Wet Wintery Weather

AFL at the MCG

Winter in Melbourne is exceptionally mild compared to winter in Pennsylvania; however, it's still harsher than I had expected, especially since I was never planning to spend this season here. Overall, it's been much colder than I thought it would get, but I'm fairly certain I was only thinking of the weather up in Queensland prior to moving here. Instead of snow, I've been told to expect lots of rain during the winter months, which has proven to be true in the last few weeks. It's an unfortunate reality, but this type of weather makes it difficult to plan any trips outside of Melbourne. Twice, my friends and I reserved a car to go to Wilsons Promontory and twice, we had to cancel our reservation due to the poor weather. Aside from finding myself comfortable in Melbourne at the moment, another reason I'm happy to stay here a while longer is to be able to travel to several more places in Victoria once the weather improves. It's challenging to make plans to visit new places now because it seems like I'm at a constant battle with the weather.

Bubble tea

Although I've never even gone to an American football/gridiron game, a few weeks ago, my friend took me to my first, and probably last, AFL [Australian Football League] one. In my opinion, the sport should be nicknamed "Please Give Me a Concussion" as these guys run around, tackling each other without any sort of protective gear. While I'm aware that there are different rules and such, based on my unpolished knowledge of both sports, it's basically American football without the helmets and pads. Despite the fact that I'm not a huge sports fan, I had been curious about AFL since it's not something that's played back home. I can't recall the last time I sat through an entire football game so I don't know why I thought this would be different, but to say the least, I survived. I'm just kidding as it wasn't that horrible and I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience Victoria's most popular sport, but the teams weren't evenly matched so it wasn't an exciting game. However, my friend's team won and the night ended with dumplings and bubble tea, which is never a bad thing.