Hey guys,
The highly anticipated meeting happened on Friday. It was the meeting with the Vice President/Director of Television and Marketing of the IOC, Timo Lumme. This meeting was so important that everyone was on their A-game when they went to visit. Professor Ryan prepared us and made sure that we all knew the background of the IOC so that we were prepared to ask questions during the meeting. As students, we were also very excited for this opportunity to meet someone of such high caliber and great success. Before we went to the IOC, we went to the WADA headquarters in Lausanne and met with the manager of Relations with International Federations, Amandine Bousigue. I think we all enjoyed her relaxed and active personality, which wasn’t what I was expecting. She was very open and friendly and answered any questions that we had. The World Anti-Doping Agency was a very interesting topic that I never considered before because I always cared more about the concrete marketing, legal, or public relations aspect of the Olympics. I definitely recommend a meeting with WADA or with Ms. Bousigue in the future. Then, we walked around the Olympic park, which was beautiful. As a New Yorker, I don’t get much of that fresh air especially in Manhattan, unless I’m near Central Park. I was enjoying the fresh air, warm and sunny weather as much as I can. As Angelis mentioned, Lausanne is located right across from the Swiss Alps so imagine how magnificent the scenery was. We relaxed for a few hours and then we finally made it to the headquarters of the IOC. We met with Christina Low, the Head of Broadcast Services and James Moy, the manager of Business Development. Both of them are relatively new to the IOC but they handle the most important components of the Olympic Games. They used the 2008 Beijing Olympics to evaluate the broadcast rights and the marketing aspects of the event. It was interesting to see how they abide to the IOC Charter. They also explained about the Summer 2010 Youth Olympic Program that will be held in Singapore. It will be a first time event and they have full faith that it will not depreciate the value of the Olympics because it has an educational component part of it. I clearly learned a lot about the broadcasting and marketing aspect of the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, Timo is a busy man so he came back and forth to give some brief remarks. After the meeting, we took a group photo and we walked back to our hotel. It was an educational day that made me want to work for the IOC. With such power and working with such high quality people, it is inevitable for people to want to be their best.
After a long day, we all separated to have lunch. Angelis and I had a great Vietnamese cuisine by the shore and had Movenpick ice cream for dessert. It was the biggest and best ice cream I have ate. Movenpick is a brand of Swiss ice cream and I believe it is comparable to America’s Ben & Jerry or Haagan Daaz. Delicious! It’s a must-have if you ever come to Switzerland. At night, we went out to Lausanne-Flon and enjoyed our stay at a nightclub called D! It was the first night that everybody in the group went out together. It wasn’t anything spectacular but I think we all enjoyed going out together. If I had to criticize Switzerland, it would be the music at the nightclubs or pubs. They are usually always electro, trance, or techno. I like those but not all night long. **Headache**
Today, we just had a very relaxing and wonderful day at Montreux, Switzerland. It was another state that was near the ocean and we all enjoyed taking beautiful scenery pictures that I will upload later in the blog. (I didn’t bring a camera so I have to borrow Angelis’s camera and she plans to upload every time we change a location.) We really wanted to go climb part of the Swiss Alps but it was about 130francs, individually, in order to get there. That is way too much! On the way, we saw a French old lady walking a poodle, so cliché but it worked! We all took pictures of it for our scavenger hunt! Eventually, we ended up at a port where they allowed boat rentals and etc. so some people went on a motorboat driven by Joe Fanelli, while the rest enjoyed the warm sunshine and beautiful mountains. We didn’t do too much but it was very relaxing. After we came back to Lausanne, everybody separated to do their own thing. Angelis and I had lunch and then we tanned a little bit. Eventually, we couldn’t help but get the delicious Movenpick ice cream again. We sat by the shore and tanned. Later, we went to buy some souvenirs because we can’t forget the good, old friends at home. The ladies had crepes for dinner except for yours truly because I didn’t want to change more francs. I had a healthy Greek salad and now I am at “the White Horse” pub to borrow their free Internet. (The lady at the front desk advised us and gave us free coupons for a free beer so that we could sit in and get free Internet access. Swiss people, they are just so KIND.)
The BEST travel day is going to happen in a few hours: 4:15 a.m. Can’t WAIT! Haha. NO, but since we are going to Greece, I will suck it up and make it through! Hopefully, there’s Internet service so that I can post more pictures up, instead of bombarding you all with a bunch of worthless words.
Hope everybody is doing well in the states. Enjoying the HOT weather and drinking lots of water.
Out&About.
Olivia.
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