Field Trip

Summer in Chicago is the best season to hang out outside and enjoy the sun and outside sports activities. I am excited about today’s field trip because I expect to see many interesting sites related to 2016 Olympics – Northery Island Park and Soldier Field. I haven’t been to both of the sites before but I imagine the area where both sites are located should be a wide open area and well-organized with sidewalks beautifully decorated by flowers and trees. I imagine Northery Island Park might look like Shedd Aquarium. I think I would realize it again that Soldier Field would be one of the good Olympic stadiums if Chicago would be chosen as 2016 Olympics host city. I’m so excited about leaving our class now for the field trip.

Before Our Field Trip

Today is our class field trip day. We will visit Northerly Island of Chicago. It is a man-made peninsula. I have been there before; however, I don’t know the name of the place. I expect to see something left from the Meigs Field Airport. From the news here, I find that the city of Chicago plans to make this area as a focal point of a 2016 Olympics. There will be tennis court and volley ball field with 15,000 seats. Adjacent to this Northerly Island, there is a giant and famous Soldier Field. Although this is a stadium for American Football, Soldier Field was used as one of the venues for the FIFA World Cup in 1994. It might hold the soccer matches of the 2016 Olympics if Chicago wins the bid. It has 100,000 seats. It's big enough to hold Olympics' soccer games. Among the biggest soccer stadium in the world are the Saltlake in Calcutta (120,000), the Azteca in Mexico (106,000) and the Azadi in Tehran (100,000), the Nou Camp in Barcelona (98,600) and The Maracana (95,095 seats).

My Prediction of today's Olympics 2016 Field Trip

I am pretty excited about the field trip we will be taking today. I am sure this field trip is going to be informative, fun filled and amazing. Its because the theme of the field trip is Olympics 2016. Anything related to sports adds fun and spice to life :) We are planning to go to Soldier Field which is my favorite venue in Chicago. It is located on the perfect location, lake shore drive. It is the current home for the chicago bears.


Another venue which we are planning to visit is Northerly Island. It's a man made peninsula along Chicago's lakefront. It juts into Lake Michigan at the heart of the Museum Campus. It is located just south of the Adler Planetarium and east of Soldier Field. The Northerly Island features beautiful strolling paths, casual play areas and a spectacular view of the Chicago skyline. It is also home to some of the best fishing in Chicago. It would be really exciting to visit the Northerly Island.


Our final stop will be at millenium park. It is a 24.5 acre park located in downtown Chicago on Michigan Avenue between Randolph and Monroe Streets. It is a center for world-class art, music, architecture and landscape design, where one can experience everything from interactive public art to free classical music presentations by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus. Among the park’s prominent features is the dazzling Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which is most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States.

I am looking forward for the exciting field trip today which will be a great pleasure going on a field trip with all my class-mates.

Most Inspiring Olympics' Moment for Endi

There are at least two moments which give inspirations to me. The first one is Abebe Bikila, a track-and-field athlete from Ethiopia, who won two Olympic gold medals in the marathon in 1960 in Rome Italy. There are two reasons why this moment is really interesting for me. First, he won the marathon without wearing shoes and he broke the time record. I don’t know why he did not wear shoes at that time, but his feet should be really strong to bear the harsh friction with the surface of the road without bleeding. It means he exercised so hard that his feet became callous. Second, he was not a professional athlete at the first time. Some athletes are prepared to participate in the Olympics when they are teenagers/pre-teenagers, but Bikila was a member of the imperial bodyguard of Haile Selassie I, the Ethiopian emperor. It means he did not do sport as his profession and he still won.

The second most inspiring moment in Olympics is when Carl Lewis finally won gold medal in 1988 after the IOC found that Ben Johnson, his main competitor, had tested positive for steroids. Sometimes, in our life, a lot of things are unfair. When we try to be honest, some other people are cheating to win competition. However, some cheating cases don’t get disclosed and the most hardworking people don’t get their rewards for what they sacrifice.

In conclusion, I believe that hardworking attitude and integrity is important not only in sport but also in our daily life. For me the two stories above are really moving and inspiring.

Great Olympic moments

When I think of the greatest Olympic moments, the female figure skating in2006 Winter Olympics crosses my mind because that was one of the most glorious unforgettable Olympic moments to Japan – Shizuka Arakawa, a Japanese figure skater, won the Olympics and brought a Gold medal to the country as the first Olympic champion of figure skating.

How she won the Olympics was dramatic. After the short program, she was in the third place behind tow competitors from America and Russia, Sasha Cohen and Irina Slutskaya. Less than a point separated the top three skaters. Although Cohen and Slutskaya were the heavy favorites for the gold medal, both fell during the long program. However, Arakawa skated a clean free-skate program with no falls and earned the highest 191.34 points. Finally, she became a gold medalist with a round of applause by the audiences. Arakawa's Olympic win was the first in the event for a Japanese skater. Her gold medal gave Japan its first and only medal of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

It is often said that Asian athletes are inferior to Western athletes in the field of sports, but this glorious event achieved by a Japanese skater proved that the belief was wrong. As I am Japanese, I’m proud of her achievement and this is the biggest reason why 2006 Winter Olympics is one of the greatest Olympic moments to me.

Great Olympic Moments.

I rate Jesse Owens winning four gold medals in 1936 Olympics at berlin as one of the Great Olympic Moments. I was not born then and i couldn't watch any of its video, but from what I read in internet and books moved me and inspired me a lot. Jesse Owens was the first American to win four Olympic gold medals in track and field. He was affectionately called "Buckeye Bullet". What really inspired me was Jesse Owens performing the feat in Berlin at the height of Hitler's aryan supremacy propaganda, which was a superhuman effort. He won a medal each in 100 meters, 200 meters, the long jump, and 4 x 100 meters relay. He was born in a poor family and at times didnt have enough food available. He was a hero who endured and overcame all major challenges to achieve greatness.

My Favorite Olympic Moment.

I'm from India. Rajyavardhan Singh, Sushil Kumar, Abhinav Bindra, Leander Paes, Karnam Malleswari are some of the famous Olympians from my country. Abhinav Bindra winning the gold for the men's 10m air rifle event at 2008 Beijing Olympics stands out as my favorite Olympic moment. I like the shooting event a lot and Abhinav Bindra's performance was far superior when compared to the rest of the competitors at 2008 Beijing Olympics. His final score was 700.5 which was his career best. He out scored all other shooters in the final with a round of 104.5. His highest single shot score was 10.8 while his nearest competitor Henri Hakkinen came up with 9.7. His amazing score accompanied with his flexibility and coordination made it my favorite Olympic moment

President Obama Welcomes The IOC

President Barack Obama welcomed the IOC (International Olympic Commite) who visited Chicago sometime ago. The video is interesting primarily because Barack Obama greeted the IOC people not only as the president of the US, but also as a Chicagoan. He gave a personal touch in his message. He mentioned that his wife is native Chicagoan and his daughters grew up in one neighborhood a block away from one sport venue in Chicago. He also said that Chicago is the most America in America, in other words, you can feel very American culture in Chicago. The city can represent America's values. In conclussion, by choosing Chicago as one of the candidate of Olympic cities, IOC has done a good job.

Chicago will definitely make a good host for Olympics 2016

Would Chicago make a good Olympic host city? Here are some facts about the competing cities for Olympics 2016. I will only compare cities with 3 highest bids in some factors: sport venues, transportation and green areas. We will discuss other factors later in this blog.

Sport venues:
Chicago has at least 27 sport venues. The most popular ones are US Cellular field (White Sox, baseball), Soldier field (Chicago Bear, Football), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs, baseball), Allstate arena (hockey, basket ball, football), andUnited Center (Chicago Bulls, basketball) and Toyota Park (Soccer). Tokyo at least has 24 sport venues. The famous ones are Tokyo Dome (Tokyo Giant, baseball), Ajinomoto Stadium, and Olympics stadium (soccer). Madrid has at least 2 UEFA standards stadiums belong to Real Madrid (Estadio Santiago Bernabeu) and Atletico Madrid, two famous soccer teams in Spain. It also has two basketball venues, Palacio Vistalegre and Madrid Arena. In term of sport venues, the three cities face a very tough competition, however, Chicago is ready enough to be the host of Olympics.

Transportation :
Chicago has one of the best public transportation systems in North America. It has CTA bus and train system and Metra rail too. People in Chicago can travel to any places in the city easily. However from all of these three cities, Tokyo has the best public transportation system. The city has an efficient high speed train system. People who want to travel need to wait the train for only 1 or 2 minutes every time. Madrid has similar public transportation system to that of Chicago. Although, Chicago’s transportation system is not as good as that of Tokyo, but with some improvements it will be ready for the event by 2016. Another thing to consider is, although the transportation system in Tokyo is really advanced, the city population is really dense, therefore, in our opinion, it is not convenient for the visitors to travel around the city.

Green Areas and Public Spaces :
Chicago definitely is one of the most green cities in the world. It has more than 7300 acres of parkland, 552 parks, 33 beaches, nine museums, two world-class conservatories and 16 historic lagoons which is really outstanding. They are seen both in the downtown and the suburbs. The most prominent parks in the downtown of Chicago are Grant Park and Millennium Park. Tokyo has many parks too; however, the parks in Tokyo are usually small. One of the big parks in Tokyo is Ueno Park. Madrid has a lot of green areas too. The famous one is Parque del Retiro. It’s a really beautiful park with a lot of statues in it, however the parks in Chicago are the best for all kinds of activities.

We strongly favor Chicago as the Host City for the 2016 Olympics because of its transportion, sport venues and greenery. We truly think chicago is the most competent city to host the Olympics 2016.

Hello my friend...........

I am Ravi Koppolu, one of the members of the Bir Titans. I am from Vijayawada which is located in the southern part of India. Vijayawada is a beautiful place with a huge river, hills and ample greenery.My dream to pursue my higher education in the United States has led me to Chicago on Aug 12th,2008.

Before coming to USA I completed my graduation in medicine in India. I am looking forward to join in the residency in a good reputed hospital in Chicago. When it comes to Chicago, I am truly short of words to describe its beauty.
Right now I am a student in BIR , which is my favorite institute and is one of the coolest schools in downtown Chicago. I am in the Bridge/Olympics 2016 summer class and Lori is our instructor. She is one of the best teachers and very sweet as a person. Endi and Asuka are the other two members in Bir Titans. Endi is from Indonesia. He is a very nice and charming guy. Asuka is from Japan. She is good friendly girl. The blog project in our class helped us to know more about each other.
I welcome all my friends, classmates , visitors and well wishes to the blog '' BIR-TITANS ''.

Hello!!

My name Is Endi. I am student at BIR. This is my 3rd term in BIR (a wonderful language school in Chicago). Chicago is a really beautiful city and it is one of the candidate cities for Olympics 2016. It will be really exciting to see Chicago becomes the host of Olympics in 2016. I don’t know whether I will still be in Chicago in 2016. If I am, then I hope I can participate in something during the event, but if I am not, then I am really grateful that now I can see the city is preparing for winning the bid for becoming the host of Olympics in 2016. I hope Chicago will be the winner!! Together with Ravi and Asuka, we will write this blog. If you happen to come to this blog, I hope you enjoy it :).

Hi there!

Hi, my name is Asuka. I am a Japanese woman living in Chicago.

I had been working as an accountant for 8 years in Tokyo before moving to America, but now I am learning English in BIR to be a good English speaker. I am happy to live in Chicago because living abroad is one of my wildest dreams I've ever had for many years. Chicago is definitely my second home town to me.

Also, I’m currently learning nail tech at a cosmetic school and I want to be a licensed nail technician in the near future. This is one of my dreams I want to achieve in America. Hopefully, I want to own my nail salon to be a successful nail technicial!

THE ORIGIN OF THE OLYMPICS

The most widely accepted date for the inception of the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC. This is based on inscriptions, found at Olympia, of the winners of a footrace held every four years starting in 776 BC. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, and equestrian events. Tradition has it that Coroebus, a cook from the city of Elis, was the first Olympic champion.The winners of the events were admired and immortalized in poems and statues. The Games were held every four years, and this period, known as an Olympiad, was used by Greeks as one of their units of time measurement. The Olympic Games reached their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but then gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power and influence in Greece. There is no consensus on when the Games officially ended, the most common-held date is 393 AD.They were resumed again from the late 19th century.

Chicago 2016 Logo Video

Chicago 2016 Logo – Six Point Star

It’s a six-point star like the one in Chicago's flag, surrounded by a banner of colours. The Chicago’s logo for its 2016 Summer Olympic Games bid was unveiled by Olympic gold medallists Jackie Joyner Kersee and Rowdy Gaines.The logo is described as a compass pointing in all directions reaching out to the world. The bands of colour radiating up and down from the star reflect both the dynamic architecture of our city and the beautiful character of our parks and lakes.They also symbolize our desire to reach out to the world and offer many paths to the Games.

According to the bid committee the six-point design of the Chicago Star is unique and each point on the star represents values and ideals that the Olympic Movement and Chicago share.The points on the star represent Hope, Respect, Harmony, Friendship, Excellence and Celebration.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said that he hopes it will become a symbol of hope for the city of Chicago.Chicago 2016’s bid committee said that it hopes the logo will become a great symbol of hope for the city and the nation – as we humbly seek the right to host the Olympic Games and welcome the world to Chicago in 2016.

Support the bid of chicago for 2016 oympics.

Chicago 2016 Olympics Candidate City.

07/16/2009 thursday at 2:30pm

Yeahhh........this is the time and day when we gave life to this blog called BIR TITANS. The summer class " The 2016 Olympics " at BIR was the laboratory for us to perform this act. We take privilege in inviting our beloved Lori and the fellow students of our class to this blog. We hope this humble begining will take us to greater heights in blogging.

Bids for the 2016 Summer Olympics

The first step for each city was to submit an initial application to the International Olympic Committee by 13 September 2007, confirming their intention to bid. Completed official bid files, containing answers to a 25-question IOC form, were to be submitted by each applicant city by 14 January 2008. Four candidate cities were chosen for the shortlist on 4 June 2008: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo.Chicago has had prior experience with Olympic bids. In 1901, the city was unanimously chosen by the IOC to stage the 1904 Summer Olympics, but the Games were moved to St. Louis to coincide with the 1904 World's Fair. Chicago also bid for the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics, without success. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley visited Beijing – host city of the 2008 Summer Olympics – on May 15, 2006, where he collected information on hosting. The bidding process for the 2016 Olympic Games was officially launched on May 16, 2007.