We made it to California!

Have you ever hopped on a bus headed to California? Not to brag, but I had.

On our way to the City of Angels, my friends and I had high expectations. We've all seen it in movies. We imagined ourselves hiking to the Hollywood Sign, meeting stars in Beverly Hills, seeing the Walk of Fame and swimming in the Pacific Ocean. But among all things, I was excited for one in particular: Universal Studios.

From the Universal Studios to Disneyland

My friends and everyone around me should probably know by now that I love TV series and being able to visit real studios made me feel really excited. As the bus parks we all get off and I can finally see it: the spinning Globe. The first thing we do is getting in line for the bus tour, which turned out to be fantastic. Among all the sets we saw villas, an underground on fire which eventually flooded and a crashed airplane. It's amazing how good and detailed everything was, from the buildings to the streets.

That day was spectacular. We saw water shows, the Scooby-Doo crew in their van and the Simpsons. There were also attractions like The Minions, Shrek and a flying simulation. The latter was very interesting: it was like being on a swing and the screen in front of us would change scenario every now and then.

Universal Studios was not the only park we stopped, we also had the pleasure to spend a full day in Disneyland. Useless to say that we had a lot of fun. The best attraction was the California Screaming, for the first time I considered going on a roller coaster with a loop. I may have screamed the entire time in Italian but no one was able to understand so it was cool. We ended our day in the happiest place on Earth by watching the fireworks show and the parade - and in no time we all felt 8 years old again.

Downtown LA

Unfortunately, we did not hang out down town much, but we wandered in Beverly Hills as we were hoping for and we did see the Walk of Fame, from which we spotted the Hollywood Sign. The Griffith Observatory probably offers a better view, but we managed to be there on a foggy day (don't blame us, it was June).

As we did not bump into any celebrity in Beverly Hills we made a stop at the Madame Tussauds, where we took pictures with wax figures of stars like Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Will Smith and Obama.

Immersed into Nature

As we left LA, our bus made a stop at the Yosemite National Park, where my friends and I kayaked - or at least tried. I'm kidding, it was not hard at all; the stream was not strong. The water though, that was freezing cold. As we reached the "shore" I managed to step on my brand new sunglasses which I bought for the trip. Good thing just a few days were left, and that I spent only five dollars on it - yes, not a coin more but that's just because I knew I was going to break them or lose them.

We left our hearts in San Francisco

Eventually, and unfortunately, we left our bus for the last time. We arrived in San Francisco, where I believe everyone left their hearts. SF is also a big city but it certainly did not feel as crowded as NYC. It is colorful and full of diversity. We stopped at Pier 39, had lunch at Bubba Gump, shopped at the Hard Rock Café and took the ferry to the Alcatraz Island. It was very interesting to see what the cells look like and hear the story of the jail itself. The audio we were listening to also mentioned that prisoners were able to hear the chaos from the city when it was celebrating.

Back to the mainland, we also had chili (or whatever it was) in a bread-bowl! Let me tell you, it was delicious according to a bread lover like myself. We took the cable car, which dropped us off at Union Square and from there my friends and I had some free time to discover a place where we could eat something. Ended up having Chinese fast-food at Panda Express, lmao. They handed out a fortune cookie as well, isn't it neat? Seriously though, not really American maybe but it was my first time trying out Panda Express.

The last thing we did was crossing the Golden Gate, taking a group picture and then going back to the hotel where we had a little farewell party. We played some music, we danced and we signed our flags with beautiful notes of goodbye.

To conclude, my fellow exchange students and I:

(in Los Angeles)

• Spent one day at the Universal Studios;
• Spent one day at Disneyland;
• Went to the wax museum;
• Stepped on the Walk of Fame;
• Admired the Hollywood Sign;
• Faked to be celebrities in Beverly Hills;
• Swam in Huntington Beach CA.

(in San Francisco)

• Took a cable car:
• Went to Pier 39 and saw the sea lions;
• Visited Alcatraz Island;
• Saw the Painted Ladies;
• Walked through Lombard Street;
• Crossed the Golden Gate Bridge;
• Had dinner in Chinatown.

Goals for my future trip to California

If I ever go back to Cali, which I am positive I will, I will definitely go to Central Perk in Burbank because I am a HUGE fan of the sitcom Friends (I still cannot believe they did not take us there, ugh! ). Once in Burbank though I will have to make a stop to the Warner Bros Studios, of course. I'd like to actually hike to the Hollywood Sign and not admire it from far away like we did. Then, speaking about beaches, I'd like to put my eyes on Malibu, Santa Monica, and Long Beach. Moving to National Parks, I think I'd like to visit the Death Valley and Point Reyes (I stop here because I would have probably named every Californian park). Last but not least I think I'd add San Diego on my list because I think it cannot be missed.

- Cris

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