Cleveland Rocks

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, CLE

We spent yesterday in Cincinnati, so (naturally) we had to head all the way up to the top of the state and visit Cleveland today! The students really wanted to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so we made the three-hour trek up north to do just that on Memorial Day.

On the way up I contacted Aubrey, a friend who lives in Cleveland, who gave us some recommendations for dinner and invited us to a Memorial Day picnic. Unfortunately, the restaurants ended up being closed, (I'll get to you one day, Happy Dog!) but we stopped to visit and got a nice view of Lake Erie from Edgewater Park.

Nikola, Dario, and Ana checking out Lake Erie. I think they approved.

Great seeing you, Aubrey, hope the next visit lasts a little longer!

After that, it was time to head over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was a big hit! Unfortunately, I didn't do a great job getting pictures, because all of us split up to see the things we wanted to see the most. There's so much to get through! Surprisingly, my favorite was seeing some of Les Paul's experimental guitars.

The journey begins.

The Beatles.

One of my favorites - the Johnny Cash exhibit.

People made their way through the museum at varying speeds... although Rijad and I were quicker than most. We decided to go out on Lake Erie in a paddleboat for a better view of the city and the lake.

The wind made this activity a lot more strenuous than we anticipated... after a while we just paddled out to a spot and let the wind blow us back in, which was more fun than paddling...

The view was worth it though!

We ended our time in Cleveland at Zocalo's, a Mexican restaurant near the Cavaliers Stadium. Seriously some of the best (upscale) Mexican food I've ever had. Nice job, CLE!

No one left hungry... I'm not sure how Rijad finished his burger either.

Finally, we took a walk around the city to see the sights. I wish I had picked a better day when more things were open, but it was nice to see the city and work off some of the calories. Afterwards, my car stopped in Columbus too to see Short North, we did the entire "3C+D" (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton) in just two days!

Exploring Cleveland's downtown.

Just two more days left, then it's Dayton's turn to head to Mostar!

Cincinnati/KY

We did Cincinnati!

Sunday was our "fun day" to spend in Cincinnati. We started off by heading down to the Cincinnati premium outlet mall to get some shopping in before going to Cincinnati proper. Once in Cincinnati, Marilynne and Alan invited us for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Reds stadium, which was really cool! Our guide, Kelly, took us all over the stadium, including the press box, dugout, and even on the field! Words don't do it justice...

Even for those of us from Cincinnati, this behind-the-scenes tour of the Great American Ballpark was special!

Kelly, our tour guide, was amazing!

The tour included some great views of Cincinnati...

... and the ballpark!

We also got to sit in the press box...

... and the dugout!

The dugout was a hit :)

After the ballpark, we headed in to see the Hall of Fame.

The students also learned why Pete Rose is the greatest Reds player of all time, and saw the collection of 4,192 baseballs that illustrate how many hits it took for him to break the all-time hit record.

Mateo even got to be Charlie Hustle for a minute.

One of the favorite stops was the bullpen, where we got to see how hard it is to be a pitcher.

And, of course, the Hall of Fame!

After the tour, we took a short trip across the river to Kentucky, where we visited Newport on the levee some of the group members went shopping, while others visited the Newport Aquarium. 

The Aquarium crew in front of an alligator... no big deal.

Something's out of place here...

Cool view of the manta-rays!

Everyone was a little tired...

... but we made it back to the Dayton area in time for a cookout at Marilynne and Alan's house. It was an awesome steak dinner, and the rain held out long enough for us to eat out on the patio. We were having so much fun I forgot to get a picture before everyone left!

The dinner guests (minus Amanda, Ana, and Dario)

One more "big day" is left (tomorrow), when we travel to Cleveland. Thank you again to Marilynne and Alan for arranging our tour and hosting us at your home for dinner. We had a great time, and the day wouldn't have happened without you both!

Pedal Wagons, Kings Island, Fort Ancient, and other miscellaneous adventures

Mmm.... starting the day off right.

The day began bright and early with a true Dayton-area institution: Bill's Donuts. After that, the students "moved on" in their course, which took the form of riding Pedal Wagons over to Nucleus!

On our way to Nucleus thanks to Pedal Wagon Dayton, which donated our ride today!

Once we arrived at Nucleus, we met Jay Nigro, owner and CEO of Liftoff Entertainment, a DJ and photo booth company right here in Dayton. After a short tour of the co-working space, the students had pizza (thanks to Jay for donating!) and heard him talk about how he developed his own business plan. The students got some expert advice and had the opportunity to ask questions specific to their own business plans as well.

Jay greets the students outside Nucleus.

We took a quick tour of Nucleus to see the co-working space.

Thanks for lunch and the talk, Jay!

After that, it was time to head to the Dayton Art Institute to see some of the great pieces that we have right here in Dayton!

Outside the Dayton Art Institute

Appreciating the art in the European history wing.

I think the exhibit that "won the day" was the active art one!

After DAI, we were the guests of Carolyn and Mike Rice. Carolyn is the Treasurer of Montgomery County and she and Mike are both active in international education locally. Last year they hosted an exchange student from Mostar, BiH, for a year, and they invited us over for a fun evening and dinner.

A fun night at Carolyn and Mike's house!

Friday was "get to work" day at The Entrepreneurs Center, with students taking most of the day to work on their business plans.

Still had time for a nice photo!

After class, students went home to get ready for our pool party!

Had to give a shout-out to Mateo for helping his home family get ready for their daughter, Maddie's, graduation party!

Friday evening was a lot of fun. Lori and Bob, Dario's homestay family, agreed to host a pool party for all of our international exchange students and their families (from DRSS and Mostar), as well as everyone who traveled to BiH last year through the Dayton Sister City trip.

Thanks to Lori and Bob for the amazing burgers and hot dogs!

It was a great group that ended up coming together! Too many people to list, but a great time!

Saturday was another day full of fun trips, which began with some local history at SunWatch Indian Village. Thanks to the Dayton Society of Natural History President, Mark Meister, who provided us with tickets to see this Dayton treasure. It's an archeological site of a Fort Ancient Native American community that has been reconstructed. We had a group tour of the grounds and got to see how the Fort Ancient peoples lived 800 years ago.

Checking out the layout of the grounds before heading out to see the village.

The first stop was a garden plot, where we saw the "trinity" of crops grown by Fort Ancient people: squash, corn, and beans.

A replica canoe used by the Fort Ancient people, which would be used primarily for transporting goods.

Where SunWatch gets its name: the poles at the center of the village allow the villagers to determine what time of year it is so that they can plan their crop planting/harvesting season effectively.

After SunWatch we headed to Kings Island for a day of fun. We had a great time, and are super proud of Edna and Ana for conquering their fears and riding some of the "big ones," like The Beast and Diamond Back!

I promise, they did more exciting rides than this one...

A view from the top of the Eiffel Tower

"Come to Kings Island," they said. "It'll be fun," they said. (My favorite picture of Nikola had to be memed).

Bumper cars were one of the few rides I could actually get a picture on.

Finally, we ended the day at the Dragons Game. Many thanks to my friends Amber Smith and Pat Kelly for helping us get enough tickets to take the Mostar and DRSS students to experience a baseball game together! A fun end to an exciting three days!

The view from (some) of our seats.

Victoria, Bri, Edna, and Gloria enjoying the game!

Along with Ana, Irena, and Amanda!