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.