Stephanie, Writer of the Day

The Olympic Cube

Chinese tourists ask to pose with AACE students.

We all woke up well rested today and feeling much better after having slept for nearly 12 hours. After eating a huge breakfast, the group loaded onto our bus and we drove to see two of the Olympic venues, the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube. The ride over to the venues was pretty exciting in itself. It was fun to watch and take pictures of all the people and architecture. Everyone was really excited when we realized we were going to get to go inside the Bird’s Nest.

Being inside the Bird’s Nest was a lot of fun. We were able to walk right out onto the field and take pictures. Many Chinese asked if they could have their pictures taken with us. I stepped away from the group for a second and was approached by three Chinese men who each wanted their photo with me.

The next place we went to see was the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was my favorite place of the day. The detail and color in the architecture was astounding. There were thousands of picture taking opportunities, but my camera battery died halfway up the Hill of Longevity. It was a very foggy day so the visibility wasn’t clear, but the views from the top of the hill were amazing. We bought souvenirs in the little gifts shops around the palace. When we reached the top of the Hill of Longevity, we were given some free time to look around. There were some amazing rock formations that we could climb on to look out at the view. We arrived back at the hotel at 5:00 p.m. and after a half hour of relaxing we went out to dinner. Overall it was a really exciting and eventful day. --Stephanie

The "Bird's Nest" (slideshow of images from NYTImes here)

AACE teachers and students in front of the Bird's Nest