One Bird’s Nest… One World One Dream
It all started out with a little trip to the Bird’s
Nest Stadium but then evolved into something much bigger
than expected.
We were told that we would be able to interview
some of the architects and engineers that
were a part of building the Olympic Stadium.
Both of us were very excited and nervous
about it. We were both relieved that we were
not the only children that would attend this
interview and would be joined by 10 students
coming from 5 other schools.
It was very
interesting to be able to talk to the engineers
and we both thought that it was more interesting
than reading about the stadium in an article
or magazine. After the interview, we took
a quick trip to a bridge near the stadium.
We were hoping to be able to be one of the
first people to enter the stadium but to
our dismay, the stadium was off-limits due
to security reasons. From the bridge, we
were able to get a good view of the stadium
and took some group photos. We then returned
to the studio and were very surprised to
hear that the whole trip was part of a competition
where we had to each write an 800-word essay
about the Bird’s
Nest.
Our next experience as mini journalists
was at a press conference at the St. Regis
hotel with four members of the USA swim team.
The four members were Michael Phelps, Ryan
Lochte, Katie Hoff, and Megan Jendrick. All
four were Olympic and World champions.
When
we arrived, we were not surprised to find
that we were the only children and the others
were all members of newspaper, magazine,
and TV companies. At the beginning of the
conference, the members of the USA team thanked
their sponsors and talked about their experiences
in China, while we took notes. Then the press
was allowed to ask questions. We were not
sure whether we were considered as “The
Press” so
we stayed quiet and took more notes.
We were
not surprised to find that all of the questions
were directly aimed at Michael Phelps although
the other members also answered a few questions.
When the Q & A section was finished,
the four athletes split up for a more individual
interviewing. At this point, we were still
too shy to ask questions so we stood in the
background and took pictures. Finally, when
the tables were free, we decided to go forth
and talk to Katie. We asked her a few questions
and got her autograph. The same happened
for both Megan and Ryan. We were unable to
talk to Michael because of the swarm of eager
news reporters around his table. We waited
for about 20 minutes and decided that it
would take too long to reach him. Tired and
disappointed, we called a cab and headed
back home.
by Michael Li |
