Not only have the Celtics won the NBA Finals tonight but today marks exactly two weeks before I depart for China! While watching the game, I typed out as thorough of a China packing list as I could which can be found under the To-Do page. I still haven’t typed out my clothing packing list, but will get to it soon – think less, comfortable, withstanding heat, and thick soles, and that basically sums it up.

Yesterday I picked up my passport which now is home to my China visa!! With that in hand, I have now obtained every possible paperwork and approval from China that says I can officially enter the country. It’s a HUGE relief!

I also had the honor of having coffee with John Powers yesterday who is a reporter for the Boston Globe and has been writing about China’s preparations for the Olympics. It was quite a treat to hear from an experienced journalist who’s been there and will also be there for the Olympics! Check out his most recent article here.

For the most part, I have everything I’m going to pack. I have a doctor’s appointment Friday to get the last of the prescriptions I may need, like an inhaler for the pollution. So everything is coming along nicely. Although the piles of supplies spread out over my living room floor looks chaotic, I feel prepared (mostly). There’s only a handful of things left to cross off from my to-do list and before I know it, I’ll be boarding a plane to Shanghai!

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Happy travel preparations and Celtic celebrations!

Helen

After a competitive interview process to get into the program back in October and then a grueling test administered by BOCOG officials over two weeks ago, it is official:

I’m going to the Beijing Olympics this summer!!

It has been weeks of preparation, anticipation and suspense waiting for this announcement. After reading the email, there was sigh of relief and now a gigantic smile is plastered on my face.

Here’s a glimpse of some landmarks since I first found out about the program:

Timeline:

Sept. 13 – The Beijing Olympics Program was announced

Sept. 24 – Information session on program

Sept. 28 – Deadline to apply – 143 students applied

Oct. 15 – Notified I made it to second round in application process – 58 students selected

Oct. 30 – My interview

Nov. 1 – News that I got into the program – 35 students selected

Dec. 14 – Meeting for accepted students – first time we meet

Jan. 23 – Sports Journalism and Chinese Culture class starts

Feb. 27 – Written portion of test with BOCOG officials

Feb. 28 – Debate portion of test with the BOCOG officials

Mar. 18 – Official confirmation that the whole class is going!!

Next on the timeline will be departure for the Olympics! I have to be in Beijing July 8. Between now and then I will be working on my Mandarin and preparing for the journalism tasks we’ll be doing at the Olympics.

Thanks so much for everyone’s ongoing support!

- One ecstatic Helen!

Check out this youtube clip on a news story about the ONS selecting Australian volunteers. The testing mentioned in the states is what I’m doing next week. Note the description of “grueling” testing!

So what is this test?  This test will determine whether or not I go to Beijing this summer…no pressure!!  I actually had to sign a waiver stating that I understand Emerson doesn’t have the last say on my participation in the Olympics program!

With only 13 days to go, our class is still not clear exactly what we will be tested on.  First we were told that it was going to be on note taking accuracy and interview skills but just today we were told it’s going to be on note taking and debate skills!!  For the record, I have no debate training…and I don’t think fighting with my brother as an adolescent counts!  Beijing officials from the Olympic News Service are flying to Boston to monitor and grade our performance.  The debate aspect I believe will test us more on our composure and ability to survive stressful circumstances…which they are supplying plenty of already!

To prepare, for the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to get up to speed on my journalistic skills.  This involves listening to endless online interviews and taking notes word-for-word on quotable material.  I’m finding that it’s a lot harder than it sounds.  This past weekend I went to a college invitational meet and interviewed my first real athlete.  He won the men’s mile and kept throwing me off by looking at what I was writing as he answered my questions.

I’ve also been working on coming up with good questions to ask in interviews.  Luckily I have a friend, the same one who hooked my up with the Boston Indoors ticket, who is a die-hard fan of running and willingly shares his knowledge and love for the sport with me which helps a lot when formulating intelligent questions. (His name is Mike and I’ll probably refer to him a lot since he’s my information and meet buddy)

On top of this, in class we do drills and work on writing wire copy – what we’ll actually be writing at the Olympics.  The importance of grammar in a miniscule  5 sentence piece has never been more important in my life!

In the next 13 days we’re also going to be doing a crash course on debating too.  I’m just glad the Beijing officials don’t expect us to be fluent in Mandarin in two weeks…

More updates to come….and I’ll throw in some actual travel-related blogs in the near future too

- Helen

Two good things to report:

1. I am now a Knight Scholar! This scholarship will cover the cost of this summer’s class valued at $3400; selection was based on need. The Beijing Olympics program consists of two courses. Technically it’s two undergraduate courses (but that hasn’t stopped them from charging graduate class fees!). The two courses consist of a preparation class I’ll take in the spring titled International Sports Reporting and the second course will be the actual work done at the Beijing Olympics.

2. My 15 minutes of Emerson fame: I made it into the latest Marketing Communicator, Emerson’s Department of Marketing Communication’s newsletter. I present it on my blog with a slight cringe due to my quoted wordiness, but nonetheless, here it for your viewing pleasure:

Emerson’s Nov/Dec Marketing Communicator Newsletter

The entire Marketing Communications department has shown enormous support for the 3 selected from the department to participate in the Beijing program. I’ve gotten personal emails from professors and the head of the department offering congratulations which I full-heartedly appreciate.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

Signing off….

Helen