Being a long-winded sports fan, I gladly accepted the challenge of writing a blog about my new experiences as an intern at a|i|m.
My first major adventure: Gettin’ dirty with those infamous “dirty birds.” Corny I know, but in all seriousness at the end of each day, I was drenched in sweat so I can think of no better word than “dirty” to describe my first time out of the office.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll explain: My first on-site experience has been at the Atlanta Falcons training camp. What I do is help set up the tents outside the practice fields and get everything ready for when the public comes in to watch the Falcons practice. In order to do all this, I get the special opportunity to wake up at hours I never knew existed. Believe it or not, there is life before 6 in the morning. Who would have known?
I get to the complex and I basically do whatever is needed. Whether it’s setting up the tents, running back and forth to the car, putting together the promo items and giveaways, I do it all! By the time we get done doing all of this, I’ve pretty much lost half of my body fluid from sweating. I wish the word “hot” had more emphasis than it does, because those three letters do not do justice to how absolutely sauna-like it felt. And I have definitely gained a new appreciation for those players and what they endure. I was exhausted at the end of the day even with a tent and a fan, I have no idea how they don’t collapse every day.
Every now and then, I’d get to walk over to the fields and watch the guys practice (I have never felt so small in my entire life.) Some of the guys are tall, some are big, and most of them are both. In my 5’3 little body, I felt like David watching hundreds of Goliaths stomp around and grunt all day.
At the end of my first day I was sweaty, hot and completely worn out, but I loved every minute of it!
-Erin
