I thought people in Montana were friendly, but they might be rivaled by the Australians. Everyone is so incredibly friendly here. Back home, we will smile at each other when passing in the street, offer directions if someone looks lost, or occasionally pay for someone’s ice cream at Big Dipper. Here, they go above and beyond any people I’ve met in all my travels.

The people I work with are especially great. They immediately took Myelle and me in, treating us like we’ve been here for years. The players took a little bit more time, but they’re warming up to us pretty quickly. On our very first day, the other trainers offered to drive us back to the train station so we wouldn’t have to take the bus. They’ve continued to do so ever since. One night Lou Lou, one of the physio students, even drove us all the way back to the city.

Our first day we were trying to get to Joondalup, we got horribly lost with the buses. Luckily a girl at the station took an interest in us and helped get us all the way to the arena. She even came on the bus with us to make sure we got there ok even though it wasn’t the bus she needed. A selfless stranger.

A similar thing happened on the train home one night. We kept going out what we thought was the wrong exit (found out a week later it actually was the right one), and a guy we met on the train pointed us in the right direction. We thought it was still the wrong exit, but later figured out it was right. Again, selfless stranger.

The past two nights have been the icing on the cake. Last night, Sam asked if we wanted a ride to the station. Like usual, we accepted. Then she decided she might as well take us to the Edgewater station, which is closer to the city. In the car, she asked if we wanted to come over to meet her two super fluffy huskies. Then we could see what a “real” Australian house is like. Ummm… of course!!!

At Sam’s house we met her gorgeous poofy dogs, during which she asked if we wanted to try Milo, a Nesquick-type mix that we had been talking about at training. We would love to! The Milo was delicious, like a milky type of hot chocolate. While we enjoyed our drinks, Sam and her boyfriend were making dinner. Then she asked if we wanted to join for dinner! Gah! Too nice!

After dinner, on our way out the door, Sam even asked if we wanted to borrow any movies or some of her training books. We happily obliged; her books will be really helpful in the future. On the way to the station, Sam decided to drive us to Warwick instead of Edgewater, which is even closer to the city. When we got there, she even asked if we had money for the train.

Ridiculous! I can’t believe we’ve only known her for three weeks, and Sam is already treating us like we’ve been friends for years. I love it. I feel so at home here and it’s all thanks to people like her and the other trainers.

Today was also pretty great in terms of fantastic people. The Falcons had a bye week; our next game is the Foxtel Cup on Tuesday, then South Freo next Sunday. Instead, today I was the trainer for two amateur teams. First was the colts, and happily we didn’t have any injuries! The other team managed to have one player possibly strain his Achilles, and another knocked out his front tooth. Glad I wasn’t with them.

On a side note, it was so incredibly cold out today. It was raining cats and dogs, and on top of that it was windy. Not a good day to be standing outside as a trainer. I’m pretty sure I had as much water in my shoes as there was on the field.

The second game was for a group called the Thirds. They are older guys, so a lot of strapping was needed. I taped my first shoulder! I was shaking the whole time (maybe that was just because I was freezing). Later in the game, we even had a concussion! It was exciting, minus the player asking the same questions over and over. Stupid memory loss.

Anyway. Back to awesome people. The other girl who was a trainer for the teams today was Jade. She’s my age, and has about the same level of experience as me, so we were both a little freaked out by the huge amount of memory loss of the concussed guy. Jade gave me a ride not only to the second game, but also all the way back to my apartment in the city. Quite the trek. The two players she gave a ride to too were also great and fun to hang out with.

I think we could learn a lot from this sort of behavior. Everyone in America is so wrapped up in their own business that we don’t bother with anyone else. It’s little things like driving someone to the station that build a relationship that will last once the person leaves. It really does make a difference in that person’s life. We just need to start noticing the people around us, and take an interest in them as an actual person, not just what they can do for us.