With the Winter Games starting on Friday, sports fans from all over the world are packing their bags and heading to Vancouver, Canada to experience the Olympics firsthand.
But imagine getting sent to the games for free, including accommodations, meals, and equipment to blog, tweet, and vlog about the experience.
For Brooklyn residents DeStorm Power, 28, and Jessica Berry, 23, that is their reality.
The couple is one of five teams picked as "Samsung Mobile Explorers" who are flying to Vancouver on Wednesday to experience the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
The teams will compete against each other in "Amazing Race"-style challenges earning points as they go. The team with the most points will win a gig blogging for Samsung -- along with a cool $24,000.
“Our goal is to create the Olympic spirit through our eyes,” told NBCNewYork from in the Clinton Hill apartment he shares with Berry.
The duo can hardly contain their excitement as they play with an HD camcorder, one of the gadgets Samsung has provided them with for the experience, including a touch-screen digital camera, a notebook, and the Mythic phone.
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“They wanted to give everyone an even playing field with the equipment,” said Berry, a Philadelphia, Pa. native, who has been brainstorming video ideas to give her team an edge. “Samsung is taking care of us.”
Powers, originally from Baltimore, Md., is no stranger to video editing as he was made a YouTube partner in April 2009 through his channel DeStorm TV. He heard about the contest through one of his over 60,000 channel subscribers and knew Berry was the perfect teammate to enter with due to her “bubbly” personality.
The Fordham University graduate, however, admits she didn’t care about the contest at first.
“I tried to explain that to her that this was a huge opportunity,” said Power, laughing and Berry shrugged.
When she finally realized what was at stake Berry claims she became “an addict” and constantly checked the Samsung website for the latest video submissions up until the deadline passed, even counting the number of teams (155) they were up against. As one of the five finalists, they are the only team from the East Coast and are proud to represent.
Since finding out they are finalists, Team NYC has been studying up on Vancouver culture and food, Hannah Teter (reigning woman’s Olympic Gold Medalist in the halfpipe who is serving as the ambassador to the program and interacting with the teams), winter sports and their rules -- but are not sure what to expect.
“We don’t even know what we’re preparing for!” said Berry.
Either way, the team can’t wait for their 20 day, 19 night trip.
“I’m excited to meet the other explorers. I like to meet new people,” said Berry.
The couple will meet the competition for the first time on Wednesday but has watched their videos and is prepared for whatever obstacles are thrown their way.
“They seem like cool folks but at the end of the day it’s a competition,” Power said. “Team NYC Samsung Mobile Explorers is going to take the competition all the way.”
You can check out their winning video submission, along with the other four U.S. teams on the Samsung Mobile Explorers website. You can also see what they’ve done to get ready on the 2010 Samsung Mobile Explorers Theatre page on Facebook. And of course, you can follow both Power and Berry on their Twitter accounts.
