Five GameDays & Counting! Serena Shares Why She Loves to Meet Melbourne Locals Through Sport

From AFL and A-League, to Grand Slams and Grand Prix - Chinese international student, Serena shares her story of how her passion for sports has come alive through meeting local fans. 

Blog written by: Serena Huang

Hey guys! I am Serena from China. I am a University of Melbourne student, studying for my Masters degree. I am here to share some of my stories.

Guangzhou     
​to Melbourne

I come from a city called Guangzhou, where people there enjoy sports so it may be the reason why I enjoy Melbourne and enjoy sports so much. Actually, what brought me to Melbourne is the University and the Australian Open.
​My family and have I enjoyed the Australian Open for many years, probably because the timezone of Melbourne is similar to Guangzhou, so we don’t have to stay up late to appreciate tennis.

Sports Fan

I have several favourite teams and sports people, which is why I attend to so many sports activities. I am a great fan of my hometown team, Guangzhou Evergrande. I really hope they come to Melbourne again (the last time they came wass in 2014 and I watched the match on TV). At the same time I also love Chelsea in the English Premiere League. After I came to Melbourne, I also began supporting Melbourne Victory FC. As for tennis, I have been a Djokovic fan for 10 plus years.

Best Sporting Memory

As for my favourite sporting memory, it’s definitely the Australian Open this year.
​This was my first time watching a tennis grand slam. I got to see all the great tennis stars for the first time and I even got Djokovic’s hat!

SportsHosts Experience

My first SportsHosts experience was an Australian Rules Football (AFL) game. The reason why I connected with SportsHosts is that none of my friends and I know anything of Aussie football and I thought that it would be boring to go to a footy game alone. I needed someone to guide me through the game. I met a great host AJ. She and her friends gave me a great experience of Aussie football. I feel so grateful and excited to have such a good time. 

SportsHosts helped me to connect with so many Aussies and people from around the world that loves sports just as much as I do. I met AJ at an Aussie football game, Chris and Lachlan at Melbourne Victory game and lovely Kim at F1. These amazing people shared their own perspective of Melbourne with me. 

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At SportsHosts we love sharing our hosts and SuperUsers experiences. If you have a great story, we’d love to hear from you.