USA! USA!

For two weeks I sat at home watching the world's top athletes compete in some pretty incredible feats of the human body, expelling immense amounts of energy, looking absolutely gorgeous while doing it. I was eating pizza. Then I felt lazy, so I brushed my cat. For like seven minutes. There was definitely a slight condensation on my upper lip after that one.

In 2008, Jon & I went on a trip (in a group with a ton of other awesome people) to China. That year, Beijing was the Olympic host city. While there, we got to see the now-famous stadiums like the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, and their giant countdown clock. We of course also bought tons of Olympic paraphernalia! Beijing 2008 t-shirts all around! It helped that even at a young age with like 100 dollars to spend, it was nearly impossible to spend it all! The money there isnt worth very much in USD, so everyone felt like the rich tourist for sure. That was such a fun trip, we all have very very fond memories of being together in China in 2008! King's Cup in the hotel rooms after the adults were asleep anyone?

So last year when I had a friend selling a couple extra London 2012 Olympic tickets, I called dibs as fast as I could! Being in the host country during the year of the Olympics is epic on its own, but this was an opportunity to actually SEE an Olympic event! In real life! Im not much of a sports person, and never watched a whole lot of the Games before. But Im a HUGE fan of historical events. This is how I try to approach opportunities: Will this make a cool photo album? Will this make a cool story? Will this opportunity come up again? If those boxes are appropriately ticked, I jump. I didnt even care how much the tickets were going to cost, since a flight to London from Dublin is always super cheap, generally well under 50 Euro a person.

London turned out to be much more expensive of a trip that Beijing. First of all, Mom & Dad didnt pay for this one. Second of all, Jon & I previously swore off going to any more UK countries, simply because unlike in China, in the UK we are poor tourists. Not rich ones. The Great Britain Pound is worth too much for our blood. BUT again, this trip ticked the right boxes, so we had to suck it up and go anyway. Yay for plastic money! Hey after awhile, you get so accustomed to that swiping motion, its like they're giving you stuff for free! I want this hot dog and all you want from me is a lift of the arm? Sure! Buy all the hot dogs!

But seriously. Being in that Olympic Park was such an emotional high. There was a LOT of red, white, and blue! But of the Union Jack variety. Very nearly every person was representing their country with face paint, silly hats, and colorful tights. Jon bought a US flag and wore it like a beautiful scarf. And sometimes like a cape. Best decision ever! It was so cool to represent our favorite country in the world! There was an overwhelming feeling of general excitement from everyone. No matter where you were in the Park, nobody was a stranger. The favored question was, "What are you seeing?" to start a conversation. Even the cops and army people guarding the place were extremely open & friendly to all the tourists!

Our generation hasnt experienced very many nation-wide outbreaks of pure Patriotism. I can think of one, born out of fire & rubble. Remember how literally every car had minimum one flag per window in that time? And how everyone walked around, super proud just to be living in the USA? Country music probably experienced an all-time listener high. Being in the Olympic Park this year made me feel like that again. Proud to be an American, wearing the TRUE Red, White & Blue! When we came across other people wearing our great nation's flag, we led them in a rousing chant of, "USA! USA!" Later in the day we all ran around in a pack, preying on the smaller countries with lesser flag-presence.

Joking, most of that didnt happen. What DID happen was a great photo album, an epic story, and a once in a lifetime experience. Just another weekend, really.