Rugby Game- Dragons vs. Bulldogs!

April 10, 2011

This past Sunday was my first Rugby game that I have ever seen live. After traveling in bus for about half an hour, we finally got to the cogee oval stadium. I had no idea if I wanted to support either the Dragons or the Bulldogs, since many people were going for the Bulldogs I decided to go on their side. It was very interesting to see that there was a lot of positive reinforcement for both teams. This was a very competitive game, tons of people cheering and clapping for their teams, they even had flags and shirts representing their teams. I was astonished to see how fit the players were. I thought it was interesting the fact that in the first half of the game there wasn’t too much people, but after the break the arena began to fill up with fans. Everything was perfect, until it began to pour rain. Both teams opted to start the match cautiously, each unwilling to take too many risk on the historic turf. Finally to make the story short, the Dragons defeated the Bulldogs for a final score of 25-6. I was kind of bummed because I wanted the bulldogs to win, but at the end of the day I had a great time. This sport reminded me a lot to a sport back home, called American Football.

Surfing in Australia!

April 1, 2011

­­­Whenever I used to hear the word Australia, the first thing that came up to my mind and still does is Surfing! I had always wanted to surf, that was actually on my list on “One of the things I want to do before I die.”I am glad that I finally did it. Before letting you know about my super exciting experience I want to give you more information on surfing. Surfing is a water sport in which the surfer rides the board on the crest of the wave and carries him/her to the shore. The best time to surf is in the morning, because besides not having too many people on the beach, that’s the right moment when the waves are at a perfect speed and when the wind isn’t strong. A very interesting fact that I learned from my surfing instructor is that, local wind conditions affect wave quality, since the surface of a wave can become choppy in blustery conditions. Ideal conditions for surfing include a light to moderate offshore wind, because it blows into the front of the wave, making it a barrel or a tube wave. I have told you enough about this sport; now let’s talk about my experience. Today I woke up super excited at 6:00 AM because our coach was going to be waiting for us at the wake up hostel at 7:15 AM. He drove us to Manly Beach, so it took us about 30 minutes to get there. We finally got to the beach put on our wet suits, and practice our surfing, but in the sand. He made us practice how to paddle, control and stand up on the board. I find it very interesting that it only takes 3 steps to surf which are: paddling, getting up and standing. First you have to paddle, but not too fast because then you will get to tired. To get up, you have to put your hands on the edges of the board under your chest and do a mighty push up. Let’s say you made it up on both your feet. You always ride the board sideways not facing the nose of your board, your feet should be on the stringer, knees slightly bend and arms out for balance. I memorized these steps and finally after practicing 20 minutes on the sand, we finally got to surf on the water. It took me two hours to finally stand up on the board, but gosh I have to say is the best thing ever! I felt incredible. There is no other feeling like standing up on a surf board. After four hours of surfing we all felt very exhausted and hungry so we headed for lunch and back to our house. I am definitely surfing again, once you do this sport it becomes pretty addictive.

Skateboarding Competition at Bondi Beach!

March 26, 2011

Before Starting with this blog, I would like to give you a little background on Skateboarding. ­Skateboarding is a Sport and an act of riding and performing tricks using a skateboard. Skateboarding can be use in many interesting ways like for a method of transportation, sport and even a job. Skateboarding is a very common sport here in Australia, almost everyone knows how to skate, even at school you see people with their skateboards, because it is the fastest way to get to your classes on time. Today my friends and I went to Bondi Beach to get a tan and to play volleyball in the sand. After being there for an hour, we discovered a huge skating park near the beach and there was a huge competition going on, I thought it would be interesting to write about this because I heard this is one of the main sports in Australia after surfing. I honestly stood there and watched the whole competition for about two hours. It was amazing to see little kids and older guys do all different kind of tricks and how they handle the skateboard. I discovered a site where you can see all the skateboarding events that are happening around Sydney, I think it would be very interesting if you attend to one, they get pretty intense and fun to watch.

Skateboarding Site: http://www.au.timeout.com/sydney/aroundtown/events/18749/skateboarding-competition

Playing Football with Aussies!

March19, 2011

Today I decided to do something creative and on my own. I saw a couple of people playing soccer near school in the Victoria Park. Since I have a big passion for soccer I decided to ask them if I could join them. I thought that would be a great idea to write about in my sports education journal. Plus what’s better than to play soccer with Australian people. Luckily I had my tennis shoes on, so I was able to play with them. We were divided into two groups, I was in the blue team and my rivals were the white team. I had so much fun; we played soccer for over an hour. I have to admit Australian people are very good at playing soccer, even better than my friends in México. Unfortunately my team lost, but at the end of the day we all laughed about it and went for lunch.  I discovered that soccer and its rules are very similar to the one in my home country.

Sydney Fishing!

March 13, 2011

Fishing has officially become one of my best hobbies ever. Before I write about my experience I am going to tell you a little bit about fishing. Fishing is the activity of trying to catch a fish, and then eat it. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping. Since my friend and I love fishing and it is considered to be a sport, we decided to look up fishing tours in Sydney Australia. Luckily we found one, so we decided to go, the tour is call “Sydney fishing.” Today we had to wake up at at 5:00 AM because we had to be in the Harbor, no later than 6:00 AM because that’s the best time to go fishing. It is important to go early in the morning because that’s when all the fish begin to come up. There were about ten people in the boat, so each had their own special moment to catch a fish. I was astonished because luckily I caught 2 normal sized fish. The best thing of the tour was that we were able to take the fish home and cook it.    

Adrenaline Rush!-Water Rafting

March 5, 2011

Before I start with this blog I want to give you brief information on White water rafting. White water rafting is known as one of the most dangerous sports that have ever existed. It is a challenging recreational outdoor activity using an inflatable raft to navigate a river. This is usually done on different degrees of rough water. This sport has become popular since the mid 1970s and it is considered an extreme sport. I have to admit, today was one of the most incredible days of my life. I woke up very early and excited to go water rafting, we had to be at the wake up hostel no later than 7:00 AM. From there we began our adventure with a 90 minute drive through the stunning Orara Valley to the Nymboida Power Station.  Once I got there I began to feel very nervous and anxious, good thing the tour guys were very friendly and helpful, they gave us some instructions and made us put our gear, which included a life jacket and a helmet, right after that we began our adventure. I raft in a two people sport raft for two hours over 3 kilometers or rapid. Gosh! By the end I was extremely tired. I have to say, it is a very hard sport. I guess you have to have a lot of condition for it, which I don’t have. At the end of the day we had lunch and went back home. I really did enjoy rafting; I’m definitely going to do it again sometime in the future.

Introduction!

Before I start with my blogs I would like to give a little information about myself. My name is Czarina Escalante. I am an exchange student from The University of Arizona, which is located in Tucson, Arizona and forty-five minutes away from the border of Mexico and The United States. I am from Mexico, but go to School in the states. Back at home, my heart and soul is devoted to science, that’s one of the great reasons why I’m majoring in nursing. I must admit, before coming to Sydney I was very excited to take this course because even though I’m not that good at playing sports, I have always love to see and learn about them. Through the course I will blog about the field trips and sport events that I attended and the wonderful experiences that I had.