Sydney Life

This last weekend was Cornell's Homecoming weekend, and despite the rain, the crowds came through. While I confess a limited understanding of the concept of Homecoming, it seems to be the time of the year when all the alumni of the university come back for a day of 'tailgating', formals, and good old-fashioned American football.

This year the Homecoming game was against Yale, and Cornell managed to pull off an historic win against the Ivy League favourite. I was impressed by the turnout to the game, but was later shown a picture of the University of South Carolina (one of the bigger football universities in the USA) and their homecoming, which jam-packed a stadium full of ~90,000 people...... watching -college- football!

At any rate, it was an enjoyable experience that felt like it was taken straight from a movie. There were the heavily-clad footballers on a field brightly painted "GO BIG RED", cheerleaders standing on one another's shoulders waving signs, "The Star-Spangled Banner" playing right before kick-off, and a sea of spectators clothed in red and white (the school colours). Even the college mascot made it down to the game for photo-shoots with some of the children that were there.

American football itself is a very start-stop game. This is evidenced by the fact that the game is supposed to be made up of four 15 minute quarters, but the clock is stopped so many times that the game usually takes around three hours! While the professional games have grown on me a little, I still don't personally think it has anything on rugby union.

Unfortunately the festivities were cut short for me by an essay due on the Monday, two looming exams that Tuesday, and a quiz on the Wednesday. Apparently, Cornell is famous for the high number of assessments they have: something I am beginning to find out for myself. Nevertheless, its not something that should put anyone off coming to Cornell for exchange: there are simply too many other great things you'd be missing out on!