I witnessed one the most inspiring stories I have ever heard today while at the Olympic rowing event. Djibo Issaka is a rower from Nigeria. He is the first rower to represent his country at the Olympics. He won a wild card bid and raced in the men's single reps today. As we were watching the racers pass the finish line we noticed there was a lane missing. Wondering if someone flipped we looked up the course. There was Djibo, more than a minute behind the competition, but from the roar of the crowds you would think he was winning. Turns out Djibo learned to row 3 months ago. His technique was less than impressive, but he was going as hard as he could on an empty course. The crowd continued to cheer him on as he collapsed at the finish line. He looked exhausted, but so happy and proud. I got chills watching him race. I was witnessing true Olympic spirit in person, and it was infectious. He knew he had no chance in the world to win, or even come close, but wanted so badly to represent his country and pave the way for the future athletes of Nigeria. In a later interview he promised he would be back in four years after he trained and learned how to row better. I hope he returns to his country a hero, because he was the bravest man on the course today. I hope he can help develop a rowing program in his country, and be able to train near his home. I will never forget that race, and it will continue to inspire me to be brave and willing to try the impossible.

I would like to report that London has proved Romney wrong and is extremely capable of hosting the Olympics.. Transportation has been so easy and the people volunteering have done such a great job directing crowds and spreading the excitement. I have had an amazing experience here so far and expect that to continue the rest of my time here!

I spent the morning at the eton dorney rowing course watching several different events. I got up at five to make it to the course by 9. Traveling is free with the event ticket, and everything is so well marked. The only problem is that kings cross doesn't open until 5:30 and there are no trains until later. The Starbucks wasn't even open, and there were plenty of people still making their way home after a night out. I met a friend who had gotten me the tickets through the lottery and we bussed out to the station to catch the train. It was a decently long train ride but it was cool to see the country side. There were buses waiting for us that took us right to the venue. I was not expecting the crowds. There were plenty of current and ex rowers but there were also a lot of locals just excited to see GB race. We had great seats at about the 150 meter mark right across from a big screen.

The racing was really exciting, especially when GB was competing. We saw the men's 1x, women's 1x, women's 8, women's lw2x and light mens 4-. They sent off the races on 10 minute centers so there was not much time to be bored or run to get a drink. I was with two girls who didn't know much about rowing so it was cool to try to teach the as much as I could. They also had a learn to row tent with ergs, and had a 30 second race after a minute of instruction. Of course I went to try the race, thinking I could beat everyone. Sadly I was beaten by my friend Katie Tai, who was wearing skinny jeans. But in my defense, she has been working out a ton post rowing and is very strong still. And it was only by .3 of a second.

We went to go pick up tickets yesterday morning. It only took two hours, and we met all the other Americans in line.

I attended my first event today. Beach volleyball at Horse Guard Parade. It was a temporary structure in the middle of the park. We got in the venue in less than 30 minutes, and the food was really good. They were even serving beer at 9am. The venue had a really beautiful view of down town London.

The opening ceremony was awesome. I was not fortunate enough to get tickets to go inside so I watched from a pub. We did walk around he Olympic park for a whole though and ran in to a bunch of athletes entering the stadium. I really appreciated the history and nod to the music and film industry, but there was no Harry Potter shout out. Next time London hosts there should be. I am off to my first event, beach volleyball!

Lesson of the day: oatmeal in London is called porridge. If you try to ask for oatmeal they will give you a cup of hot whole milk. Other than that minor confusion it has not been too hard to manage here. The people are extremely nice and eager to help lost tourrists. The hostel we are staying at is super close to kings cross station, so it is very easy to get around. It is a very interesting sleeping arrangement, 20 people in one room on bunk beds.

Last night we went to the torch relay finale. It was a huge concert venue in the middle of Hyde park. It was a pretty neat experience but I started to fade pretty early and left at 7 pm to go to bed. The security was high. We had to go through metal detectors and the bags were all X-rayed and manually searched. There were visible snipers and missiles on the apartment buildings around the park, and there were several police helicopters hovering over the venue. We also passes numerous heavily armed guards, carrying assault rifles. I was talking with a friend and we could't decide if the security was making us more or less nervous.