Olympic Journal: My Room With a View

Here's what Farrell sent in Thursday night.

Indiana standout Margaux Farrell is a dual citizen and will swim for France in the 2012 London Olympics. She's sending back Olympic diary entries from London. Read all of our Olympic journals.

"Well, it is official: I am in the Olympic Village in London, England! The French team arrived here on Tuesday and it has been a little chaotic since then. When we first arrived we unpacked all of our stuff in our rooms, which are really nice. My room is set up as an apartment suite that has three rooms each with two beds, and then we have two full bathrooms and a family room with couches and a flat screen television.

"We also have a nice balcony with a view of the central stadium, and last night they were practicing fireworks for the Opening Ceremonies. Unfortunately, I will not be able to participate in the opening ceremonies due to the fact that the swimming competition begins the next day. However, at least I am close enough to the stadium that I should be able to hear the music and see the fireworks!

"Another really awesome thing here is the food, the dining hall is the most massive place I have ever seen in my life. There are so many different stations with all types of foods from all around the world. Then, there is also a McDonald?s and a McCafe, which is all-you-can-eat …  all the time …  for free! Throughout the village there are various stands and stations that distribute other goodies like cappuccinos, fruits and yogurts. Plus, the pools all have snack stations so we can always stayed fueled and hydrated.

"In addition to the France building and the dining hall, I have also visited the competition pool and the training pool which both are impressive, to say the least. The competition pool seats 17,000 people, and it is so unbelievable to see such a beautiful facility.

"The pool itself has ten lanes and a separate pool for warming up and warming down, not to mention the diving pool right behind it. It gets very crowded though so we have also been using the training pool, which is located 5 minutes from the village and has three pools each with ten lanes, plus a water polo pool and a dry land station. I could not believe my eyes when I walked into the building as it seemed like there was a never-ending amount of pools.

Photo by Margaux Farrell

"Also, on Wednesday we had to go the 'Club France' building for a press conference and a lunch. The 'Club France' building was about 45 minutes away but it was absolutely gorgeous. Just outside the building was the London Bridge, so we got a lot of cool pictures with the giant rings that are presently hanging outside.

"Other than that I have not explored the other parts of the village because I?ve been trying to rest in preparation for the meet to begin. I can?t wait for the games to start though, once I?m done competing I am going to explore all the ins and outs that the village has to offer! Tomorrow the games officially begin, so I?m about a day and a half away from the start of the swimming competition, hope the excitement doesn?t keep me up tonight."

Editor's note: Farrell set a new school record in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 55.69 in prelims at the 2011 World University Games in China this past August. Find Farrell's full bio page at IUHoosiers.com