Nihao he Zaijian (hello and goodbye)

Welcome to my blog dedicated to writing about my adventures in Beijing! Until I depart for the People's Republic of China on June 21 from the Cedar Rapids Airport, I will be preparing as much as I can for my two months abroad. For those that do not know what I am doing in Beijing, I will do my best to fill you in on what details I do know. Although I warn you, at this point it is very vague. For the past two years, the building blocks of this project began developing. I started preparing early by taking Chinese language classes for a project that seemed more dreamlike than concrete. Before I knew what I would be doing in Beijing, I could say hello, goodbye, and I do not understand in Chinese. Through the magic of our wonderful journalism professor, however, the right connections were made and I, along with 23 other University of Iowa students, now know we will be working for the Olympic News Service (ONS). Within that number, the group will be doing a variety of tasks, but I am currently assigned to work at the tennis venue as a media volunteer. Wearing my official 2008 Beijing Olympics' volunteer garb, I will be rubbing elbows with international journalists collecting quotes from the world's greatest tennis athletes. These "flash quotes" will then be made available to journalists unable to be in the media pit, be that at another Olympic venue or not able to come to the Olympics at all. This unique experience will be life-changing. Thank you for taking time to read my blog.