8/28 The past 3 weeks

It has been awhile since I last blogged, but it has largely been more of the same over the last three weeks.

On Saturday August 11, we had a football game at Peninsula, which took 45 minutes to drive, making them our opponent that is furthest away. Unfortunately we only had 17 players (18 play at a time), so not only did we not have any bench, we didn't even have a full team. We managed to score the first goal of the game, giving us a 6-0 lead, but it was all downhill from there. We were losing 42-6 after one quarter, 80-13 at halftime, 114-20 after three quarters, and ended up losing 180-20 after getting outscored 68-0 in the final quarter. It was no fun at all, I would have been fine if we had ended the game after the first quarter.

That Sunday we had another one of the IFSA-Butler events. It was an AFL match, Richmond v Western. The 10 students from University of Melbourne showed, so it was nice to see them again.

The Richmond Tigers coming onto the field before the game.

The view from my seat.

 

Jack Riewoldt attempting a goal and missing.

Richmond fan burning a Western scarf immediately after the game inside the stadium.

The following Saturday (8/18) saw two more footy games. At 2 pm we had a game at Monash against De La Salle. It was another terrible game, which we lost 114-22.

That evening I went to another AFL game to see Collingwood play North Melbourne. The North Melbourne
Kangaroos are affiliated with the Nashville Kangaroos, who I played with earlier this summer, so I like them even though Collingwood is my favorite team. The game was at Etihad stadium, which I had not been to before. Etihad, which is also in the city, is a lot smaller than the MCG, I think capacity is about 40,000. I sat in the highest row in the stadium, as you may be able to tell from the pictures. Collingwood lost 91 to 61, which was disappointing.

The Collingwood Magpies running onto the field.

Me after the game was over.

This past Saturday (8/25) was the last game of the season for my team. We played St. Bedes/Mentone Tigers at their field. We were winning 30-21 after the first quarter, and it was close for the first 3 quarters. We were only down 64-56 after 3 quarters, but we didn't score any goals the final quarter and we ended up losing 102-58. I enjoyed playing with the Monash Blues for the 7 weeks I was with the club, even though we only won 2 and lost 5 of those games. It was a good experience but I am glad that the season is over because now I will have more free time on the weekends. It is quite likely that I am done playing Australian rules football, not because I won't have the opportunity when I am back in the states, but rather because I would prefer not to get a serious injury from the sport, which is not an uncommon event. Maybe I'll go back to playing tennis, or try a new sporting event, like triathlon.


This weekend I am traveling to Gold Coast, which is on the east coast of Australia. I am leaving Thursday and returning Monday. While I am there I hope to visit the beaches and theme parks, both of which the area is known for. Some other exciting things will be happening in September, including a mid-semester break trip to Cairns to see the Great Barrier Reef, and a surfing trip.

8/4 My birthday

Yesterday morning, as usual, we had another football game. It was here at Monash at 9:20 am against Parkdale. The game was pretty close for the first half, I think we were only losing 41 to 33 at half time. I even managed to score a goal in the second quarter, which was my first goal. I scored the goal when the ball came from the corner to the front of the goals. The guy that was defending ran to try to stop the guy with the ball, who kicked it to me. I was about 10 meters from, and directly in front of, the goal and I kicked it through easily. The second half did not go as well. I think they scored six goals in the third quarter, and we only scored one, and they ended up winning 15.14(104) to 7.5(47).

Me in my Monash Blues uniform after the game.

In the afternoon I went into the city, first stopping at Subway where I got a free sandwich because it was my birthday and I had signed up for their Eat Fresh Club. I got to the city a little after 4, and I planned to go the AFL game at 7:40. I walked around Federation Square for most of that extra time I had. There was a children's choir from Africa that was singing outside, so I watched for a while.

Watoto Children's Choir

I also spent over an hour in a museum which had a free exhibit about the history of television, movies, and video games. It was really cool, and they had a lot of interactive exhibits, including dozens of different video games you could play. After stopping at Maccas for dinner (what Australians call McDonald's), I went to the MCG. It was pretty full, and my seat (general admission) was one of the top rows. The game was Collingwood vs St. Kilda (Collingwood the team I cheer for). Collingwood had a big lead early, then blew the lead, and then ended up winning by one goal 91-85 with a very intense ending.

I got back to my hall around 11 pm, and I ate some of the cake I had bought to celebrate my birthday.