Soccer Finals!

Tuesday, October 21st:
Tonights the night... Soccer championships for both girls and boys of Uni Hall. Both teams were playing another dorm on campus, George Roberts, our biggest rival. The girls team played first. We were playing great. We played 2- 25 minute halves, and at the end of both of them, we were still tied 0-0. Oh boy, now into over time. We played 2- 5 minute halves of over time. We still were playing really well. In the first over time, we had a major injury. Becca got taken down, and dislocated her knee. She was in excruciating pain. I know that Becca never really gets hurt, and doesn't cry when she does, and as soon as I heard her crying and screaming, I instantly called our coach and our trainer onto the field. I was really worried about her. She had to get taken off of the field and later went to the hospital. After the second over time, we were still tied 0-0, so we were now onto shoot outs. Oh boy, the pressure is on. We were all so nervous. Stacey, our coach, picked five shooters, Arielle, Linnie, Chelsea, Jimmy and Me. She asked who wanted to go first, and I said I did because I wanted to get it over with. This kind of things give me major anxiety. So I went first, and luckily made the first goal. Phew the pressure is off me. Unfortunately, we ended up losing in shoot outs, but we still played a great game. I am so glad that I joined the team and met so many new friends!
Right after the game, Becca was still being seen by the paramedics, so we all ran over to check on her. She was given some pain killers and drugs, so by this point she was feeling pretty good. Here is a team picture of us right before Becca was taken to the hospital :(

Now it was time for the boys game. They were neck and neck with GR too. After full time, they were tied 1-1 and were now going to over time. After the first 5 minutes of over time, they were still tied. With one minute left in the second over time, GR scored and won the game 2-1. Although Uni didn't come home with any wins, we all played great and had such a good season.

After taking a team picture, we all went to the SCR (a hang out room in Uni) to celebrate, and then we went to the Tavern.

Here are some pictures from the night:

                         Me and Linnie                                                  Chelsea and I

           Gabby, Lucy, Chelsea, Me and Linnie                                            Me and Jimmie!

Gabby, Leighton and I!

                          Me and Lachy                                                   Chelsea and Me!

Millie, Me, Jimmy and Linnie

Gracie, Me, and Lucy (The Charleton sisters)

Shots for the soccer team

Leighton and I

The Opera House, Sydney Bridge Climb, Luna Park & Bondi Beach

After the Blue Mountains, we were all starving and decided to go eat at Pancakes on the Rocks. My friend Andrew from my Etown swim team, studied abroad and said that they have the best pancakes here, and that we had to go, so of course we did. Man, was he right. These pancakes were absolutely incredible. I have never tasted anything like it before.

These are the pancakes that we all had. There were 2 chocolate ones, one strawberry, one apple, and I got banana. Oh my goodness. It was so good. Mine had two pancakes, fried bananas, walnuts, chocolate ice cream and chocolate sauce on it. So delicious.

The following morning, Andrew and I woke up and went to the Rocks Market, just a market in town. There were a bunch of different vendors selling all kinds of things like art, jewellery, clothes and much more. Andrew bought a watch and I bought a few presents. I got a kick out of the aprons below that say Roo on it, because as most of you know, Roo is my nickname.

This also made me laugh as it is a nativity set made out of kangaroos! Only in Australia..

After the Markets, we decided to go down to the Harbour and walk around a bit. We were a bit angry with the weather because it was very cloudy, and our pictures were turning out very dark! But we were able to see the Opera House.

There were also a few different performers including aboriginals playing a didgeridoo and dancing, a man who was painting a beautiful picture, more dancers, a man who was painted all gold and was in a  sitting position without a chair, and much more! The harbour was packed. 

Andrew and I walked over to the Opera House to take some pictures. I got this gorgeous picture of the Bridge across the river, but there were so many clouds!

Here is a picture of me standing in front of the Opera House.

While we were killing time before the Bridge Climb, we were just relaxing near the Opera House. We ran into two girls from Juniata who were studying abroad also. One girl was studying abroad in New Zealand with my friend Keli from Etown, and the other was studying abroad in Australia. They were such nice girls.

Andrew and I then found some seats outside of the Opera House on the river and decided to eat our lunch there. Once we were finished, we decided to walk over to the Pylon Tower to experience gorgeous views. Finally, the sky was clearing up and the sun was coming out! It was about time!

The Opera House looks so much prettier with a clear sky!

The town of Syndey!

The roads under neath the Sydney Bridge!

The Sydney Bridge!

It turned out to be such a gorgeous day! After enjoying the nice views from the Pylon Tower, it was finally time to climb the bridge! I could not believe I was doing this. I am afraid of heights, but this may be my only time in Sydney, so I knew that I had to do it! We were in a group of 10, and 6 of us were from the US, so that was pretty cool! One couple was from North Carolina, and the other couple was from Illinois. The other four people were from the UK. Andrew and I were the last two people of the group, and our tour guide kept joking with Andrew that he was security and had to watch out for everyone and make sure everyone was safe and doing okay. It was such a fun experience. I cannot believe how incredible the view was. I am so thankful that I took this opportunity and climbed the Bridge. Our tour guide was awesome, was making jokes the whole time, and really nice, helping those who needed some assistance. Along the tour, we learned many things, so it was also educational. Here are some pictures of Andrew and I climbing the Bridge!

Yay! We made it!

After climbing the Bridge, we met up with Siena, Becca and Sara at Luna Park. Luna Park is an amusement park in Sydney. We walked around, watched a few of the rides, enjoyed the sunset, and had some ice cream. It was a great time. Luna Park is also a famous park, as it is in one of the MaryKate and Ashley movies. These movies were Sara's childhood, so she was so excited to see Luna Park!

Luna Park in the dark looks pretty creepy!

Here is a picture of the Opera House and the Bridge at night on our walk back from Luna Park.

This is me standing under the Sydney Bridge with the Opera House in the background. Such an amazing view.

On my walk back, I decided to treat myself to a pair of Australian made Uggs!

The following morning (Sunday, 10/19), we all got up early, went to Paddy's Markets and then we were off to Bondi Beach. At the markets, we all got little souvenirs, hats, keychains, shot glasses, little paintings, pants and other things. Then we caught a train to Bondi, then took a bus to the beach. Finally time to lay out in the hot sun and relax! 

It was absolutely gorgeous. Such a beautiful day. We got really lucky with going to Bondi Beach on Sunday, because it was the nicest day out of our long weekend there. We laid out and tanned all day long. We all ended up coming home burnt, oops. I couldn't believe how many surfers were out. The waves were crazy! Andrew and I even decided to go swimming in the ocean. We were only here once, so we had too. We couldn't pass on the opportunity to swim in Bondi Beach. Although it was absolutely freezing, we just ran right in. I could not get over how strong the waves were. I tried swimming out to where Andrew was, and I got taken under by a huge wave. Thank goodness I am a swimmer and know what to do in those situations. I almost began to panic, but then I just stayed calm and waited for it to pass so I could come up and breathe. It was a bit scary. We then went back to where the girls were laying down and told them how rough the water was. Becca wanted to come swimming with us so the three of us decided to go back in. We were in for 10-15 minutes or so, when the lifeguard announced that all of the swimmers had to get out of the water. They had to rescue people because the waves were too rough, so they got all of the swimmers out. The surfers were allowed to stay in since they had great waves. I am so glad that I was able to swim for a bit though, even though it was crazy! I had such a nice day at Bondi Beach.

To end the weekend, we met up with our friend Paige who is part of our Globalinks group. She is studying abroad in Wollongong, so we haven't seen her since the first we in Australia. She took an hour and a half train ride into Sydney just to meet up with us! It was so nice to see her and talk with her and hear all about Wollongong. I am so glad we got to see her!

Sydney, you are absolutely amazing. By far one of my favourite cities. I had such an amazing weekend, and I am so glad that I was able to share it with all of my friends from Etown. I am so glad we are able to experience Australia together.