Euros, not dollars. Kilometers, not miles. Hola, not hello.
When I left Kentucky for the Jersey Shore in June earlier this year, I brought shorts and T-shirts, bathing suits and sunglasses, flip flops and beach towels. Little did I know that I’d actually need a passport, business-casual outfits, a giant suit case and everything I learned in the three semesters I studied Spanish.
It was a Sunday—more specifically, it was Father’s Day. I was out by the pool binge-eating snacks when I got the call:
“Hello, the Olympic Channel would like you to come to Madrid as a content manager. Can you be here in three days?”
Um, OK, can I come in 10 days? I should probably locate my passport.
And thus, the adventure began. I went shopping (at Walmart, duh) for some work-place appropriate clothes, found my passport in my closet, and dragged out of the attic the giant red suitcase I had purchased four years prior when I worked at the London 2012 Olympics.
I didn’t know a soul in Spain. But whatever, I was gonna go. Then I found out a friend of mine from school was also going to be working at the Olympic Channel, and she was arriving two days before I. Excellent!
I spent nine weeks working in Madrid, Spain, with a group of fantastic people from around the world whose life experiences fascinated and inspired me. We launched the Olympic Channel, a video-based online platform designed to showcase the Olympic Games like never before, providing a space to tell the stories of Olympic athletes and encourage people around the world to train hard and reach their full potential. Check out the site here: https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/
I’m so proud to have been a part of this incredible project. Years ago, when I told people I wanted to major in journalism, some well-intentioned individuals raised their eyebrows and gently told me that journalism was “dying.” I debated that topic in probably every journalism class I took in school, and we always came to the same basic conclusion: journalism is changing, but it’s not going to disappear anytime soon.
JOURNALISM IS AN IMPORTANT FOUNDATION OF OUR FREE SOCIETY AND SUPPORTS HUMAN RIGHTS AND KEEPS THE GOVERNMENT IN CHECK LIKE NOTHING ELSE CAN.
Also, journalism allows people watch and learn about the coolest athletic competition in the world, the Olympics.
What an adventure life can be. I can’t wait to find out what is next.
(More posts about Spain to come. I got lost on my way to see a Real Madrid game, almost got locked in a laundromat and accidentally ate octopus… I could go on…)