The real beggining of the ALOHA SPIRIT!

After a long, really fun, day on Friday, we got to the point that it’s the time to say “see you next time”

Friday night was really sad, nobody wants to leave, because we are in Hawaii, the paradise. As Raphael said “everything that is good has to end, otherwise it becomes normal”. The last meeting together makes us feel really sad, entering for the last time in our meeting room and our last night as a group.

We have to say that all the talks that were given to the group touched us, and we think it happens the same to everyone. We’ll remember Phil’s talk… Looking over the room and we could see the faces of everyone showing an unexplainable feeling. We know everybody remembers and thought about what he said, because we are living it, and even sometimes we don’t understand what being an exchange will mean for our future lives… but someday we will.

We have said that one of the quotes he shared: “Gratefulness helps us understand the past, appreciate the present and have a clearer view of the future”… That’s why we want to thank everyone that made this trip possible, without their help we wouldn’t be here. Thanks to Belo USA for the amazing trip… Raphael, Susan, Agata and Phil for helping us in every way they could and lastly, but not less important, to us, the exchange students… without you this trip wouldn’t be the same… Thank you!

There is one more idea that I know it’s really important for us… Friendship… like one of us said: “ A friend is the one with you share time, it doesn’t matter that if we have something in common, and that’s what happens here, sharing all this time together made us become better friends… BFFE (Best Friends Forever Ever) and we know that this kind of friendship, the one that you share experience and touch your heart will last forever.

I have to say one more thing, to all of us, since we got here, we felt better, it doesn’t matter if we were having a hard time, here everything gts clear, Hawaii gives us energy to keep going, believe that we can do something to change what we want, that’s why I have to say… Please keep trying, it doesn’t matter if you fall one, two or more times… keep trying!

We’ll miss Hawaii and someday we’ll come back!

Let now the Aloha spirit live with you forever!

See you and Mahalo!

Francisca - Chile

Feb 19th - Hanauma Bay and Lua'u!!!

News from Belo Staff!

Aloha from the AFS Hawaii Expedition 2010!

Welcome to the US newest state. When people say that Hawaii is a Paradise, they are not lying... beautiful view and temperatures are around 70 F (or 25C).

My name is Raphael and I’m the trip coordinator. I've been working with international students since 1999, when I first joined Belo USA Travel! As part of the team, Phil Gordon, our official AFS chaperone and our Belo Monitors Agata and Susan are enjoying the happiness of the group!

It has been a few days that you've been sharing this experience with us, with pictures and lot's of comments from the students. Thanks for joining us and hope you are having a great time!!

We also would like to hear from you: families, host families, AFS volunteers, friends… Please let us know or send a message to your student. Write us to afs@belousa.com and we will be sure to transmit the message. You can also leave a comment on the blog!

We wish you all the best, or as we say in Hawaii... ALOOOOOOOOHA!!!

Raphael

Belo USA Travel Team

Feb 18th - Pearl Harbor... USS Missouri... Social Project!

On Sunday December 7, 1941, Aircraft and midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy began an attack on the U.S. at Pearl Harbor, nine ships of the U.S. fleet were sunk and 21 ships were severely damaged. Three of the 21 would be irreparable. The overall death toll reached 2,350, including 68 civilians, and 1,178 injured. Of the military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were from the Arizona.

Today, February 18, 2010. Approximately 9 AM, We, Exchange Student, had a great opportunity to visit the Pearl Harbor History Sites, inside has places where we can think back to bring back one's mind to understand the anguish of the victim's family. We took a shutter boat to the memorial in the other side of the river, where has a wall which full of the name of the soldier who died in that incident. Under the Memorial is the Arizona Battle Ship that sunk since 1941, never move, and we still seen the leaking oil from the ship, many people believed that the ship is crying. Then we went to the theater that illustrates us about the attack on Dec 7, 1941.

We took the bus from the Pearl Harbor to Palace of the King of Hawaii, and heard some story about the King, Queen and that Palace too. Before we move on, We took the group pictures in front of the statue of King Kamehameha I.

Lunch, today we ate at the mall where we went last night, and we had some shopping time.

In the afternoon, Social Project time!, we invited by the USS Battleship Missouri, the ship that took place of the end of World War II. This museum ship sailed from California to Hawaii on 1998. We helped them by moved stuff from office on land up on the ship, set up place for the event, and cleaned some part of the ship. After we finished, we have a special permission to go in and see 1940s crew bed and Radio communication center that some of them still use it nowadays. We really have a good time over there.

After that we came back to the hotel, to get ready for dinner, this evening we had buffet restaurant, not too far from hotel, walkable distance. After dinner, we have sometime to walk around Waikiki beach. Finally, we had a meeting for tommorow plans and then Bed Time.

But remember one thing, the war never has a winner, both side losing people, and are you going to happy from the victory that came from tons of death.

Aloha & Mahalo

Kohung

Thatchanont Jirasupangkul

Thailand

Feb 17th - Diamond Head... What a view!!!

Hello everyone!

Today we started early in the morning… We had a big breakfast to enjoy a long day.

We divided ourselves in 2 groups. Some students went to Diamond Head while others went on a Catamaran ride.

On Diamond Head, we had a lot of fun. We hiked more than 4 km from the morning to the afternoon. It was awesome and unique seeing the landscape. It was a lot of exercise, but at the same time, really interesting. At the Catamaran we saw a couple of whales and the waves were awesome. After taking a lot of pictures of the group, the Catamaran stopped and we were able to swim on clear waters.

After lunch, we went to the beach to play some volley, soccer and enjoy the time in Waikiki.

We went to a huge mall for some shopping. All the students bought a lot of stuff. The exciting thing was dinner. We went to a place called “Bubba Gump Shrimp” a theme restaurant for the movie Forrest Gump. It was pretty nice and we had delicious food.

We are having an awesome time here in Hawaii. Tomorrow we are going to Pearl Harbor… and you will be able to follow us here for more adventures.

Aloha!

Franco Meilij – Argentina

Gabriel Fernandes - Venezuela

Feb 16th - North Shore and Polynesian Cultural Center... Show!

Aloha!

In our fourth day in Hawaii we got the chance to try the most delicious pineapple ice cream and enjoy the view of the pineapple plantation on our way to the NORTH SHORE with our first stop at the turtle bay. We played volleyball games and sunbath. Later we went to Halaiwa, also known the surfers city, where we ate yummmmmy hamburgers and shaved ice. On the way to Polynesian Cultural Center we saw the beaches crowded with surfers and gigantic turtles and waves.

Arriving at the Polynesian Cultural Center, we could breath the culture of different islands: TONGA, SAMOA, HAWAII, AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND, FIJI and TAHITI. We learned how to hula dance, watched them climbing trees, had fake tattoos, a short trip on a boat around the center, we were deep in the Polynesian cultures.

After we had dinner with sushi that we enjoyed an spectacular show with many dances and fire juggling.

Tired we got back to our bus and ready to rest for a new day in our Hawaiian Expedition.

Aloha Auwinala,

Jimena Ordonez – Spain

Guillermo Dos Santos - Venezuela

Feb 15th - Catamaran and surf lessons... what a beautiful day!!!

Alooooohaaaa! It’s only our second day and everyone is already suntanned because the weather is wonderful. We divided into two groups today. One group went up the DIAMOND HEAD and the other group got to go on the Catamaran. We walked to the beach at 9 am and waited for the catamaran to come. The weather was already so beautiful that some people went swimming. After that we took some nice group pictures. We had a beautiful view of the island from the catamaran and everyone had a lot of fun while listening to some relaxing Hawaiian music. We were all so excited when we saw a whale in the water nor far away from us, but it was really hard to get a picture of it. After we all got wet from the waves, the catamaran turned around, back to the beach where we all got lunch at a nice restaurant.

In the afternoon, after our lunch break, we had surflessons. We divided into groups of 5 and it was lots of fun. Somehow everyone managed to stand up on the boat and we all had a great time. The students who weren’t surfing were sunbathing for a better tan. At 6 pm we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. Our restaurant was a few blocks away and we took a bus. When we finished dinner, we were allowed to walk around Waikiki on our free time. At the end of the day, everyone was tired from this amazing day, but our program for tomorrow sounds even better!!!

Aloha from Hawaii!!!

Celine Carmenzind – Switzerland

Geraldine Wunderlin - Germany

Feb 14th - Kailua and Pali Look... Alooooha

Aloooha!

It’s our first day! SO EXCITING : )

We were all looking forward to see the sunny Hawaiian and get some tan, since so many of us come from cold and snowy states. Our day started at 7:30 am, waking up and leaving for some breakfast at the beautiful restaurant LULU’S and the lovely view of the sunny beach. The options from the menu are amazing and tasteful! (Pancakes, French toast, fruits, omelets and much more).

We took the bus to our first stop: PALI LOOK!. On our way we learned some Hawaiian basic words:

Good morning -> Aloha Kakahiaka

Aloha - > Hello, good-bye, love

Thanks - > Mahalo

When we arrived to Pali Look, we got to see the incredible view of the island and finally realize that we are in HAWAII.

We continued our trip to on of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Kailua! Some of us went kayaking and others stayed at the beach, relaxing and playing games.

We kayaked for 4 hours. The water was so clear and nice that we got into the water on the way to the islands. On our way back to the beach we saw SEA TURTLES!!! We had some great guides that helped us kayaking. After we reunited with our group we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner: PIZZA DINNER! The dinner was good in a great place! We got some free time to go shopping and walk around Waikiki. It was a great time to see the place, buy souvenirs and also after sun lotions… After a great first day and a lot of sun we were exchausted and went to bed at 11 pm!

ALOHA!!!

Julia Kraemer – Brazil

Ruut Cohen – Finland

Mari Alapappila - Finland