cupcakes and brumbies.

Today was a free day, so we all headed to downtown Canberra. We mainly stayed around the mall area and like classic American tourists went directly to the souvenir shop first. From there, we just walked around and checked all of the shops. Since we had all day, we all purposely walked slower and perused the shops more closely, afraid of the potential of being bored if we did everything there was to do before the evening bus came. While Canberra may not be as exciting as the past cities, I still appreciate the fact that I am in Australia and try to make every moment a learning experience. And today, it came in the form of people watching and studying the different stores and what they sold. Not very surprisingly, it was very similar to the US. It was comical when we passed by the Apple Store however, because there was currently a class going on for a group of elderly people to learn how to use their iPads. 

Around lunch time, part of the group decided they wanted to go see a movie and others decided to grab a nice lunch and continue exploring downtown Canberra. I was part of the group that wanted to get lunch and continue exploring, so Jayson, Dana, Kaitlyn, and I decided to eat lunch at Guzman y Gomez, which is pretty much Australia's version of Chipotle or Qdoba (if either of those places also served their burritos with Coronas or margaritas). I ordered a vegetable burrito bowl and it was actually pretty good--definitely a competitor with 'Potes or 'Dobes. From there, we headed to a cupcake bakery that my Happy Cow app (tells me where I can find vegan food) told me was nearby. It was called the Jazz Apple Cupcake Emporium and when I went in, I instantly fell in love with their array of cupcakes. But when I read the labels, none of them were labeled vegan and I started to worry a little, so I asked the employee which ones were vegan. I almost melted with happiness when he told me that all 20+ flavors were vegan. It was so hard to choose just one, but I ended up choosing the berry chocolate chip since I have never seen a berry flavored cake with chocolate chips and berry frosting. Needless to say, that was probably the highlight of my day. 

When we finished devouring our cupcakes, we did some more walking around and looking at shops, but it was starting to get somewhat old so we decided to catch an earlier bus and head back to the AIS. It turned out to be perfect timing however because that gave Dana and I the opportunity to go on our run before dinner. As for dinner, tonight was the first night that they had a vegan dessert (a berry and apple crumble)! It was obviously my lucky day that my sweet tooth cravings from the past couple days were finally being fulfilled. 

After dinner, we headed to the Brumbies' game. The Brumbies are rugby union team for Canberra and tonight they were playing the Hurricanes from Wellington, New Zealand. They were playing at Canberra Stadium, which is at the AIS; very convenient for us because it was less than a five minute walk. We sat behind one of the goal posts all in one long row. We were also really easy to sport because we were the only ones not wearing any Brumbies gear, but still waving the complimentary Brumbies flags, bam bams, and banners. Even after all of our rugby lessons and watching other rugby games, I still feel like my understanding of rugby is a little shaky. Nonetheless, the game was still extremely fun to watch and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being at a major sports event for a different country. Oh and the Brumbies beat the Hurricanes 30-23. Go Brumbies! You have officially gained yourself 22 new fans. 

shooting hoops with olympians.

After our usual breakfast in the dining hall, we had our first lecture of the day about Sports Psychology given by Amanda Palmer, a psychologist at AIS who works with netball, volleyball, football, and basketball. I have not taken a sports psychology class, so I found her lecture to be extremely interesting. She focused a lot on treating the athlete as a whole person because all psychological issues that they may encounter through their sport are likely to transfer over to their personal life and vice versa. She also did a great job of combining both the physical role and the psychological role to the treatment of an athlete when recovering from an injury, which made it more applicable to us.

Next on our schedule for the day, was a tour of the sports science and sports medicine building, where all of AIS’ research takes place. Our guide was Clare, a physiologist that works in AIS’ physiology (obviously). She showed us both the biomechanics lab and the physiology lab. In the biomechanics lab, they were currently measuring the bowling movement of cricketers. They were also testing something with sprinters on their indoor track containing ten force plates—which is a lot of force plates for one lab because most have one or two if they are lucky. In the physiology lab, they were collecting the air exhaled by rowers as they were on stationary bike. Currently, the men’s rowing team is staying in the altitude apartments of the AIS for three weeks. For those three weeks, they have their regular training schedule, but then they live in the altitude apartment. The altitude apartments have the barometric pressure controlled so that it would be like they are living at an altitude of 3000 ft. This way they are able to get the benefits of their actual training and also the benefits of increased red blood cell count from living at a higher altitude. To follow their progress, the rowers come into the physiology lab every day to get their blood drawn and to have their exhaled air collected.

When we finished our lunch, it was time to head to the netball courts where we were going to learn how to play netball. However, once we got there we found out that there was an error in scheduling the netball courts, so instead there were two Australian Olympic basketball players who were going to teach us basketball. While they were obviously better players than us, it just felt slightly ironic that we were being taught how to play basketball from Australians. Luckily, they turned it into a couple of drills and then to playing 3 on 3 and then 5 on 5. We played for about an hour and it was actually really fun. It’s also pretty cool to say that we were shooting hoops with Olympic basketball players! One was named Maddie, who was actually going to play at Virginia Tech starting in August and I cannot remember the name of the male player, but he was also just 18—such a weird concept that they are younger than us.

Between basketball and dinner, we had a couple hours of break so I took advantage of that time to catch up on my travel journals and organize all the pictures I have taken on this trip. After dinner, we all went back to the small common room and had another movie night. We watched Total Recall this time—we are all extremely excited for tomorrow night when we go to the rugby game simply because it is something to do. 

cold then hot then repeat.

I woke up today feeling refreshed after 9 hours of sleep—something that I am rarely ever to do. I headed down to breakfast and then we had our first lecture of the day. It was a nutrition lecture given by Alicia Norris, a sports dietician at AIS who works with football and volleyball. She covered the basics about nutrition and the importance of each macronutrient for athletes and what effects they have on their training and recovery. I always enjoy hearing talks about nutrition because since becoming vegan, I have developed very different views on what it means to have a healthy and balanced diet. Although she did not provide any new information for me, I found it refreshing that some of the information she was saying tended to steer clear of the fad diets currently going through the US, some of which are endorsed by nutritionists. I also liked that she emphasized that with a well-balanced diet, it was unnecessary for athletes to take supplements, whether they be vitamin supplements or protein supplements.

Our next lecture was about Injury Prevention and it was given by Damian Raper, a physio at AIS who works with netball, volleyball, track, rugby, and football. He also did not provide too much new information—it kind of felt like an overview of what we learned in our introductory class for athletic training. What I did find interesting was that as a physio in the AIS, his role included more than that of a normal physical therapist in the US. In fact, a lot of his duties are duties that athletic trainers in the US are responsible for. For example, he attends most practices and competitions of the sports he oversees and provides some immediate care if his athletes get injured. In the US, most physical therapists stay in the clinic and only care for an athlete once they are ready to begin their rehabilitation after an injury.

After a quick lunch break, we headed to our third lecture of the day about Recovery with Nathan Versey, a recovery physiologist at AIS. Since the athletic training classes I have already taken, have not focused too heavily about the recovery process, this lecture was a bit more informative than the others. He started off by teaching us about the Supercompensation Theory that states that even though recovery and regeneration will occur with time, it can be accelerated and that is where we come in. He taught us about different recovery techniques, focusing on sleep and periodization since nutrition has already been covered earlier that day. In addition, he mentioned other techniques like stretching, massage, compression garments, cool downs, relaxation techniques, and hydrotherapy. Once we finished learning about hydrotherapy, it was time to head to the contrast pools to test it out. Contrast therapy is the combination of immersing yourself in cold water and then hot water. Since we were a group of 20 people, we had to split up and take turns. My group started off in the hot tub (about 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit) for 2 minutes, then immersed neck-deep into the cold tub (about 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit) for 1 minute, then hot tub for 3 minutes, cold tub for 2 minutes, hot tub for 4 minutes, and finally cold tub for 3 minutes. It was not nearly as cold as I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong—it was freezing and I did not enjoy it, but I had imagined it to be way worse. Experiencing that was also good for me because now I have more insight into how it feels and can better explain it to my athletes.

Between that last lecture and dinner, we had a couple hours of free time so I went on another long run around the outside of campus, and felt very refreshed after that contrast therapy. Then was time for dinner and as soon as dinner was done we were lost and had no idea what to do. There is nothing to do around AIS at night because the athletes go to bed early and there are only residential areas outside of the AIS. Since there was nothing better to do, we squeezed into the tiny common room and watched some television because Seinfeld was on and then Modern Family. Unfortunately since Australians do not believe in central heat, we were all trying to keep warm using the small space heater and needless to say it was ineffective. After we could find no other programs to watch, we settled on Everybody’s Fine, which turned out to be a very depressing movie. The beginning was sad and made people look heartless and then the end is so sad it’s impossible not to tear up. It wasn’t even late when that ended, but we all decided to head back to our rooms to sleep because nothing could brighten up our moods after such a somber movie. 

surrounded by australian (olympic) giants.

Today we woke up at the ungodly hour of 5 am in order to eat some breakfast before catching our train to Canberra. After finishing the quietest breakfast our group has ever experienced, we headed to Central Station on a coach bus and boarded our passenger car. Fortunately, we had the entire car to ourselves so I was able to sprawl over two seats and sleep most of the five hours to Canberra. I woke up a little before we got there and was able to see a small group of kangaroos chilling on nearby train tracks!  When we got off the train, I immediately felt the cold and knew that from now on we would be experiencing real winter weather. In Canberra, we are staying at the Australian Institute of Sport, which is about a 15 min drive from the train station. On the drive there, our bus driver decided to tell us some history about Canberra. Originally, there was a slight dispute between Melbourne and Sydney over where the capital city of Australia would be. So in 1908, it was decided to build a whole new city, which was finally established in 1913 and named Canberra. The name Canberra was chosen because it was believed to derive from an Aboriginal word meaning “meeting place.” As it turns out, recent evidence now shows that Canberra actually means “a woman’s cleavage.” Oh classic, Australia.

Upon arriving at the AIS, we had lunch in the dining hall. Even though everyone has warned us that there is not much to do in Canberra and that we will be bored out of our minds, I think we are all looking forward to have our food provided and not having to pay about $30 per meal per day. For being cooked in bulk, the food is actually pretty good and there are lots of vegan options for me (including tofu!). Walking around the dining hall also makes me feel extremely short because I am pretty sure everyone there is taller than 6 ft (or 2 meters). For those of you that may not know, the AIS is Australia’s main Olympic Training Center (yes, that means that I will be living with Australian Olympic athletes for the next week). After their poor performance in the 1976 Olympics (only received 5 medals total), the government wanted to revamp their entire sports training program and established the AIS in 1981. Currently, there are about 25 different sports in about 35 different programs. At the peak training times (normally before the Olympics), there are up to 200 scholarship athletes living on campus. Now, since the Olympics have just wrapped up less than a year ago, it is their slowest time and they have about 120-140 scholarship athletes, but they can have up to 700 scholarship athletes spread out among their other training facilities. Athletes as young as 15 and disabled athletes participating in the Paralympics can stay here, but it is required for all scholarship athletes to either study or to have a job. Not all teams that train here are Olympic sports—such as netball, cricket, softball, footy, and squash—but they all tend to be the most elite level of that sport or an elite development program to play at the elite level (which sometimes means leaving the country). Since Canberra is landlocked, a lot of other sports, including water sports, have training facilities elsewhere. One aspect that I really thought to be interesting was the AIS’ focus on sports science and sports medicine. A major part of their campus is dedicated to research to improve athletic performance; whether that be in the clothing or technology that they use or in new training techniques.

After lunch, we went on a tour of the AIS. Our guide was a netball player named Lauren. She is 20 years old and has been playing netball for 12 years. Lauren first took us to Sportex, a large room on the second floor of the visitors’ center. They called it an active classroom because it was a mini museum about AIS athletes participating in the Olympics and other elite competition, with interactive exhibits. For example,  you could try your hand at wheelchair basketball, rock climbing, simulated skeleton racing, alpine skiing, snowboarding, soccer, cycling, cricket, and footy or you could measure your balance, standing long jump, reaction time or arm wrestling strength. From there, Lauren gave us a tour of the rest of the facilities including basketball, netball, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, swimming, and strength and conditioning.

When the tour was finished, it was time for me to do some exploring of my own so I went on a nice long run off campus. I found a bike trail and just followed it until it ended and I then turned into a residential area. I have discovered that one of my favorite things about visiting new places is looking at the architecture of their buildings and their houses. Homes in Canberra have a more modern and contemporary appearance than the ones we had seen in Lennox Head. They also tended to be multiple stories, as opposed to only one as most in Lennox Head were. Once the sun set, I decided it would be a good time to turn around so that I wouldn’t be running in the dark. I surprisingly was able to find my way back even after all of the turns that I took—quite the achievement for me since I cannot use the GPS on my phone here! After a large dinner (have to take advantage of free food while I can), I went straight to bed to try to catch up on all of my missed sleep from Sydney (and from the looks of it, it will not be too difficult to do here especially since we all finally have our own rooms). 

last hoorah.

Today was our last day in Sydney and I woke up the same way we had arrived—to pouring down rain. Of course, there is nothing better to do in this situation than to go on a run so Dana and I put on our raincoats and headed towards the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens for one last chance to take them in before we left. I personally love running in the rain (makes it feel like home) and thoroughly enjoyed it. We ran to Mrs. Macquarie’s Chair, which is a bench hand carved out of sandstone by convicts in the early 1800s for Governor Macquarie’s wife, Elizabeth. I wanted to sit in it, but there was already a couple cuddling there, trying to escape the rain, so we just ran back since we had to make it in time for breakfast before we left for the University of Sydney.

At the University of Sydney, we took a tour of the workout facilities, the aquatics center, and walked around campus. It was very similar to a campus in the United States—students trying to get other students to sign petitions, students creating displays to increase awareness over an issue, students studying on the lawn (it had stopped raining and actually turned into a nice day), and students tossing a Frisbee around. For lunch we ate at one of their food courts, which featured typical dining hall type foods as well. We even went to a bookstore where everything was overpriced like all other university bookstores. Moral of the story—universities in Australia and the US are pretty similar. Where they differ are with their sports. While in the US it is a big deal to play sports for your high school or college, in Australia it is quite the opposite so their programs are not as developed. Currently, the University of Sydney is working on developing their athletics program to make it better and to generate better athletes. They have a number of scholarship athletes, but their scholarships only cover a small portion of their tuition. As far as training goes, they have to share the same facilities as other students and practically receive no benefits like student athletes in the US. I cannot even imagine how American student athletes would react knowing that if they were to go to school in Australia, they would have to mix with the ‘muggles’ (non-athletes).

After our tour we had a quick lecture at the University of Sydney, given by an intern from England named Will. He works with the University of Sydney footy team as a physiology intern so he spoke to us about what he does as an intern and about the Australian Football League, or footy as they call it. I found his lecture interesting because a lot of his duties are things that we do as athletic trainers and because the game of footy confuses me and I have yet to figure it out. For his internship, he tracks the athletic performance of the footy players during games by weighing them in before and after for hydration purposes, recording their play time during practice and games, how many hours they have been sleeping, and their muscle soreness before and after activity. Will then explained the rules of the game—while I still do not fully understand it, I have a general idea. The oval in which they play on is 150 meters long and each team has 18 men on the field. At the end of each side, there are 4 goal posts. In order to score six points you have to kick it in between the middle two posts. If the ball hits the posts or goes in between the outer posts, it is one point. To get the ball across the oval, you have to punch the ball and if you are running down with it, the ball has to touch the ground about every 10 meters. Also, if you are tackled, the play is not over—you have to get rid of the ball or at least make an effort to get rid of it. When we go to Melbourne, we will be watching a footy game so I am hoping that watching it will help me understand it better.

Once we finished up at the University of Sydney, we had the rest of the day off to do any last minute things that we wished to do. Since Lexi had been dying to find the Great Synagogue, we headed to Hyde Park to do that. This was also conveniently located by the mall, so we did some quick grocery shopping and also stopped by Lulu Lemon, which is something Kaitlyn and I had been dying to do. It was funny because when we entered, the sales associate said that they had just gotten in a shipment of the new winter line. Upon inspection, it was the same winter line that had come to the US for our past winter. So in addition to being a different season than the northern hemisphere, Australia also receives the clothing later (which makes complete sense, I just had never thought about it.)

For dinner, we had made a reservation at Sake since that did not work out last night and our sushi craving was left unsatisfied. Dana, Lexi, Kaitlyn, and I arrived at Sake and were seated at a sunken table where we were instructed to take our shoes off and place them in a cubby below the table. Sake was a very contemporary Japanese restaurant and the strong aroma of traditional Japanese scents made me instantly hungry. I personally ordered a bowl of miso soup, avocado rolls (such fresh avocado), and zucchini kushiyaki. It was just what I wanted and my craving of Japanese food had been more than fulfilled. Dinner however was our last hoorah, because we had to head back to the hostel to do laundry and pack before our train ride tomorrow morning at 6 am. 

hopping kangaroos and sydney harbour views.

 Today, I woke up with the need to go on a long run around Sydney. I quickly changed, grabbed my shoes, and headed out the door. I wanted to start off by running across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but I had no idea how to get onto the pedestrian walkway. While meandering, I spotted a group of three Australians and asked them for directions. It turned out they were headed that same way and invited me to run with them. I happily accepted and joined in. Little did I know that they were marathon runners and were running at an incredibly fast pace—I was determined to keep up with them, so that made for great motivation to run at a faster pace. This morning is just another example of how kind Australians are—I was a completely lost tourist and they offered to change their route in order to show me around Sydney. First, we ran across the bridge and back. Then we followed a pathway around The Rocks to run past the Sydney Opera House and through the Botanical Gardens, where we weaved through different paths and I could take in the beauty of the gardens as the sun was rising. We then weaved our way back to the Opera House, through Circular Quay, and I headed back to the hostel. It was a total of about 13 km they told me which converts to about 8 miles and since we were running at about a 7 minute mile pace, I was exhausted, but also exhilarated and ready for a day of being at the zoo and climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

After breakfast and a much needed relaxing shower, it was time to head to Circular Quay to catch the ferry to the Taronga Zoo. My program went as a group and Leanne met us at Circular Quay to come with us. Today was in the 70s and sunny with not a cloud in the sky—probably one of the best days we have had in Australia yet and the perfect day for the zoo and bridge climb. The Taronga Zoo is probably one of the best zoos I have ever been to. It is basically situated on a large hill, so when you get off the ferry, you take a gondola to the top and work your way down. We started off at the kangaroo exhibit, which felt more like a human exhibit because it’s an enclosed area with a path. When you go in, the humans have to remain on the path, but the kangaroos can hop around freely and come up to you if they wished to do so. Unfortunately, the kangaroos did not want to play with me and they continued to lie on their rocks and soak in the sun as I walked by :( But, I finally was able to see kangaroos (that were not dead on the side of the road)! Next, we saw wombats, a platypus, a Tasmanian devil, emus, elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers, bears (oh my!), monkeys, meerkats, tapirs, gorillas, and mountain goats. It was such a large zoo and we unfortunately were unable to see all of it because we had to catch a ferry back to Circular Quay in order to make it back in time to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

13 out of the 20 people in our program decided to sign up for the climb. We were all extremely excited because it was a beautiful day and we knew we were about to experience some spectacular views of Sydney. Since there were only 13 of us and a normal tour has 14, they added an individual named Darrell to our group. He was a middle-aged man from Victoria visiting a friend and had always wanted to climb the bridge.  It was a much more sophisticated process than I thought it would be. For the first hour, they made us prepare for the climb. We had to wear these gray jumpsuits and could bring nothing else up with us or be wearing anything that could in any way fall off. In order to wear sunglasses, they attached it to our jumpsuits with special hooks, as well as a complimentary cap (also attached to our jumpsuit), a small bag containing a fleece jacket (also attached to our jumpsuit), and a hankie (attached to our wrist). We were then given harnesses to wear around our hips with a radio and headphones (also attached to our jumpsuit just in case), and a spherical, metal contraption that attaches to the ropes on the bridge. We then practiced going up and down the ladders on practice replicas. Once all of that was completed, we were able to start the climb.

Our guide, Lauren, was the absolute best. She was really funny and knowledgeable about the bridge. She shared a lot of stories from when the bridge was constructed during the Great Depression and how it is nicknamed the Iron Lung because it kept so many Australians alive during that time. She would also ask us to imagine what it would feel like to be up there climbing the bridge without a harness during the construction of the bridge. When the workers left that morning, they did not know if that would be the last time they saw their kids. I found that to be very thought provoking because when I know when I see such a grand structure, my main thoughts are about how cool it is—definitely not about the hardships of the people who built it. It gave me a new perspective when looking at structures like that and a much deeper appreciation for them. Especially during the climb while I was in awe of the beauty of Sydney. The climb itself was not too bad—I never felt any sensation of being up too high or like I was going to fall. There were three stopping points for pictures, and at the first stopping point, Lexi and I made a video of us singing Hail to the Victors! Once we got to the top though, I was able to fully take in everything around me. I could see all of the famous landmarks—the Opera House, Luna Park, Fort Denison, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, the Botanical Gardens, and even our hostel! It could not have been a more perfect day for the climb. The skies were perfectly clear, the water below us was dotted with sailboats, and there was absolutely no wind—Lauren said it was the first time she had ever seen the Australian flags on top of the bridge not flap around! I wanted to stay a bit longer to take in the views, but we had to head back down. By the end of the climb, I was truly exhausted. I regret not wearing a pedometer at the beginning of this trip because I have never done so much walking in my life.

On the walk back to the hostel, some of us stopped at the Glendmore Hotel for some potato wedges and sweet chili sauce. I don’t know what it is about those potato wedges because I normally do not like fries, but they are so good, I could probably eat multiple plates. With that pre-dinner snack taken care of, we arrived at the hostel and chilled for a couple of hours before dinner. Once again, I found myself in my bed unable to move from exhaustion. Had I not been so hungry, I probably would not have gotten up for dinner. A group of us had talked about wanting to get sushi, while others headed to the Australian Hotel to try kangaroo pizza. We went to a Japanese restaurant called Sake and we did not realize how formal it was until we got in. I could tell the hostess was judging our jeans and hoodies and was not surprised when she said that since we did not make a reservation, there would not be any open tables for two hours. Since we were not trying to wait two hours, we walked back to the Australian Hotel and while everyone tried some kangaroo pizza, I had a cheeseless pizza with roasted pumpkin, olives, tomatoes, zucchini, artichoke, capsicum, and pesto. Probably one of the best pizzas I have ever had. For dessert, we all headed as an entire group downtown to Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar. I had a hot chocolate made out of coconut, dark chocolate, and soy milk as well as strawberries in a dark chocolate dipping sauce. I do not believe in too much chocolate, but it was definitely chocolate overload. By the time I finished licking my bowl of dark chocolate dipping sauce (not an exaggeration), I was ready to return to the hostel and sleep contently after that amazing chocolate experience. 

touring, strapping, and cruising.

This morning started off with a bus ride to the Sydney Cricket Grounds. At first, I wasn't all that excited, but being on the grounds I could feel the tradition and pride that Australians felt about the grounds—a very similar feeling to when I am at the Big House. The grounds were established in 1848 and have been very well maintained. Most of the original structures still remain including the original Member’s Pavilion from 1886, the Ladies’ Pavilion from 1896, when females were not allowed to have their own membership until the 1970’s, and the locker room where the original wooden table in the meeting room and the wooden lockers have been there since the 19^th century. Currently, the grounds have expanded to include the Allianz Stadium for rugby union, rugby league, and footy, pools, tennis courts, and other fitness areas. Our tour guide mentioned that in order to become a member, there was a 12 year waiting list and once you got off that waiting list, you have to pay the entrance and annual fees. As a member, you get to sit in the members’ pavilion, tickets to every event held at the Cricket Grounds, Allianz Stadium, access to the fitness area, and the opportunity to take part in a tradition that is a major part of Australian sports heritage. Although I did not previously feel any passion for cricket or rugby, being on the Sydney Cricket Grounds was a great experience because I could sense the passion that Australians feel for their major sports.

After that tour, we bused it back to Circular Quay for a quick lunch break before our training session with the North Sydney Bears Rugby Union game. Since there was limited time, a few of us went to a small café called Blend Café and Espresso, which had a great salad bar. When it was time to leave, we took another bus to North Sydney across the Sydney Harbor Bridge and arrived at the North Sydney Oval. There we had the opportunity to observe the strapping session before the game began. The game started at 3 pm and the players had to be out by 2:30 pm to warm up, so they started coming at 1:30 to get strapped (taped). The team’s strapper was a local physio who happened to work at the same clinic as Jenny McConnell. He strapped several ankles, knees, wrists, shoulders, and one sternum. He had a very different technique than what a lot of us had learned in the US. He also used coverall instead of heel and lace pads and leukotape instead of regular white tape. Looking around the room made me laugh because there were 20 athletic training students just watching him strap for a whole 90 minutes and taking pictures, while our guides were sitting on the bench confused as to how we weren't bored out of our minds. As soon as strapping finished, we headed to the stadium to find seats for the game. This stadium was a little more sophisticated than the one in Ballina—there were bleachers for fans to sit on and a fence around the field so that dogs weren't constantly running in! We unfortunately could only stay for half of the game because we had to head back to the hostel to get ready for the dinner cruise that night.

That evening, we walked to Darling Harbour to catch the dinner cruise. It was very similar to your average dinner cruise—lots of people (mainly tourists), unlimited alcohol packages, and platters overflowing with food. We were seated at a table upstairs and quickly booked it to the buffet tables. Although there were many options, only one dish of stir-fried noodles was vegan so I quietly ate my small plate of noodles, while everyone else feasted on their steak, shrimp, cheesy pastas, and buttery roasted vegetables. Luckily, with the help of our directors, I was able to talk to the waiters who talked to the chefs. About 15 minutes later, they came out with a large platter of roasted tomatoes, zucchini, squash, peppers, carrots, mushrooms, and beets. I have no idea what seasoning they used, but it was one of the best vegetable dishes I have ever had. By the time we finished eating dinner, we had arrived at the Sydney Harbour, so we went outside to the deck to watch Vivid Sydney. It was an even more amazing view than we had had so far because we were in the middle of the light show and no matter what direction we looked, there was an extraordinary light design being projected on Sydney’s most iconic landmarks—a truly breathtaking experience. The cruise could only stay in the harbor for a certain amount of time though, so after leaving it continued to cruise around for a little more. The 20 of us in the program all returned to our table and played the classic high school get to know you games—yet another fun and carefree moment that united us even more even though most of us came on the trip knowing absolutely no one. 

just your average friday in sydney.

Today started off like most other days--woke up early, went to the gym, and then had breakfast. What made today special was that we toured the Olympic Park in Sydney from the 2000 Summer Games. To get there, we walked to Circular Quay and took two different trains. So far, we have been receiving a lot of help in figuring out the Sydney transit system, but I am starting to understand it better and think I would be able to figure it out for myself! We got there a little before our tour started so some of us walked to a nearby cafe where I got one of the best soy chai tea lattes I have ever had. It even rivaled Starbucks' (which I have not been to in 12 days and am surprisingly surviving!) To kill some more time, we walked around the outside of the main Olympic Stadium where there were about a hundred or so poles, all painted with the names of the 75,000 volunteers from the 2000 Olympics. There were also some poles dedicated to the Paralympics from that year because it was the first time they had been held in the southern hemisphere! 

When it was time for the tour to finally begin, we met with out guide who took us inside the main Olympic Stadium to a room to watch a short documentary about the 2000 Games. the Olympic Stadium cost about $250 million to make and originally sat 110,000 people (sorry Sydney, but the Big House is still bigger). Once the games ended, they remodeled it to better suit the needs of the city and to make it more profitable. It is now called the ANZ Stadium, they took out 25,000 seats to build a partial roof cover on the ends of the oval-shaped building, and they moved the track to another location so that the stadium could be used for rugby union, rugby league, footy, cricket, and concerts. I also found it interesting that the shape of the stadium and the partial roof cover was designed in order to keep the noise inside the stadium so that it does not disturb the nearby residential areas. It is also a LEED certified building, which is amazing for such a large stadium.

Within the stadium, our guide took us to the lockers rooms, media/press rooms, luxury skyboxes, and on the field where they had placed the original podiums used for the games. After the stadium, we walked to the practice track, which is leased to schools for carnavals (what they call meets) and was currently being used for a track carnival for middle school-aged children. From there, we walked to the Aquatics Centre, where we got to see the water polo and diving pool, and the swimming pool. Both pools were the first to use 'fast pool' technology, which means that they have the overflow edge to decrease turbulence and the water bouncing off the walls and hitting the swimmers, which explains why times were significantly faster in those games in comparison to past games. We were also told that we would have the opportunity to swim in those pools and were all excited. However, when we arrived we found out that we could swim in the kid pool on the other side of the building. There was a slide and a lazy river and hundreds of children, which no longer appealed to me. Something funny that did happen though was that Lexi had accidentally gone into the boys' changing room and a couple of minutes later a large group of elementary school-aged boys also went in and all you could hear was, "Oh my God, there is a girl in the boys' changing room!" And then you saw Lexi running out only half changed. It was a great moment.

Once the tour ended, we started heading back to the hostel. I was content returning the same way we had arrived, but for some reason people wanted to take the ferry instead. So first, we had to find the bus to take us to the ferry, which was a 45 min process within itself. Then it was another hour long wait for the ferry, which also took an hour. Compared to the 50 min it took us to get from the hostel to the Olympic Park. Lesson learned--take the train. Always. By the time we arrived at the hostel, I was exhausted and collapsed onto my bed, where I stayed for about an hour. But Leanne was on her way over to meet for dinner, so I had to force myself to get up, shower, get dressed, and be a real human being. 

When Leanne arrived, we decided to explore The Rocks and find a place for dinner. We were both craving Thai food and found a restaurant called Sailors' Thai. We got there at the perfect time because it filled up right after we got there. It was a small room with a long wooden table in the middle where all customers sat together. We sat next to a family from New Zealand and England, who had just arrived at Sydney on a cruise ship (the same cruise ship currently blocking the view of the Opera House from the hostel). They were really nice and chatted with us the whole time, especially the grandfather who shared stories with us about his many trips to the United States. For dinner, I ordered a pad Thai dish with tofu and an assortment of vegetables, which fully satisfied my Thai craving. I was completely stuffed and could not imagine eating anymore, but afterwards Leanne and I decided to walk around the outdoor food markets. They were all brimming with delicious food and suddenly, I was no longer stuffed. Leanne opted for the freshly made cannoli, while I chose the super moist berries and chocolate vegan cupcake.

After our dessert, Leanne decided to head home because she had a long trek back to her apartment and it was starting to rain pretty hard. I then headed to The Glendmore Hotel, where people in my program had chosen to watch the Vivid light show from their rooftop restaurant and bar. It was an amazing view--the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, and all other buildings surrounding the Harbour were used as canvases for the changing, brightly colored, and intricate light designs projected to the beat of the music playing. Although I do not know much about the background or history of Vivid Sydney, it was an incredible experience and cannot wait to see it from the dinner cruise we are going on tomorrow. We hung out there for a while, but once it started raining harder and we got a little bit tired of looking at lights (no matter how amazing the displays may be, you can only look at them for so long), so we headed to The Argyle, one of The Rocks' 'hippest' clubs. It was just as extravagant and over the top as The Ivy and a very fun environment. But we still had the urge to explore The Ivy since we were unable to last night and took advantage of the momentary clear skies to walk on over. 

We first headed to the 4th floor, where there was an open rooftop pool bar. Since it had started to rain, we hung out on the couches in the cabana and soaked in everything around us. Like the other floor we had gone to last night, every detail was flooding with luxury. We then chose to explore the 3rd floor, which contained multiple high class toilets (what they call restrooms) with mosaic walls, showers (?), and inappropriate, but humorous signs on the doors to indicate gender. There was also a large dance floor surrounded by more fancy seating areas, and since they were all taken we decided to start dancing. Although people just watched us at first and could tell we stood out as tourists, they later joined in when they saw how much fun we were having. We then moved the dance party to the 2nd floor, which is where we had been the night before with the partially open rooftop. Although it was raining, we continued to dance in the rain even though our clothes were completely soaked through. And once again, no one was dancing and were judging us at first, but later joined in. That was just one moment, but those carefree actions are what makes you appreciate being young and enjoy the experience of being in a whole new country with new people. 

taping, breathing, and exploring sydney.

I would first like to start off by wishing my best friend in the whole entire world, Maggie Penn, a happy 20th birthday! Wish we could celebrate together, but I know you Italy will treat you well.

Today, Kaitlyn, Lexi, and I started off our morning by waking up early to work out at the gym across the hostel. It made for another cultural experience--having to calculate everything to the metric system took a lot more effort than I imagined. While using the treadmill, I had to convert the speed and distance, but did not have to go from kJ to calories, and when using the free weights, I also had to convert the weights to pounds. Because the weights would convert to random amounts in pounds (not the usual 8, 10 or 12  lbs that I'm used to) I had to slightly alter my workout. But hey, it's all part of the study abroad experience. 

For our morning lecture, we had the opportunity to meet and listen to Jenny McConnell speak about anterior knee pain. For those of you that may not know, she is somewhat of a celebrity in the athletic training world for developing the McConnell taping technique, which uses coverall and leukotape. She is a physio with a local clinic in Sydney. She was a great speaker and made me think more in depth not only about knee issues, but about the way we practice as athletic trainers. She emphasized that we are on the forefront of changing the way people think about sports medicine and the way it is practiced. Jenny also spoke to us about common causes of knee pain, different knee conditions, her research with the infrapatellar fat pad, and what to do when our athletes have anterior knee pain. Using Allie, a girl in our group, as an example since she has chronic knee issues, Jenny demonstrated what to observe and test for, different strengthening exercises and stretches to do, and taping techniques to alleviate pain and adjust for proper patellar tracking. Listening to her was a very educational experience. She was very set in her ways (she completely wrote off open chain exercises and kinesio taping), but also emphasized the importance of evidence based practice. Interestingly enough, she mentioned that had she lived in the US, she would have gone into athletic training because she feels that physical therapy is on the downhill because athletic training covers more areas of sports medicine. I found that to be extremely thought provoking because even though I am majoring in athletic training and planning on getting certified, I also plan on attending physical therapy school. Being on this trip has made me think about my future life plans and if physical therapy is truly something I want to pursue. Seeing the lack of athletic training here makes me realize the potential for growth that there is in the career of athletic training and I think it would be a great challenge to try to spread it to other countries around the world.

For lunch, we had wanted to go exploring around The Rocks, but the pouring down rain deterred us from choosing that route. Instead, Dana, Lexi, Kaitlyn, and I found a little cafe in an alley called, The Baker's Oven. I ordered a toasted Mediterranean sandwich, which was good, but did not compare to Lexi's bowl of muesli with apples and macadamias. Muesli is like a mix between oatmeal and granola and has been my breakfast every single day this trip--it's my new obsession. 

After lunch, we had our second lecture with Dr. Courtney, a local osteopath. The topic of her lecture was dysfunctional breathing. Dr. Courtney's focus was on sharing with us the prevalence of dysfunctional breathing and how often it is misdiagnosed as exercise induced asthma. She shared with us the signs and symptoms of DB, as well as musculoskeletal issues that could be caused by it such as lower back pain. We also went through some exercises to improve breathing and make it more efficient. These included holding our breath and breathing through our nose instead of our mouth. Dr. Courtney also expanded specifically on hyperventilation as an example of DB. I had always thought that hyperventilation would appear as heavy breathing with minimal oxygen intake. What I learned was that it actually is a condition where you intake too much oxygen and your carbon dioxide levels drop significantly, causing multiple negative effects on your body. 

Next on our plan for the day was to go to the markets in Chinatown. It took some time to try to figure out the transportation system, but a bus ride and a couple of train rides later, we finally found the markets. They are located in a massive building and are very similar to your average flea market with identical stands selling cheap souvenirs and other trinkets. I found all of the people and items for sale to be slightly claustrophobic and only lasted about ten minutes. While it would have been nice to purchase items there because of their extremely low prices, I also feared that they had the potential to break apart within seconds due to their low quality. After the markets, we used public transportation once again to go to Darling Harbour for dinner. By that time, the sun had set and the harbor was lit up by all of the boats and restaurants that bordered it. There were so many options for dinner, but we finally chose the Tokio Hotel, which surprisingly enough served Italian food, because it seemed to be the liveliest. We also wanted to be sitting outside because they were practicing a light show for Vivid Sydney, a music and light festival, where they create amazing light displays accompanied by music all around the city and it starts tomorrow. While ordering dinner, we overheard a group of Americans ordering drinks, so Lexi and I started talking to them. As it turns out, they actually went to Ohio State and were also studying abroad. After a couple of playful jokes about the rivalry (except we truly meant them), we actually found out that we had several mutual friends, which is always fun to find so far away from home.

After dinner, I was anxious to get back to the hostel because Leanne, one of my roommates last semester, is also studying in Sydney and was coming over to hang out! It was so great to see her and be able to experience a little bit of Sydney with her. That night us and a group of girls from my program went to The Ivy. We had heard from locals that it was a really nice, high end club with multiple stories and normally the cover charge  was $20, but if you arrived before 10 pm, it was free. Taking full advantage of this offer, we got there early and hung out. We had pretty high expectations for The Ivy and they were surpassed. It was an amazing venue with beautiful views of the city and everything was over the top and extravagant. It had a partially open ceiling, so you had the comfort of being indoors with the adventure of being outdoors. It was a unique experience however because the age group there was a bit older than us and dressed quite professionally. In which case, we were dressed pretty casually, but I'm getting accustomed to pulling the American tourist card to defend my wardrobe choices. After hearing so much about the different floors of The Ivy, all we really wanted to do was explore the venue, but we were told that the other floors were closed off (which we later found out was incorrect), so we did not end up staying too long and left soon after arriving. The group of girls from my program returned back to the hostel, but Leanne and I chose to meet up with people from her program in Kings' Cross. When we arrived at the World Bar, where her friends were, they did not allow us in because Leanne was wearing thongs (flip flops), which I found entertaining. Instead, we chose to explore Sydney a little more before calling it an early night since we both had class in the morning. It was the perfect way to spend the night with Leanne though because we were able to catch up--which we had a lot to do since it had been about three weeks since I had last seen her!

a rainy sydney welcome.

We all woke up this morning with the excitement of knowing that we were finally going to  Sydney. The bus that was supposed to take us to the regional airport in Ballina was scheduled to arrive at 9 am. By 8:50, we were all outside literally giddy to get a move on. However, in classic Lennox Head fashion, the bus drivers were in no hurry and arrived at 9:45 am. I am guessing it was one last way for them to test our patience, and can't say I have fully embraced their laid back style. My biggest concern for the flight though was that for domestic flying, the maximum weight for my suitcase was 20 kg and coming to Australia my suitcase was already over that. Add everything that I bought and I am well over the limit. However I placed my heaviest items in my backpack and crossed my fingers that I wasn't over. When we arrived at the airport my suitcase weighted 20.2 and they let it slide! As for the flight, it was luckily only an hour, but I slept the entire way and was ready to go when we arrived in Sydney. I then looked out my window to see dreary skies and heavy rainfall. 

Determined not to let the rain get me down, I took in everything that I could as we drove from the airport to the hostel where we are staying at. We are staying in a YHA hostel in The Rocks of Sydney which is a very historical area of the city. I was also very pleasantly surprised by how great the hostel was. It definitely was not what I expected when I thought about hostels--it feels like a really nice hotel for young adults. It's a very modern building with modern furnishings and great amenities. We are staying on the top floor too and there is an outdoor rooftop area with an amazing view of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. After settling in, we went on a mini city tour to gain our bearings. Unfortunately, it was still raining so the pictures did not turn out great and the walk was cut short. But it got me excited for when the rain finally stops and we can explore some more! For dinner, we went to a place nearby called The Orient, which was just pub food. I had a pretty good cous cous salad with rocket and pumpkin, but I'm ready to branch out from the pub food which we had had pretty often so far. For dessert, Kaitlyn, Lexi, Dana, and I walked across the street to a Belgium chocolate bar and I bought dark chocolate covered hazelnuts and dark chocolate orange ganache--both of which were delicious. Due to the rain, it was cold and kind of miserable to explore so we decided to head back to the hostel to chill and plan out the rest of out week in Sydney which I have very high expectations for! 

last day in lennox head.

Today is our last day in Lennox Head and I can't say I'm too disappointed. I've had a great time so far, but I'm ready to experience city life in Sydney. To commemorate our last day, I went on one last run on the beach--it was just as exhilarating as the others and I said goodbye to the fresh sea air. After a group reflection, some of us headed back into Byron Bay for our free afternoon. The original plan was to lay out on the beach, but the chilly weather and the lack of sun did not allow for that. Instead, Lexi and I went back to the health foods store, Fundies, and bought more delicious raw, vegan mint chocolate and coconut balls, Noah's fruit and vegetable juice, and lentil patties for the barbecue the group was planning on having that night. We then headed back to The Beach Hotel and ate our lunch. We sat in a far corner that overlooked the beach. It was relaxing and also a great people watching spot. Since people watching is already a hobby of mine, it is something I have been doing a lot more of since coming to Australia. Even though they are pretty similar to Americans, I still enjoy observing them and comparing their mannerisms. Since we had also already done so much shopping the previous Sunday, we decided to avoid the shops and not tempt ourselves so we moved tables across the street and read the local newspaper. It was interesting to compare their current events to ours, as well as to read their headlines (some of which would not be considered politically correct in the US). 

As evening approached, we started walking back to the bus stop and stopped at the grocery store, Woolworth's, to help the boys choose what foods to get for the barbecue that they were in charge of. We did not have very much faith, but they pulled through and dinner that night was great! They grilled chicken, burgers, and hot dogs (and lentil patties for me) at the barbecue by the cabin. Hope also grilled amazing corn on the cob that was the perfect compliment to my lentil patty and Australian barbecue sauce (which is my new obsession and I don't even know what makes it so amazing). 

To end the night, the entire group headed down to the pub for musical bingo, where they would play a song and we had to identify it on our bingo card. The first round was Australian hits, which was a little difficult, but the second round was new school rock, which was much more doable. Since Tuesday night wasn't exactly a bumping crowd for the little Lennox Head pub, our group dominated and won all the main prizes which were a six pack of beer, a bottle of wine, and a gift card to the pub. And because it was our last night and we had to head back to pack, we all shared that between the ten people there and headed back to the cabin. 

Overall, I am glad we started our trip in Lennox Head. It was the relaxing break that I needed after finishing up with finals a couple of weeks ago. I am not very good at relaxing  and Lennox Head is all about not being in a rush and taking it easy, so I feel like I was able to learn a lot from them. But I am done relaxing now and am more than ready for city life in Sydney!

rain forest hike.

Today we traveled across the countryside to the rain forest where we hiked through the Rocky Creek Dam in the Big Scrub Reserve. The drive there was eventful because we were able to see a new side of Australia. We also drive through crops of macadamia nuts and were told that that region is the macadamia capital of the world so I'm definitely going to have to be on the hunt for some of those.

Can you see the koala?!

We had a tour guide who was a botany professor from Southern Cross University named Peter. When we picked him up at the "uni" he mentioned that there was a koala in the tree and naturally we all went running. It was so precious! So cute with furry little ears and kept looking down at us. New goal for the trip is to hug a koala. Once we arrived at the park, Peter mentioned that it was one of the first national parks in Australia and it was established in the late 70's/early 80's. Originally, it spanned from the eastern coast, but was cut down for timber once Europeans first arrived. The beginning of the hike was really pretty with views of the water, but once we got past that part, it was straight trees and leeches. I was looking forward to hiking through the rain forest and comparing the flora and fauna from other hikes. However, it wasn't that amazing and was really everything looked the same--there were not many points of distinction and I was ready to leave after a couple of hours. Only true highlight of the hike was the koala sighting!

When we finally arrived at the cabin, we had some group bonding and made breakfast for dinner! I stuck a bowl of oatmeal, but they made pancakes and scrambled eggs. We have gotten pretty close as a group--its hard to believe we have only known each other for less than a week!

a day in byron bay.

I started off today with a run and some yoga on the beach. Since it was a Sunday morning, it was slightly deserted and I took advantage of the tranquility by running to most northern point on the beach and ran back for about an hour. Then I finished up with some yoga and breathing exercises. There is truly no better way to start off your day than by breathing in that crisp ocean breeze.

As for the rest of my day, we had a free day and headed to Byron Bay--a larger seaside town 20 min north of Lennox Head. Since Lennox Head is on the smaller side and there isn't much to do, we were all really excited to finally explore a new town. We first walked to the lighthouse, which is the most easterly point in Australia. It was an absolutely mesmerizing view and the view while walking back to the town was equally as mesmerizing. We grabbed some lunch (some surprisingly good sushi) and then hit the shops. Did some serious damage, but to defend myself I only bought one item for myself and everything else is for friends and family so get excited :) 

I cannot get over how genuinely nice everyone I have met so far is. It may be because we haven't been in a major city yet, but regardless I appreciate their kindness and their willingness to help us clueless tourists. They have also given us recommendations of where to go and have made me extremely excited for the rest of the trip!

When dinner time hit, we hadn't realized how hungry we were. We went to a restaurant called The Balcony. I had a delicious Mediterranean platter of falafel, pickled eggplant, hummus, quinoa tabbouli, and roasted beets. We then walked to a local bar called the Beach Hotel which had live music and actually a really fun scene for a Sunday night. Afterwards we checked out another bar called The Junction, which also had a great live band. It was more of a chill scene with quite a few Australian hippies, but it was still fun and we ran into some people from Portland and Seattle! Since we had relaxed activities today, I felt like it was a true cultural experience because we were able to spend the day like regular Australians.

crickets and wickets.

This morning we started off with a cricket lesson at Williams' Reserve, the same place we had our rugby lesson yesterday. It was taught by Paul and Tony, who are part of the New South Wales Cricket League. To warm us up, they taught us the basics of throwing underhand and catching with a couple of different drills. Once we mastered that, we learned the proper bowling (pitching) technique. It was a very different motion than throwing a baseball. Instead of bending our elbow, we have to do a windmill motion and maintain a straight arm or else it is called a chuck, which isn't allowed in cricket. After (somewhat) getting the bowling technique down, they padded us up and put us in the batting cages. Swinging the bat was also a very different motion. I would say something between a baseball swing and a golf swing. I also found it interesting that the batsman wore lower leg pads, thigh pads, forearm pads, padded gloves, and a helmet with a face mask, while the keeper (or catcher) wore only padded gloves--very different from baseball where the pitcher only wears a helmet and batting gloves, while the catcher wears padding head to toe. Once we all got a chance to bat and bowl, we began a real game and most of us got a chance to protect the wicket. 

Another part to the cricket lesson was learning about the cultural aspects. Paul and Tony mentioned that even though cricket is a popular sport to play in Australia, it only becomes a spectator sport at the state or national level. There are four different levels, fourth grade being the lowest and first grade being the highest. The first grade could have players ranging from age 16 to 50! I also found it interesting that whenever they explained an aspect of cricket, he would compare it to baseball and then explain how cricket is tougher and takes more skill. I am not a major baseball fan, so I didn't take any offense to that, but there is obviously a lot of national pride to the game of cricket.

                                   

Next on the agenda was the Lennox Head vs Ballina rugby union game. We had the opportunity to watch both the second grade and first grade teams. Mick and Harry, our rugby instructors from yesterday, both played in the second grade game so it was cool to recognize a couple of the players! Since both are local teams, the match was played on a rugby oval in Ballina with no seating so we sat on the grass surrounding the oval. It is part of the rugby culture for spectators to buy a "pie and a tin" or a meat pie and a beer and some of us took part in that. Having played yesterday made understanding the rules of rugby a lot easier and a lot more interesting. The Lennox Head Trojans also remained undefeated with a 22-10 win over the Ballina Seahorses. Overall today was another great opportunity for us to immerse ourselves in Australian sports culture and cannot wait to see what else Australia has in store for us!

learning how to scrum and ruck and everything in between.

Today, I learned how to play rugby! It is one of the few team sports that I have yet to try so playing was an exciting experience. We were taught by the Trojans coach and a representative from the Australian rugby league at the same place that we saw the Trojans have their training session (practice) last night. We started off with dynamic warm ups all of which I had done before in track and cross country. Then they taught us the basics of throwing and catching. My initial reaction was to throw it like a football, but apparently you're actually supposed to toss it from your hip. I was also surprised by how light the ball was and the basketball-like texture it had. Once we mastered that, we added in running to throwing and catching. So far the drills were simple enough, and once we did a mini scrimmage I was feeling pretty good about it. Then we started learning how to properly fall and how to tackle. Luckily I was partnered with Lexi so we had fun with it and weren't afraid to deck each other. After some more tackle drills and learning how to ruck and scrum, we played a real touch scrimmage. Although I do not foresee myself becoming a professional anytime soon, it was fun to learn how to play a new game. It also helped me understand the rules of the game so I won't be lost when we watch the Trojans play tomorrow!

We had the afternoon off, so a group of us went on a walk to Lennox Pointe, which is the same place I had ran to a couple of days ago. Today was probably the nicest day we had experienced so far (sunny and 70s--I wish this is what Michigan winter looked like) so I'm glad we were able to go on a short and relaxing hike.

When we returned, we had a reflection session within the athletic training students which was actually helpful because we were able to discuss everything we had encountered so far. Our main topic of conversation was athletic training in other countries. Since the athletic training career is only present in the US and starting to grow in Japan and Taiwan, it is interesting to see what other countries do instead. Most other countries utilize a combination of physicians, emergency medics (for competition) physios (physical therapists), and strappers (people who solely 'strap' which we call tape). All of their roles put together make up some of the duties of an athletic trainer. It makes me curious why it is other countries do not have athletic trainers because there is obviously a need, but I cannot even imagine the process of trying to begin that career in other countries when it is still growing and gaining recognition within the US after almost half a century. It is for this reason that I chose to take this international sports medicine course abroad--to learn more about what other countries do instead and maybe figure out a way to spread athletic training to other countries.

surf's up.

This morning, Lexi and I woke up early to attend a kickboxing class in town at 6 am. Since we are still getting used to the time difference (and the fact that the sun sets at 4:30 pm, which makes me want to go to bed at around 8:00 pm), waking up was easy. There were 4 other women and the class was taught by an exercise physiologist named Pete. It was different than all of the other kickboxing classes I had ever taken--Pete really focused on kicking and punching technique and kept the routine simple. I also noticed that he played no music during, which was weird because I cannot remember the last time I worked out without music. Nevertheless, it was a great start to our day and interesting to see how exercise classes in Australia differ from those in the US.

Right after our kickboxing class, Lexi and I met up with the rest of the group at the beach for our surf lesson. It was taught by Mojo Surf and they promised "sexy instructors" on their website, so we were pretty excited--to learn how to surf of course. When they arrived, they got us into wet suits (thank God because it was pretty chilly, but luckily the water was a warm 24 degrees Celsius  and gave us each a surfboard. The instructors consisted of 1 head older guy, 2 guys our age, and 1 girl also our age. And to answer your question, the website fulfilled their promise. We started off with a warm up and then the head older guy talked to us about what to check for when checking the conditions. Unfortunately he had a pretty thick Australian accent and spoke extremely fast so it was pretty difficult to understand, but I was able to get the most important information out of that talk: stay between the buoys or else you will get sucked in by the ocean. He then gave us a quick tutorial of how to get up on the surfboard and we got in the water. While he sent us in with minimal instruction, I preferred that because I learn better by doing.

The first thing I learned about surfing was that getting out there is the  hardest and most time consuming aspect of surfing. At times I felt that for every one step I took forward, the ocean pushed me ten steps back. Once I got out there I also realized that I didn't really know how to identify a good wave, so I just decided to go for it. I hopped onto my surfboard, looked back, saw an incoming wave, started paddling, and stood up on my board like we were taught. I was feeling great for all of a second and then next thing I know, I was underwater and being tossed around by the waves. Determined to do better, I paddled back to try again. This time, one of the surf instructors assisted me and let me hold on to him while I stood up on the board. This built up my confidence a bit more, and I was able to stand up 4 times by myself! With many, many falls in between and a few war wounds. Considering I didn't think I was going to be able to stand up at all, I feel like that lesson was pretty successful.

After surfing, we had a couple hours for a lunch break before we had to go to our afternoon hydrotherapy lesson. It was still pretty chilly and all I wanted to do was take a hot shower, but the hydrotherapy lesson was going to be in the pool so it would not have been worth it to change out of my swimsuit. Once it was time for the hydrotherapy session, it was even colder and the pool water was also much colder than the ocean at 20 degrees Celsius. I do not do well with cold and was not looking forward to it, but Mez, the exercise physiologist from yesterday, was teaching it and she has so much enthusiasm that it was hard to not want to partake. She taught us both the home and pool exercises that she teaches her aboriginal patients to increase their mobility and balance. Hydrotherapy isn't something we have learned in my classes yet, so it was interesting to perform the exercises and get a feel for how they can help people's physical well being.

As great as the lesson was, I was really excited once it ended and I could finally take a hot shower and start warming up. After a short break, we walked into town (its about a mile long walk one way), and watched the Trojans practice. The Trojans are a local rugby union team who we have a training session with on Friday and then are going to their game on Saturday. I was surprised to see that they were practicing at a field in the middle of town that was open for everyone to see. This was different than in the US where you would never be able to just show up to a practice for a team no matter what skill level. I had also never watched  much rugby before so it was fun to watch them practice up close and I am excited to learn how to play tomorrow and watch them play on Saturday.

For dinner, some of us went to Ellenix, a local restaurant, which had a $25 steak and wine special. I instead got a Greek salad with falafel, but it was delicious nevertheless. After having had dinner at three different restaurants and all with a wait of an hour or more, I realized another cultural difference. In the US, we are accustomed to being served quickly and expect to have minimal wait. Here, they truly take their time and are in no rush whatsoever. After asking for the check tonight, the server even asked us why we were in such a hurry. I know that the reason I want my food quickly is because I am starving and I am not a pleasant person when I am hungry. However, once I get my food I continue to be in a hurry and not really sure why. Eating out in Lennox Head has definitely been testing my patience, but I was also told that this is just the culture here since its such a small and relaxed surf town. Hopefully the larger cities we go to will have a shorter wait for food....

an intro to australian sports medicine.

Today we had our first lecture. It was given by Sally Petrie, a physiotherapist (physical therapist) who practices in Lennox Head. She specifically discussed the physiology of surfers, and common injuries for surfers including their mechanisms and treatment. Sally was a great speaker and I learned so much. It was extremely interesting to learn about something I learn everyday in class from a different perspective and about a sport that I don't know much about. Something Sally mentioned was that Australians are heavy believers in manual therapy as opposed to modalities, which is something that I have been exposed to from the way my past clinical instructors practice. She also mentioned that when they do use a modality like electrical stimulation they don't pair it with kryotherapy, which is something that we do in the US and I never really questioned. Additionally, she explained a little bit about the Australian health care system which seemed to be a bit more effective than the US. She even mentioned that an MRI costs $250.....for those that don't know an MRI in the US costs about $2000. Overall, extremely thought provoking lecture that got me excited for our surf lesson tomorrow!

After lecture, Kaitlyn and I went on another run since the day was so nice. We ran even further than yesterday and to an even more beautiful viewing spot that was higher up. We then ran back to the cabin along the beach and inhaled fresh sea air while we stretched. 

For lunch we walked back into town and walked around the shops. We went to a fruit shop that sold fresh fruit and other healthy grocery items. It was like a mini, Australian Whole Foods. I bought some fresh kiwi, a fruit called paw paw (very similar to papaya), and ordered a juice drink that was made out of apple, pineapple, orange, carrots, and spinach. We walked around some more and glanced around the surf shops, but could not get over how expensive everything was. I was warned that the cost of living in Australia was high, but still blown away by how high it truly is. Someone I met informed me that minimum wage was about $19, which truly shows how expensive it is to live here.

Our afternoon lecture was given by Marian Pentecost, an exercise physiologist that works with aboriginal people specifically practicing hydrotherapy. She gave us a history and background on the aboriginal people as well as the health issues that they face. They seemed to have a very similar background as Native Americans on the US. It was really touching to see how passionate Mariam got when educating us about the aboriginal people and made me want to learn more about their culture and historical struggles. Mariam also showed us a bit of what she does when she assesses her patients for the first time. Similar to a PPE, she checks their vitals but afterwards she focuses on gait analysis and balance & mobility testing. Overall she was also a wonderful speaker and her passion about what she does and Australia really showed through. I'm excited for tomorrow, after our surf lesson, when she is going to show us more about specific hydrotherapy exercises.