Taking It In
by LaShawn Merritt
LaShawn still has several days left before competition begins in the 400 meters, but he took a minute to talk about the opening ceremonies, and what he's doing while in Beijing.
1. What were the opening ceremonies like?
The opening ceremonies were really cool but it was long. We left the Olympic Village at 5:15 p.m. but we didn’t start walking to the stadium until about 9. We went to this building where the president addressed us. That took a long time. Then we had to go to another facility. Then we left there and went to the stadium. There was a lot of stopping and walking. Once we got to the stadium it was crazy. There were so many people and so many lights. And people were cheering for us. It was really cool.
2. Describe a typical day for you in Beijing right now.
It usually consists of waking up around 8:30 or 9:30 in the morning. I have to walk like 15 minutes to catch the shuttle to Beijing University. We have our own building. We have our own track. (The basketball team has its own gym, too.) That way we don’t have to wait to use the gym or track with the other countries. We also have our own American chefs.I have seen a lot since I've been here including going to see the Great Wall of China.
I’ve also gone to some of the venues but they are far away. I’ve been to a couple of basketball games, including seeing the U.S. play China. I've also gone to see boxing. The basketball games were like 30 minutes away and the boxing was like 45 minutes away from the Village. So as you go to these events, you’re actually touring the city. And it gives you a chance to take it all in.
3. What's the Olympic Village like?
Where we stay is like a dorm room. We don’t have TV or wireless, but we do have a cafeteria that is open to us 24 hours a day. It has international food, Mediterranean food and Asian food. My favorite meal so far was salmon, mashed potatoes, broccoli and a salad. We also can play video games, and rent DVDs or bikes. But it's been pretty cool.
4. Any last thoughts?
I'll start getting focused on Saturday.
Talk to you soon.
Love you all and thanks for the support.
R.I.P Twan
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Newsvine
Reddit
Google
Yahoo
