Beijing —- A Southern accent over here attracts a fellow Southerner like a fly to honey. Kendra White hopped on a media bus one afternoon and said hello to everyone —- not exactly common on vehicles that lumber through the haze, depositing hot and tired journalists to various venues.

"Hey," I replied, and in that one syllable (well, two), Kendra decided we were going to be friends. It turns out an experience in Atlanta might account for her cheer on the press vessel. A Kentucky native who's a rising senior at Asbury College, she landed an internship through her school. She says several years of competing in the Atlanta Open, an annual Bible quiz game, prepared her for the work she's doing.

"It definitely improved my diligence and my ability to focus," she said, adding that her church group always returned from Atlanta with stories to tell the folks back home.

"One year our bus got shot at," she said. "It was crazy."

The press buses here are crowded and slow, but at least no one's firing on them.