This is Whitney, Lauren, me and Ryan inside the NBC studio. I guess I shouldn't say gymnastics is completely over with ... read this article by Juliet Macur of the New York Times about the questionable ages of some of the Chinese gymnasts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/sports/olympics/22age.html?ex=1377057600&en=038451ec531ad9d6&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Juliet sat in the press tribune where I worked and got to meet her several times; she is great.
With only a week left in Beijing, I am trying to make the most of my time here and not think about the jet leg I will undoubtedly have when I return, the 8am classes I will have to endure Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the hours I will be spending in the library this semester. This trip has seemed completely unreal and looking back on it, I don’t know how I got so lucky quite so often. The other night was a perfect example of the great things that have just happened to come my way.
After coming into work at 6pm and thinking I would be there until at least midnight, my supervisor told me I should leave and just enjoy Beijing. I was confused, but happy to not have to be working during handball, a sport that not even NBC thinks is important enough for broadcast. My friend Lauren was invited to go to the gold medal women’s soccer game by a friend of hers who is working for NBC. He invited me, Lauren and Whitney to come visit the NBC compound. We had no idea what we were in for: tours of the broadcast studios, free dinner (salad bar, panninis, gelato) and the best, FREE Starbucks! Aside from all the free, cool perks, we were surrounded by broadcast legends! While trying to eat my yummy salad, I couldn’t help but look around at the familiar TV faces walking around the cafeteria. As if that wasn’t enough, a friend of mine called to say soccer ticket’s for the gold medal game were going for 200 Yuan, roughly $30. I didn’t hesitate and before I knew it, I was sitting inside the Worker’s Stadium watching the USA play Brazil.
Whitney and I were sitting pretty high in the stands but Lauren called at half time to say there were some empty NBC seats.
We ended up watching the remainder of the game, including overtime and the medal ceremony, from the seventh row! It was basically amazing and even as the clock ticked past midnight, I was high off the game, the people and the free Starbuck’s I had enjoyed previously in the evening. Last night my friend Lauren was invited to go to dinner with Jason Stallman of the New York Times. She was nice enough to let me tag along and he took us to a wonderful Chinese restaurant down the street from the Olympic green. After dinner we went to Athletics and I got to go inside the Bird’s Nest for the first time. It was truly incredible.
We were on the third (and highest) tier so I got a pretty good workout coming up the stairs. We saw Jamaica take the gold for the 4x100 meter relay and set a new world record! Australia's chant was in my head all night after their pole vaulter took the gold and set a new record, too. It was a great night. Tonight our plan is to go out for one of our last nights together in Beijing. I cannot get over the fact that this trip is coming to a close. I really feel like I just got here and really have gotten used to things I never thought I would adjust to: the random horrid smells, chopsticks, low water pressure, not being able to communicate with taxi drivers. The list could go on forever. I am excited to see all my friends from home and can't wait to see my mom when she picks me up in Columbia on Thursday. I am not too thrilled about getting in Thursday night at 11PM and waking up for my Broadcast I class the next morning at 8AM. It will be great though.
XOXO,
P
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