The Broke Girl's Guide to Watching the Olympics

I don't understand the popular phrase "broke college kid"... College kids have it easy - especially if they live in the dorm like I did. They have furniture provided for them, someone to clean the bathroom, meals served daily, access to a gym, events planned to keep them entertained, cable and internet access... Now that I think about it, It's like a luxury group home without the smell of pudding! Ok, so maybe the facilities aren't always state of the art and the food isn't always something to rave about, but I'm realizing I took a lot of things for granted in college.

The afore mentioned popular phrase should be amended to the following:
"broke post-college kid with an unpaid internship trying to make it on his/her own in a new city"
Now, I understand that it doesn't quite roll off the tongue, and it's easier to have sympathy for a "kid" carrying around books and struggling to keep up a GPA, but things get pretty crazy when you make the leap from education to practice.

I should clarify a few things. I'm not claiming to be broke. I'm not complaining. I'm not trying to make you feel sorry for me. I've been very blessed to have been able to save up money from previous jobs (I started saving for my move to NYC at eight years old), capitalize on birthday and graduation gifts, and supplement my current lack of income with odd jobs and the selling of my sweet little car. And what's best is, I'm living my dream! There are, however, a few things that I've had to get creative with. Fortunately, creativity runs in the family.

Now, let's switch gears...

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!
I love the competition, I love the spirit, I love sports, I love the camaraderie, I love the excitement, I love the events, I love the scenery, I love the back-stories, I love that it only happens every four years (unless you count summer and winter together... but we're just going to focus on summer), and I love that the entire world is watching.

My love of the olympics began in 1996 when the Olympic Games were held in Atlanta. We lived in Gainesville at the time, and my parents were wonderful enough to bring Erin and me to Centennial Olympic Park for the festivities. We got to watch part of the torch running, and even hold the torch. I vaguely remember getting to see rowing. I vividly remember trading pins and seeing the fountain, and I will never forget the excitement of just BEING there. I don't think I understood what a huge deal it was at the time, but I am so thankful for that experience now.

Ok, so where am I actually going with all of this? It's now time to put together the two seemingly unrelated topics of this blog. Broke post-college intern without a television or air conditioning at her apartment and Olympic Frenzy. THAT is my life right now. THAT is the city fun of this week.

So, that FINALLY brings me to the real point of this blog: Olympic Viewing as an Extreme Sport... Hold on to your hats! And let the creativity begin!

Opening Ceremony: I lucked out on this one. I got to watch the Opening Ceremony on a big flat screen TV with a bowl of ice cream and a comfy couch in Long Island (see previous blog).

The Tuesday that USA won the Women's Team Gold in Gymnastics: My friends Zach and Chase live on the upper east side and have a lovely pent house apartment with a nice TV (they work in finance or something like that - with numbers and money). I invited myself over to their place to watch, but they didn't feel like staying in the apartment, so we went to a sports bar and pigged out on pigs in a blanket, mozzarella sticks, and wings while cheering on the USA with about 30 of our new best friends.

Thursday, August 2nd: After work I went up to the East 60's to visit my friend Sarah and to pick up some face-wash she got for me. We were chatting, and she had to take a call so she told me to make myself comfortable, turn on the tv, whatever. When I turned the tv on, what did I find? You guessed it, THE OLYMPICS!!! That short visit turned into a full evening of fun. We ordered pizza, hunkered down, and watched little Gabby claim All Around Gold in Gymnastics and the Phelps/Lochte show down. It was delightful.

Friday, August 3rd: My friend Katherine and I went to Times Square at 6:30 in the morning to wait in line for Rush tickets to ONCE that went on sale at 10am. We obviously didn't get much sleep the night before, so we had full intentions of just going back to the apartment, sleeping all day, and seeing the show that evening. Of course, that didn't happen. We got our tickets and realized we were wide awake. Now, Katherine has a pretty janky TV. It doesn't play DVD's, and it only turns on when it feels like it. Well, it didn't feel like it at first. We tried to turn on the TV, but gave up. 15 minutes later we randomly start to hear Olympic commentators, and eventually the screen illuminates to reveal the daytime event coverage!!! YAY!!!!!! We were so excited! We had a wonderful time watching track and field, cheering for volleyball, and making fun of water polo... Those bonnets are just a mess... They made those girls look like Amish sea horses. I even made one of my own... I blame lack of sleep... Clearly I have no shame in my Olympic pride, but you've got to admit, it's a pretty good replica:

Last night my need for Olympic coverage continued. I met Katherine after work and we decided to get some food. We couldn't figure out what we wanted so we went to Washington Square Park to find a food cart. Nothing. We started walking. We were trying to figure out what we wanted to eat. New York can be extremely frustrating for two indecisive "broke" girls. There are just too many food options. We eventually decided that we didn't care what we ate, we just wanted to watch the Olympics. So we had a plan. The search began. We passed a sports bar that looked super sketchy. We decided to keep looking. We passed another sports bar that was PACKED. We decided to keep looking. We went into a sports bar that looked pleasantly uncrowded - they didn't serve food. We decided to keep looking. We passed a restaurant that was showing the Olympics on the TVs, we looked at the menu, and there was nothing under $10. I can totally understand that, really I can, but they were serving burgers and fries and things like that. NOT worth it. We decided to keep looking. FINALLY, an hour and a half and a bunch of walking later, we found a pizza place in Union Square that was showing an Olympic commercial. We assumed that meant they were playing the Olympics. We were wrong. It was a spanish soap opera. Clearly nobody was watching that, so we very sweetly asked if they would change the channel to NBC so we could watch the Olympics. *insert eye batting and a sweet smile*

They were so nice, not only to change the channel for us, but for not kicking us out at any point during the three hours we just sat and watched! It was so great! People would come and go, eat their pizza slice, watch an event or two, and go about their merry business. Not us. We were planted and hooked! We made some friends with Australian tourists who got obnoxious when the Australian runner won her race. We made friends with the little old lady who chanted USA USA USA after every gymnast finished a routine (even the Russians). Most importantly, though, we found exactly what we wanted - cheap food and Olympic coverage. 

Today, I've decided that while I'm at work and there's not much going on, I'll be scouring the internet for news, updates, and videos I've missed.

I've still got 4 days to feed my obsession, and I can only hope that both the creativity and the access to coverage continue.

As always, going for the gold!

Grace be with you,

Lindsey Shea