Author: mckenziesteele

As much as I've loved my time in Korea, I'm very happy to be going home. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything, but I am exhausted. I feel so lucky to have been part of this program and to learn so much about the Olympics, organizing groups, sponsors, and so much more.

 

Before heading back to Seoul, I was able to attend the Figure Skating Exhibition Gala. This was so fun to be able to see performances by so many of the top figure skaters in the world. This event isn't scored or judged, so it was awesome to see the figure skaters have fun with their routines and be creative, since there weren't strict rules to follow. My favorites were the Canadians and Spanish (look up videos of their routines to see why!).

One of my favorite things while I've been here was to collect and trade pins with other visitors. I think I got a pretty good collection and hope to be able to add on to it at future Games.

It only took us until our last night here, but we finally found good Korean BBQ! I wish we would have found it earlier, because I would've come back here a few times.

 

I honestly couldn't tell you what we had, but the meat, sides, and sauce all made for a tasty meal! I'm excited to go back to American food, though.

In the athlete village, there was a group that was trying to set a world record with their collaborative painting. They encouraged athletes to come participate and paint part of it. On the last day, they had all of the pieces on display for everyone to enjoy.

 

I thought this was a fun way to get the athletes involved in something other than sport and show a sense of community. The painting ended up really beautiful as well!

At my shift today, security called me over to approve something (which I have no authority to do...haha). There was a group of Slovenians in crazy costumes that security wasn't sure if they were allowed to wear, based on IOC rules. I tried to explain that I was only there to count the number of people coming through and that I didn't actually know the rules/work for the IOC, but they didn't understand. Eventually, they just decided to let them in.

 

When they got up to the seating area, everyone was understandably asking to take pictures with them. I think they got sick of it, but that's part of what happens when you dress up at the Olympics 🙂

 

Leading up to the Games, we kept hearing about how fun Heineken House (Holland House) was and how we had to make sure to go.

 

A big group of us decided to go last night and it lived up to the name! It was fun to be able to do something all together as a group and to hear music that we recognized. I love that so many of the countries have houses where everyone can go relax and enjoy each others' company while celebrating the victories of the Olympic athletes.

 

Today, I had the chance to visit Japan House! I had heard how delicious the food was, so I was excited to be going and getting a meal that may somehow be less foreign to me.

 

We were able to eat dumplings, soup, sushi, and a few other Japanese items, which were all a nice change of pace from the food we've been having in the workforce lounge. I was particularly happy to be eating something with salt 😉

 

If I have the time, I'd love to come back here to enjoy another meal!

 

Sadly, I must not have taken any pictures here...so here is one another classmate took 🙂

Today I finally had my first real shift (meaning at an event). I grew up skiing, so that's the event I was most excited for and luckily got matched to work all alpine shifts!

 

We had a training session on the first night, but to be able to actually understand my venue made it easier to collect the data needed. This venue is quite large, so I had to first count the PSAs and Workforce Lounge, take a chairlift up to the seating area to count that, then walk back down to collect the parking data that was spread throughout the area between the base and the seating.

 

Luckily, this venue generally only has 1 session per day, but my venue tomorrow has 2. Trying to get 2 counts of this venue would be tricky and make for a long day.

It seems so silly, but something I always wanted to have done as a child was get a caricature. They're generally overpriced, so I had never gotten one until now!

 

After working a shift at the Athlete Village, I wandered around their plaza and noticed that they were doing free caricatures. I asked if they would do mine, and they said yes and got started right away.

 

The way he did it was very cool! It wasn't your typical drawn or painted caricature, he used a tablet and drew it digitally! It was awesome to watch my picture take shape as he added details and layers.

I love the end result! I'm so happy to have something personalized to take home with me.

I've always admired Korean nail art and knew I wanted to get my nails done while we were here. I've been scoping out designs for months and was very excited to have them done!

 

While I didn't find a place in Seoul that was reasonably priced, I happened to find one in Gangneung! I made an appointment and got them done today! They're just what I wanted and I'm glad I was able to get my Korean nail art experience.

 

I finally had my first shift today (since my first 2 got canceled). It was a transport shift, which isn't as fun as the sporting events but still very useful information for us to gather. I was at the Media Village, which is where most of the media stays and is a major connecting point for all buses.

 

About an hour into my shift, it started to get really windy. I figured it would pass, no big deal. However, as the day went on, the wind got worse and worse, to the point where the fence and signs were starting to sway and metal trash cans were blowing away. I did my best to hide out from the wind, but it was a long day of dirt blowing into my face.

 

Right at the end of my shift, one of the big metal signs actually ended up falling over. I couldn't believe that something cemented into the ground actually fell in front of my eyes! Luckily, no one was too close and no one got hurt, but it could have been a very different scenario had someone happened to be walking by at that moment!

When I got home, I was coated in a layer of dirt, but happy to have worked my first shift.