First Snow!

Last week, all Wittenberg students suddenly got an e-mail warning us about an upcoming snowstorm. "Chance of a Storm: Good." I didn't think much about it at first, but within the entire campus was covered in snow. Everything looked beautiful, and the temperature had suddenly (in a period of two days) dropped from 19°C to a perceived temperature of -11°C.

Living in a building with a lot of internationals was probably one of the most fun things that could happen at the moment. Some had never seen snow before and had been amazed, it was the cutest thing. They were looking at the sky for an hour straight, trying to catch some of the falling snow.

The first day of snow, some of the internationals decided to have a snow fight at midnight. Martin, Micky, Neo, Rayika, David and Vicky (a non-international, one of my teammates and the soon to be girlfriend of Martin;) all grabbed our jackets and went outside. Making snowmen wasn't a big success, so we kept it to throwing snowballs at each other, tackling each other, sliding down a hill on our butts and dropping snow inside each other's clothes. We had a blast.

I think it was the second or third day that we went out together again. We decided to go sledging and, because we didn't have any sledges, used our laundry baskets instead. We went to The Hollow, a beautiful hill on campus, and tried our sledging skills out. The snow wasn't ideal but with some pushing each other down the hill, we all made it to the bottom of the hill. Sometimes with our laundry basket, sometimes without: we often fell out at some point. I don't think I've ever had this much fun while sledging.

We were about to head out, when David took the wrong exit. Instead of walking outside, he walked into a girls room. We we're all laughing and rolling around when he fled the room with red cheeks and headed out of the right exit.

Our snow fight started in our own hallway.

Our campus is even more beautiful when it is covered in snow.

Walking towards classes was a struggle though: it was cold and slippery.

The Hollow, where we decided to go sledging in laundry baskets.

Campus again - Making my way back to my dorm.

In my opinion the most beautiful building on campus, covered in snow.

Because snow means the beginning of winter and Christmas, I started writing some christmas letters!

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Tiger Buddy

During season, everyone in the team had a tiger buddy - a team member who they would make a poster for when we had a home game, and a "tiger buddy package" for when we had an away game. You weren't supposed to know who had you as their tiger buddy until the end of season. We all had to write down our name, likes and dislikes on a note at the beginning of the year and put the note in a bag, after which everyone took out a note. Whoever's name was one the note you grabbed would be your tiger buddy for the rest of season. My tiger buddy was Paige, a super sweet Junior and in my opinion one of the best players on the team :)

Every week, I would make Paige a poster to cheer her on. Most of them included either inspirational quotes and a "Tiger Ups", and some of them would include "Kick some asses" and "Don't be a pussy's". If I had the time, I would draw something to make the posters look nicer. I think I did pretty well.

Every week, I would go to Meijers, Target, Walmart or Walgreens to get Paige a tiger buddy package. The tiger buddy package should include something to drink, something to eat and something fun for during the bus rides (that could sometimes take four hours - that's four hours to reach our destination and another four hours to get back). Most tiger buddy packages costed about $10 (although I often spend a dollar or two more because I got so excited). It might sound like a bit much to do this for every away game, but everyone needs something to eat and drink anyways when you travel for more than six hours, and giving it to someone else was actually a lot of fun.

I loved giving Paige tiger buddy stuff - she loved the packages and the posters that I made her and didn't find out that I was her tiger buddy until the very last game, the semi-final against Kenyon, when I wrote her a note. I was Maria her tiger buddy. She made me packages and posters as well, and I loved receiving them - it was like receiving a birthday present once a week. Thanks again Maria, you're amazing :)

The semi-final against Kenyon was fun, but sadly, we lost. I could use the break but I'm sad that season is over. The last game was pretty emotional: the seniors and the Dutchies (Car and I) played our last game and everyone got a little teary. I'm going to miss everyone!

One of my first and definitely my best posters: it took me more than two hours to make it, but I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

Kittenberg instead of Wittenberg - someone in the team once told me about this joke (we had a lot of kittens on campus) and inspired me to make this poster. It didn't turn out the way I was hoping it would, but I still think it's pretty cute.

I didn't have a lot of time to make this poster, but yeah. TTFU stand for Tiger The Fuck Up.

Halloween inspired tiger buddy package!

I thought it was cute. And Paige loves fluffy socks! I've actually seen her walk around in them already :)

Trick-or-treat package for the last in-season game!

My last tiger buddy package was Christmas inspired. I'm going to miss making those packages.

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Halloween

This year I celebrated Halloween for the first time! The entire neighborhood was decorated in halloween articles, just like a lot of doors in the dorms. I opened the door for trick-or-treaters, had a halloween practice with the field hockey team and went out the day after Halloween.

The 25th of october was the day that the kids in Springfield celebrated Halloween by going trick-or-treating. It was a lot alike Sint Maarten in the Netherlands, the only differences were that the kids here dress up in costumes and don't sing: they just say trick or treat. Carlijn and I went to Sally (our host family) her house for dinner and to experience what trick or treating was like. Dinner was great: it was amazing to have some real, home-made food again. The trick or treating was even better: there were so many cute kids (and even some less-cute-looking adults) looking like Elsa, a Ninja Turtle, a zombie, you name it. It was adorable and I had a blast. 

The halloween practice on tuesday was so much fun. Vicky, Brownie, Kelly and I wanted to go as a group, but because we went costume shopping last minute we had to improvise. We wanted to go as the cast from Frozen, but the costumes were sold out. After coming up with ideas such as Cruella De Vil and the dalmatians, the cast of Mean Girls and more, we decided to make our costumes ourselves and go as Care Bears. Vicky was dressed up as Bedtime Bear, Brownie was dressed up as Grumpy Bear, Kelly was dressed up as Laugh-a-lot Bear and I was dressed up as Cheer Bear. My teammates were dressed up as dolphins, pimps, Harry Styles, paper, rocks and scissors and more. We had an indoor practice, which was unbelievably hot, but had a fun time. I turned out to make a pretty good goalie. 

We weren't allowed to go out on Halloween, because we had a game the day after, but that turned out to be no problem at all: the day after was just as fun. Because I once again did last minute costume shopping, there wasn't a lot left. I did like my costume though: I ended up going as a pilot. Most parties were closed, so you had to be invited. Some internationals and I were invited to the Betas (a fraternity) their party, so that's where we went. The party wasn't that different from most parties on campus, except for the fact that there was more alcohol (which I wasn't allowed to drink because the team entered the championships, I had just as much fun though), and for the fact that everyone was dressed up. My favorite costume of the night was definitely Bert and Ernie. I can't wait to celebrate Halloween again and am planning on celebrating it again next year. 

Even dorm doors were decorated!

Trick or treat!

The Spirit Store - most people buy there costumes here. I did to: I ended up buying a pilot costume. It was one of the last things left in my size and I thought it was kind of cute :)

The Care Bears!

The entire team was dressed up for the Halloween practice. My absolute favorite costume was Harry Styles - Casey looked just like him!

The pilot and the firefighter (Irene)!

Me, some internationals and some of our friends just before going out.

The party - everyone was dressed up. People were dressed up as anime girls, cowboys, tweedledumb and tweedledumber, police officers and sluts.

Bert and Ernie! Those were my favorite costumes of the night. 

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Senior Day

This saturday, the team had its last home-game of the season. As a tradition, the day of the last home-game of season is senior day, and the game is called our senior-game.

The week before, all the freshmen, sophomores and juniors were busy with preparing their part of senior day: decorating the locker room, making banners and buying them presents. As a freshmen, I helped pimping the locker room up. We all made posters for the seniors, hang up pendulums and used balloons to make the locker room look more fun. I ended up being in the locker room until 11.30 PM, without having dinner. Riley, Paige and I decided to go to the Stake 'N Shake to make up for dinner and I wasn't in bed until well after 1 AM.

On senior day, we all went to the locker room early to write a little message for each senior and to sign a gift for all of our coaches. We had breakfast with the team, got ready for the game in the locker room, and went to the field. We did our warm-up as usual, but the line-up was different: we made a tunnel under which the seniors and their family walked, while their achievements both on and off the field were summed up. Then we played DePauw. Sadly, we lost.

After the game, we went to the auditorium and had lunch with the team and all the family that had come to the game. We chatted a bit while I was enjoying the good food (I'm not too impressed by the food in the cafeteria, but Americans make good homemade food). After that we honored our seniors, thanked them for all they had done and then thanked the coaches too. It was a great way to end season.

One more game to go!

Staying up late with Riley and Paige to pimp the locker room up

On our way to Stake 'N Shake. Since it was Halloween, most people in the Steak 'N Shake were dressed up in their Halloween costumes. There was this one creepy guy, sitting alone in the corner, I think he was dressed up as a vampire? Anyways, he was laughing in a creepy way every time someone walked past him. Yeah, creepy.

Breakfast! Not much different than breakfast before most home games. The highlight was that Megan and Casey were fighting over a yoghurt (at least that's what I think they were doing) and that the yoghurt exploded on them. They had yoghurt all over them.

Preparing in the locker room!

Our "tunnel": all the seniors got a bouquet of flowers from coach, after which they walked through the tunnel while someone summed up all their on and off field achievements and thanked them for all they've done.

The game! Sadly, we lost 6-0...

The parents brought homemade food. So I had a lot.

Honoring the seniors. I'm going to miss you all!

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Every Day Life

Hi guys! It's been forever, I'm so sorry. I accidentally broke my laptop-charger and had to order a new one, which is why I haven't been able to use my laptop for three weeks and why I haven't updated in so long and which is my this will be such a long post with lots and lots of pictures :)

The last few weeks have been stuffed: I'm always busy doing something.

We have had lots of field hockey related things to do and are nearing the end of season. We have had practice four times a week, have had lifting once a week and have had about two games a week. Usually, we get dinner just before or after practice with the team. We've been doing great as a team: we're entering the NCAA tournament in about a week, and will be playing our first tournament game against Kenyon. Luckily, I'm getting more and more used to the hour-long bus rides to the games. The team has had multiple get togethers with the fans (family and friends;) and often hangs out and goes out together: we are, after all, a big group of friends.

My courses have been fine and I'm glad that the midterms are over. I only have 12 hours of classes a week, but that doesn't mean that I'm not busy: every hour of class will leave you with two hours of homework. I'm big on procrastinating, and am making a bad habit out of taking naps in between classes and practice, so I often end up doing my homework until after midnight. This is probably the reason that I nap so often.

One of the things that I love most about Wittenberg is that there is always something to do. These past few weeks I've been to comedians, have watched many sports games, have had pizza-tastings and have witnessed many activities, such as the zombie-games in my own dorm. I especially love watching sports games: the sports atmosphere in America is amazing and it's fun to do with friends. Today, for example, was Alex (another international) his last soccer game for Wittenberg. Obviously a lot of internationals went to the game together. It was fun cheering the team on, eating snacks and freaking the other audience members out by speaking in different languages.

Last week, we had a four-day break better known as fall break. I really needed the break and it was great to leave campus for a bit. I spent the first day having a game, doing some grocery shopping and going out. Since most people (except for some of the athletes and internationals) left campus to visit their families and friends, campus was kind of empty and there weren't a lot of parties. The soccer team and the field hockey team (what was left of it that is) teamed up and had a party together, which was lots of fun. Just like most parties I hung out a bit and played some drinking games. And I once again ended up streaking…

The second day, I spent with Sarah and Sam, two of my friends. We went to Easton, a shopping area in Colombus, and had lots of fun. We all ended up buying a lot of new clothes, we ended up going to the movies (we went to Guardians of the Galaxy, which I found a pretty funny movie) and we ended up doing some more shopping in Springfield, after which we had dinner at Chipotle. I tend to go to Chipotles a lot…

I spent the third day with Sally, my host family. We went to The Greens, a shopping area closer to Springfield, and did some clothes-shopping there. I had my first frozen yoghurt and I can promise you that I'm getting more this year. After shopping at The Greens, we went to Columbus and did some shopping at stores like Target, which has become my favorite store. Dinner was amazing: we went to this steak-house that had better food than I had ever expected to eat in a not-overpriced American restaurant. 

The last day of fall break, the team had practice again. I ended up spending the day doing homework, playing field hockey and sleeping.

This weekend was homecoming weekend. Campus was unbelievably full - alumnus and their families, friends and families of current students and townies (people from Springfield who have nothing to do with Wittenberg) were everywhere. We had our homecoming game (a Football game), which we won, there were even more events than usually and there were even more parties than usually. I wasn't allowed to drink (we're in dry-season at the moment because we're entering the tournament, which means that we aren't allowed to drink any alcohol) but had a blast anyways: I think I've been to at least five different parties, and each one of them was fun.

I've been talking to my family on Skype at least once a week and I do miss them a lot. They are great though and always know how to crack me up. I'm glad that all is well back home. My dad has been helping me choosing my subjects for next semester (I'm planning on doing community service, following psychology, microbiology and calculus) and is helping me make a plan for next year. I didn't realize that I already had to start thinking about this: time flies! I feel like I only arrived yesterday, but I'm already at one fourth of my year. Time really goes fast when you're having a great time.

Dinner with the team

Family gathering with the team

Classroom session with the team

A bus ride to a game - I usually end up spending the entire time chatting, napping, listening to music and playing games on my phone

Getting ready for a game!

Getting ready for our second game against Earlham - it's save to say that we spent most of the time doing things that are not related to field hockey. At all. 

Studying at Post with some friends

What my desk usually looks like

The sororities and fraternities are going through the informal process of getting new members at the moment, and are having lots of charity events. Posters of these events can be found anywhere on campus.

Homecoming weekend!

One of the homecoming parties - this one was in the blue house, also known as the Fiji's house (a fraternity)

The international picnic! Internationals from all years and their host families got together and had a picnic near a lake. I chatted with many internationals, some that I knew before and some that I met that very day, we played frisbee, soccer and ate great food. Even though it was really cold, I had a great day.

Squirrels - they're everywhere.

Alex his last soccer game for Wittenberg! 

A lot of the internationals came to Alex his game to cheer him on for the last time. We lost, but had lots of fun anyways.

I for some reason eat a lot of Chipotle at the moment.

I love you mom and dad :)

So… This week, I held a snake for the first time. Honestly it was great - Carl was cute, soft and cute.

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