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Is it good to be living with team-mates? Do you talk about football all the time?

Tommy: To be honest, not really. We don’t go out of our way not to talk about football but we all have other interests as well.

Michael: I think it’s because we’re Australian, we’re all pretty easygoing. While we realise football is our livelihood, I think if you focus too much on it then maybe you put too much pressure on yourself. You need to take a break from work in any walk of life.

So how is it for a young guy to move to a foreign country and immediately have to concentrate on establishing yourself in a football team? Was it daunting? Was there a part of you that was worried about the move?

Adam: For me, it wasn’t a massive deal as I used to live in Germany. I lived in Cologne for two years and I did that by myself, so I knew what to expect. Also the culture shock hasn’t been that big as I thought, because they speak a lot of English here. It makes it hard when you’re trying to learn the language as everyone speaks to you in English.

Tommy: At the start it was different but slowly we’ve all got used to it. It’s helped that we’ve had our families come and visit us, and Michael and I have been back to visit them at Christmas.

Michael: I did take me a bit of time to get used to it, because this is my first time living away from home. It’s a long way from Australia, there’s no two ways about it, and I’ve always been very close to my family and friends.

How’s speaking the language going?

Adam: We can understand the football terms pretty well, when they’re being shouted on the field. And a little bit of general Dutch.

Michael: We’re not bad. I think we’re getting there. It’s quite a difficult language to grasp and it’s made harder because we’re never really out of our comfort zone as literally everyone here speaks English. And not just to communicate with you – most people speak it to a level that is really impressive. Even the elderly people speak English so we know we can always use it if need be.

Adam: And when most people start a conversation they begin by speaking English anyway, so then of course, I’m going to reply in English to them!

Have you been getting out and about?

Michael: Yeah, we’ve been taking in a few concerts. Adam and I went to see Usher a few weeks ago in Amsterdam. It was on a Sunday and a couple of the boys in the team asked if we wanted to go and we said yes. It was only 40 euros. Then I heard a few of my friends went to see him in Brisbane and you had to buy tickets the minute they came out and some people were paying $250 for a ticket. From that point of view, it’s great if you’re into your music – so much cheaper and relaxed if you want to see your favourite artists.

Tommy: That’s one of the one things I’ve really liked about living here is that we’ve been to a fair few gigs since we arrived. In Australia it’s very expensive to see the big acts and the people who come don’t make it there very often. Here, because we’re so close to Amsterdam, we can go and see so many groups for a fraction of the price.

Adam: That’s one thing I didn’t realise about Tommy before I lived with him – how much he loved music. I knew he always liked it but I didn’t know to what depth. After training he’ll always be listening to his music and whenever there’s breaking news about his favourite bands, he always seems to know about it. He’s got a guitar too, so I guess I just didn’t know how passionate he was about it.

 

Have you seen much of the rest of Holland?

Adam: We go to the city [Utrecht] a lot and have coffee along the canals but we haven’t really had a chance to do the big touristy thing as we’re training and playing a lot of the time.

Tommy: When we play a team in Rotterdam, for example, we’ll obviously see a little bit of the town when we’re there but we’re there for the game, so there’s no time to look around. We’ve travelled to all parts of the country already but haven’t seen more that just the road to the stadium and back out again.

Michael: We’ve been to Amsterdam a lot. When we first got here it was hard to fathom that it was only 25 minutes away on a train and it’s a completely different city with its own culture and surroundings. And our Dutch teacher took us to his town and it was like a little tiny fairytale place. There’s so many places like that all around the country.

Adam: I think we’re at an advantage living in Utrecht as we’re in the centre of Holland and it’s not very far to drive to Amsterdam or Rotterdam to check out a new place.

How do you guys keep in touch with things at home?

Tommy: I speak to my family and friends a fair bit on Skype but that’s pretty much it. When I first moved over I guess I spoke to them every day but as I’ve been here longer it’s been less and less.

Adam: I use Skype for speaking to my family too but with most of my friends it’s Facebook.

Michael: We’re lucky that we live in a time when we have these things that allow us to communicate to people. Of course we’re missing out on things physically but in other ways you don’t feel like you’re too far away because you’re keeping in touch with what’s going on at home through the social network. And my parents call me about every five hours! Then if I don’t pick up, they immediately call his [points at Adam] parents to find out why I’m not picking up and then he doesn’t pick up... It’s a vicious cycle!

What do you miss most about Australia?

Tommy: The beach and the warm weather. I really miss the sun during winter. To be honest, it’s been quite nice here over the last few weeks but during the winter you just don’t see the sun for months. I don’t mind the snow – I actually liked it as it was a new experience – but on the really cold days when it was minus temperatures, it’s not nice.

Adam: I’m going to have to say family and friends because I think if they were here with me, then I’d enjoy being here just as much as I do home. Being so far away from them really makes me realise how important they are to me. I think I could be happy wherever I am as long as I had them with me.

Michael: It’s hard to put my finger on it but I just love my life in Australia. It’s a really enjoyable place to live, especially my suburb in Brisbane. I love living in West End. I miss the really simple things, like hanging out with a good friend or just hanging out doing nothing.

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This article appeared in the June 2011 issue of Australian FourFourTwo magazine. To buy back copies of this issue call 03-8317-8121 with a credit card to hand.

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