March 30, 2011 Diamond Head and Ala Moana Shopping

Alooooha!!!! 
We got to sleep longer than usual and everyone loved it! We started our journey to Diamond Head. We stretched first before our hike up the old volcano. We made our way to the inside of the volcano. We had to go through a tunnel and it was so breezy it cooled us off from the first part of the walk. We had a quick rest because most people were already tired! We even saw an "old friend" who we met at the PCC! He is famous among us exchange students! Then we headed to the top of Diamond head. By the half way point we were panting! It was such an adventure and we were strong survivors! Oh my gosh- there were so many stairs we had to climb to get to the top! The sweet smell of success was waiting for us at the top! As well as a million dollar view! It was nice and windy to cool us down again. We could see our hotel from the top too! The Pacific ocean looks endless from there! Then we headed down and it was muuuch easier then climbing! It was funny to see the people climbing up while we were going down. Did we look that exhausted?! When we made it back to the base shaved ice was available to quench our thirst.  Then we walked back to the hotel to have time for lunch, optional surfing, shopping and swimming! Some people went to a very popular restaurant called Dukes. It's delicious! 

Then we had to get ready to go to dinner and shopping. We took our busses to one of the biggest open malls in the US, Ala Moana. It's soooo big! Over 300 stores and we hit up only a few of the stores!  We shopped a lot (but don't worry parents we will pay you back hahaha) We stopped by Holister to check out all the models on the wall because one of our kayak instructors is a Holister model! Then we met back up at Bubba Gump Shrimp for dinner! While we were waiting for our food we did trivia and games with the waiters! We got to win prizes from the gift shop! Two boys had to put their face in a bowl of whipped cream and find the cherries at the bottom! It was fun to watch! So dinner was delicious! Fried shrimp, fish and chips, cheeseburgers, shrimp scampi and fish with rice and lemon sauce! We were stuffed after dinner thanks to the little ice cream sundaes we got! MmmmMm! 

Our day was coming to an end and we headed back to the hotel. We were all exhausted from another long day in Hawaii. Only two days left :/ 

Josefine- Sweden 
Airiin- Estonia

A beautiful view of Waikiki!

Enjoying the view.

Hang lose!

We love Hawaii!

Welcome to Diamond Head!

Stretching before our long walk to the top of Diamond Head!

March 29 2011 Pali Look out, Kailua and California Pizza Kitchen

Lanikai beach!

The perfect beach and place to swim and play!

Out on Mokolua!

A perfect day to enjoy the perfect beach!

The guys jump well together!

The girls...almost jump together!

All of our kayaks ready for to hit the ocean!

Pali Lookout!

Standing strong at Pali lookout.

The beautiful view at Pali Lookout!

Aloha from Kailua!

We started our morning with a delicious breakfast with the beautiful view of the ocean. The restaurant has really fun lamps, they are big blowfish and they have colored bulbs in them. We love breakfast at Lulu’s! We hopped on the bus and on our way to Kailua.

First we made a quick stop at the Pali Lookout. We were blown away! Literally. It was so windy up there! It was a beautiful view of one side of Oahu. The history of the Pali look out is very interesting and made the experience a lot more exciting. We saw a lot of wild chicken. Here in Hawaii chicken are able to roam free and are protected by the government!

Next stop for the day was Kailua. This is where “two waters” meet. Once we arrived to the beach we got ready to go kayaking! We packed our stuff, put on sunscreen and got our lifejackets on. Once we pushed off a few of us tipped over right away. What a funny start to our kayaking trip. We loved the view of Oahu. The water looked so fake because the blues were too perfect! The coral reef was so close to us as we paddled over to the ocean. We made it over to Moculua and landed our kayaks. The island is a small bird sanctuary. We had lunch on the island and we all sat together on the beach.

We “hiked” over a little bit to get a great view of the ocean. We also got to jump in a natural pool formed out of volcanic rock! When the waves crash into the island it is just wonderful. Everything is so picture perfect. Later we left the island and stopped at the beach Lanikai. We got to swim for a while and play around on the beach. The water was so nice. Finally we headed back to the beach where our adventure all started. Whew! It was one of the best work outs we have ever done! We loved it!

Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner! Some of us jumped in the pool and went for a quick swim. Then we got dressed to walk to California Pizza Kitchen. We also had some time to check out the International Market. We got to CPK and most of us could sit at one big table to enjoy our family style dinner. We had so much pizza! Pepperoni, Hawaiian, 5 Cheese, and Pepperoni, Sausage with Mushroom. Yum! For dessert we had little brownies, just big enough. We love having time to just talk with the other exchange students. We are forming good relationships on this Hawaii trip!

We are very happy and very tired from our long day! We are looking forward to sleep and a good day tomorrow! It just gets better and better!

Marie Reitz- Germany

Matties- Germany

March 28, 2011 City tour, Dole Plantation, Sunset Beach and Polynesian Cultural Center

We love Samoa!

Cheers! Here is to new experiences!

Our hula lesson!

Enjoying every moment of it!

In Tonga showing off new skills!

A natural on stage.

We love Sunset beach!

Jumping pictures are priceless!

Haleiwa town is classic surfer perfect!

The Dole plantation!

Yum! The Dole whip is so delicious!

The guys with King Kamehameha.

All the girls with King Kamehameha.

At the palace! First group picture of the week!

The capital building!

ALOOOOHAAA!!!!

Today was another beautiful sunny day in Hawaii! Exactly what we want! We started our day with a short city tour. We stopped at the capital building and got to see one of the only two palaces in the United States. We also passed by the school that President Obama studied at. Our next stop was the Dole pineapple plantation! We got to have some of the famous, delicious Dole whip. It is like a frozen yogurt. MmMmM! We all loved it! Some of us even tried the enormous pineapple whip splits! We also got some souvenirs while enjoying our whip.

Next we went to a small surfers town, Haleiwa. It was the cutest town, because it was so small! The town reminded some of us of Europe with all the small shops. There they have a extremely popular burger place where we got to try burgers with pineapple slices on it! YUM! They were kind of messy, but it was totally worth getting it all over our hands and faces! We did some more light shopping in the rest of our free time. We saw all kinds of surf shops and hawaiian places to shop. It is a very tourist friendly little town with many fun things to see.

After that we passed by many famous beaches. We got to stop at Sunset beach. This beach usually has many people surfing the huge waves, but today it was very calm. This was good because we got to put our feet in the water! We took another group pictures and the background of the beach was perfect. So many of us took jumping pictures! It was a fun short stop.

Our last stop was the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was amazing! We were taught many things about the Polynesian islands. It is a very interactive place that is actually pretty funny. We stopped to watch a few mini shows from the different areas. Some of our students actually went up on stage and danced in front of the audience. It was so funny to see! The highlight of some of our days was the hula lessons. Many other students loved the Samoa show! It was so cool to see him start fire. Then we headed off to a delicious buffet dinner. We had two students with birthdays and the people at the restaurant, and us all sang happy birthday to them!

The show at night, Ha Breath of Life was amazing! It was the best show most of us had ever seen. It was very professional and well put together. There were dances from all the Polynesian islands. There was a story of a man from birth through adulthood and his story was told through the different islands. There were a lot of dancing, shouting and fire shows. The backdrop of the open theater was gorgeous. It was so real with the palm trees, waterfall and fake volcanoes. The fire dancers were also everyone's favorite part of the show!

It was a loooong day. Most of us slept on the way home back to the hotel. We definitely loved it and had a good day. It was a wonderful day and hopefully we will get lots of rest to be ready for our next day here in Hawaii! Hawaii is amazing! WE LOVE IT HERE!!!

Aloha and goodnight!

Pavol- Slovakia

Laura- Estonia

Lukas- Germany

Sunday March 27, 2011 Surf Lessons, Catamaran Ride and Hard Rock Cafe

Inside Hard Rock Cafe dancing to "I got a feeling!"

Birthday girls!

Classic surf picture!

Catamaran view of Waikiki and Honolulu.

Having an awesome time on the catamaran!

Getting soaked on the net of the catamaran!

Getting ready for the paddle tricycle!

Surf lessons are the highlight of the day!

A big Aloha to you all!

Today was our first day of our great vacation! We started our day off with an ocean view breakfast. We got to enjoy bacon and eggs, a fruit bowl, stuffed french toast and banana macadamia nut pancakes! After we stuffed ourselves we walked down to the beach.

We were going to our surf lessons and catamaran rides in the clearest and bluest water. We all had a quick lesson on the land then we went out to the ocean to catch the waves. Whew! What an upper body work out! We had some free time for lunch, shopping, and of course tanning! We made sure to always put on some sunscreen.

After our break we got to go on a catamaran ride! Some of us got soaked while riding on the net in the front. We were getting splashed as the waves crashed into us! It was such an awesome time! While we were out we actually saw dolphins! We even got to see sea turtles and swim with them! The fish were cool to see, even though the natives were probably bored with them. Haha! While we were sailing there were some flying fish and we were so close to the water that it seemed like we were flying with them. While we weren’t surfing and on a catamaran ride we were playing volleyball, and other students played soccer and football. We had an amazing view of Diamond Head while hanging at the beach. It was a perfect way to start our week!

We had some free time to walk back to the hotel. A lot of us did some light shopping and bought some souvenirs. Then we got back to the hotel and got ready to go to dinner at Hard Rock Café. We walked down to the restaurant and then BOOM there it was: beautiful, big and legit. We couldn’t believe our eyes! On the way up to the dining room, the second floor, the ceiling was covered with guitars all the way up! We had the great Hard Rock Café food!

The music was great and we even started our own little dance party to the song “I got a feeling”! Most of us got up and danced around our tables! We were jumping up and down and everyone was staring at us! Once things settled down we got dessert, the perfect size chocolate chip cookie. It is a great place to have fun and enjoy good food and company. We kind of wish we could have stayed longer to have another party!

At the end of the day we had a group meeting to talk about tomorrow. Belo keeps surprising us with new activities that are not on the original program! 24 hours a day are not enough!

Shout out to the other side of the world! How is the future!? J We want to stay here in the past for a lot longer! Mahalo Hawaii, Raphael, Carleigh, Makena and Meredith! Goodnight, sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite!

Jasmine- Belgium

Alena- Germany