And now, the end is near

The first realization that my Olympic experience was coming to an end came on Wednesday afternoon when I stopped in at the front office of the Gangneung Media Village to reserve my seat on a bus and then a train to get to the airport and Seoul on Sunday.
I had submitted my departure flight to the organizers before I got here and they already had me in the computer. My flight leaves at a little after 5 p.m. Korean time on Sunday. They advised that you make your arrangements with the arrival and departure desk at least three days in advance and I figured it was a good idea to be earlier than later. This was confirmed to me by the older gentleman in line in front of me who was flying out today (Friday) and was just booking his train ticket on Wednesday afternoon. Of course, as one might expect, the train that got him there at a decent time was sold out, so he had to take an earlier train that got him to the airport pretty early, which wasn’t ideal to him.
They have me on a 10:40 a.m. bus to the train station and then a 12 p.m. train from Gangneung to Seoul, arriving in more than enough time to find my way through the airport and get my luggage taken care of.
It’s kind of disappointing to know that my time here is coming to an end. It has certainly been a good time all around and I’ve had the chance to see a lot of different things that Korea has to offer. I caught up with a college friend who I hadn’t seen in years (he lives here now) and have plans to meet another Kappa Kappa Psi brother on Saturday. I’ve met some great people that share my field of journalism, chief among them being Matt Pepin of the Boston Globe, who has to be one of the nicest guys in journalism out there. I’ve had the chance to meet and talk to some elite athletes both in moments of victory and defeat. I had the chance to explore Korean culture and history a little with a trip to the DMZ and a Buddhist temple. I’ve taken a few chances on eating foods I’m not used to and found a new favorite should I ever return to Korea. I’ve gotten to do some great interviews with radio shows back in the states to let others know how the Olympic experience is going.
It truly has been a lot of fun, but at the same time, it’s been a lot of work, but that’s not anything different in my world. Soon enough it will be back to the grind of every day life, but for now, I have a few more days to enjoy by time in Korea.

 I met up with my Kappa Kappa Psi brother and friend Lee Kelly in PyeongChang last week.

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