Carlton vs Richmond

Field trip to the game! That's right, we "had" to miss class that day and instead go to the MCG to watch Melbourne's greatest sport, footy. The southern state of Victoria has 10 teams (8 of them being practically in Melbourne), and then Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide each have 1. Trust me, Aussie's in Victoria LOVE this sport. They will talk to you for ages about anything and everything football and they insist that you pick a team to barrack. I couldn't make up my mind and I currently go for three teams - The Carlton Blues because Queen's college is in the Carlton district, the Brisbane Lions because I lived there last semester and also Geelong Cats because they're expected to win the grand final this year. Don't worry, Carlton smashed Richmond that night and even injured Richmond's best player. Yes!

  

MCG and Aussie Open

I took a tour of a sports museum (which focused mainly on the Olympics, cricket and australian rules football (called footy)) at the MCG, which is Australia's biggest sporting arena holding over 100,000 people. It was where the  1956 Olympics where held and the footy grand final is held there every year. It is walking distance from the city centre and therefore a very short tram ride for me from uni. Literally across the tram tracks are the grounds for the Australian Open. I was unable to go too deep in, but I was able to take a few pictures while waiting for my tram.

Conservation Weekend

 Saving Australia one branch at a time!

We did this a lot.

    The team

   Our humble abode

      Roo steak!  It's a little chewier and stringer than beef but still very good

       This one is for you Dad

    See it's a Peninsula 

Through the program I am studying abroad with, I was able to sign up for a volunteer weekend where they house you, feed you and give you transportation. About 3 hours outside of Melbourne, 8 other Americans and I headed to the Mornington Peninsula where an old WW1 and WW2 base is still maintained for tourists. It's located in a national park at the very tip of the mouth which is the only inlet to Melbourne. While working I was stunned to discovered how common it was for huge freighters to pass. I ended up doing simple things like cutting and trimming all sizes of trees and hedges around the base. However the best part by far were the nights where we just relaxed in our cottage type house and just cooked and cooked and cooked. Our home was literally in the middle of nowhere - stores of any type were a 20 minute drive. Kangaroos in large packs were very common to see out of the windows at dusk. At one point we were cooking kangaroo meat on the BBQ we bought from the store, one hpped up curious about the smell. We got a pretty good laugh.

 

3J Bachelor Boy's

My room at Queen's is located on the third floor in the Johnston Wing. The college as a whole has a majority of girls, but my floor has only 4 and about 15 unattainable extremely sexy bloaks (guys). We have been given the name The Bachelor Pad and are always on the lookout for maintaining our loud, crazy reputation. We do have a constant rivalry with the 2J boy's for the few of them are definitely not amateur's in the college scene. Above you will see me and a few of the 3J boy's before our commencement dinner, the commencement dinner itself (and if you look closely you'll see our black robes that we wear every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday on the chairs) and a typical turn or "gathering" that Queen's throws every now and then.

Sports Sports Sports

This semester I've been very active in the sporting side of Queen's activities. I have successfully made the tennis and cricket team, and currently trying out for soccer.  I'm not going to make the rowing team but I'm still going to most of the practices for experience, friends and fitness. Hopefully more pictures to come.

The Castle, My Home

         Looking through my dorm window

It was soon time to depart Ormond and move into my small, quant residence. Queen's College, my new college that I'm living in while I'm attending The University of Melbourne, is basically a castle. It was built during the 1800's but there have of course been additions throughout the our lands (such as the dining hall that is more modern with large windows). College life this semester compared to last semester is very similar but also very different. Instead of living in towers I'm back to the freshmen long hallway set up. I have formal dinners Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night which we have to wear robes - reminds me very much of Harry Potter. Also there are mostly Australian's (I would guess 90%). The only exchange students (students that are only staying for one semester) are American and Canadian's - 6 of us total. Other than that there's a few from New Zealand, South Africa, Malaysia, India and China that are here to study for the entire of Uni. My address this semester is:

Queen's College - University of Melbourne

1-17 College Crescent

Parkville, Victoria 3052

Australia

Melbourne Welcome

The first week in Melbourne was filled with nothing but fun. Classes were not even a question because the first day was still so far away. I stayed in my soon to be rival college, Ormond College, with only international students and the leaders of the program who all attend Ormond. We got established, comfortable with the city and made our first friends in Melbourne.