DISNEY WORLD!!! A day full of magic

These images describe perfectly our day at Magic Kingdom (Disney World Orlando)

Class in the jungle + we go to the movies!!

Yesterday morning we had a different morning. Instead of going to Polk State College we went to Circle B Natural Reserve, a nature discovering center pretty close to the campus. We did different activities there in order to learn more about the wildlife in Florida. We went "fishing", we walked across different trails and we saw all kind of trees, insects and even some alligator in the distance!!!! It was something different and we liked it, specially for having a day outside our classroom. 

After the morning activity we had lunch at McDonald's and we stayed there for a while because it was raining a lot and we wanted some time to chill. The worst part was that we were supposed to go to Legoland Park because we got tickets for free but as everything there is outdoors and it was shower raining we decided not to go because we would have seen everything under an umbrella... Pretty sad because we were excited about it, but we had a back up plan... Going to the movies!!!! Our choice was the brand new film of the Apes saga, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. At first it was a bit slow but then it got more interesting and the action came so we all enjoyed it.

Despite the raining and not going to Legoland it was an awesome day!!! And tomorrow, Disney World!!!! WE CAN'T WAIT!!!

Juan.

Ice Skating

On Tuesday we went to the campus as usual to have class. It was cool because we played some games and we learned new vocabulary which will be useful for us in the future. As every day, we kept doing our Table Tennis Championship during the break time and we had so much fun. We play short games (up to 5 points) so it's very fast and everyone can play several times.

After class we had lunch in a super awesome restaurant. It was called Golden Corral and it was a buffet where we could eat EVERYTHING!!! From pasta to fried chicken as well as salad, Mexican food or the part we loved the most: the dessert!!! They had ice-cream with awesome toppings (Oreos, candies, M&M's...), amazing and yummy cakes and our favorite: a chocolate waterfall!!! And it was AWESOME!!

 
Later, as our afternoon activity we went ice skating!!!! Where?? Well, to that big ice rink in downtown Lakeland, called The Lakeland Center. We had a lot of fun in there, doing races, pirouettes or simply skating... We didn't fall that much which means that we're pretty good at it.

At 4pm we left the ice rink and we went back to our campus to meet the families. It was an awesome day because we ate a lot and because we had so much fun!!!

Journalism & Shopping

On Monday we had classes in the morning as usual; we played some games to improve our English and we talked about sports and fashion. 

At 11 we had a surprise: a woman who works for a newspaper of Polk County came to interview us about what we do here in the States and what's this program like. It was very interesting because we could tell her about all the amazing things we do here and it was a very good exercise to improve our speech skills. We can't wait to see the final article in the newspaper!!! After that we kept playing some more games until it was lunch time.

Right after class we had lunch at a very cool restaurant, Patio 850. They gave us pizza, salad and some chocolates. Everything was delicious!!! 

Our first afternoon activity didn't go well at all, because we were supposed to go to Hollis Gardens but they were closed. Instead we stopped by one of the different lakes of Lakeland to feed some birds that were close to us.

Our last activity was going to a small mall where there were two outlets, and it was fantastic because we had the chance to buy clothes of expensive brands for less than $30!!!! At 4pm we all met in the parking lot as it was time to go home with our families.

Although we didn't go to Hollis Gardens, it was a great day and we had so much fun!!!

Carmen.

BUSCH GARDENS!!!!

On Friday it was our first Theme Park Friday!!

We went to Busch Gardens, a theme park located in Tampa, 30 miles away from Lakeland.

When we arrived we took some maps of the park to know where to go and what to ride. We were all very excited because we'd heard that there were some really cool rides!!

First thing we did was ride Cheetah Hunt, a roller coaster that simulates a cheetah that is hunting. It's great because the ride is really, really fast and you can feel the speed on your face and body. 

Then, we went into Montu, an inverted roller coaster with lots of loopings and twists. It was awesome and some of us got the chance to ride in the first row!! That was off the hook!!

After that we had lunch at one of the many restaurants in the park and then we wanted to go into some more rides but we found them closed as there was lightning all over the park and they preferred to shut the rides and wait for the storm to pass.

And luckily the storm finally passed and we could continue going to some more rides. Our next one was one called Sheikra, a roller coaster with two vertical falls and one looping... That's what we call an adrenaline rush!!! We all get off wanting more, but unfortunately by that time, the queue was too long and there were other rides waiting for us. 

The last rides we went in were the typical flumes and another roller coaster similar to Dragon Khan. After riding those two we started going to our meeting point in the main entrance of the park.

We had an amazing time there and we enjoyed a lot (except for the storm thing) and we can't wait for this Friday to go to Disney World!!! We bet it's going to be awesome!!!

Bowling & Fajitas

Today was a good day. Why? Because we did a lot of cool things. First, as every day, we went to class to learn a lot and we also did something new: during our break time, we played FIFA Soccer in the PS3 we have in our room in the students' center. Yes, yes, you read well, this university has a room with videogames!!!!

Right after our lessons, we had lunch at an awesome Mexican restaurant called Olivo. Everything was super yummy!!! Some of us ate tacos, others ate burritos and others fajitas, but everyone of us enjoyed the lunch.

And our afternoon ended with an awesome time at the bowling!!! We had two lanes and we made two teams, boys & girls, and we had two hours to play as much as we wanted. We had a lot of fun because we were trying to make as much strikes and spares as possible but we didn't always succeed. 

Finally, we went back to the campus to meet our families and to go home to chill out a bit because tomorrow is a big day: our first theme park!!! 

Having some Sun 'n' Fun

Today we arrived at the college earlier than usual because we hadn't had our stop at Starbucks and, as something unusual, we only had a lesson of an hour and a half because we left the campus earlier as we had a great activity planned at the Sun 'n' Fun Air Museum.

When we arrived we had a mini plane demo. It was amazing to see how far and fast can something that small go. After that we went to the staff room to had lunch. We had pizza, chips and some cookies and cupcakes as a dessert. It was really good.

After lunch, we visited the museum, where they told us all about the different airports in Florida, how the planes fly and how they were initially made and some more interesting things. We had some free time around the museum as well, where we could take pictures on the planes as we were the pilots.

Then we had a really cool scavenger hunt where we made electric circuits, we "build" paper planes and paper rockets and we threw them to see how the flew.

Finally, and as we had some time left before meeting our families, we went to a small mall in Lakeland and we had some free time to do some shopping.

Pau.

Experiencing the future at Florida Polytech

Today after class, we had lunch at Cici's Pizza, a place where you can have all the salads, pasta and, of course, pizza that you want!! 

Then, we went to Polk Outpost 27, which is an information center for tourist. When we entered, a man gave us a bag with some information inside and then he started a short visit around the center showing us the things and activities you can do when visiting Polk County.

Afterwards, we visited Florida's brand new university, Florida Polytech University, which will open next month. It's the only state university exclusively dedicated to science, technology and engineering. It's an amazing building designed by an Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava. This uni has more than 30 classrooms and research labs. It has received donations by Apple, Microsoft and even a huge hard drive that has around 700 terabytes!!! Our guide told us that this would probably cost like 40 million dollars!!!!

Every classroom can hold between 15 and 20 students and we found it really cool and modern. Some of us even sat down in some of the classroom to see the uni through students eyes. 

The building itself is different to what we've seen around and it looks like a futuristic place, as you can see in the pics.

Let's say it was a very interesting day!!

Carla