Hello everybody,

Today was an important and special day to all of us. For a part of our group it was the last day of the trip, so tonight and tomorrow morning we have to say goodbye to some of our fellow YFU’ers that have become friends.

We started our day by going on a guided boat tour that took us to see Lady Liberty, Ellis Island and the five boroughs that all together form New York. It was an amazing tour and for most of us it was the first time that we saw the Statue of Liberty up close. Earlier this week our other tour guide, Garret, had told us that her mouth is 3 feet wide. ‘She has the biggest mouth in whole New York and she doesn’t even talk.’ Seeing the Statue of Liberty up close and hearing the story of all the immigrants was a special moment. Especially for us, exchange students. On these tours we all come together, our whole exchange year is bringing people, families, from all over the world together. We all do it for the experience, and that experience gives us a better life. The immigrants all came to Ellis Island with the hope for a brighter future and a better life. In some way, you can say that we are all connected through motives, through mindsets and through each other.

On the boat towards Ellis Island

Angelique (Netherlands) and me with Lady Liberty

After that wonderful experience of seeing Lady Liberty, we hopped on our lovely bus again, driven by Alex, back to Time Square. All of us needed more time on the most illuminated street in North America for shopping, sight-seeing, and pictures! During this trip, all of our minds just went ‘picture picture picture’ everywhere we went! But taking a zillion pictures on Time Square was an absolute must on this NYC trip. Most of us enjoyed a real New York hot dog from one of the street vendors for lunch. JUMMMIIIEEEEE!!!!

You can always find characters in Times Square!

When we were all shopped out – or when it was meeting time – our bus driver Alex took us to the United Nations. The United Nations is a really special place in New York, in the world, and for us, exchange students. The UN territory is a ‘country’ on its own. So when you visit the UN headquarters like we did, you actually visit 193 countries – because there are 193 members – at once.  Isn’t that amazing? Our tour guide told us about the history of the UN, the main purpose of the UN and much, much more. She also told us about countries in need and the school in a box – program. More importantly she explained to us how all of us can help, with just five minutes of our time. This is especially for students, but in theory everybody can do this. When you go to www.freerice.com  you can click on one of the many features the website has. You can improve some of your language skills, or geography skills, etc. Then you answer the questions about the subject you just chose. For every right answer you get 10 grains of rice. For every right answer you donate rice to a country that needs it. It is easy and it is a wonderful initiative that everyone can do. The UN brings countries together. YFU & BELO brings people together.

A group shot after our tour at the United Nations

Today we had an early dinner at Mama Sbarro’s on Time Square. It is a great Italian place that opened its doors for our group. We enjoyed a wonderful meal, some amazing chocolate cake, and almost all of the girls used the restroom as a changing room. Because we all wanted to dress up and look nice for our final activity of the trip and, according to, the most awesome activity. We went to see The Phantom Of The Opera on Broadway! It was beautiful, amazing, crazy gorgeous, fantastic, etc! The Phantom is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and it’s the longest running Broadway production. 

I can write about this musical for several more hours, but to keep it short: it was an amazing end to a fantastic trip… for some ;). Others are leaving for Philadelphia and Washington D.C. tomorrow. WE CAN’T WAIT!

With love,

Anouk Callebaut, Belgium