Just under four years ago, I started my first day working at Nation HQ as a part-time intern. The day was just five days away from when the Edmonton Oilers would select Connor McDavid first overall in the NHL entry draft, and our lives would change forever.

A month into my internship with Oilersnation I was tasked to write an essay introducing myself to the Nation, and about why I think I make a good intern. (We’ll get to that essay a little bit later.) But now, I am writing my goodbye to the Nation, as today will be my final day working at Nation HQ. After years of cheering, crying, and laughing over the Oilers from inside the walls of the Little Brick Cafe, I will be taking some time to explore a different career opportunity, while growing my skills and experience in the marketing industry.

Even though I will no longer be working in Nation HQ, this isn’t a goodbye forever. I will always be The Nation Chris and no one can stop me. You will still see me around this site giving my occasional hot take and booing The Nation Dan. You will even see me at the occasional Nation party and event, so there’s no need to be sad.

For those of you wondering, yes I eventually began working full-time with the Nation and graduated from my internship. I stopped having to pickup Baggedmilk’s daily coffees and clean Wanye’s car, even though my intern title ended up sticking around forever. In my time with Oilersnation, I had the opportunity to participate in a ton of fun activities and trips. In fact, Wanye tasked me with recapping some of my favourite memories with the Nation. So here goes nothing!

As I alluded to earlier, my first five days as an intern was something I was never expecting happen the way it did. It was an action-packed week as I jumped right into the thick of things while preparing for the Connor McDavid draft party, which to-date, was our biggest party in Nation history. The five days was a fast-track lesson to learn all about the Nation and the processes involved. Usually, it would take a person months or years to meet all of the fine Nation Citizens. However, I’m pretty sure I met 80% of you all at the Draft Party that week.

The week involved everything from taking photos of the vandalized “Connor [McDavid]Road” sign in Edmonton, dumping multiple beers on myself for the Kokanee promo team (I can’t find any video for this, thank god), building shelves, hanging blinds, walking dogs, kissing babies, giving arena updates, and much more. The week ended with the draft party which completed my initiation. Sometime late into the night, apparently I got cocky and agreed to write a 500-word essay about why I’m a great intern. After a lengthy delay, I finally got around to writing it. The essay was my first taste at receiving some online criticism, and I quickly knew that the Nation and myself were going to grow into a beautiful relationship.

One aspect of Oilersnation that we’re continuously aiming to grow is our travel ventures. Our goal is to bring as many Nation Citizens around the world with us to follow the Oilers, and we’re well on our way to doing it.

Initially, we started out with a few smaller trips. The Nation began hosting a couple of ski trips to the mountains. Then we stepped it up by bringing a handful of Oilers fans to Winnipeg for the Heritage Classic. Once we started to figure out what we were doing, things began to roll with a handful of trips to Calgary to watch some Battle of Alberta games. Then, the big one happened.

Something I never thought would happen unfolded right before my eyes. We loaded a plane with Oilersnation fans and flew them all out to Las Vegas to watch the team play earlier this year. This was an unforgettable experience, and I had the time of my life.

Even though I haven’t travelled a lot in my life, it is something I love to do. What Oilersnation is trying to do by bringing fans together across multiple countries is amazing, and I highly encourage you to tag along on an upcoming trip if you haven’t done so yet. Following the team you love to different cities is something I never really saw myself doing in my lifetime, however, it has quickly become one of my favourite hobbies.

As you may know, we do a lot of random things out of Nation HQ to try to produce some entertaining content for you all. These random things include printing out a cutout of myself and taking pictures with it around the city for prizes and wearing a turkey hat after every team loss. (better yet, eating a can of beets or wearing shorts non-stop). Something that I can’t forget to mention is also being a part of the Nation during the Oilers 2017 playoff run… what a ride!

We always had something goofy going on and I’m really going to miss that aspect of the job. I look forward to the many future wacky things the team in Nation HQ cook up.

There you have it. There are a ton more memories and experiences I could go into detail about, however, you need to get back to work and can’t spend ALL day reading my article. I want to thank all of the readers of this site and all of the Oilersnation followers on social media for opening up a world for me that I’ve never been a part of before. The Internet can be cruel at times, but in reality, we are all one big family striving for one goal: to watch Connor McDavid hoist the Stanley Cup over his shoulders at Rogers Place. It’s going to happen one day, and we’re all going to be together for it, whether it be in-person or online. The Oilersnation online community is something like no other, and I’m glad to be a part of it now and in the future.

I also wanted to thank The Nation Network ownership, management, and my every-day coworkers who I worked alongside these past four years. This was an opportunity of a lifetime and I’ll never forget the values, skills, and experience I’ve gained during my time here.