Exciting day for the golf cart drivers

8/6/08 14:37 Local Time, Broadcast Compound

With only 2 days left until Opening Ceremonies, life on the compound is getting incredibly hectic. Yesterday was a mess at work -- most of our crew arrived for their first day, and our people were running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to orient everyone. I was assigned the lucky job of making 5 copies of a 300-page athlete biography packet (there were 8-10 athletes listed for each event, both men’s and women’s). It took me most of my work day yesterday because we got out early, and then I've been working on finishing them this afternoon. My broadcast manager saw how hard I was working at it and actually complimented me on my efforts. It was the first time I heard her give any kind of feedback to any of the interns. And the guy I made them for is so happy with them, too. It's such a relief to have it done.

We got out of work at 4:30pm yesterday because we had an intern dinner at the 5-star Crowne Plaza Hotel that we had to be dressed up for. At the dinner, we got to meet NBC executives and talents, as well as some former Olympic athletes boasting insanely impressive resumes. Bela Karolyi (the gymnastics coach that carried Kerri Strug off the floor after her dramatic Olympic gold performance some years back) was there, as well as a men's beach volleyball Olympic medalist and a women's soccer player and coach. And, of course, the aquatics family's favorites, Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines, were there, too. Rowdy gave an awesome speech and then they showed a video of his 100 freestyle race in the 1984 Olympics when he won gold. It was cool to sit there with him as he relived his Olympic glory for probably the billionth time. He told us that he still gets chills every time he sees the video and he always silently cheers for himself to go faster, even though the outcome is (thankfully) always the same.

They also showed a video of clips from the '04 Games in Athens. The whole thing gave me chills. I just kept thinking about all of my favorite moments from the swimming in those Games and how in just a few days I'll be witnessing new history firsthand. It got me so excited that I wanted to cry, but luckily I held off this time!

We also met Lester Holt from the Today Show. And in the lobby of the hotel after our dinner I saw Matt Lauer just wandering around talking on his cell phone. I would have normally introduced myself, but he was talking and I didn't want to interrupt him. I'm hoping next time he won't be doing anything.

The food they served us at the dinner was amazing. It consisted of 9 courses total, including shrimp in uncooked egg rolls (it looked like a cross between a spring roll and an egg roll), Chinese pumpkin soup, salmon (which I ate and enjoyed for the first time ever!), fried rice, vegetables, sweet and sour shrimp (my favorite), and this to die for chocolate mousse cake. And to make it all even better and really send all 3 swimming interns over the edge, our boss texted us during dinner and told us to bring our swim suits to work today because they might need us to test the cameras during their run-through tonight! I definitely have it with me, and my camera is raring and ready to go!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one 24-hour span, I got to do the coolest job this morning at work. My broadcast manager called me away from the bio books that are taking me the rest of my life to complete to ask if I could help drive some of the U.S. swim team down the street to the Main Press Centre for a press conference they were scheduled to do. Obviously, I dropped what I was doing and went in a heartbeat. First I drove Rowdy, Dan Hicks, and Dara Torres from the pool to the MPC, and Shannon had Michael Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman in her cart, which she drove directly in front of mine. After Phelps got out, Shannon and I were talking about how unreal it was that he's the focus of these Games and we just met him. The cameras that followed him around didn't turn off until the second Shannon stepped on the gas, and he was just so nonchalant about it. It was crazy.

This story only gets better. We had to go back to the Water Cube to pick up another group about 15 minutes after the first two. No sooner did I park my golf cart than 3 of the biggest names from the men's U.S. team walked out with 2 of their coaches, and they all climbed into my cart and started talking to me and joking with me. I swear, it was one of the only times in my life I felt speechless. When I turned around and saw Aaron Peirsol behind me, Brendan Hansen next to him, and Ryan Lochte next to me, I literally broke out into a sweat. It was probably the most exciting moment I've experienced in Beijing so far. You can only imagine how absolutely amazed I was.

It's been a pretty quiet day since then, and pretty much all the interns have been doing is reminiscing about last night. A bunch of us went out after our dinner to this place called Sanlitun Street (the cab driver tried to teach us how to pronounce that correctly, but it sounded more French than Chinese coming out of our mouths), which is this huge strip of Western bars and clubs. We only hung out at 2 of the bars, but it was a gorgeous night and they were all outdoors and we were with fun people, so it was a great time.

One of my roommates, Courtney, is actually a Chinese major at school and one of the funniest parts of the night was listening to her get directions from Chinese people and talk to our cab driver. I love the girl!

Hopefully tonight we will get to swim in the Water Cube! Imagine the stories I might have for tonight or tomorrow...