Aug 21, 2010

Expo Expedition.

I finally got to go to the Expo the other week. I’ve only been editing articles for weeks on end about it, and I was so excited to finally get to go only to be severely let down. Ok, “severely” may be an overstatement, but it was kind of disappointing.

In the taxi over the bridge, I could see most of the Expo Garden and my emotions were high. All the pavilions, especially the China Pavilion, looked really pretty. It was kind of like Disney World, only without the rides and the magic.

Anyway, I was going to an interview at the US Pavilion, so after the interview I got the see the pavilion. It was just a bunch of movies of life in the US, which were clearly promos for the pavilion’s corporate sponsors - GE, Pepsi (BOOO) and surprisingly Habitat for Humanity (maybe they weren’t a sponsor, but they were featured). It was nice to see so many American faces and sit down in an air-conditioned room, as I had mistakenly worn a high heels and a pencil skirt to what is essentially a theme park on one of the hottest days of the summer.

After a few short films that, in my opinion, weren’t really all that reflective of life in America, I went off to the Brazil and Canada pavilions. The US’s was fantastic compared to these two let downs. I left both somewhat confused and thinking  “what was the point of that?”

While I didn’t really enjoy the pavilions, per say, there’s no denying the Expo is a huge deal. After all these uninspiring pavilions I attended this press conference where they talked about how the US Pavilion will see more visitors in 6 months than Disney World sees in a year. That’s pretty cool.

And while I still don’t really get the point of the Expo, there’s a lot of people (mostly Chinese) are going. And I think the US Pavilion is pretty good (comparatively) if only because you get to sit down inside in a cool building.

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