Sunday, 23rd October

We got up at 7am and headed to the buffet breakfast downstairs. It wasn’t special but it was what we needed. I had eggs, sausage, bread, bagels, muffins, cereal, yoghurt, orange juice and apple juice to fill my stomach. It was going to be a great day – driving to Phoenix and watching the Steelers play the Cardinals (in an awesome stadium).

We hit the road just after 9.30am. I assumed the back seat in the Ford Explorer – a massive car (not as big as the Suburban).

Saguaro Cactus's: Also on the Arizona number plate

A good 15 mins out the traffic started to build and the people in the cars were all Steelers fans! We parked at the high school, played some Frisbee and sunk a beer before catching my first yellow bus to the ground! It was just like I expected and exactly what they use in the movies.

The temperature outside was close to 36 deg Celsius, but inside it was a cool ~22 deg/c.

The stadium was incredible. To design and build something of the size would be a personal achievement. Maybe one day they will need an ALF stadium similar to this:
We bought beers; they were meant to be expensive inside… they were only $7.25 for Budweiser and other local beers!

We stood for the national anthem and watched the player run out on to the field. There were half as many players on the team compared to UNM so it looked far more professional.

We had some great seats on the angle of the field and could see easily. The crowd was made up of 40 Steelers fans 60 cardinals even though it was the cardinal’s home game. I put this down to the Steelers being so successful in the past (won 6 super bowls and a couple in the last 5 years) and therefore having a wide supporter base.

We bought some towels that proved to be very useful, they adopt the ‘scarf waving’ similar to what Essedon do in the AFL and it was impressive to see so many in the University of Phoneix stadium waving these yellow towels.

We saw a super touch down with a good 40 yard run and throw for a td (touch down). The Steelers supporters went crazy!

We had a great time at the game and it was awesome just taking in the whole NFL experience. And the stadium was breathtaking.

We sung and cheers and marched our way out into the warm and the sun.

On the way back to Flagstaff we stopped off at the department store and had an hour of shopping before it closed. Lucas and I whizzed into the polo, tommy and ck shops and may have found some goodies.

The car trip has never been boring. Even after the whole day of cheering and drinking we still managed to have fun conversations in the car. It reminds me that people have something to offer, and they can be surprising, don’t judge them. They are such a nice family and I am very luck to be invited on these trips. Lucas and I have got to do things many of the other exchange students haven’t because of the people we’ve met.