it is? Wassup? Gotcha you... In the club, gosh zayam! #Exchangelifeisnotalifeitisalwaysfunday.

By Anna Luisa Lopes

5th Day - 15th of June - San Francisco

Yesterday was an awesome day, we get to see San Francisco! First they separated the bus in 2 groups then one group went Alcatraz National Park and the an other group went to a tour in San Francisco. In San Francisco we went to see the big hill and in the way to there we saw I guy that spoke all the languages of the all exchange students in my group and he also could sing on it! After that we went to the Alcatraz prison by boat of course, on the away there there was such a good information about the boat and the island. When we got in the island it was amazing I literally saw the best view of my life that I thought it was funny because of the fact that it was a prison. After Alcatraz we went to Chinatown and there we found another group of exchange students and they also were doing the west coast trip tour! As exchange students we shared experiences but was for a short time because we had dinner to eat. The dinner was at a Chinese restaurant and the food was really good! We came back to the hotel about 9 10 o'clock exhausted but with the feeling that we had ahead another adventure coming!

By Gabriel

4th Day - 14th of June - Carmel and Monterey

Today, after a very good night sleeping we got up and had breakfast. When everyone was packed and checked out, we got on the bus ready to come to San Francisco. On our way to San Francisco we made two stops spending about two hours in each: Monterey and Carmel. Monterey was a really nice city where there were several souvenir shops, where we had lunch in a really nice restaurant and also where we saw seals and pelicans which for many people it was the first time seeing it. After this, we stopped in Carmel, a very unique city, with many shop stores and an awesome beach where a lot of people hung out, swam and spent most part of the time. Leaving Carmel, our next stop was the shopping mall where we spent a lot of time having dinner and shopping. Now, we are at the hotel resting in the pool area, swimming and getting together with the rest of the group. Today, we have had a full day seeing many new places and meeting new people. Hopefully tomorrow in San Francisco we get to see as many places as we've seen today and in this trip in general.

By Antonio Abreu

3rd Day - 13th of June - Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara

We started the day at the Holiday in hotel and we had breakfast there. Then we all packed up our stuffs and set it in the coach bus. Then we drove to Venice beach and stopped for about 45 minutes, we all got to see the skaters, most of us jumped in the water, because there was not much stuffs to do because the shops weren't open yet. Then we drove for about 10 minutes to Santa Monica, the end of the Route 66. 

We stopped there for about 2 hours, visited the pier, shopped in some of the souvenirs shops, some of us did the roller coaster, some of us went swimming, then we left for lunch at Denny's. And after lunch we left for Malibu which was awesome, we all went swimming, then we drove to Santa Barbara and stopped for about a half our and Fred yelled at us because we were a minute late!

 And after Santa Barbara we went all the way to the hotel, which is in the middle of nowhere. Well today was really fun, and hot! Thanks Terra North America!!

2nd Day - 12th of June - Universal

00:30 All the delayed flights arrived and all the students are here. Everybody is ready for a great trip.

Universal:


Hi everybody !My name is Zuzia and I am from Poland. Today was our official first day of sightseeing. Our bus #1 (of course the more awesome one than the other bus) went to Universal Studios. Everyone seemed pretty excited about that. And I think that everybody is really amazed by the fact that we are in California in LA. First when we got to Universal Studios everyone took pictures with the famous "globe", because why wouldn't you, right? And then we got our free time so between about 10:30AM starting with a general tour of Universal Studios (Studio Tour - the one looking like in the movies) and 06:30PM we had to manage our plan on our own in groups that we just wanted to hang out with. It was really awesome because sometimes the plan is really strict and you feel like you don't have time for anything but now they trusted us so we could decide on which ride we want to go. Then we all went to Transformers ride. It was really unbelievable how sound and visual effects can make you feel like you are fighting with other transformers. After that everyone split. Me and my friends managed to go to I think 9 out of 13 rides/shows. All of those rides were really cool and still very different. Of course some of them were more exciting than others. Also you could go and watch a show of different effects for example my personal favorite show was in Waterpark where "water people" were fighting with "smoke people" and we could see all of those explosions and fights. It was like watching an action movie but live. Maybe it sounds a bit weird but it is true. You have to see it on your own to believe me. After all of the exciting part (which we thought was over) we went to eat dinner at Bubba Gump which theme is the movie "Forrest Gump". It was really interesting. And finally after dinner, exhausted but happy ,after our first day we came back to our hotel. To sum up IT WAS AN AWESOME DAY!!!

1st Day - 11th of June - Students Arrival

Students arrived although the day. We are now waiting on the last delayed flight so this tour can begin.