And so it begins! We flew out of Newark last night and got into London at about 6:30 this morning, on very little sleep - so it's been a very long day. We spent about 30 minutes at the airport sitting around waiting to get our accreditation - basically the laminated sheet of paper that is our ticket to all the villages and venues. It's probably the one most important thing we've been given - without we literally can't do anything. It was nice to be able to take advantage of Olympic lanes though going through customs (all marked in bright pink) and then on to baggage claim, where our bags had been laid out for us and were being guarded by policemen with submachine guns - probably overkill.
From there, it was a 30 minute busride to the satellite village we'll be staying in through the end of competition, since the regular village is too far from the course. It's a college campus that's been locked down by the military - our areas are surrounded with 8 foot high portable blue fencing, all the entrances are manned by soldiers with assault rifles, they check the buses coming in for bombs, and we have to go basically through airport security to get in. Once we're in though, it's quite nice. Each team get's its own wing of a building, and each athlete has their own room with shower, wifi, and special Olympic duvets. There are workout rooms, a dining hall open 24/7, entertainment centers with computers and video games, and a medical center. It's crazy to think all of this is set up just for us and that we're at the center of it - the scale is so big, and the departure from reality so complete, that it really doesn't register.
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