Going to L.A. for 3 months

Hello,

In september 2012 me and my friend Alice went to L.A. with E.F. to learn english, or to improve our english. Alice came with the idea a few months before and we did some research, went to meetings and decided to do it. It ended up to be the best time of my life. You can guess I have a lot to talk about so I will do this in a few blogs. In today's one I will talk about E.F.

E.F. or education first is for people who wanna learn a language in the country where the language is originated at. For english we could choose out of the UK, Australia or USA. We choose USA and more specifically Los Angeles. Then we could choose where to stay, in an apartment or with a family. We chose for the apartment, so we could do what we wanted when we wanted. The plane and pick up they arranged for us and so we left a few months later.

The first day we went to school we met the whole group of new people. First they showed us the building and the classes, then they let us know in which level we would be and with which other new peoples we would go in to it. We had to do a test to see at which level we would start before leaving. After that we all got in a bus and went to Venice Beach, there we could walk around and visit. Then we went to Santa Monica Beach where we had lunch and also visited. So far so good for the first day.

The rest of the 3 months we had our classes, who were nice and fun. For a homework we had to go to UCLA and interview some people. The teachers were very nice and cool. We only had half days of classes, so that was nice to. We stayed at Redondo Beach and the beach was a 15min walk from the apartment. In the morning and evenings you could go and spot dolphins, and I love dolphins so I did that a lot. We met new people, who we still keep in touch with, from all over the world.

The school was working with EA tours and you could book some trips and events with them.
We went to see the Dodgers with them, that was so nice, I didn't know a lot about the game, but people are so nice they explained it a bit to me. We also went to see the Lakers, we sat so high I was scared to fall down, I'm afraid of heights btw :) We also did a club night with them, it got out of hand (in a good way), thats all I will say about it.

After school we visited almost everything in and around L.A.  We did the Warner Bross studio tour, the O.C., Hollywood, Santa Monica, farmers market, the grove,... Whatever you can think of to do, we did. We even went to visit famous houses, from movies and so.

I also got something at my eye when up there and went to the doctor. Just saying it's so different than at home. I had a very nice doctor, but medication is so expensive there, omg. I had a really nice friend who went to the doctors with me and bought me some frozen yoghurt after it, one of my favorite things there along with the cheese cake factory.

E.F. made sure everything went smoothly and very good. I would recommend it to people who wanna learn a new language and have some adventure. This was the best experience of my life, the saddest thing about it was to go back home. We learned to know a lot of people from different places and I'll always remember them.

Hope you enjoyed this bit of that trip, I will talk about the bigger trips we did while it in another blog. See you next time.

Love,
Sarah

Harry Potter : The Exhibition

Hello,

Today I'm gonna talk about when we went to the exhibition of Harry Potter in Brussels. With we I mean my sister, her best friend and my friend. We had a wonderful time!

So when we ordered the tickets we had to choose a timeline of when we wanted to enter the exhibition. We chose to enter at 1pm so then we had the time to get there.

Once we got there we could enter without having a waiting line, so that was nice. First we could take a picture as a group with wands. This was a very nice extra, of course you had to pay for this picture, we chose not to. Me and my sister already did this in London, I will also make a blog about that.

Then we could enter the exhibition! First we came in a room with the sorting hat. I was one of the lucky ones who could sit and go through the experience. I will have the video on my instagram, the adventure_oflife , you can also follow me there. Then we saw a little montage of all the movies!

And then we could enter the exhibition. You had the rooms of Gryffindor and the clothes they wore during the first movie. Then you also had a room full of quidditch stuff, the clothes they wore, the equipment they needed,... That was so nice to see. You could also throw some balls in hoops like in the movie.

You also had Hagrids house and all the creatures of the dark forest. This was so dark so the pictures weren't so clear. Of course you had Voldemort and the dead eaters, so nice to see that.

And then their was the great hall, with the different houses and all of the foods. You also had the costumes of their ball and of all the professors.

The only thing that I found a little less about this is the souvenir shop, I hoped their would be more stuff, but maybe thats just me.


If you're in Brussel this summer and you're a Harry Potter fan, this is a must see!
So I hope you can visit this exhibition and that you have as much fun as we did.

Love,
Sarah

Los Angeles 2010

Hello,

Today I wanted to share my second big travel, I think you will know by now I have a big love for L.A. I can't really explain why, maybe it's because everything I need is there, the sea, downtown,...
This trip I did with a friend of mine. We went around may, then the weather was perfect for me.

The first day we made the trip itself, we flew with Continental Airlines. I had a really nice flight with them, nice crew. We stopped at N.Y. to change flights and then continued. We stayed at the same hotel I did last time with my mom. This time I did the driving :)

The second day we went to Warner Bross, this was so amazing last time I had to go again. After that we went to Beverly Hills. We found some affordable clothes after all :) We had a nice lunch at L.A. Food and after that we went to the Beverly Hills mall to go shopping.

The third day was Hollywood time :) We did the walk of fame, the Hollywood museum, Madame Tussauds and the Chinese theatre. All of those things were so amazing, I would really recommend them. The hollywood museum is really good, I loved to see all of it. Of course we also went shopping and did a tour to see the homes of stars.

The fourth day we went to Santa Monica! Beach, hot guys and shopping, all a girl needs :)
This was a really relaxed day.

The fifth day we went to Disney land. I already did the one in Paris and didn't loved it, but my friend really wanted to go so we did it :) and it was better than the one in Paris and bigger. We were stuck in the Peter Pan ride for a while and at one point we thought we had to clime down with a ladder :( I was happy that wasn't the case. The parade was nice and funny and I loved the fireworks!
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a Burger King :)

The sixth day our GPS broke down :( By the time we found the rental place it was 7 P.M. But on our way their we stopped at a Walmart where we bought food and cookies to take back with us when we had to go back home.

The last day we did the things we loved the most again. Santa Monica and the Beverly Hills mall. We also found a mansion in the hills that you could visit with beautiful gardens.

And then it was time to go back home :( always a sad moment for me, especially after such a nice trip.

I hope you enjoyed the story about my second trip to L.A. If you have any questions, or you wanna go to some of those places, don't hesitate to ask me. I love talking about my travels and other peoples experiences.

Love,
Sarah

My first time traveling

Today I'm gonna talk about the first time I went traveling! 

I just graduated and my mom took me on a trip to L.A.  This was something I wanted to do for years!  I was 18 at the time and so excited!  This was in 2008. 

We went for 8 days and it was amazing, let me tell you all about it.

Day 1: That day we just made the actual trip. We flew with British Airways and this was amazing, I never went on a plane where you each had your own TV, most of the flight we watched movies and slept. We had rented a car and picked it up at arrival. Mom had to drive because I was to young at the time. We stayed at The Best Western in China Town and it was a really nice stay there. We had diner and went to bed to have an early start the next day.

Day 2: Rise and shine! We had breakfast at the hotel, actual American breakfast!! Pancakes with syrup, so good. My mom was't a fan so kept it at toast and fruit. Then we hit the road to go to Beverly Hills. We went shopping there, just kidding, we went window shopping there. My mom was happy to see the hotel from Pretty woman in real life. We spent the whole day in Beverly Hills and had lunch there also. The only thing I'll remember from that lunch is that ice tea in the USA really is iced tea :) just cold tea, keep that in mind. 

Day 3: Today we went to the beach. First we went to Malibu to see Baywatch kind of action, but that it was calm there. We had a nice walk at the beach.And then we went to Santa Monica. First we went to the beach and pier, so beautiful and sunny. For the first time in my life I had a sunburn, not fun at all. After that we went shopping at the boulevard, where you have a lot of shops and it's really nice out there. That day I ate a real american burger for the first time, so good, not healthy but good.

Day 4: My dream came true, we went to Warner Bross! I really love movies and TV shows, so this is the place to be. We did the tour and the guide was amazing, we could ask all the questions. I saw all the little places from TV shows like Friends, True Blood, Two and a half men, etc... We also saw a whole building full of clothes and supplies from movies, like Harry Potter, Batman,... There was also a building with all cars from movie, the bat mobile, the car from Ron's father in Harry Potter, the mystery machine, etc... Best part of the day was being in Central Perk, as a big Friends fan it was a must! 

Day 5: Hollywood! First we had lunch in a Mexican restaurant, again a first for me, but so good. The we did a tour in a little tour bus. We saw the Hollywood sign, some houses from celebrities like David Beckham, Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise, Playboy mansion, etc... After that we walked on the walk of fame and saw a lot of stars and ate a hot dog. Then we went to a mall there and had diner in a restaurant over there.

Day 6: Universal studios! It was huge, never been to something so big, you had at one side the studios and on the other side the park. We did both of course :) At the studios we did the tour, it was amazing, you could experience an earth quake and such. The best! The park was awesome, but I don't like to go on to much attractions, and my mom neither, but we did good. They have the best hot dogs in that park. We also had VIP passes so that we didn't had to wait in line to long, that was nice cause we only had 1 day there. 

Day 7: We went back to Santa Monica on our last day, because we both loved it so much there. I can't really explain why, the vibe there is just good i guess :)

We did some more shopping and also went back to the pier. In the afternoon we also went to a mall at Melrose Place. We also bought some souvenirs for everyone.

Day 8: Today we go back home :( Last time eating my American breakfast... We were to early at the airport, but I did saw the guys from Outkast :) I also ate at Burger King for the first time, so good. Then went on the plane back home! Thank mom for this amazing trip!

After this trip I knew that I needed to travel more and see the world. This is the first of a lot of travel stories. Hope you liked it. Sorry for the quality of the pictures, it's from a while back. 

Love, 

Sarah