The two-week Global Immersion Programme (GIP) of SAI International School to USA concluded on October 21, 2018. Thirteen students along with a Teacher Coordinator took part in th

e programme which is part of the Sister City Student Exchange Programme of the Cupertino Bhubaneswar Sister City Initiative (CBSCI).

Student Report for October 7 – 8  By DHRUTI SUNDAR KAMPA

Everyone reached the airport by 6:45 approx. After 3 hrs at the airport we left for Calcutta at 9:30 and landed there at 10:30. From there we left for Doha and landed after 5 hrs. Next, we boarded to our gate for America. It was a really hectic journey as the flight was 16 hrs long. Thankfully we landed safely at around 2:00p.m. (by American time). Then we checked into our hotel and took a nap for a while. Then we left for dinner to an Indian restaurant and the food was just lit. We came back to the hotel and fell asleep as all of us were tired. The day was well spent by all of us. Tomorrow we head to Disneyland and we cannot wait.

Student Report for October 9 – By YOGDA PACHISIA 

Our wakeup call came at 6:30am. We were so excited to go to Disneyland the entire group was ready almost an hour early for our bus. The hotel breakfast was nice it had a choice of waffles, cereal, scrambled eggs, potatoes, toast or bagels and several types of juice. We boarded our bus shortly after we finished breakfast and quickly stopped by a store to pick up water for the day. It took about 45 min drive to reach Disneyland from our hotel. Once we reached we got our tickets and maps and planned how to conquer our day and ride as many rides as we could.

We started with Guardians of the Galaxy which was really fast. The ride would go straight up then drop down at such a high pace you would feel your body lift off your seat saved only by the seat belt strapping you in.

With hearts pumping we ran to our next ride which was at the Pixar Pier called the Incredicoster. I was a bit afraid at first because it had a loop in it that made you go upside down. After that it was time for lunch most of us ate Mexican food. I had black bean tacos. But most people had the Burrito del Pollo (Translated into English means Chicken Burrito).

After lunch we took some group pictures and went to the Grizzly Peak water ride which was a lot like water rafting and yes, we did get pretty wet. It was a lot of fun. We stopped for ice cream and then had to wait in line for a ride called Soarin which was virtual ride. It was almost 6pm so we went to the restaurant and picked up our food, Biriyani. After another 45min ride back to the hotel we all took our packed food and headed to our room completely exhausted. What a wonderful day!

Student Report for October 10 – By ARNAV DHANAWAT 

The day began well, as we woke up to a good weather and had good breakfast with good variety of juices. We left for Downtown Los Angeles at sharp 8. We are happy to have such a punctual teacher like Jessica Ma’am, no matter how late we wake up, ma’am makes sure that we are right on time. We are also grateful to Chairman Sir for giving us such an opportunity and arranging such a marvelous trip for us.

We went to many famous Hollywood streets and saw popular places owned by famous movie stars like restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs. Then went for a walking tour of more Hollywood attractions and then we went for souvenir shopping for our friends and families. Then most of us had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe afterwards we left for Griffith Observatory where we came to know about outer space and telescopes.

After that we all spent our post lunch time in Citadel Outlets where we bought goodies from our favourite brands like Calvin Klein, Nike, Crocs and more brands. We all have been missing our families but that is covered up by the fun we are having with our friends. Today, we came across a great saying at the Griffith Observatory “If all mankind could look through that telescope, it would change the world”, this means that if everyone could look at the world with the same view, then there would be no inequalities among people.

Student Report for October 11- By ANIMESH MOHANTY & AMLAN KISHORE DAS 

Today was a great day we got a chance to go to Universal Studios Hollywood.

We woke up at 7 am and went for breakfast at 8:30. We left for the the park at 9:30 took us a long time to reach there. We reached at 10:45 there and made went in. We all upgraded to the express tickets and split up in groups. We experienced many of the rides there like transformers, mummy and Harry Potter.

We then got a studio tour which was really amazing as we got to see many sound stages where many popular movies were shot. We got to see sets of movies like Back To The Future, Bruce Almighty and many more we also saw many cars which were used in movies like Fast And The Furious, Jurassic Park and also a 3-D King Kong and Fast And The Furious ride. We had our lunch in there and the park was supposed to close down early for the Halloween parade so we had to leave.

We decided to leave Universal studios at about 5PM and after all of us assembled, we left at about 5:30 PM. All of us were tired but since we were ahead of our schedule, we had some time in our hands. Most of us slept during the bus ride. We went to a shopping mall close to our hotel at 7pm and left at about 8:30pm. We reached the hotel after 15 minutes and then after freshening up, left for dinner at about 9 o’clock. We walked to Denny’s for dinner and had a filling meal. We returned to the hotel at 10:30 thus ending our long day.

Student Report for Oct 12 – By PRATHAM PRADEEP 

Today we woke up at 8 AM. After eating our breakfast, we took some rest and checked out of the hotel at 10 45 AM.  We had to drive all the way from LA to Chowchilla for 8 hrs. It’s wasn’t boring to the level we expected. During the trip we played many games like UNO and other card games. We also went for shopping in between the trip. After a long trip we reached an Indian restaurant and had our dinner over there. Then we checked in the hotel Holiday Inn. And that’s how our day ended.

Student Report for October 13 – By SHIVAM BHARALAWALA

The day started well as we had a good breakfast at hotel Holiday Inn which is located in Chowchilla, then after the breakfast we left for Yosemite national park it was a long drive. After reaching there we went to a ranch which was full of horses and then we went for horse riding for full 2 hours. There were very steeps curves, uphill and downhill on our way which were dangerous.

 

After the horse riding we went for the lunch at subway and had fillings lunch and left to meet our host families. We reached city hall by 6:45 and after a great introduction and a warm welcome by the mayor and the host families we left the city hall with our respective host families.

Student Report for October 14 – By MANSITA MISHRA

Today’s day started at 8:55am. My first morning with my host Nivea and her family. In my host family there are 4 members Nivea (Nivi), her younger sister Minu, her mother Raji auntie and her father Madam uncle. After freshening up we all had our breakfast that is pancakes and coffee which was really tasty n filling after 2 hours we all decided to go to Santa Cruz beach we reached there at 1 and had our lunch. I had s’more crêpes and garlic fries which were delicious and near the beach there was Santa Cruz beach boardwalk; an amusement park and wend on a few rides like the fireball, haunted trail and the rope way. At 4 pm we drove back to our house and went for a Navratri celebration to Madan Uncle’s cousin’s place we had our dinner there and they dropped me and Nivi to the Lynbrook tennis court for Nivi’s homecoming dance practice I met her friend saw there dance n had a lot of fun. I feel like home here these people are really nice and treat me like their family member. In the beginning I was a bit scared but then now I think I have made a friend for life and will cherish these moments for a lifetime. This trip has taught me a lot of life lessons like how to adjust make friends be happy and independent. So yeah, that’s how my day ended.

Student Report for October  15- By ARCHIT BANDO

We had to reach the Cupertino Community Hall by 8:15am and we all had gatheredaround and left the place by 8:30am for Facebook.

After Facebook we left for the Tesla headquarters and then we left for the Tech Museum and had a lot of fun by using and playing scientific games and displays and designing our own bacteria.

We also tried out the bird virtual simulator which was the most amazing thing there and after the museum we went for our lunch at Pizza my Heart.

After lunch we left for the Apple Campus and then we went to the Mayor’s office and had a small talk about the city and he showed his office and then we started preparing for the small presentation by us to the host families and the mayor and the presentation was successful and we had our dinner in the community hall and our host’s took us for the night.

Meeting with the Mayor of Cupertino –

discussion on future plans between Cupertino and SAI International School and a in depth description of hoe the Cupertino City Government works

Student Presentation at City Hall –

We spoke about India our school and held a short fashion show were students dressed in different types of traditional Indian clothing

Student Report for October 16 – By VIDISHA AGRAWAL

Today began well as we started our journey by some fresh donuts and headed towards San Fransisco, there we saw some great places like City Hall and some really tall skyscrapers. Then, we headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge which looked marvellous in real life.

We went to the Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39 for lunch today, we also saw some sea lions there.

Then we left for Standford University where we went inside for a tour, we walked along the campus, we saw the church there and the 7 of the 21 beautiful fountains. We got to know many fascinating historical facts about the University of Stanford.

After coming back from the tour we came to the City Council Hall for the attending the Council Meeting where we were welcomed and it was a very proud moment for us. Then we went to an amazing Indian restaurant for dinner with some of the people who belong to Odisha but are here. It was so great to hear their experiences. So that’s how we spent the day today. All of this wouldn’t have been possible without our respected Chairman Sir, Principal Sir and our very own Jessica ma’am. Thank you all so much for giving us this life changing opportunity. 

Student Report for October 17 – By SHASHREEK SHIKHAR

Today was the first day of our school experience in Cupertino. We were going to attend a local school named Lynbrook High School. It was an early morning drive to the school and we reached there by 8:20 where our host family dropped us at the school bidding us a great day ahead. Then we came across students from the school and one of them were assigned to each of the thirteen of us and we had to shadow them (shadowing means to be with a particular student from a particular school and to attend the same classes as them and get to know more about the school and the education system). I was assigned to shadow a Chinese student from Lynbrook High School, Rita Chen. She was a senior student studying in the twelfth grade and was pursuing engineering. She took me to her class at about 8:30am and it started with an advanced Japanese class and I got to know quite a lot from the students there and the teacher who was extremely generous. After a 90 minute class she took me to a quard area where I saw the homecoming of the Class 2021 and an amazing performance followed for the next half an hour and then we had a brunch which followed it. Soon after that she took me to another one of her advanced government class it was the best class that I have experienced so far because the teacher of that subject is very articulate and his way to introducing ideas and concepts is very unique and after another 90 minutes of great learning we had a 45 minute lunch that we followed and finishing lunch a bit early I was given a tour of the exquisite school campus and all the classes by Rita and then we caught up with the last class for the day which was the advanced mathematics class where I made great friends and the passionate mathematics teacher introduced me to everyone and we got to know each other quite well.  After such a beautiful day time passed by quite quickly and it was 3:20pm and our host family had come to pick us up. During the evening at about 5:00 after freshening up we all went to a bowl OK no club and did 3 hours of bowling and gaming and warmed up to our hosts. And then we all hitched a ride together and went back to out houses. Thus a great day came to an end and is one of the most memorable days in my life.

Student Report for October 18 – By JYOTIRADITYA MOHANTY

Today was the last day of our wonderful trip and our last day at Lynbrook High. It started with all of us going to school early to click pictures and then we were welcomed by the students who had arranged the homecoming event! It was truly amazing.

We then went with our shadow students to our respective classes and I had Economics as the first period. The class was interesting and we got to know many things about advertising in the USA. Then we were called by the Principal of Lynbrook High School and she spoke to us about the different events and rituals of their school. It was great experience getting to know about their culture at school. She also gave us a tour of the entire school. Then it was time for the Homecoming event. They had arranged skits, decorations, dances it was wonderful.

Then we attended a few more classes and at dispersal our hosts picked us up and we went to a restaurant for lunch and then spent some time at their place, got dressed and went for the farewell dinner with the Mayor. The farewell was wonderful and sad at the same time because we were going to go back. All host families and students spoke a few words, had dinner and went home.