Day 4 - Friends, Food, and Footy

I missed breakfast again because sleep seemed more enjoyable and seemingly more important. We were supposed to catch a train to meet with my friend who is studying in Sydney from the states. We started walking there and realized that we weren't going to make it so we made our way back to school to wait for the next train. By the time the next one was going to be there, we got to the station and found out that the trains weren't running that day because of rail work. Great...... so we waited for a bus to take us to the next station up so that we could catch a train from there into the city. Meanwhile, my friend thinks that we are meeting at 10:15 when in reality, we weren't even on our first train by that time.

I had to turn on my mobile and call her, which definitely costs a bit more than the average domestic charges. We ended up getting there fine and started the adventure off with coffee, which later got spilled down my back thanks to the wind that day. We met up with Nina and Holly (another friend visiting Nina at the time), grabbed a meat pie (I stood alone here...) while the girls got slurpies at 7/11 and finally walked to Nina's flat in Waterloo. We enjoyed hanging out around the area and seeing where she lived. While at Nina's, she introduced us to 'Tim Tam Slams'. You take the tim tam (and awesome wafer covered in chocolate), bite of the corner of one end as well as the adjacent corner on the other and use it as a straw to sip up some chai tea. When it's nice and soaked, you flip it upside down to let the tea soak through the rest of the Tim Tam and then eat it. It was so messy, but worth it! Glad to let us in on this Aussie secret. She showed us around Waterloo and finally led us to the site where Hillsong started, their city campus. I couldn't believe that out of this small, industrial building, a ministry started. A ministry that reaches out to over 20,000 people a weekend at it's 36 total services.

Nick, Holly, Alexa, and I walked to Saint Vincent de Paul's, some of us trying on ridiculous clothing, making our way back to Central station to make it the footy game. We found the right train, grabbed some 'Hungry Jacks', Burger King's cousin? We got there way early, so we bought tickets and enjoyed some relaxation before the big game. The 'footy' match was held at the Anzac Stadium, site of the Sydney Summer Olympics a few years back. An Aussie explained the game as a mix between rugby, soccer, and football but without the pads and no restrictions when it comes to defense. Things got intense a few times, I thought there were going to be some fights! The real heat was in the stands, with this one fan from the opposing team making fun of this 'larger' fan for the Sydney Swans, heating into an argument that attracted the stadium police and fans getting all riled up. Despite the fact that we had no idea what was going on, we did our best to cheer and feel like an Aussie supporting the Sydney Swans and Australian Football League. We even had the chance to chant to their winning song at the end!


We dropped Holly off so that she could get back to Waterloo and headed to catch our train since the van heading back to the university was full. The metro system was extremely busy because most of the Aussies at the game us it to commute from home. We missed a stop and had to wait a while to get a bus back to the university. The waiting provided for some great pictures though. After a long time waiting and then walking, we made it back.