Over a year of planning resulted in a memorable trip to see the Olympics in China for four Creighton students.

In 2007 Ben Katt, Business senior, came up with the idea to go to the Olympics.

“The Olympics for China were a big deal,” Katt said. “China wanted to make a statement so the Games were going to be extra special.”

Natalie German, Jay Root and China Wiese, all Arts & Science seniors, decided this was a great opportunity and joined him.

“I really wanted to go since my name is China,” Wiese said. “It was also my first time out of the country.”

In order to get tickets for the Olympics, the U.S. allots tickets through CoSport. CoSport then randomly issues tickets to people who request them. In March 2007, the four put their names in for the ticket lottery.

In August 2007, they found out they had received tickets for four out of the seven events for which they applied.

“We then immediately started to make plans on where to stay and how to get there,” Katt said.

The group decided to make the most out of their trip to China and traveled to several places before the Olympics. One night, they went to a night market in Beijing, which had all kinds of strange foods including dog, scorpion and sea snake.

“Anything that you could imagine came on a stick,” German said.

They attended United States vs. Germany men’s basketball, track and field semifinals and the United States vs. Brazil women’s beach volleyball semifinal.

“My favorite was the basketball game because I am a big Duke fan,” Wiese said.

They also had third-row seats at the semifinal soccer game between rivals Brazil & Argentina.

“It was verbally entertaining and amazing to see the famous soccer players so close,” Root said.

The group saw Olympic athletes throughout the city and were surprised by all the Chinese volunteers around the stadiums to help.

They also noticed that Chinese television only showed the games and nothing on the background of the players.

“We didn’t hear about any of the scandals,” German said.

In the end, they came back with memorable stories and great pictures. The trip gave them a new view on China and the Olympics.

“It was a great experience, but truthfully, it is probably better watching on T.V.,” Katt said. “The crowds aren’t terribly into the games because they come from all over the world, so there isn’t a whole lot of cheering and team spirit.”