The City That Never Sleeps

Sunday afternoon the Luther College Olympics Management January Term class arrived in Newark, New Jersey at the Newark International Airport. We had a near 8 hour flight on Continental Airlines that was excellent. Over half of the airplane was empty and many of us got an entire row of three to ourselves. We also had a touch screen monitor in front of each seat that we could choose any of the 40 movies available to us. The screen also had music, TV shows, and many other options for in-flight entertainment. This was the best flight many have us have ever been on and probably ever will be on!

We then took a New Jersey Transit train to New York Penn Station where we caught a subway train to 14th Street, Russell Sq. Our hotel was only a short walk away and within half an hour many of us had settled into our rooms and met in the lobby to walk to dinner. Several groups left at different times but it seemed that nearly half the group had ended up in Russell Sq. eating at T. G. I. Fridays (everyone was ready for some American food). We finished up dinner around 7:30 and headed back to the hotel to catch up on some much needed reading and sleep.

Monday morning I woke up around 6:00 with my roommate and walked down the street to Whole Foods to get breakfast and the coffee at a nearby Starbucks (not hard to find in New York since they're on every street corner). We ate and returned to the hotel for a class discussion led by Shelby and Eric on television rights for the Olympic Games. We then had a presentation by Mark Holland, brother of Luther economics professor Steve Holland.

Mark is the Director of Operations for the NBC Olympic website. He told us about his role in creating and working on the website and he also answered several questions from students regarding his role. All of the students agreed he was an excellent speaker and a very personable guy, much like his brother Steve who happens to be my advisor.

Following this presentation we had the rest of the day to explore the city with our classmates. Shelby, Jessica, Heather, Steph, Daniel, and I headed down to the Times Square area and walked around looking for indoor activities to do since it was so cold out. We ate lunch and then went our separate ways although we both ended up at St. Paul's Church across the street from Ground Zero. This had been the second time I'd been in the church, but I don't think the memorial explaining the role of the church is one of those things that you can get used to, its a very emotional place. After seeing this sight many of us recalled where we were during the attacks and how we found out although we all found that we simply did not understand the implications and impact of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

We all walked around the area and went into a building displaying the plan for Ground Zero. It looks to be a beautiful sight in a few years.

Shelby, Daniel, and I then headed to Wall Street to get a quick picture with the famous Bull. Since my last visit to New York, the level of security around the New York Stock Exchange has increased immensely, not surprising consider the current state of world politics.

We then decided to head back to our hotel to read and relax before our final class discussion and ground dinner. Jeff and Nordy lead the class discussion which was about the use of Olympic venues after the Olympic Games had finished. They did an excellent job getting the class to talk and converse with one another, which is not always a simple task.

Following discussion we headed to an Italian restaurant in the Italian Village called SPQR. This was a great meal, the best we had arguably had on the entire trip (close race between this and the Hofbrauhaus in Munich).

Following dinner all returned to the hotel to pack and get some much needed rest before an early morning train to Stamford, Connecticut to meet with NBC broadcasting.

Tuesday morning was an early one, Matt and I were up at 6:00 in order to get ready. A few of us brought our luggage with to ensure we got to the airport for our flights, including Shelby, Joe, Paul, and myself. We all got out to Stamford and entered a conference room where NBC employees were awaiting us with donuts, croissants, coffee and an array of other treats.

This presentation was excellent and we even had the honor of meeting an Emmy Award winner, Bucky Gunt. Bucky has produced many Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics and has won four Emmy's for his role in the ceremony. This was an excellent experience for the entire class, we had no idea such an influential person would be answering questions for us.

We learned a lot from this experience at NBC and realized how much work goes into the broadcasting of the games for essentially delivering the Games for free to the public. We also learned that NBC will be bidding for the 2014 and 2016 Games although they experienced a loss in revenue in 2010 and will most likely experience one in 2012 for the London Games.

Following the presentation, we all went back to Grand Central Station and then went our separate ways; Shelby, Joe, Paul and I to Newark Airport and the rest back to the hotel to pick up luggage. Shelby and I separated from Joe and Paul on the Newark International AirTrain where they needed to go to a separate terminal. Shelby and I checked in for our flight to Dubuque, Iowa and then check through security, got a late lunch and now we sit and wait for our 5:00 flight to Chicago to leave.

Hope all is well in the Midwest, I think I can speak for us all in that were ready to get home and sleep in our own beds a few nights before the second semester begins.

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