June 3rd -- Sean Browne

    On Saturday our group started early and headed out a few blocks to one of Victoria universities campuses. Here, we were given a lecture by our guest professor Michelle on the history of the city of Melbourne and learned its deep and how the city transitioned from one of the richest in the British empire to the sports capital of the world. After this lecture, our professor for the day led us on a walk to one of the many back alleys in Melbourne filled with small shops and cafes. After a small coffee break we headed back to the classroom for a lecture on Australian rules football, learning the sports rules, teams, and legends. The group then had a small lunch break before heading to the park to play some Aussie rules football. At the park we met with a real Aussie rules coach who taught us the basics of kicking, passing, and dribbling the ball and how to successfully complete a mark. Then the coach organized a scrimmage between the group and we got to show off our new skills. This was followed by a dinner break leading up to the main event that night, going to Etihad Stadium to watch a real Australian Football League match between the Richmond Tigers and the home team North Melbourne Kangaroos. At the game many of the group got to try their first meat pies, the perfect game day food to go along with Aussie rules football. While it was a close game in the first half, Richmond began to pull away in he second and the final score was 101-66 with Richmond taking the win.