A big part of my internship is packaging items and sending out stickers, but I also do a bit of everything from writing copy to pulling bungee for the tabarnak pack. A lot of you may wonder what it's like to be an intern at Newschoolers, so here it is!
Lots and lots of sticker packing
A typical day in my life as a NS helper:
9:00 AM: Wake up and while staying in bed, check the forums/news on my phone to see if anything exciting has happened overnight. There usually isn’t much.
9:15 AM: Drag myself out of bed to do all necessary morning things including but not limited to brushing my teeth, using the bathroom, showering, eating cereal without milk because I forgot to buy milk etc.
9:30 AM: Run out the door because I’m almost late for class
9:35 AM -10:55 AM: Class. Sometimes if it’s really boring/useless for the day, I’ll scroll through NS some more.
11:00 AM: Walk to the NS headquarters, usually picking up something small to eat on the way.
11:20 AM: Arrive at the office, say hi to everyone, grab a water and take a seat in the intern lounge as I wait for Mousseau to finish whatever he’s doing.
11:25 AM: While I’m waiting, I prep some posts and do some daily interactions in the forums or work on a new article.
11:30 AM - 4:20 PM: Mousseau tells me what needs to be done for the day and I do it(sometimes it’s packing stickers, other times it’s pulling stuff into a spreadsheet or google doc, there's a ton of varied stuff to do really). On the occasion that there isn’t anything, or after I finish, I watch a ton of videos and read the forums some more, and work on my own stuff, like this article.
Usually work ends at 4:20 PM for me, as I have class at 4:35 3 days a week and I go back to class, but on days where I don’t have class, I’ll leave around 5.
5:00 PM - 11:00 PM: Homework, scroll through NS some more, hang out with friends, etcetera.
11:30 PM: Shower if I didn’t in the morning, then check the forums one last time before bed
11:45 PM: Sleep
And repeat. Of course this schedule is flexible and it changes all the time, but that’s the general gist of it.
*EDIT: Tall-T Dan has called me out and he is correct. I do not in fact shower every day. The exact number of days a week I actually do will not revealed to anyone at this point. Sorry.
Once in a while, a wrench is thrown in the mix.
Nailed the potatohead look eh? // Photo: Jason Mousseau
One day, I received a message from Jason, asking if I was free for the day to pull bungee for Mike and Dom. For those of you who don’t know, Mike’s the filmer for the Tabarnak Pack, and Dom is one of the riders. Of course I said yes, and I went to the office to meet up with them. Dom and Mike are super chill dudes by the way, and Mike drove us all to the rail dom was going to hit. Lo and behold, when we arrived we found the steps covered in ice. This is the part where I curse Stept and all their predecessors [note from the Jason: I'm taking responsiblity for Aaron's lack of knowledge here -- I'll give him an urban history lesson before he goes home, don't worry!] for making it standard to clear off the steps for urban.
Clearing the steps // Photo: Jason Mousseau
For those of you who don’t know, it’s a ton of work to clear pure ice from steps (took us an hour or two), and in the end, we brought out a sledgehammer to clear the last few pesky steps.
Mike testing the bungee as we finish up the steps // Photo: Jason Mousseau
The city really should pay urban skiers for what they do. I think instead of being called menaces to society, urban skiers should be praised for the work they do to get the shots. Two broken shovels and a ton of soreness the morning after, I definitely have a newfound respect for the Pack and Stept and everyone else who deals with that sort of thing.
Mike and Dom posing in front of the broken shovels. RIP earthcutter thing and big metal shovel
After doing this, I then proceeded to pull the bungee for Dom to hit this gnarly rail (down-gap-down-gap-quad kink) about 80 times I’m told. Myself and Peter/Sam pulled the bungee, and I held it for Dom, while Peter/Sam ran to the other side and gave Mike a push. Really enlightening stuff.
The Setup // Photo: Jason Mousseau
My friend is a pro // Photo: Jason Mousseau
It didn’t feel like that many times, but it was all worth it because Mike got the shot in the end and I got a cameo in Episode 10! Yes, that’s right. That’s me in the khaki jeans shoveling behind Dom in the closer. My one and only claim to fame thus far.
[VIDEO]http://www.newschoolers.com/watch/707435.0/Tabarnak-Pack--The-Finale-[/VIDEO]
My claim to fame.
I’ve had a few other notable helper experiences with NS including: Missing the entire final for Rails 2 Riches due to a discrepancy in time, Carrying a giant duffel bag full of stuff to give out while snowboarding at the NS meetup at Loon, studying Econ on a janky pull out bed as the rest of the crew celebrates Dom’s finish at R2R, the new solid 7’s, and trying to sleep through the scent of [redacted]’s god awful farts. However, pulling bungee and ending up in an episode has got to be the coolest quantifiable thing I’ve done as of yet.
In the legendary llama head at the loon meetup. Sorry the photo's sideways.
I’m getting quite nostalgic because in a week and a half, I’ll be returning home to California. Don’t worry though, this isn’t the last you’ll hear from me. My journey with NS so far has not only been an awesome skiing/working experience, but also a culinary experience, as I’ve had some seriously great pizza, and the guys at the office are pretty good chefs. I’ve loved my time here so far and I’m looking forward to a ton of more great times with great people in the coming year. I would highly recommend being an helper here if any of you have the chance.
