G'day from Down Under: Ahhh the footy!

I had the pleasure of flying to Melbourne this weekend to meet up with some friends that are from Adelaide. Why Melbourne? It is one of the bigger cities in Australia. It houses the "Colosseum" of Australian Football League and other sports and events...the Melbourne Cricket Ground! The guys I went with, Jason, Stoney, and Aaron refereed to it as that also "The G". They were EXTREMELY excited to be able to see a game in the MCG as it is commonly refereed to as. And oh boy was it a site to see! Aussie footy is an interesting sport and nothing like I have seen before. It is a rough sport since the players don't wear padding like American football. In order to pass the ball, the players either kick it or hit it with a closed fist kind of like volleyball. There is HEAPS of tackling and running around. It is a very fast paced game. The goal is to make the ball in between the two center poles to earn 6 points. If they make it in either of the two outer poles, it is one point. The refs have a love/hate relationship with the fans. The nickname they were given was the "white maggots" since they used to wear all white, but the uniforms have changed to lime green. They are still refereed to as the maggots though. Like in basketball, the ball is "tossed" or bounced and the rucks are the players that try to hit the ball to one of their other players starting the game. There are 4 quarters that last around 30 minutes long, no timeouts! There are a bunch more rules that go along with the game, but that is the basics that I learned and understood. haha

Strawberries from the market!

Besides the two games that I went to, I did get to do some touring and walking around the city. We went to the Queen Victoria Markets. It reminded me of the flee markets back home, but WAYY bigger. They have just about everything there: produce, meats and fish, clothing, toys, jewelry, and much much more. It was really cool to walk through it. After we adventured through the shops, we went to Federation Square. It is a cool place with different cafes and such around along with the Australian Centre For the Moving Image (acmi). There was a free gaming exhibit that displayed the history of digital culture in Australia. We saw the beginnings of TV, Internet, news, and video gaming. I got to play the old Nintendo 64 video game. So cool! After that, we walked around the city some more to check out the big buildings and some of the shops. On our walk, we passed the huge train station with beautiful architecture. They had some food places on the way and I spotted a funny thing. This store had a fridge with soda in it, but the price tag said international drinks. They had Dr. Pepper, A&W root beer, and a few others. I found it pretty comical.

Starbucks and Jason!

Fun Fact: Being in Australia, I would have thought that there would be heaps of Aussie things like flags and clothes that represented the country. However, I have found more American flag things here than in the US. haha

Fun Fact #2: Starbucks is not big here at all. It actually failed, but on a lucky chance you will run into one like I did. I just had to get a drink, duh! Turns out they had the insulated cups that they make for every state in the US, but it was Australian. I had to get one of those too! Ahh it is my new baby! :D

On our shopping adventure, the girly girl came out when we walked past Tiffany & Co. So of course I dragged the guys in with me! haha They weren't too amused, but that's okay...IT"S TIFFANY'S!!! I also had to take a picture with my diamonds for my sorority back home since our stone is the diamond and Tiffany's is a BIG thing with us!

We had dinner at the hotel we were staying at then headed to the second game. After the game, we went out on the town and hit up a few bars. Nothing too crazy or exciting, just a chill night with friends. I also got to try more of the Australian beers which was neat too. I love my beer! It was heaps good. The next morning I had to catch an early flight back to Newcastle. I had such a great weekend! Footy is definitely a sport I will keep on my list of favorite things here! And Adelaide has made the list of things to go visit so I can see my friends again!