Footy Match

Hey all... How ya going? That’s what they say here instead of How are you doing? Anywho... the last couple of days have been pretty dull. A couple more orientations and some long lines to wait in, but I think i have about 90% of the things I need to have done settled so I can begin class on Monday, and the other 10% can be sorted out after that... On the up side to standing in line for an hour waiting to get a class sorted and another 20 minutes to get my student ID, I was able to charm my way into getting a student transportation Concessions card. Which means I get huge discounts on my public transport. Study abroad kids aren’t supposed to get them, but due to my amazing people skills and charming wit, I walked out of the Student center feeling pretty good about life.

The afternoon wasn’t much more exciting. Apart from being able to finagle two dollars off of a kilogram of portobello mushrooms I just watched TV and chatted with a friend. It wasn’t until about 5 O’clock that I got a call from another friend who said there was a footy match on at 7:40 pm. Now footy refers to a game that is very unique to Australia. I thought it was referring to “football” or Soccer as we call it, but boy was I wrong. Much like how NFL football is only played in the US, footy is only played in Australia. The game is played with a football that looks like an american football on steroids. The rules are similar to soccer, and the running around looks like soccer, but you can carry the ball. The ball can be kicked, passed, dribbled, or tossed in any way to pass it to your teammate. You can also tackle people just like in American football. The play is continuous and is divided up into four, thirty-minute quarters, or there about, depending on how much time was lost due to injury or out of bounds. Any way, the match was super intense, the two teams playing were big rivalries. It is also a pretty high scoring game due to the fact that there are four posts and if you make it between the middle two you get 6 points and if you make it between the outer two you only get 1. With a six point shot right in the last 20 second’s St. Kilda tied Hawthorne 81-81 and that’s how it ended. They don’t play over time. Seriously though... everyone should look up AFL footy matches on youtube or just google it and watch what I’m talking about, because it is unlike anything you have seen before.

After the hype of the game wore off, we all came back to “The Village” as we call the place where we stay.. It’s really called RMIT village, but we like being “the village people.” We are planning on going to watch Inception tomorrow at the IMAX. It has been all over the Australian news as a must see, so we are must seeing it! Hopefully I’ll have some more pictures to update soon. I am waiting for a sunny day to take pictures of campus and it has just been rainy and cold and the campus is much prettier in the light.

Until my next post... no worries!