Big Apple 3.0: Last Day of our Trip!

Dear Everybody,

I just love big cities, especially New York, and I love to have a good time with great people. Today was our last day of the East Adventure Trip, and it was great! Our last full day of this trip started with the visit to the Empire State Building. After a rather short waiting time, considering that this is one of the most famous buildings in NYC, we were able to enjoy the best view of the city.

The Big Apple from the Empire State Building

Part of our group on top of the Empire State Building

I was worried about the rain, that was supposed to come today, but fortunately it didn't start until we got down from the top. Led by a tour guide, we walked past the Public library to Grand Central station, where we had our lunch time.

A rainy afternoon in front of Grand Central

A busy day in Grand Central

As we were done and got a little bit of rest, we drove to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we spent a couple of hours. In the afternoon we had a lot of free time to go shopping, taking pictures or just for socializing at Times Square. At night for dinner we went to the Hard Rock Cafe, which was our very last activity in New York and on this trip.

Times Square

American flag in Times Square

Wall of guitars in the Hard Rock Cafe

I think today most of us had a really great time, unfortunately two of our group--Jannick and Jan--weren't feeling good, but I think they still had a good time for at least a part of the time. I can't really believe that today already was the last day of our trip. As well as the exchange year in general, the time of the trip past by so fast, that it seemed like we just got here. We all had an awesome time, made friends, and filled their exchange year with some great experiences, and their phones and cameras with photos. I am gonna miss it here, the cities, especially NYC, the people and the whole time we had.

This week we were seeing all those great sites that most of us only knew from pictures or movies, but to actually be there is absolutely awesome. Eventually, the experiences and moments will become memories, that we will probably keep for years. But maybe some of us will come back at one point in our lives.

-- Jonathan (Germany)

Another day in New York City!

Another day in New York City!

Between six and seven o'clock, 70 alarms rang at the Spring Hill Suites a couple miles away from "the city that never sleeps." After a stop-and-go bus ride (infamous NY traffic), which led to continual nap and awakening episodes, we reached our destination - the harbor of New York City. An airport security check was waiting for us before we boarded the little ferry that brought us to the Liberty Island. Cameras, which were taken out on the ferry already, came to action now. Thousands of pictures were taken with exchange students in front of the big, green, enlightening lady.

Lady Liberty in all her glory

The New York skyline from the boat ride

Sandra (Germany), Gloria (Italy), Alina (Germnay), Sven (Germany),
Anne (Germany), Anna (Austria) and Jeroen (Netherlands)

 Having said goodbye to the famous Statue of Liberty shortly afterwards, we went on walking among gigantic skyscrapers towards Wall Street. The statue of a bull, a symbol of economical strength, was welcoming us to the Financial District of New York City. Known for bringing luck, the bull's horns and balls were touched by many of us students.

The Bull

Federal Hall

Skyscrapers in the Financial District

Led by two city guides, we walked through Wall Street, passed Federall Hall and City Hall, and ended up crossing the old and impressive Brooklyn Bridge. Not tempered enough to resist a delicous ice cream from the famous "Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory," we enjoyed an amazing view of the New York skyline.

Our half of the group on the Brooklyn Bridge

Thanks to the busy streets of the city, we only had one hour of shopping time in Soho's boutiques left before we went to dinner in nearby Chinatown. Shocked by the view of the table (no forks, only chopsticks), non-Asian students were panically starting to try to grab their napkins with the chopsticks. Finally, before the meal, a waiter came with the relief: forks. Filled up and satisfied with Chinese foods and New York air we returned to our hotel.

- Alina (Germany), Anna (Austria), Sandra (Germany), Eiki (Japan), Jeroen (Netherlands) and photos from Anne (Germany)

First day in New York!

Wednesday, March 26th, 2014

Today we first drove to library to meet our guides which was awesome. Then we walked to Rockefeller center. It was big building, that were surrounded many flags from other countries. Even I found my country's flag (Kazakhstan).

Rockefeller Center

After Rockefeller Center, we went to Central Park. It was incredible to see many places where they filmed a lot of movies. I ate the best hot dog in Central Park. We did a bus tour through Harlem after Central Park, it was amazing and now we know that there are many ethnic groups and nations in the neighborhood. Our tour guide told us that movies that are based in New York are actually filmed in New York instead of Hollywood (as they used to be). I thought that was cool.

Central Park

Strawberry Fields

After the tour we went to lunch in Greenwich village where I ate 5 Guys Burgers with my friends. As planned, we went to 9/11 memorial after lunch, which was really good to see because it is part of history of the United States.

Infinity fountain at 9/11 Memorial

Building 4 of the World Trade Center

After we drove to Times Square where we had dinner at Sbarro, it was really cool to eat Italian food. After dinner we had tickets to see the Broadway show Cinderella. It was incredible! Carly Rae Jepesen (sings "Call me, Maybe") was Cinderella.

Times Square

Cinderella Broadway Show

My favorite part of the day was that I have seen M&M's world in Times Square. It was such a beautiful place and I bought a big bag of M&M's.

It was amazing day!

- Baur (Kazakhstan)

Freedom, Liberty and Justice for all!

Hello!

We drove to Philadelphia this morning after we left the hotel in DC. It was snowing outside, and the weather was pretty cold. It took us a couple hours to get there, then we had lunch in Reading Terminal which used to be a train station. Now its a big market where a lot of kinds of food, from all around the world, like some fancy bread and some good-looking grilled food. We got a chance to choose food from different countries. We were so glad to find some Chinese food and it was so great! I finished lunch early so I walked outside on the streets for a little while and took some pictures of the city buildings.They are quite different from those in DC.

Reading Terminal (photo courtesy of Paul)

Reading Terminal (photo courtesy of Paul)

 Then we went to the Constitution Center and watched a performance there called "We the people."We learned a lot about Declaration of Independence and its background. After that, we met the guides for walking tour of historic part of Philadelphia. We visited the Liberty Hall, Independence Hall, Carpenter's Hall, Benjamin Franklin's house and his grave. I threw some pennies to Franklin's grave as well as other students, hoping to get good luck, and I think I did. The buildings were really cool. We took a lot of photos and had so much fun walking in the cold weather!

Me at the Constitution Center with statures of the founding fathers 

Our half of the group in front of the Liberty Bell

Independence Hall (Photo courtesy of Paul)

Carpenter's Hall on our walking tour

Then, we had a short bus tour and saw a lot of famous buildings through the bus window. We saw the City Hall which is the tallest masonic building in the US (and most beautiful!). Then we stopped in front of the famous "Rocky steps" and ran to the top!

Group shot in front of downtown Philadelphia (on "Rocky" Steps)

Also we saw some interesting little shops on the street. The most attractive one for me is the Avenue of Art. There were so many cool murals and art works on the wall of the houses! They were so awesome! For dinner, most of us had cheese steaks, which was the famous food in Philadelphia. We enjoyed the food there and said bye to Philadelphia.Then we had a two-hour-drive to New York city.



And we are super excited for our first day in New York City tomorrow!

- Jasper (China)

Day 2 of exploring DC!

So now I am sitting in the bus and listening to "Coldplay" on our way back to the hotel. It's such an awesome song which reminded me that I am so lucky!

So lucky to be a part of this trip, this people, this country!

Second day in Washington DC, in the capital of America, now I understand why it's the capital of everything. It's
such a beautiful place full of historical items. Unforgettable feelings about this day, not sure that will fall asleep..yeah, I am that excited :)  

   

First "page" of this fairy tale is the Capitol Building! We walked up to the steps and had a beautiful view of the National Mall. Then we went to the Library of Congress which give you a goosebumps from the first minute of your time there and till the last one. It's so beautiful! So many intelligent minds in this building--all these amazing authors and important books... It was very powerful!

Next stop: the White House! Home of president of America. First thing that comes to your mind is "why it's so small?" Ahah, but when you understand that all presidents lived there and were a part of this house, it makes it seem much bigger and more important...those walls know a lot :)

Celina (Germany) and I in front of the White House 

Now my favorite part of this day -museums! But espesially National Museum of Art which contains best of best artist works--da Vinci, Monet, Van Gough! Also, if art is not your thing, you could go to different museums like the National History Museum or the Air and Space Museum.

And the last "paragraph" of the day was dinner in a very cozy American Italian restaurant with yummy food :)

I am so blessed and happy to be here.

Peace . Love . Rock and Roll

--Sasha (Ukraine)

A Day of Remembering in DC

Last night, the our bus arrived at the hotel pretty late. We went to dinner to a mall because the second bus was going to be even later and we were hungry! I was happy that I was on the first bus because I would have been so tired all day!

Today was the first day of the east coast trip that we spent in Washington. We had breakfast and we left the hotel for our tour around DC!

First we first went to see several memorials. Because we are so many people (64), we split into two groups. We looked at the Vietnam memorial which was created for the people that served in the Vietnam war from 1959 to 1975. It is a graphite wall that shows the names of all people that served in order of their death. The graphite is shining so you can see yourself when you are looking at it. Beside each name there is a symbol. A circle is for people that still live (we couldn't find any!), a cross is for people that died and a diamond is for people that were never found. It was pretty amazing to see how much effort the people that designed it, put into it.

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

After that we looked at the Korean War memorial. It shows all the countries that were involved and there are soldiers with different emotions. Those soldiers are looking into different directions and there is no position where the soldiers are not looking at you. There is also a big wall that says 'freedom is not free' and there is another wall with engraved pictures from the war. I felt like it just seemed so real and it was really emotional and touching. Afterwards all of us went to the Lincoln memorial where Martin Luther King gave his famous 'I have a Dream' speech. Inside of the temple there was a tiny souvenir shop and a little museum. It was just so huge and enormous. It really reminded me of what I learned about it in my history class. I felt like I have already been there. We took a group picture there and some random guy just joined our pictures which was pretty funny!

Lincoln Memorial

Then we went to the Jefferson memorial. Its opening is directed towards the White House. After that, we went to the Roosevelt memorial which is the biggest of all memorials in the entire city. It is divided into four areas which stand for his four terms of presidency. Each one of those areas had some kind of waterfall that represented the time and the economic status for the time period. It was really interesting! We finally went to the Martin Luther King memorial which is really close to the water. I think it is just amazing how many memorials Washington has and it was a really nice experience to learn more about them.

Our group at the MLK Memorial!

After all those memorials we headed to Union Station, where we had lunch and some free time. Afterwards we went to the Holocaust museum which was really interesting and also really touching for all of us. The day was almost over after that, but we headed to Georgetown to go shopping for some time and walk around on M Street before dinner. I had a hot dog with fries which was pretty good! The other girls that had chicken sandwiches said that their meals were good as well.

So, overall we had a really nice but exhausting day. The weather was pretty cold but at least it didn't rain or snow! The weather forecast says that we are going to get a snowstorm on Tuesday! I really hope that it is not too bad!

Tomorrow we are headed to Capitol Hill and the Smithsonian. We're excited for our second and final day in DC!

-- Janne (Germany) & Janni (Finland)

Welcome to the East Adventure!

Get ready for a week in the exciting cities of Washington DC, Philadelphia, and New York City!! 

The trip will be starting out in the great city of Washington DC - the nation's capital! 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...and more!

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 New York City! 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!

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

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!