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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