Another "Aussie' joins baseball team
By Doug Richards
From Down Under Queensland, Australia, 18 year-old Ben Albury has come to live in Granville, attend IVCC and play for the men’s baseball team with hopes of transferring to a division 1 baseball program.
Albury said that he is here because he loves baseball. Since he was given the opportunity to study here and also play ball, he left his parents and two brothers and sister at home and made a line drive to here.
Albury, who started here at the beginning of this semester, has already met a lot of people around the campus.
"It’s very nice here." Albury said. "Everyone is very polite."
He added: "The women here are very beautiful and I hope to meet many more of them while I am here."
Albury studied the regular curriculum as well as French and Dutch at home. His classes for this semester at IVCC are baseball, English, reading, speech, math and fitness
Albury said that there are many similarities between the Illinois Valley and home. For one thing, he still has a lot of homework.
There are also some differences.
"It is very cold sometimes," he said. "I keep getting told that this isn’t close to what it is usually like, so I can’t wait until it gets colder."
One major difference for Albury is that people often don’t understand him due to his accent.
"I went to the service station to pick up a bottle of water." Albury said. "I went to the counter and said, ‘How much does this set me back, mate?’ The guy just laughed at me and told me how much.
"As I was walking out, I thought, Hang on! No one around here says, 'Mate.' That’s what that guy was laughing at."