Asbury College at the Olympics

Hello to all from the Alps,

My time here in Sauze d’Oulx, Italy has come to an end.  The trip has gone by so fast, but it has been a great experience.  I’ve learned so much about life in Europe.  This past week was probably one of the best I had here in Italy.  Crew call has been 3pm or later everyday, which left the mornings free to do as we wished.  I usually used this free time either sleep in or take a trip to Torino.  Wednesday I spend my morning and early afternoon skiing for the first time.  I was able to slowly make it down the mountain twice as countless numbers of advanced skiers flew past.  It was quite challenging to say the least, but the view was well worth it.

Yesterday was the last day of medals competitions here at the freestyle venue.  We didn’t have to be at the venue till 3:45pm, so I got up around 7am and took the train into Torino.  My first objective for the morning was to take the elevator ride up through the Museum of Cinema to the lookout deck at it’s peak.  (This building has served as the city’s icon throughout the games.)  Unfortunatly the view wasn’t too great due to the haze but it was still worth it.  I then walked several blocks to the Piazza San Carlo where NBC’s Today show set is located.  I ended up waiting around for an hour until the show went live at 1pm.  I stood in the front row and was able to get on TV for my family to watch back home.  At 1:20pm I had to make my way back to the Porta Nova train station to catch a train back to Sauze d’Oulx.

The Men’s Aerials competition last night was electrifying.  The majority of the athletes were landing their jumps which made the competition even harder.  Up were I was standing, under the kickers, the coaches were hanging on to every jump.  It was great to be that close to the action.  Interestingly enough China’s coach made a comment before the start of the finals that he was just glad that they had made it to the finals, and weren’t going to be worried about getting a medal.  And what do you know they take home the gold.  The fireworks display after the flowers ceremony was a great close to the end of a fun day.

After the event was over, those of us on the TOBO crew spent several hours breaking all the cameras down and hauling the equipment back the the trucks at the compound.  We were able to get so much done last night that we were told we didn’t have to come in to work today.  It was kind of hard to leave the venue which I had been coming to for the last 19 days, yet at the same time I’m ready to get out of here.  This morning I slept in till 11am and then began packing all the free memorabilia I’ve picked up over the last few weeks to bring home.  Tomorrow I will begin my long journey back to little ole Wilmore, Kentucky.  My internet cafe time is about to expire so with that I must say.. farewell from Italy!

Ciao,
Josh Taber