For many of us, the word "internship" conjures memories of coffee runs and drudgery, working long hours for little or no money. As often as not, internships can be kind of a drag.

Not for Tyler Mulone, a senior at Ithaca College, majoring in Sports Management.

The son of Kristen and Louis Mulone, formerly of Bristol, punched his ticket to Pyeongchang as an intern working directly with the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  
Tyler traveled to South Korea with 17 other students and three professors from his department. "We were split up into groups of four in the two different cities where the Olympics took place, Gangneum and Pyeongchang," said Tyler. "I was at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre where the ski jump — normal and large hill — and the snowboard big air events took place."  Initially stationed at a wheelchair ramp, he and the other 5 English-speaking workers got big "promotions" (in both responsibility and access). "After one day there were so many problems and complaints about the lack of English speakers that they moved us to access points where we were inside the venue on the field of play," he said. "We were responsible for making sure people had the correct accreditations in order to get through the doors or points we were working at." Tyler checked the credentials of athletes, coaches, officials and staff — the only people allowed through.  

His time in South Korea was full of experiences both expected (awkwardly translated conversations with non-English speaking coworkers) and unexpected (being asked for his blood type in the course of what he thought was a casual conversation with the aforementioned non-English speaking coworker.)

Food was another big contradiction. The three free meals a day they were given by the KOC were not Tyler's favorites. "The worst food of my life," he said. "But when we would go downtown or travel to another city and get food at a restaurant, it was the best food ever." Bulgogi, a Korean staple of barbecue beef, went from an unknown to an all-time favorite in a matter of bites.

Other culinary experiences were made more interesting with the addition of cultural and language barriers. At one women's hockey game, Tyler ordered a hot dog. Told that the vendor was out and only had sausages left, he ordered one of those — with ketchup — and was handed a paper cup with a hot dog and a packet of mustard in it.

Tyler's bowling game got a boost, thanks to its nightly availability and affordability, and he got the opportunity to feel a little famous too. "Americans in Korea are like celebrities," he said. "Every single day we were asked to take selfies, and we were added to countless group chats on a talk app called Kakao Talk….all day and night we would receive random pictures and texts of us."  

With this experience in his pocket, Tyler is excited for the future. "I have been interning with a sport agent from Buffalo who represents a few athletes in the NFL," he said.  "I would love to pursue the sport agent field, especially in Esports or Hockey."