History

I just realized that some of you reading this may not know why/how I'm here at the Olympics. Here's a little history...

Last fall I heard of the opportunity to volunteer at the Games through the journalism school at Mizzou. I went to the informational meetings and cleared that it was okay to do both Australia and Beijing. Then we had the application process with letters of recommendation, forms, and an interview. After making it through that round we (about 60 of us) had to attend weekly sessions on culture, the Olympics, and reporting style. I was only able to make three meetings before going to Australia, but they sent all the ppts to me by email. The rest of the group had rigorous training, including practice debates and writing exams (all of which I was exempt from because of Australia, hehehe).

While I'm here I am officially a BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games) volunteer and I also have to write weekly summaries for a Chinese Culture credit. The picture is of my accreditation pass that makes me feel pretty cool, and also lets me ride all the buses and subways for free! I like to flash it to random people sometimes...