By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Paris — The athletes were amazing, the City of Paris spectacular, but experiencing a multitude of languages spoken by thousands of people unified for competition will not soon be forgotten.
Groveland Township resident Vinny Bills reflected on his experiences at the Paris Summer Olympic Games following a ten day trip to Europe July 20-29 which included viewing a few of the events.
“I’m used to the small Village of Ortonville,”said Bills, 23, a 2019 Brandon graduate who recently completed his studies in actuarial science at Oakland University. “It was just overwhelming, but at the same time it was so much more than I have ever experienced. Greater still is that everyone got along very well. It’s like we all knew we all were in Paris for something greater.”
Bills had been considering a trip to Paris and London for several years. So, earlier this year Bills along with two friends from Bridgewood Church decided that the first venture overseas would be just in time for the 2024 Olympics.
“It took a few months of planning but we did it all ourselves, and airfare was reasonable during the Olympics,” he said. “We walked a lot about two miles from where we stayed to the Olympic area. I booked an Airbnb earlier in the year and we also stayed in a communal hostel. It was very small but comfortable.”
The trio snagged tickets to Brazil vs Morocco men’s volleyball along with Australia vs. China women’s volleyball. With the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, the volleyball games were at the Champ de Mars Olympic.
“Tickets were just $100 each for beach volleyball,” he said. “We were in the second row, and it was just at random that the seats were so close to the action. We also all love volleyball, we play it at church. I would have liked to see gymnastics but those tickets were $1,200 each.”
They also attended cycling through the streets of Paris and rowing.
“The experience was positive and upbeat,” he said. “Most of those who attended represented their country and many displayed it as shirts or hats. I had expected conflict there of some kind. But actually, everyone treated us very well.”
While language was a barrier, considering 184 countries were represented Google Translate made most communications possible.
“Everyone used their phones to talk,” he said. “The experience was like a football game at the Big House, except rather than 100,000 Michigan fans, there were people from all over the world.”