The Most Special Day in My Life - Part 1

(The content of this post happened on June 12th, 2014 PDT)

The 12th of June was a very special day, actually one of the most special days in my life because it is “technically” the last day of my exchange year in the United States. Time flies, I have been in the U.S. for about 10 months and I didn't even notice this fact! During these months in the U.S., I have experienced so much that it’s hard to recall them all! But those months sure changed my life a lot, and the experiences I had were priceless.

(Cover photo) I've became a Del Norte Nighthawks after spending a great half year here.

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The Most Special Day in My Life - Part 2

(The content of this post happened on June 12th, 2014 PDT)

(Cover photo) My family and me in front of my school, Del Norte.

(The paragraph below were talking about a day before today- June 11th. Just this paragraph though.)
They (my parents) arrived United States in Los Angeles airport on June 11th and drove down to San Diego right after they got the car they rent. They actually experienced some problems while getting their rental car, it caused a few hours delay which made me pretty nervous on the June 11th evening, because I remembered that they used the airport Wifi to FaceTime call me at maybe around 4:00 telling me that they have finally arrived the U.S. and they planned to arrive San Diego at 6 PM or sometime around, BUT they never arrived until 10:30 PM. It might be okay if they could let me know that they were just having some problems with the car rental company, but they didn't have a way to communicate with me, there were no WiFi available outside the airport and they don't have phone either. Since the last time they called me was before they got their car and went on the freeway, I thought they had a car accident or something on the freeway! I knew people drive a lot faster on freeway in San Diego than in Taiwan and since my dad are driving a car the he have never drove before, I really thought that they had an accident. After hours of waiting, they finally FaceTimed me and told me what happened with the car rental company, right after they went into the hotel and found a wifi signal. They haven't even went into their room! They might be really worried about me worrying about them too! Haha I know it’s kinda messed up.

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The Most Special Day in My Life - Part 3

(The content of this post happened on June 12th, 2014 PDT)

(Cover photo) the big family picture.

We entered the house and I took my family around the house to show them where my room as well as other rooms are. We also chatted downstairs, my sister and mom loved the cat Toby, they can’t stop playing with him! My family and the Berryhill family and I were just chatting happily. And my family also gave them the gift they prepared for them, a really beautiful china vase, they loved it and put the vase into their shelves immediately. We then all went upstairs to my room and starting to do some final packing works. My mom helped me to pack which made the packing process a lot faster. No one likes packing, I had so many stuff to pack! At last, there were 4 luggage filled with my stuff, as well as some other bags. Isn't it crazy!

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Having fun at Belmont Park, Mission Beach

(The content of this post happened on June 8th, 2014 PDT)

Time flies. A year of international exchange was almost over. On the last weekend of the year, just 4 days before my school ends, my host family took me to a really historical place in Mission Beach, San Diego called Belmont Park. According to Wikipedia, Belmont Park is an oceanfront amusement park opened on July 4th, 1925 as the Mission Beach Amusement Center. The park itself is so old that all the buildings and rides there looks so “classic”! We didn't spent our all day in Belmont Park , but also the whole Mission Beach area. There are many fine shops there as well as some great restaurants.

A wooden roller coaster in the park. Can you believe that it is one of the oldest wooden roller coaster in the U.S.?!

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Visiting Old Town San Diego Historic Park

On June 1st, 2014, the second last before I leave San Diego, we decided to go visit a place that we haven’t visited before. If you know San Diego well and have been continued reading my blog you should know, this place is “Old Town San Diego State Historic Park”. The Old Town Historic Park is located in the Old Town neighborhood of San Diego and it is a state protected historical park. We thought it might be kinda fun to visit Old Town in the morning and have lunch there, and then we can take to trolley to Downtown. The reason why we’re also going to Downtown is actually because that my host family asked me where I want to go and I answered Downtown so they wanted to bring me there. My host family is really nice!

Cover Photo - Old Town San Diego

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Boogie Boarding at Cardiff Beach

Since Monday, May 26th is Memorial day in America, we got a day off of school, which means we got all three-day weekend. On Sunday, we decided to go to the beach because the weather was really hot. This time, we're not just "going to the beach", we were going to be playing in the water, as well as to relax on the beach. the beach we went this time was the Cardiff Beach, which is north from us, we were actually there (near there) a few month ago but the weather was pretty cold back then, this is the first time we go into water.

(Cover photo) At Cardiff Beach.

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Physics Class Trip at Knott's Berry Farm

Every year, students of Del Norte High School’s Physics 2 class will have a chance to visit the amusement park, Knott's Berry Farm, as a physics class trip. Luckily, I am one of the students this year, and of course, I got to visit Knott's Berry Farm! The main reason of the visit is to "learn physics", yeah, "learn physics". Believe or not, we actually have to do worksheets after visiting, we have to calculate things related to physics of the ride, such as the velocity and acceleration of the roller coaster. But I still had lots of fun anyway.

One of the rides in Knott's Berry Farm: Xcellerator.

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Watching a Real MLB Baseball Game

Time files. Unbelievably, it’s May already. In just about a month, my family are coming to visit and I am going back to my country, Taiwan. Since I don't have much time left in here, my host family wants to take me to as many cool places as possible. This weekend, we went watching a baseball game in San Diego Petco Baseball stadium, it was a real baseball game! I was very excited because I ever been to a real stadium to watch any kind of sport games.

Beautiful view in the stadium!

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Second time visiting San Diego Zoo

Karen brought boys and me to visit San Diego last Saturday while Jason and Elisa went shopping in Costco and some other stores. This was my second time visiting the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Just like usual, there were lots of people in the zoo during our visit. I am just going to keep this post clean and short since there are actually not too many new things to show, if you are interested in reading my first visit to San Diego Zoo, please click here to read the post from 2 months ago.

2 polar bears in the zoo hugging each other.

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Dining in the Gorgeous Hotel Del Coronado

Today, April 11th, 2014, is the last day of Uncle Paul’s third visit. We of course all don’t want him to go because he is also so kind to take us to cool places or nice restaurants, but it’s impossible for him to stay for too long since he also have people to take care of in Chico. The good thing is, he will visit here again in June when my family comes, so my dad can will be able to see “His host dad”, and I am very looking forward to it! On his last day in San Diego, we decided to go to a really beautiful place to do some shopping and have lunch, that is, the Coronado Island. It is an affluent resort city located across San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego, I have actually been there once with my host family, it’s about 5 months before when I first got here, and we were just there for dinner. But today, we are going there in the morning instead of afternoon, I believed that we will see another beautiful side of the Coronado. 

Hotel Del Coronado and the beach.

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The Tour of Redit data center

Later today (April 10th), Jason brought boys, Uncle Paul and me to see the data center of the company that he works in. I was surprised because it is so close to our house! I don't know that there are a professional data center just around our house! This data center trip was really special to me since I am kinda like an "IT guy", and I have my own website as well, so I can learn a lot more thing about servers and internet by visiting a real data center, and there is a person giving us a tour, too. (Jason's co-worker) The data center we were visiting today was held by a web solution company called redIT, this data center was not like Google's, it is not as big and this one have many clients (companies) renting and using the same data center at one time. When we first arrived there, we couldn't even find where it is, there are no any signs or directions, I guess it's because they don't really want people to know where they are (as one of their data center protection). And people are unable to look in from the windows as well. 

Data Center (Image from Google; this is not the one we went.)

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Beautiful Beaches and shops: Point Loma

Time flies, today, April 10th, 2014, was already the fourth day of Spring break, also the penultimate day of Uncle Paul’s visit… Uncle Paul took me to many cool and new tourist places the past three days and also today, I love them all, and I really hope this week will never end so we can go even more places! Haha Fortunately, there is one more day tomorrow, the last day we can go out to somewhere together. The place we went to today was Point Loma, it is a seaside community within the city of San Diego. There are many beautiful beaches, nice restaurants, and fine shops in Point Loma, and of course, the best thing about going to Point Loma is that you can enjoy the fantastic view of Pacific Ocean and the California Coast.

A street in Point Loma.

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The Hero Ship: USS Midway Aircraft Carrier

Today, April 9th, 2014, was the third day of Spring break. Uncle Paul and I decided to visit the USS Midway Museum. According to Wikipedia, The USS Midway Museum is a maritime museum located in downtown San Diego, California at Navy Pier, it consists of the aircraft carrier Midway. We have walked past it or even parked in its parking lot before, but I never actually got on it before, so we think it would be a really interesting place to go. It is just in the downtown area, and people are able to see it from very far away, I think it is definitely a landmark in San Diego.

This picture was taken in the control tower on USS Midway.

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Birch Aquarium & La Jolla Cove

Today was the second day of Spring break, just like yesterday, Uncle Paul took me out to some famous tourist places in San Diego. Before we go, Uncle Paul and me went to a coffee shop to read newspaper, relax and have some drinks. I woke up at 7 o'clock today, just like the normal school day. We first took boys to their school, and then go straight to the coffee shop. The coffee shop we went to is call The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, it is located in 4S common center. There was only one person in the shop by the time we got there, so it was kinda nice. I had a cup of Latte and Uncle Paul had some tea. I felt really relaxed just sitting in the coffee shop and read some internet articles or play games with my iPad, or even to chat with Uncle Paul. We should definitely go there everyday!

(For cover photo) The spectacular view of the shore, the ocean, and the sky. Looking down from the Birch Aquarium.

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San Diego Seal Tour Adventure

Today, April 7th, 2014, was the first day of our Spring break. Uncle Paul, again, flew down from Chico and come visit us. Unfortunately, boys' school has their Spring break two weeks after my break week, so I have a week off while boys don't, it's kinda bad since we can not do activities together, but on the other hand, Uncle Paul can take me to some places that boys might not want to go, so it's also nice! Yesterday, before Uncle arrives, Jason took Ethan and me (Brennan was feeling sick) to a huge electronic store called "Fry's Electronics" just to look around, that store (or let's say, mall) was incredibly big, it even has a restaurant and a small aquarium in the mall! And it sells everything as well, from speakers, TVs to electronic parts, it's just unbelievable! Well, maybe it's just another "American size" thing, nothing too special Haha. After looking around at the electronic store, we went to a place called Invasion Laser Tag to play a quick Laser Tag game. We actually went there before once, and it was still fun this time! We then had lunch in Southern California Style fast food restaurant - In-n-out. Although it's my... 4th time having In-n-out (and having the exact same food), their classic cheese burger still tastes so good!

(For title picture) We saw a aircraft carrier drove by when we were on the boat tour

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See Where I Went and Had Fun These Weekends

Karen and Jason will take boys and me to different places almost every weekends. 2 weeks ago, we went hiking in San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve; and we went watching the Lego Movie last week. But since these are not really big "events", I didn't write post for them. It is very beautiful in San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve, it is a town nears the ocean, so hiking there are very makes me feel very comfortable, and the view was really good, too. The Lego movie was cute and funny, but I don't think I "love" it since I felt sick watching those tiny little Lego-made people all the time.

At San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve

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First Time Experiencing Broomball On Ice

Last Friday, Jason brought boys and me to Escondido Ice-plex to join the annual Family Broomball Night. Since it only holds one time a year, we cannot miss it! Broomball is a recreational ice game originating in Canada and played around the world. It is played in a hockey rink, and broomball's game rules are also just like ice hockey rule, but it is way easier than hockey, and we can just wear sneakers playing it instead of wearing ice skates.

Having fun playing broomball!

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Disneyland Trip - Day 3: California Adventure - Pt. 1

How time flies, it was last day of the trip already. Just like yesterday, we packed our clothes, had a quick breakfast, and headed to Disneyland. But today, we were not going to the original Disneyland Park, we were going to the new California Adventure Park. The park opened in 2001, and it is the second of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort Anaheim. I think there are more "old-kids" rides in California Adventure such as California Scearmin' and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Just as usual, both Disneyland park and California Adventure entrance were very crowed, we had to wait for a while to get into the park.

One of the most popular attraction in California Adventure: The California Screamin' Ride!

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Disneyland Trip - Day 3: California Adventure - Pt. 2

(Please read the first part of this post first: Disneyland Trip - Day 3: California Adventure - Pt. 1.)

We visited Cars Land today! (I will mention it later)

After this quick but awesome trip around California, we went to one of the most famous attraction (but it's not in the video...) in California, Hollywood! Well, of course, not the real one, we are still in Disneyland, we went to the Hollywood Land! This area are inspired by the 1930s Golden Age period of Hollywood, I really love it since I kinda like some old-fashion buildings, that's why I also love Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland so much, it is inspired by the 1920s of Los Angeles. The reason why we were here was because we are going to get ready for Elisa's "Disney Junior's Live on Stage" show at 2:30, this was the only time when she could take a small rest. Before lining up for the show, we just walked around the Hollywood Land. There were not too many rides in this land but some nice gift shops and maybe some stages. When we finally got into the show theater, we were surprised because we have to sit on the ground, there was no chairs in this theater, I guess it's because this theater was designed for kids to dance and sing. But we were actually expecting to sit on some nice, soft chairs and take a rest during the show... I have to say, the actual show was pretty good. Although it was designed for little kids, I still enjoyed it a lot, I love the decorations on the stage and the music of the show, plus, seeing all small kids dancing, singing and replying silly answers to the host was really interesting. I remember that there was one time when the host asked something like "Do you want to discover Mickey's clubhouse?" (which, of course, she expect kids to answer YES), and I heard a kid behind me answered NO really loud. That was just really funny!

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Disneyland Trip - Day 2: Disneyland Park - Pt. 1

Yeah!!! This day was finally here! It's day for visiting the world happiest place, Walt Disneyland! Disneyland opens at 9 today, so we woke up at 8, and had a simple, quick breakfast. Our hotel offers free breakfast, it was very basic, and there has not place for us to eat so we have to eat in our room, but it's actually a good thing since we can finish it fast have save time to have fun in Disneyland! As we were on our way to Disneyland, we could see some rides in California Adventure Park such as California Screamin' and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, that make boys and me even more excited! By the time we arrived Disneyland entrance (about 8:45), there were already lots of people waiting there to get in to the park, it took us at least half an hour to go through all processes and got into the actual park, processes including backpack check, which can make this 40,000-visitors-per-day park much safer.

One of the rides in Disneyland, the Space Mountain

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