Though the Beijing Olympics were the world’s premiere sporting event in 2008, my experience with the games began one year earlier. My sister and I had been accepted into a humanitarian volunteer group focused on the Beijing Olympics, and as our plane touched down in China in the summer of 2007, we were greeted by our fellow American students who easily stuck out in the crowd of thousands of Chinese citizens.

The group was an absolutely brilliant and diverse collection of people: a Formula One racer from MIT, a girl with a three-week plan of matching outfits and jewelry, a blonde dread-locked hippie from Madison, Wis. These were my comrades, and I was proud to be on this adventure with them.

We spent the summer traveling through China, acquainting ourselves with the territory and its customs in preparation for our return the next year. We worked with pandas, cleaning up their playscape and feeding cubs. We wandered through the 2,000-year-old Terracotta Army. We engaged in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. And then the weeks were over and we were back in the U.S. recruiting other college students for volunteer work at the 2008 Olympic games.

When August rolled around again, I returned to China, this time with six University volunteers I had recruited to come with me. Luckily, the weeks were scheduled in such a way that we were allotted equal time for work and tourism, and so we were able to experience the cultural eye-opening of a place so different than ours.

Besides visiting the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square, we also had the chance to attend some of the sporting events. I watched eventual gold medal winner Nastia Liukin during the gymnastics competition, as well as women’s archery, boxing, kayaking and the last softball game to ever be played in the summer games.

The highlight for me was undoubtedly track and field. The women’s 4x4 placed first, and then LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner took home the gold and silver in the 400m. Even if I describe the races in detail, trying to illustrate the experience of sitting in the Bird’s Nest stadium, I wouldn’t be able to do it justice — no two people’s experience was the same.

But most importantly, my time in Beijing was a learning experience unlike anything else.

I discovered the quickest way to make friends in China was to say “Happy Birthday” in Chinese, regardless of whether or not it’s true; showing an interest in learning their language went a long way. I found that telling an Italian volleyball player “ti amo” would probably get you an autograph. I noticed that hanging out with Canadians after an American team lost an event was the safest way to avoid foreign ridicule. I learned not to ask what I was eating, but rather to embrace all the delicious food I was presented. More than once, I tried to correct someone when they referred to soccer as football, only to be scorned and ridiculed before realizing that Americans are the only people in the world who don’t call the sport by its “proper” name.

In short, I learned to embrace cultures other than what I was used to. The people I met, the food I ate and the experiences I had while in Beijing were amazing and unforgettable. When I opened myself to new things, I had fun. Foreignness is not a scary thing — embrace it. The stories I shared when I returned home were far more interesting and amusing with the help of exotic influences. I can't wait to see what the upcoming winter games hold for me.

--Kristie Savage is a junior in the College of Engineering