Pre-Season & New Student Day

My roommate, Rayika, arrived last sunday. I'm so happy that she came in early as well (she's an international student from India) because the room is now less empty and lonely and she's the nicest girl. She also brought lots of food, which I think is great. I also met the other new international students: they are so nice. There are girls from Japan, there is a girl from France, Russia, India (Rayika), somewhere in Africa, a boy from Switzerland (Alex, who is also in my OA group), a boy from South-Africa, India, Ecuador and many others from different countries. There are three other Dutchies: Carlijn, who is practically my neighbor and is also in the hockey team, Anne and Marisha.

I met my host family last tuesday. Since me and Carlijn have very few time and get along really well, we decided to 'share' our host family. She is such a nice woman. Her name is Sally and she's a professor and chairwoman at Wittenberg University. She lives close to campus, loves sports (she'll watch most of our games, how sweet!) and already invited us over for breaks. Everyone is so open and friendly and inviting here! I think I've already had four invitations for the breaks, and I haven't even met my classmates yet. The freshmen (there are 500 or 600 of them!) moved in yesterday, so I'm sure I'll meet lots of them in the following days.

Pre-season is tough (I'm so sore) and the fact that I have the New (both normal and International) Student Days only makes it more exhausting. For example, yesterday (thursday), I had to wake up at 4.45 AM, be in the training room (to see the sports doctor, I probably strained my hamstring) at 5.15 AM and be on the field at 6.00 AM. After two hours of practice (we always wear an uniform at practice), we had breakfast, a one hour break and a pool workout (which is harder than it looks) at 10.30 AM. We had lunch at 11.30 AM, the New Student Days program from 1.00 PM to 4.00 PM, practice from 4.00 PM to 6.00 PM (freshmen came in late) and dinner with the team at 6.30 PM. After dinner, it was just the New Student Program: we had a meeting with our RA's at 8.00 PM and went to the hypnotist from 9.30 PM to 11.30 PM. Just a normal day in pre-season you guys, but don't get me wrong: it's a lot of fun too. We've had lots of fun at team dinners, bonfires and the hypnotist and everyone is so nice: the team really is like a family already.

The hypnotist was the coolest thing: so many people were actually hypnotized and doing the weirdest things! I didn't believe in hypnotism before, but I sure do now. I was hypnotized for about two minutes, after which some people in the audience got me out of my concentration by laughing at me and the other teammates that were in a 'trance'. It was the weirdest thing: everything went blurry and white, after which I felt like I was surrounded by fog and couldn't really see anymore. That's when I was brought out of my concentration, so I hadn't followed any of the tasks the hypnotist gave us yet. It felt so good. 

My practice uniform! #18

Campfire with the team

Some really long speech

The hypnotist - The coolest thing ever

Read More

Springfield: Wittenberg University!

Last tuesday, I moved in to my dorm room. My roommate won't arrive until tomorrow (sunday). The dorm room is in New Hall, which is the newest (and nicest) hall of them all. My mom and sister helped me unpack my stuff and we went to get some last things at Walmart. When my room was ready and I was 'moved in', the three of us went to a deli not too far off campus to meet the Field Hockey team. I met a lot of new people and everybody was so nice: I got super excited to be part of the team (or family as they call themselves). 

The day after move-in-day, the team had paperwork day. We had breakfast at 7.30 AM in the CDR (the campus cafeteria), which is 50 steps from my dorm which is great. We spent the rest of the day going over papers, signing them, getting health-checks, doing some health tests and of course getting to know each other better. We also got to see our locker room, lockers and uniforms: they are awesome.

Today was the first day of practice. We had to get up at 5 AM and be at Hyper (the athletic center) at 6 AM to get our two miles run: we had to run two hilly miles (3,2km) in less than 16 minutes (which I did not make at all, it took me 17 minutes something). One girl pooped her pants and another peed in her pants (both are the cutest and nicest but of course athletic girls) and I almost peed mine too: I had to stop walking for a while to keep it in. So yeah, it was hard.

We had breakfast, a reading discussion and a one hour break. I took a quick shower and met up with my mom and sister for the last time in a really long time. My mom had to cry when we had to say goodbye, but that was only because she loves me so much. I love you mom and Juul!

After I said my goodbyes, the team went on a hike. The hike was really pretty and we went shopping in a hippie kind of street afterwards, so that was cool. After the hike we had a one and a half hour break in which I went to Target to get some spandex shorts and flip-flops. Then the real deal began: we had a two hour turf practice on the Football Field (BTW There are over a hundred football players, while you only have 11 players in the field. All hundred something had training before we did, and it looked awful: so many people got injured and vomited and stuff. I guess they need a lot of back-up players for a sport this tough.) 

I was already tired and sore, so I was exhausted after turf practice. Even though we've only had one day of pre-season, I can already tell that it's going to be tough, exhausting, tiring and painful, but fun.

My dorm room - Still a bit empty

The CDR (cafeteria)

The Field Hockey Lockerroom

Hiking with the team in Yellow Springs

Read More

Columbus - Day 3 & 4 + Tanger Outlet

On day 3 in Columbus, my mom had a lot of work to do and the hotel room still smelled like smoke. This is why Julie and I spent hours exploring the gym, pool and supermarket. The gym and pool were empty, so we used all the space we could get to do… nothing really. After a couple of hours we got bored and went to a Wholefoods Supermarket, a biological supermarket, to get our lunch. 

After our lunch, my mom was done working and we decided to pay Easton another visit. We went to a candy store and some clothes stores, but the candy store was definitely the coolest. Because we went to Easton before, we didn't spent too long there. We went to my all time favorite American restaurant Steak 'n Shake and decided to go to bed early.

We spent most of our fourth day in Columbus in the Columbus Museum of Art, an amazing museum with lots of cool do-it-yourself's (we made some art pieces ourselves), interactive art pieces and paintings. Mom even got dressed up. The nice lady that gave us our tickets heard about me going to Wittenberg University and got me a host family while we were in the museum, how sweet!

When we had seen all of the museum, we went from one big store (Five Below) to another big store (Target) to get some presents for the family and to get some last things for my dorm room, which will be my room in two days!

On Wednesday, it was time to go to Springfield. We went to the Tanger Outlet on the way to Springfield (not really on the way, but it was close enough) and spent hours in many stores, which resulted in buying a lot of new jeans, shirts, jackets, etc. for not only ourselves, but for my dad, brother and sister as well. After a lot of puzzling we were able to get everything in the car. We can't deny looking (and acting) a bit like shopaholics.

Our hotel room in Columbus

The Candy Factory in Easton

Steak 'n Shake - Best milkshakes ever

Mom dresses up nicely in The museum of Art in Columbus

The museum of Art in Columbus

We might've went overboard with the shopping..

Read More

Columbus - Day 1 & 2

After waking up at the Homewood Suites hotel in Columbus, the three of us went shopping in Easton, a shopping area in Columbus. We spent hours in the Barnes & Noble, Abercrombie & Fitch, Forever XXI, Victoria Secret and H&M and went home with many bags. It's safe to say that we acted a bit like shopaholics going on a shop therapy session. Since the three of us are not too impressed by the American kitchen, we decided to skip dinner.

The second day in Columbus we were planning to rent bicycles and see a bit more of downtown Columbus. We had brunch at a cute American cafe and enthusiastically planned our route. Sadly, the rental company didn't accept European credit cards. We were quite disappointed but decided to drive our route by car.

Our first (and last) stop on the route was the COSI Science Center/ museum. We were planning on visiting COSI for two hours tops, but ended up spending most of our day here. We spend hours in this interactive center, doing tests, playing games and learning more about many different subjects such as energy, the ocean etc.

When we had seen most of the museum, it was time to go shopping for my dorm room. We went to a Walmart Supercenter and came home with almost two full shopping carts filled with pillows, lamps, school supplies, shampoos and many other items. 

When we arrived back at our hotel, it was already past 11 PM. We were pretty hungry, so we decided to make some sausage rolls. The rolls were in the oven for a couple of minutes, when suddenly one roll started to smoke really badly (there wasn't a fire). Before we realized what was happening, the smoke alarm went off and the hotel was evacuated. After a nice conversation with three reallyyyy big firefighters, the hotel guests were able to go back to their room. We decided we didn't feel like eating sausage rolls anymore and had some lemonade instead.

The Victoria Secret in Easton

We did some shopping, yeah..

COSI

COSI

COSI

Read More

Departure

Today was my last day (at least for a while) in the Netherlands. Most of my stuff, after some struggling, was packed into two big suitcases. After checking them in, we went to Starbucks where a couple of friends surprised me by stopping by to wave me goodbye. Yoren, Hugo, Martine, Lotte and Hannah: you guys are the best! After some catching up it was really time to get to my gate. After a lot of hugs, kisses and some small tears, my mom, Julie and I got on our plane to the U.S.A. 

After arriving and eating in Washington D.C. it was time for me to get to my transfer flight (my mom and Julie had a different connecting flight). I'm not sure how this happened, but it turned out that all three of our suitcases were on my plane. So after arriving in Columbus and finding the baggage claim, I had to walk through half the airport with three suitcases and my own hand-luggage. Imagine my horror: I haven't been able to go to the toilet in six hours because I can't leave four big pieces of luggage alone. 

So here I am - twenty-two hours after arriving at Schiphol, in Columbus - waiting for Caroline and Julie to arrive so we can get to our hotel, or, if it's up to them, to get to the nearest Walmart. But being as excited as I am to start with college, I don't really care what their plan is ;)

Checking in at Schiphol

Having Starbucks with some friends that I won't see for eleven months!

I'm going to miss my family.. I love you guys!

Read More