Going to America had always been a dream of mine to come true and in fall 2016 it finally did. The main reason I could finally do it was the mandatory language stay in an English-speaking country that went along with the school I was attending at that time. I had the choice between a lot of interesting cities in America and it was really hard to pick one but somehow I managed to do it. There were quite a few reasons why I had chosen San Francisco. One of them was that San Francisco offers a variety of beautiful sights such as the Golden Gate Bridge, The Painted Ladies, the unique Cable Cars, Twin Peaks and so on... These are just a few ones that I had visited during my stay in San Francisco.
You will find even more sights in the gallery below. Another reason why I picked San Francisco was that there are a lot of different parks where I could spend my spare time, so I thought. In the end I didn't spend as much time in any of these parks as I thought I would. I had met great friends and spent pretty much all time exploring the city with them. The third reason was that my brother did his language stay in San Francisco as well. I think that's when I started to fall in love with the city because my brother showed me pictures after he had returned home. The fourth and last reason was that it's also a very open-minded city with a diversity of different cultures and lifestyles. My home was in Daly City a town that was 90 minutes away of the school with public transportation.
After my language stay was finished, I still had two more weeks of summer break. Of course, I also had plan for these two weeks. Together with my sister, her boyfriend and a friend of mine we rented a car and went for a road trip. This was probably one of the best times in my life. We drove through breathtaking national parks and landscapes. As my school was in San Francisco that's also the city where the road trip began for me and my friend. First, we explored Sequoia National Park with the impressive redwood trees. We had never seen something quite like this before. Next, we headed to Yosemite National Park. It was just as impressive and stunning as the Sequoia National Park. After that we continued to the next destination on our list which was Los Angeles. We explored the city with one of these open-air buses that offer tours in most bigger cities. Finally, we visited the Universal Studios where we learned a few tricks about movie making. The next day we drove to Las Vegas. To do so we had to cross the Death Valley. The thermometer reached up to 116°F. We drove through it without any stop since this was way too hot for us. When we reached Las Vegas, our bodies couldn't cope with the local heat, so we stayed the entire first day in the hotel. The second day we moved to a different hotel, the Bellagio. They were under booked and offered us an undeniable room upgrade for just a few dollars. It was indeed a gift. Instead of two regular rooms we've got a big luxurious suit. It was a great experience to live one night as a 'king' so to say. One attraction we visited in Las Vegas was the Stratosphere Tower. It had a platform on the top from where you had a beautiful view over the whole city. The next day we continued to the last landmark on our list which was the Grand Canyon. We were surprised by an exceptionally beautiful landscape for one last time and only then I truly began to understand why it was called Grand Canyon, you cannot imagine how big it is until you are standing right in front of it. From the Grand Canyon we drove to Phoenix returned our car and sadly had to fly back to Switzerland.
