Thanksgiving Break: Indianapolis and Chicago!

A while ago, we got a couple of days off: it was Thanksgiving break! A lot of students decided to just skip their monday and tuesday classes to go home early, but most people their break started tuesday, after their classes. Me and Riley left right after our Public Speaking class, heading towards her family in Thanksgiving to celebrate (my first) Thanksgiving!

On the first day, we didn't really do anything. We spent the entire day as couch potatoes, watching episode after episode of American Horror Story. The only other things we did that day were eating and going to the cinema to watch Mockingjay (which was a pretty cool movie).

The second day was Thanksgiving. We rolled out of bed around noon and spent the rest of the day eating lots of traditional food, getting to know each other and playing games.

The day after Thanksgiving was Black Friday: most stores had crazy stores, which in turn attracted crazy people. We drove to Chicago early in the morning and by the time we arrived, the craziness was already at its high. We spent the weekend wandering and shopping in Chicago.

Indianapolis

Chicago at night

Chicago's nightlife

Walking from one part of Chicago to another

Iceskating rink in the Millennium Park

Chicago Museum of Art

Dinner with the family

Riley & I in the hotel we were staying at

On our way back to Springfield

Read More

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.

Read More