Leave me (Like you found me)

I've been working at IBC for two weeks already! The time has definitely flown by since I've arrived in Vancouver, and I'm worried that I'm just going to blink and have to go back home already. I'm not really looking forward to going back home from Canada; having too much fun and not ready for the unemployment/being in debt aspect of Minnesota. I'm trying to take in as much as I can while I'm here though, and not really worry about how much money I'm spending, cause it's all about the Olympic experience, right??

Speaking of Olympic experiences, the city has just been CRAZY since the Opening Ceremonies on Friday night and the games starting on Saturday. The streets are literally flooded with thousands of people, mostly wearing red, and taking in the sights and excitement of the Olympic spirit in the city. Both Friday and Saturday I had to work the late shift at the IBC, which was from 1:30-11:30 p.m., which sounds pretty lame for weekend nights, but ended up kind of exciting, with the beginning of the games.

I got the privilege on Friday night to work "security" for the final lighting of the torch, right next to my work at the broadcast centre. (And by security I mean standing next to the police officers and make sure people had the right passes to be in the torch area. Even the rest of my coworkers weren't allowed as close as I was!) It was pouring rain out for most of the time, and we had to wait outside during the entire Opening Ceremonies, but seeing as there was no chance of me making it to that actual ceremony, this was the next best thing. I stood in the rain for 3 hours waiting for the final torch to make it to the cauldron, which will be lit for the rest of the Winter Games.

Another exciting thing about the lighting of the cauldron was that Wayne Gretzky, the Canadian hockey hero, aka "The Great One," was secretly the final torchbearer, so he brought the torch down from the Opening Ceremonies to light it up.  Once word got out that Gretzky was going to be heading from the stadium down to the IBC, the streets swarmed with thousands of people, rushing to see Gretzky finish the home stretch of the torch's journey. However, none of them were let into the cauldron area, where I was standing and waiting. Even though it was raining, it was totally exciting to see this legendary hockey player come and light the torch, which will be standing as a symbol for the Olympics throughout the rest of the games, especially since I had front row seats!

Afterward, Gretzky left the area, and the crowd around the cauldron was going crazy. They were all cheering and yelling "GO CANADA," and finally the Canadian anthem was sung by a couple hundred people surrounding the torch. There was about a five-minute fireworks show, and the excitement was just incredible. That evening was probably the most "Olympic" and fantastic experience I've had so far in Vancouver. Here are a few pictures to showcase the night:

"The Great One" coming in with the torch!!

Right as Gretzky was lighting the cauldron.

Me with the cauldron in the background, as well as the fireworks behind the crowd watching the ceremony. Soooo amazing!

Gretzky waving right at me! haha

 So as you can see, an amazing night! Saturday was a bit more low key, but I did run some print distributions to all of the broadcasters with a friend of mine, and while we were down by NBC, there ended up being a ton of security around, and Joe Biden came strolling down the hallway towards us. We kind of just stared for a few seconds, but he came over and introduced himself. Seemed like a pretty goofy guy, actually. So we got a quick picture, and even though we were in Canada, it was exciting! Here is the picture we caught by chance around the IBC.

We all look so happy! Well, that was pretty much the excitement of my weekend, I had the day off yesterday, actually, so I just wandered around the city again and took more pictures. It was a seriously beautiful day, so the photos turned out awesome. Hopefully I can post a few of those soon. Gonna be off for now, I think I should give Scott a chance to use his computer, seeing as I don't think I will be getting my own back during this trip.

I think there will be more exciting things going on during this coming week, maybe even a couple events to go to!

Tata for now,

A