RIO DE JANEIRO — “I only speak American, British, New Zealand and Australian.” So said a volunteer as several hundred media members grew increasingly antsy and anxious, waiting in the security line to get into Maracana Stadium for the Opening Ceremony Friday night. The volunteer hasn’t mastered his Barack Obama impression, but his southern U.S. accent was on point.

Such levity was welcome on a night, and really a week, during which the key word was “patience.”

The route of our media shuttle from the hotel to the press center has taken anywhere from barely 30 minutes to a full hour depending on traffic, the lead foot of the driver and the position of the moon. Our post-midnight journey from Maracana to our hotel took three full hours, with an entirely different kind of media scrum occurring as everyone desperately tried to get on a bus back to the Media Transport Mall as quickly as possible. I was on a first name basis with the side of a bus at one point.

However, with the caveat that I don’t have a frame of reference, these Games so far are well run and the venues are beautiful and well laid out. The volunteers are welcoming, gracious and helpful, even with a language barrier at times. My Spanish and choppy Portuguese have proven useful in many instances.

Athletes participating in the Rio Olympics wait on the floor as each country is introduced. (Photo by Malcolm Moran)

Despite the budget cuts and turmoil in the last few months, the Opening Ceremony on Friday night was quite the spectacle, providing entertainment, a gorgeous array of colors and a cautionary tale, as the designers chose to depict the cost of global warming in Brazil and around the world in one section.

The roar for the Refugee Olympic Team was stirring. Seeing Team USA walk in person was incredible. The samba music made me want to, well, learn to samba, especially as a young child on stage was out-dancing just about everyone in the stadium.

If this is what Brazil has to offer these next three weeks, I think we’ll turn out all right, despite the grumpy journalists.

I have always wanted to attend the Olympic Games. Since I decided to study sports journalism, reporting at the Olympics became a more-focused goal. It was a goal I figured would be many years in the making. I thought there would be dues to pay and tedious golf stories to be assigned (my apologies to the game of golf) before I was able to cover the largest and greatest of all sporting events.

Yet here I am. The question still remains when I will be able to return, but for now, this is enough. Being here as a graduate student is beyond anything I ever imagined was possible. I’m so grateful to IUPUI, my department, my program and the United States Olympic Committee for the opportunity.

— Rebecca Harris | @MsRebeccaHarris