It's almost over..

Date: August 15, 2008
Location: Beijing Subway, Line 10
Time: 10:30 pm

Our time in Beijing is quickly coming to an end, some are more than ready to go home and some, like me, wouldn’t mind staying a little bit longer. I would’ve actually liked to stay for the entire duration of the Olympics. There are some lucky ones who get to see the opening and closing ceremonies of the most expensive Olympics in history. One of the things that I was really looking forward to in my visit to Beijing was the incredible architecture. From the Bird’s Nest to the Water Cube, they have all been amazing to see up close. Another interesting building was the city’s new television tower. I’ve been through the downtown area of Beijing numerous of times before but it was always too smoggy to see anything past 2 blocks. Today was the perfect day to admire the architecture of downtown. It was absolutely a gorgeous day in Beijing. Clear skies with light clouds just vaguely scattered around the beaming sun. Even the feel of the air was different than days before: clear, crisp and lightly chilled. The absence of humidity didn’t hurt either. I had the opportunity to sleep in today, so I did all the way up to 9:30. I know, not much of late morning, but my body has gotten to a point to where I cannot sleep past a certain time anymore, I miss those days in middle school when I could’ve slept till 2 in the afternoon easily.

Today was our second to the last day and was the last day of events for a few of us. Mine, luckily was Track & Field. The clear skies made it especially pleasant to be outdoors too. I also realized that I was one of the few people in the group that got to see the Water Cube and Bird’s Nest twice. Getting into Olympic Park was tougher than trying to get Brett Favre to retire…for good (haha sorry Kara :) ) The highlight of Track & Field was that I was going to be able to see a medal ceremony! It was actually the finals for Men’s shot put and although USA didn’t get 1st, we did finish with a silver medal and a our flag being raised. I can only imagine if we did get gold and got to hear our national anthem play live. Wow, I personally think that I might’ve cried. I know it’s strange to say but being at the Olympics really brings great pride for your home country. There was just something so comforting seeing complete strangers carrying your flag, there was a certain comfort that settled in. For me it was seeing flags for USA, Mexico and Philippines. I refused to let my group leave the bad during opening ceremonies until we saw the Philippines’ athlete march on the track. Good thing they were having a great enough time to want to stay. I also got to experience something else really special; I witnessed only the 2nd and 3rd women to ever finish the 10,000 m run in under 30 minutes. The USA also took home the bronze for this one! GO USA!

When we walked out of National Stadium, there were masses of people taking pictures of both the stadium and the Watercube. My biggest regret of the this trip is definitely not being able to go into the Aquatic Center. Tickets were just way too expensive, you know, with Phelps breaking every record imaginable. This night was perfect for 2 of the most ground-breaking sports facilities in the world. I felt so fortunate to be able to attend an event in one of them, this was going to be the new symbol for the future of Beijing. Best part of the Water Cube at night? It magically changes it’s colors.