2nd week in SB, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon

9.8 - 14/15.8

I actually didn't do that much. I went to the beach to get some more color. I didn't go swimming=).

On Monday evening I went to Sharkeez. International night. I had lots of fun and I think I danced for 3 or 4 hours. It was a good workout. I also had my biggest Margerita ever. It was huge and really good and cheap=).

On Tuesday I did laundry for the first and last time in Cali. That's why you always should bring enough clothes and underwear :-).

I packed my stuff for Vegas on Wednsday morning and flew out at 16:05. The flight lasted for only one hour. After checking in and having a shower I went out to the strip to grab a bite. After that I just went to bed because I had to get up early for my Grand Canyon Tour the next day.

05:30, my alarm goes off. I take a shower and have breakfast. I get ready to go to the Grand Canyon. I'm was so excited. After asking 3 people if I was in the right spot I waited. I waited and waited and waited. But there was no one to pick me up. At 07:30 I knew I was at the wrong place and I would miss to see the Grand Canyon once again. After going to the bell desk and calling the travel agency I felt very sad. The only thing I wanted to do at that moment was to go home. I just didn't want to be in the US anymore. But after an hour I decided to make the best of it. So I just took an other tour. It was a 4 hour Red Rock Canyon tour. It was very interesting and beautiful. I had a good time and our tour guide was great. The best thing he said was that when we get back home we should discover our area or country because there is so much to see wherever you live. It really made me think and I'm really going to try to see more of Switzerland in the next years.

After having a good night sleep I had breakfast and headed to the airport. After getting to SB airport and back to "my" place, I went to the gym and had dinner.

I talked to Thibault today and he'll be back on Sunday. I thought we were going to go to San Diego on Monday but apparently we won't go there before Wednsday. So I don't think I'll be going to San Diego just for one night. I'm going to look for a place to sleep from Wednsday to Thursday and go to the airport from Santa Barbara. And since I'm going to be here I might go to Six Flags Magic Mountain on Tuesday.

Well, this is my last blog entry which I'm writing from the US. I'm going to write one more when I get back to home sweet home (yes, I'm looking forward to get back home).

Thanks for reading my blog and I'll see you all in Switzerland in less than one week.

1st week in California

1.8 - 8.8

My first week here in California/ Santa Barbara went by very quick, even though I didn't do that much.

Lets just start at the beginning. On August 2nd I went to breakfast with my old roommate and his friends. While they went to the beach I had to go to State Street. Of course I had Panda Express for dinner. It was sooo yummy=). In the evening I went to a bar.

On August 3rd I went to my old school to visit John Olcott. It was fun to see him again. And for those who know John, he hasn't changed a bit=). Monday is always International night at Sharkeez. I went there and I had lots of fun.

On August 4th I drove Thibault to the airport where he were to pick up his friends for a 10 day vacation.

On August 5th I had a personal training session with Hanni. She's from Switzerland. She showed me some good workouts. She gave me her adress, so now I have another place to stay in SB next time =). It's always good to have connections.

August 6th was my shopping day. After sleeping in and driving to Cmarillo, I literally did a shopping marathon. I was on shopping tour for about 8 hours (I had something to eat and drink, too).

Since the Fiesta had a big parade I went Downtown on August 7th. However, the parade was not that special. A lot of horses. So I went to the gym and booked my hotel and Grand Canyon tour for next week. After getting home and hanging with Andrew, we went out to some bars. I'm just gonna say that it was a pretty wild night with the worst pizza in that I've eaten (chicken pizza withe cheese and BBQ sauce = horrible).

I went to IHOP to have breakfast and after that I went to the beach to charge my batteries again. I wanted to go swimming but the water is so cold so I'm not gonna do that anymore=). I'm still pretty tired so I won't go out tonight. I might go for a run later and than I'll just read and I'll be going to bed early.

What are my plans for the next 11 days before I go home?

Well, on AUgust 9th a friend is coming who I know from EF 3 years ago. So that is going to be fun. I will finish my shopping and I'm going to start packing the things which I don't need anymore. And on Wednsday I'm flying out to Vegas for my Grand Canyon tour. As Thibault will come back on Saturday the 15th we'll be packing and moving to SAn Diego. And on August 20 I'm heading back home.

welcome to the hotel California

1.8 - 5.8

After a 5,5 hour flight and no food for about 6 hours (I didn't want to spend a lot of money on crappy food), I arrived at LAX. I got my luggage and took the shuttle to the car rental. Since I was not the only person to pick up a car I had to wait in line for about 90 minutes and I still hadn't eaten.. The guy at Alamo gave me a lot of discount so I got a SUV instead of a little car.

The first thing I headed to, was some place to eat. Finally, after more than 9 hours. I might have eaten that burger in about 30 seconds =).

The drive up to Santa Barbara took me about 1.5 hours. Thibault, my ex roommate from the language school picked me up and I followed him to the apartment. We had a couple beers and after that we went to a club. It was very nice to be out partying, however, they closed at 01:30.

The next day we went to some nice place to have breakfast with some of Thibaults friends. I didn't like it that much, so I won't be going there any more. I dropped them of because they wanted to go to the beach, I myself went to Downtown Santa Barbara and walked around State Street. It was so nice. In the evening I bought some groceries so that I didn't have to eat out every day.

On Monday I went to the gym and after that I visited my old teacher at the EF school. It was very cool to meat John again and we might grab a coffee some day before I leave. It was also International Night at Sharkeez. The party was awesome and I had a lot of fun.

Since Thibaults friends frome France were to come on Tuesday and he'd be gone for 10 days, I drove him to LAX and dropped him off there. Now I have his room for myself.

Besides eating at Jack in the Box and Panda Express (mhmmm) I haven't done so much yet, I'm just enjoying the Californian life.

Today Fieasta started, It's an annual street party here in Santa Barbara with lot's and lot's of people. So I'm going to be at the fiesta until Saturday. On Thursday, I'm going to go to the outlet stores in Camarillo to be done with all the sopping.

You'll hear more from mee soon.

Myrtle Beach

24.7 - 31.7
Well, now I've been in Myrtle Beach for almost a week and tomorrow we're leaving again.
On Saturday (24.7) we left at 03:00 to Myrtle Beach to avoid traffic. We got here at about 11:00. After eating lunch at Fridays and shopping at Walmart, we headed to our place at the Beach. It's a beautiful place with a breathtaking view over the ocean.
Besides tanning and eating we didn't do that much =). On Tuesday, we celebrated Charlenes Birthday but we went out eating the day before.
On Wednsday it was my 21st birthday. Just another birthday for me, however, a huge thing here in the US (that's the age you're allowed to drink here for those who don't know). In the evening we went to the Hard Rock Cafe to celebrate.
On Thursday, we went jetskiing. That's wat I got for my birthday from my "hostmom." I have to say, it was one of the highlights here in MB.
As I told in the beginning, it is time to pack our bags tomorrow, but I'm going to get up early to enjoy the beach before the carride back to Virginia.
On Saturday (1.8) I'm flying out to California, which will be my last stage for this summer.
You'll here from mee when I'm in Cali.

Out of NYC

20.7 - 23.7
My last thing on my to do list was to go shopping. That's what I did on Monday. I didn't shop that much though because there where just too many things to buy. In the afternoon I met Chrisina, Cassie and Alex. We took a little tour around NY and ended up in a Mexican Bar. I was even able to buy a beer =) (for those who don't know. 21 is the drinking age in the US).
On Tuesday I packed my suitcase and went Uptown for the last time. I had frozen yogurt. Mmmmh... that was delicious. At 14:07 I took the train up to Connecticut from Grand Central. Now that's a train station =), it really deserves the name GRAND. After ALex picked me up we went to his house and watched TV the whole day. It was no point in going outside as it was pouring.
On Wednsday we flew down to D.C..
Now I'm at Kris' house and on Saturday we're going to the Beach. I hope the weather is going to be nice down there. I do hope to be able to write from out there. Otherwise I'll be back the 31st for a new update.

sightseeing

18.7.09 - 19.7.09
After a 8 hour sleep I woke up at 06:30. As I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep any longer I got up, ate breakfast and went out. My first stop wallstreet and the financial district. I walked all the way down to the sea.
After a visit at the ground zero (I didn't see anything) I took the Subway and went to the port where I booked a 3 hour boats tour around Manhattan. The tour was very impressing and I saw a lot so I would say it was worth the money.
I didn't know what to do afterwards so I just walked to a bar. I was a little hungry so I ordered a snack. Well I thought It was going to be a snack. It was so much so I didn't have to eat dinner that night. Welcome to America I thought to myself =).
At 19:00 I finally had my ticket to the Empire State Building. It took me one more hour to get up there. I even had a ticket to the 102nd floor. Wow. That was high. Over 400 meters. As I wanted to see the sunset and New York at night, I think I spent 2 - 2.5 hours up there.
I believe it took me as long to get down as it took me to get up so when I got out, it was so late that I just went to my B&B.
The next morning, I slept a little longer. Today was going to be the cheap part of the sightseeing. I started out in Chinatown, followed by little Italy. As I headed Uptown, I found a street market going on. A nice coincidence. It was a nice market with lots of stuff so I spent 2 hours there.
In the afternoon I went to the Central Park. I didn't do much except writing post cards and enjoying the peace and quiet.
Even though I've just seen a little of NYC, I've done enough sightseeing. Tomorrow I'm just going to do some shopping and enjoy my last night in Town for this time.

from Mainhattan to Manhattan

16.7 - 17.7
Well, my first stop on my trip was Frankfurt or as the locals call it Mainhattan. I took the train from Basel at 15:12 and arrived in Frankfurt at 18:06. Sigi picked me up and we took a tour around the city. It was very nice and I'm definitely coming back again. We had a late dinner and after that we went straight home to bed. the next morning we had breakfast and Sigi drove me to the airport. That was the begining of my US trip. The flight went well and we landed in NYC at 13:00 local time.
As I wanted to take a cab, I almost got tricked into a "private taxi". They wanted to charge me $ 90 for a one way ticket to Manhattan. I realized it wasn't the right cab so I took of and took a shuttle bus for $ 15 to the city instead. At 16:00 I checked into my B&B. After that I started to walk and walk and walk. I saw the Empire State Building whick I'm going to check out tomorrow if the weather is nice.
I even got to the Central Park. However it was late so I went back to Broadway. I had dinner at the Hard Rock cafe. Time flies by so I slowly walked back to my B&B. On the way I saw Macy's. The world's biggest. And I guess the biggest shopping center I've ever seen. Luckily I didn't have any girls with me, we never would've left ;-).
Well now it's already 21:34 and I've been up for nearly 22 hrs so I'm gonna shower and then go to sleep. You'll here from me in the next few days.

1st BLog

Well, since I'm going on a 5 week vacation to the USA (17.7 - 21.8), I thought I'd make a blog so you can see and read what I'm doing and where I am and where I've been. So have fun reading my blog