When I and 23 other students from the University of Iowa touched down in Beijing last month, we were instant sensations.

We were among 300-plus international student volunteers, mostly from America, Australia and Great Britain, working side by side at the Olympics, doing everything from journalism and translation to crowd control and stadium maintenance.

But our group had the distinction of arriving a week ahead of anyone else and the media gobbled us up - we were blonde-haired novelties.

Few of us knew how to hold chopsticks and even fewer could utter the most basic Chinese phrases, let alone decipher complex characters on road signs and in menus.

The journalists had a field day. What did we think of Beijing's modern skyline? Had we eaten Peking Duck? How had we landed our vaulted volunteer slots and what would our jobs entail?

To tell the truth, our positions as Olympic News Service volunteers were secured exclusively through the high-powered connections of a University of Iowa journalism professor who orchestrated the trip. She has devoted much of her career to studying Chinese language and culture, and through extended periods of travel in China has accrued an impressive list of powerful friends.

Before we knew it, we were in Beijing, gorging ourselves on mouth-watering roasted duck, gawking at the Forbidden City and snapping pictures of Mao's resolute face on Tiananmen Rostrum.

Once all 300 student volunteers had arrived, those working for the Olympic News Service underwent two days of training.

Most of us, me included, were enlisted as quote reporters, our task being to interview athletes immediately after competition, and gather two or three solid quotes. These were then entered into a giant database, which professional journalists pulled from at will.

Accuracy and promptness were essential. Flash quote reporters were stationed at every Olympic venue, covering every sport. Most journalists expected quotes within 10 minutes of the event's finish. We had to position ourselves wisely to capture relevant quotes; then rush back to the ONS offices in every venue and type the quotes into the computer database.

With the arrival of our peers, however, and the loss of our novelty value came a new-found freedom. Once we were not the center of attention, we were granted a free license to roam Beijing, soak up the culture and experience what daily life is like for so many locals.

I rented a bicycle and spent countless hours zipping through the streets, ducking into alleyways, smiling at locals and speaking what little Chinese three years of study taught me. Every time I ventured off the traffic-clogged highways and into the hutong, where old men lounge around playing mahjong and the wonderful aroma of just-steamed buns fills the air, I was rejuvenated.

In the background, the ultra-modern high rises and Western-style shopping malls crowded the skyline. But here, in the alleys, away from the Starbucks of the world, I know I experienced the "real" China.

(China Daily 08/26/2008 page20)