SOCHI - I'm struggling to master the technique of adding photos to this blog. If this one works, we'll all be surprised, eh? I was at the luge venue up in the Ural Mountains on Monday night and the beautiful blue sky in the background…
SOCHI - The women's curling competition this morning was fascinating. Eight teams, including the U.S. competed in four lanes. The U.S. was paired against Russia and seemed to be holding its own before I needed to depart after about an hour of competition. I knew…
SOCHI - I have been meaning to share links to stories that my colleagues in the Ball State at the Games project have done this week. The twenty-two students and two translators are not eligible for official media credentials, so they have faced the daunting…
SOCHI - OK, I have been to one Olympic luge event now, so that makes me an expert, right? Seriously. That is one fast sport. The luge event is considered the most dangerous of all the events and I gained an appreciation for why that's…
SOCHI - The Olympics are nothing if not a frequent venue for showing national pride. The Russian games are no exception, especially for a nation that hasn't hosted the Winter Games in decades. Thousands of spectators wandered around the Olympic Park on Sunday, enjoying the…
SOCHI - If you don't like waiting in endless lines for a couple hours on any given morning or afternoon, attending an event as large as the Olympics is probably not for you. Russian history books are full of photos of shoppers, commuters kerchief-wearing babushkas…
SOCHI - The seaside community known as Sochi stretches more than 90 miles along the Black Sea, but the Olympics are actually happening in nearby Adler. Our group took a 45-minute train ride today from Adler to Sochi to explore the region and put the…
SOCHI - The official opening ceremony likely dazzled millions watching around the world, but it surely will be remembered for the snowflakes that failed to fall. The ceremony, which will be aired via tape delay this evening in the U.S., ended with fireworks that lit…
SOCHI - The views from any distance are pretty spectacular around this coastal city. Ball State student journalist Kayla Eiler shot this view looking from the north deck of the Louise Olympia, headquarters for the BSUatthegames team during our stay here. More to come, I…
SOCHI - We made it. The Ural Airlines flight from Moscow to Sochi took about two hours. Check-in procedure on the Louise Olympia cruise ship actually took longer than the flight. Sunny Sochi looks beautiful today. At least that's our first impression. Palm trees and…
AMSTERDAM -- Landed here about an hour ago after a 9 1/2-hour flight from Seattle. Whew. That was one long flight. Waiting to board for our flight to Moscow in about an hour or so. Ball State group should be meeting me here at any…
Arrived in Seattle this morning on the first leg of flights to Russia. I have a 2-hour layover here, so I've had time to check in and learn that I have an aisle seat. Score! But I learned there is no wi-fi on international flights.…
Welcome to a new blog we are launching today. For starters, I will be blogging about the Sochi Winter Olympics, which I will be attending as a mentor/editor with 24 journalism students and three faculty members from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. However, after…