Marathon Man
On our last full day of the trip we started out by going to the stadium of the 1996 and 2004 Olympics in Athens. We got to go down on the side of the field and we learned a lot about the history of the stadium and the Olympics in Greece. We learned that Greece built around 75% of its infrastructure based on the 1996 Olympic games. We also went to the practice facility for the swimming events but we weren't allowed to go inside the main competition center. This is the swimming pool that Michael Phelps went from a boy to a man and was the start of his legendary career as the most decorated Olympian of all time.
Next we went to a mound where lots of athenians were buried after a famous battle against the persians. We also saw the cup presented to the athenians after they knew they had defeated the persians in battle. We made a quick stop to look at the outside of the rowing center in marathon Greece.
Our second to last destination of the day was to a resort where we spent 3 hours at the beach, eating lunch and playing beach volleyball and soccer. We bought a volleyball and popped it within 10 minutes before professor Kim showed up with another ball and I borrowed a soccer ball from the resort. We then played 2 games of beach volleyball and 1 game of beach soccer before some of us hit the water and the rest played 1 quick game of volleyball and then hit the water, we headed back to the hotel to have our final group dinner of the trip.
Looking back, this trip was the trip of a lifetime. We had long day and there were times where a lot of us were struggling, but this was an experience unlike anything that you could ever imagine. To becoming a family with a group of 13 other strangers within the span of a few short days is something that made this trip truly incredible. All the laughs and good times and mistakes we all shared together over these 18 days was something I think none of us will ever forget. Learning about the Olympics and having fun in 4 amazing and different countries is a rare opportunity that we got to have from touring the France Olympic training center or INSEP, to going to the Olympic museum in Switzerland and going around the Olympic study center, getting a presentation about the IOC marketing by a Syracuse grad and many other things like archery within 3 weeks is something that many people interested in the Olympics will never get to experience. And we haven’t even talked about all the fun sightseeing and touristy things we did from going to the tower of London and Buckingham palace to taking a night river tour of the river seine in Paris and seeing the Eiffel tower at night, or going hiking up a beautiful mountain in Switzerland and then going to see Queen’s recording studio to name a few. The free time that we had in each place we made the most out of too. Whether it was taking a nap and then meeting up for dinner before going to explore the town at night or just sightseeing on our own and going out for lunch together, we all had fun exploring the city as a group.
I learned a lot about the Olympics not only in the games but also the behind the scenes work that goes on too. I had never really thought about working at the Olympics even though I’m very interested in working in track and field, but after this trip, I feel like my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of possibilities of job opportunities in different departments of the IOC or even partner organizations and national Olympic committees the possibilities are almost endless.
If you have some time, you should definitely look into buying a volleyball net to play here with.
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