Thursday, July 26, 2012

Work for the USOC and Opening Ceremony rehearsal (July 23, 24, 25)

What an eventful and unforgettable three days it has been. We arrived to Nido student living dorm late night on Sunday after an awesome weekend in Paris. As soon as I was checked in I went straight to my room and settled in. I had to be at the processing center for the USOC by 1 the following day, and wanted to leave early to make sure I would find the place and get there in time.

My first day working for the USOC went very well. As soon as I arrived I started breaking down boxes. Obviously not the best job, but you have to start somewhere. After doing that for about a half hour, I went off to find another task and show some of the people I could be very helpful in other areas. For the rest of the day, I was packing Ralph Lauren bags for the athletes, and putting together their Nike medal ceremony outfits. It is going to be cool watching the athletes on the medal stand, and know that I played a part in helping put that together.

On Tuesday I was more familiar with the set up of everything and was able to jump right in. I packed a couple bags at the beginning of my shift. After packing a few bags, I worked as a runner for the Nike department. When an athlete would try something on and would need a size bigger or smaller, I would run to the warehouse and grab them the size they need. I was able to help out both the men’s and women’s tennis team with this. It was great helping some of the best athletes in tennis like Andy Roddick and Serena Williams with their medal ceremony athletes. Near the end of the day I was asked to go through all the bags for the track and field athletes and check what bags were not packed yet. This was a great feeling because the people of the USOC already trusted me with a more important task then packing the bags. We found that 15 bags had yet to be packed, and were to be done the next morning.

Wednesday, I got there in the morning to help explain what bags were missing from track and field. I helped pack the rest of the track and field bags through the morning. At this point, most of the packing was done for the athletes. We started to organize the warehouse, which I was able to play a big role in. We moved all of the extra items from storage and placed them where they were in the warehouse to make it easier when packing everything away. I was able to help lead this and make sure everything was out of storage and put in the correct place. One of the employees also found a few medal ceremony outfits that had not been put together yet, and I was able to help her finish those. It has really been a great learning experience working for the USOC the last few days.

After my shift I headed home for a quick shower and nap. After resting up, I headed to Olympic Park to see the last dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremonies. This was an AWESOME experience! We were able to be in the standing room only right on the field, and had a great view of everything that was going on. While they could not show everything in the Opening Ceremony to have a little bit of a surprise, they did the majority of the act. It is going to be a must watch on the television for Friday night. I have put some pictures of it up, but if you want it to be a complete surprise, don’t have a look. I will continue to volunteer for the USOC for the next couple days and will be sure to let everyone know how it ends up. So excited for the Olympics to start, and I am so proud to be just a small part of it for Team USA!
















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