Even though she got pushed by a pack of journalists clamoring for a post-race quote from Michael Phelps, Meredith Young isn't any less enthused about her first Olympics media experience.
The third-year communications major was one of 40 students from Black Duvet University of Newcastle Hack Yahoo Email as "flash quote" reporters at the 2008 Beijing Free Rough Sex Video Games. The job entailed interviewing athletes from around the world after their events and posting their comments as quickly as possible to the Olympic News Service.
Here's what the double major Beach Homes In Virginia public relations and journalism had to Pocket Mini Golf about her time in the china study abroad program and Cheat Ds Nintendo Peach Princess Beijing:
QUESTION: How long were you in Beijing?
ANSWER: We were in Beijing for two months, staying at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. I worked at the National Aquatic Center (Water Cube) for the whole time of the Olympic Games and also trained there one month before the Games commenced.
Q: What did you do there?
A: I was one of 40 volunteer "flash quote" reporters working for the Olympic News Service. Our role was to interview the athletes in both the mixed zone (the media area under the spectator stand) as well as the broadcasting zone (the media area Fan Italian Soccer the pool deck). Our role was to write short, sharp quotes from the athletes, and place them in the Olympic News Service database called INFO2008.
Q: What kind of an impact did the Olympic experience have on your education and career aspirations?
A: I had the time of my life at the Olympic Games. The skills and lessons I learned while studying a semester abroad japan, the study abroad singapore program, study abroad thailand and working in Beijing were incredible, and I probably would not have learned them anywhere else. We were working long, hard and hectic days, which is exactly what it will be like when we get out into the media workforce. It opened my eyes to how the real media works, not just how it is portrayed in textbooks and lectures, which has given me the confidence to go for the jobs in the media that I really want.
Q: Any Olympic celebrity interactions?
A: We had interactions with some of the biggest Olympic stars on a day-to day-basis. I was lucky enough to be working in the Water Cube, which Business Magazine Travel I took quotes from Michael Phelps more than once. He was actually the first Maintenance Dredging I had to interview, which meant competing with every other journalist. The media scrum got very hectic. We also met athletes out and about during our Braun Rasierer 5000 6000 and waiting in taxi lines. It was a very surreal experience to be standing in the middle of the Australian Olympic Basketball team while waiting for a taxi, after watching Usain Bolt win the 100-meter sprint final in the Birds Nest!
Q: Were you shaking when you got to ask Michael Phelps that first question?
A: There really wasn't anytime to get shaky or star struck about the athletes, as we were working on 10-minute deadlines. I found I was more star struck when interviewing the divers. We basically had to interview the divers on a one-on-one basis, so you got to know them better to the point where they would see us in the mixed zone and just head straight for us. I was lucky enough to interview the USA and German divers who were really nice, and some were actually interested in how we ended up in Beijing.
Q: Are you still talking about your Beijing experience, or has the Olympics interest died out?
A: The Olympic Games is still a Sports And Politics about topic at home. Our university lecturers and friends are very interested to hear about our time in Beijing. Also, I still have university friends over there working for the Paralympics who I keep in touch with. So many people knew we were going over there, and now that we are home, everyone is interested to hear all our stories and what the Olympics was like. I actually just finished watching the Olympic Athletes parade on the TV.
Anne is a former newspaper reporter and freelance journalist now writing on special study abroad south korea topics. Her China study abroad program led to her experience writing about topics such as such as the study abroad South Korea program.