Post Thirty Five: Windsday

"Oh the wind is lashing lustily
And the trees are thrashing thrustily
And the leaves are rustling gustily
So it's rather safe to say
That it seems that it may turn out to be
It feels that it will undoubtedly
It looks like a rather blustery day, today
It sounds that it may turn out to be
Feels that it will undoubtedly
Looks like a rather blustery day today"

-Lyrics from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day 
(the best Winnie the Pooh in my opinion)

Today is an amazing chilly and cloudy and windy fall day. Though I have said this before, I am again reminded of soccer. It is one of those days where one finishes classes cold and tired, heads to the gym and changes into uniform or training clothes as fast as humanly possible and bundles up in the 'practice greens' for a gray practice on a squishy field under the swirling trees. A training that ends with a longer-than-necessary warm shower and a quick drive back to campus for a hot meal.

As I walk around the Mac campus I wish (as I often do) that I had brought my camera and could sneak some photos, but then again, photos wouldn't really capture this weird fall feeling in (ahem, May).

Today in approximately 2 hours I hand in my last two out-of-class assignments ever in my Macquarie experience! Then all I will have remaining is a take-home final consisting of two 1,000 word essays (I will have 2 days to accomplish this...not excited) and one in-class essay exam. Then I am finished forever with my Australian school experience as an undergrad study-abroad student! I will not take time to reflect on the entirety of my experience in this post because I am not quite done yet and I feel that if I did that then my brain would officially check out. And, since I still do have a couple things to do that kind of matter...I will wait. But I am so close!!!

This last Sunday, Andrea, James, and I went to an AFL game at the Sydney Cricket Ground. We had some trouble getting there, since the cricket ground is literally right next to another stadium that looks pretty much the same from the outside. So we tried to get in to this other stadium (which also had a sporting event happening) before figuring out that we needed to walk a bit farther on to the next one. There were no signs or anything pointing which way to go for what event, not very well laid out. We made it though and got to watch the Sydney Swans get annihilated by the Hawthorn Hawks. I couldn't really care less who won, I was not for a particular team (note: NEVER under any circumstances say you 'root' for a team, 'rooting' means...something else...) so I did not care who won. The Swans did really well in the first quarter, dominating the play, but the Hawks came out after the half and totally took over, it was almost as if the Swans were no longer even on the field!

The spectators

AFL has alot of rules, and they are all pretty complicated. I did not understand most of what was happening, though I got the general gist of the goals. I think I prefer rugby to AFL, it may be a bit slow, but it is easier to follow and there are less men on the field in rugby (about 12 each team as opposed to 17).

We left early to beat the crowds and I introduced my companions to the wonders of Breadtop. I should be paid a commission for all the business I have brought this wonderful bakery!


and that's it! nothing else interesting to report from this past weekend. Coming up, some friends and I are planning to attend a light show over the Operahouse and perhaps go to a bar at fancy hotel NOT for the alcohol, but to see the sunset over Sydney from one of the top floors, apparently it is quite worth the trip.