Editor's note: Waterloo native William Heathershaw, a 2004 Columbus High graduate, is a University of Iowa business management and organizations student who is in Beijing as part of a university-organized program. He will be contributing several stories and columns during the 2008 Summer games.

My time in Beijing is coming to a Usain Bolt finish. My experiences were Shawn Johnson's gold and silver and rarely with a Lolo Jones hitch.

While maintaining a miniscule celebrity status and taking advantage of most opportunities, the past eight weeks deserves its own gold medal.

My fellow University of Iowa student ambassadors and I were treated like celebrities the moment we arrived. We were the first international volunteers, so we were greeted by a camera and journalist at the airport. During the next week, approximately 10 other journalists and camera crews reported on us experiencing our first moments in the Olympics' host city.

If you were to Google "Heathershaw Beijing," many Web sites will appear with the article released by China's version of the Associated Press -- Xinhua -- and can be found in several publications. We were featured on CNN during a two-minute segment and followed around by NBC at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant to discuss our experiences.

I was able to see and meet several athletes and notable persons.

I saw Brian Williams walk through security at the International Broadcast Center, made Matt Lauer chuckle during a live broadcast of the Today Show while yelling, "Hi Al" after Matt set up Al's cue for the weather back in New York.

I was able to take a tour of NBC's massive studio and saw Dick Ebersol, the brains behind NBC Olympics and Sports.

I maintained relationships with journalists from USA Today and the New York Times.

I wrote stories on Olympian wrestlers Ben Askren and Doug Schwab. I maintained a blog for the Des Moines Register Web page and called 97.7 KCRR to converse with that annoying but loveable Cory Ford (take this as a shout-out). I took flash quotes from basketball players and coaches during their practices.

If you are an NBA fan, you might enjoy my trip's most embarrassing memory.

It transpired at the Germany men's basketball practice. It went a little like this: "Dirk, can I ask you a couple questions?"

"I'm not Dirk. He's in the shower. I'm Kaman," the 7-foot, blond-haired German responded.

"Hey Chris, I want to talk to you, too."

I saved the opportunity to speak to the Los Angeles center.

"Hey Chris, what do you think about playing against your teammates Kobe and Gasol?"

Slight pause. He responded he hadn't thought about it. That's it. What a poet.

At first, I thought he was a jerk, but I later realized he didn't play for the Lakers. He plays for the Los Angeles Clippers!

Besides the embarrassing memory, my favorite 9.69 seconds took place in the Bird's Nest the night the world's fastest man flew into the record books again.

The anticipation grew throughout the evening until the race's gun was fired at 10:30 p.m. This men's 100-meter final introduced the name of Usain Bolt to the world.

Bolt became crowned the world's fastest man in the history of fast men. A large majority of the audience juggled their cameras with their $1 glasses of Tsingdao beer.

This brings me to another solid memory of China -- incredibly cheap beer.

By having a summer experience like this at 22 years old, I need to be careful to not make this the highlight of my life. This could easily be the highlight of anyone's life, but there is much more living to do.