Homecoming

What is homecoming exactly?

Homecoming is about American football. So there is the answer to the question, "Do you have homecoming in The Netherlands?" Multiple people have asked me and I get why, because it is such a big thing in The USA.

I think I can say the homecoming is a little bit like prom, because we also have a dance and a queen. We do not have a homecoming king at PHS, no we have our Mister Football. Mr. Football is a football player (obviously) and he is voted on by the football team and probably the best football player or the most popular one. The homecoming queen is voted on by the whole school.

So homecoming is about the last home football game traditionally. For Princeville High School our homecoming is not the last home game, that is because the last football game is Senior Night. For the game lots of former students come back. That is why it is called homecoming, because former students come back home.

To get into the school spirit for the Homecoming game, there is a whole week filled with fun things and because of those things school spirit arises.

Our homecoming week planning was super full but so much fun:

Monday, September 18th:

Disney day

So every day there is a theme, and the purpose is that people dress up in that theme. Our first day of homecoming week was Disney Day. The purpose of that day was that everyone would dress up as a Disney-character. People put so much effort in it I was so amazed. It was so cool! It was more weird if you were not dressed up, than if you were. I was dressed up as Cinderella and to be honest I had the worst costume ever, but I did walk around with one shoe all day (except when we had to go to the green house, I was not going to do that with one shoe). That really made my costume. It was funny though.

I think that the best costume that I saw was a guy who dressed up as Russell from UP. The joke about it is that guy is seriously a member of the boy scouts. He really looked like Russell, only he is a little bit bigger.

Alyssa, my sister, was dressed up as Boo from Monsters Inc. She looked so cute, but I think that Boo was one of the most popular costumes.

Griffin was not dressed up at all, but Sonja still wanted a picture of him.

Like I said my costume was not super pretty, but it was creative.

Volleyball game Galva

The Volleyball game at Galva was not necessarily a part of homecoming week because it was not a home game but still. Galva is just like us a little town and I think that you would spend 40 minutes driving from Princeville to Galva, which is not that bad for America. For the Netherlands that would be extremely far.

We are always super early at the place where we have to play because the Freshmen team & the JV team have to play before we do. Mostly the Varsity team is just sitting on the bleachers working on some homework and watching the game a little bit. While I was watching the Freshmen team I thought I saw someone I knew in Galva's team, someone I knew from EF,but because I am mostly not so good at recognizing people I thought I was wrong and that it was not that girl. Well I was. One of my Dutch friends attends Galva and I found out this week. I love talking to her in Dutch, because I sort of miss doing that sometimes. We took some pictures and I also talked to her family which was a lot of fun too.

Oh by the way the Varsity team won the volleyball game in 2 sets. We won the first sets pretty easy I have to say. The second set, ohhh that got close at the end. I think we ended up winning 25-27, so that is good, but Galva made sure to make the game exciting.

This is me and my Dutch friend. I really love to see all the Dutchies again.

Tuesday,September 19th:

90's TV show day

I did not really like the 90's TV show theme, because I did not really know what to do with it. So I dressed up as someone in the background of That 70's Show. You can ask me "Lieve 70's and 90's is something else, why?" Well That 70's Show was on TV in the 90's which makes it a 90's TV show.

Alyssa was dressed up as Monica from Friends. I think we all know Friends and if you do not pease Google it because you are missing something. It is such a fun show, I really love it.

I do not look good in one of the pictures which we took before school because of our costumes, because I am not a morning person that is my excuse.

Powderpuff football

I think everyone knows what American Football is. I have no idea how to explain it, so if you do not know what American football is. You can Google it, because if I try to explain it all, I will not succeed. I am just a foreigner who's knowledge about football is gaining every game. Okay, so Powderpuff football. That is not a normal football game because normal football is played by boys. Powderpuff football is played by girls. Of course I signed up do play along, because I want to do as many things as possible.

So at our school Powderpuff is played first, Juniors against Freshmen, and then Seniors against Sophomores. So as a Junior or Senior you really do not want to lose, because than some underclassmen have beaten you.

Every game that is played is 15 minutes long and the game is played from the 50 yard line till one of the end zones (if I am right). Also we were not allowed to tackle anyone. That is why we have the red things around our waist, if someone pulls those of we have to start over again from were the flag was pulled. So you would think that it is not super aggressive or something, but because people get competitive it can be aggressive. A few years ago someone broke her collarbone. The Powderpuff game also gives you points for Spirit Night and every class wants to win Spirit Night (it is kind of an honor).

On the picture you can see all the Junior girls that played Powderpuff football this year, the guys on the pictures are boys who actually play football. They coached us during the game.

So the first game was between the Juniors (my class) and the Freshmen. No one, seriously no one, wanted to lose this game to the Freshmen, because that would have been kind of embarrassing. So we as Juniors did the best we could and we won with 14-0.

I was pretty happy when I found out that we won.

After our game the Senior played against the Sophomores. Of course the Seniors won, because the referees are kind of in favor of the Seniors. It is their last year and they are the oldest. The Seniors did not just win because the referees were in there favor, but wow they were competitive. They really really wanted to win. I do love school spirit.

So the Seniors won their game and the Juniors won their game, so the Juniors played a game for 1st and 2nd place against the Seniors. My gosh, everyone was so competitive. During all the homecoming activities where the classes competed against each other, there was a kind of war vibe between the Juniors and the Seniors. Probably because we all want to win, really badly.

Well the Juniors played against the Senior and actually everyone already knew the Seniors were going to win, but who cares all I wanted to do was to have fun.

So the game began, oh and everyone was competitive oehh. I did not play during the finale, but I did scream my throat out, that was my contribution to the game.

Like I said this game was super competitive, all the girls were running as hard as they could, trying to take shortcuts. Well because of that two girls ran into each other and one of them got knocked down. She got so lucky she did not have a concussion or anything.

Well eventually the Seniors won the finale with 14-7. I had a ton of fun and I am kind of said that this was just for one time. I do not know if I would sign up if Football was also for girls, but I do think a lot of girls would have a ton of fun.

Wednesday, September 20th:

All around the world day

The theme of our whole homecoming was All Around The World, so of course there had to be a day with that theme to so that we could dress as a different culture or country. For me that was kind of easy. Of course I chose The Netherlands! Holland 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Holland 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻. So I ordered a Dutch shirt on Amazon and I was bright orange for All Around The World Day. The Netherlands is spelled as Nederland by the way because that is how you would write The Netherlands in Dutch.

Maybe I have done something more but for me this was a good way of showing the pride for my country.

We had an other exchange student at school and she is from Norway. So she walked around with mittens and a Norwegian flag. She made the mittens herself on the airplane to America, I was impressed, but then again she impresses me quite some time.

Volleyball game Whetersfield

So we had an home game against Whetersfield in our Homecoming week. To be honest that is not really a good thing. You would thing that it is but no. The school spirit was amazing and the mob was huge, but oh my Whetersfield is good. We, as the varsity volleyball team, already knew that because we played them once before. The have a super good middle hitter, if you pass a ball that she hits, you did a really amazing job. Oh and Whetersfield is undefeated (they still are...).

This is a rare thing, but I was actually kind of nervous before this game, even though I do not even play I just sit on the bench, screaming.

During every home game a lot of students come to watch the game. That group of students is called The Maroon Mob. Maroon because our school colors are maroon and white. I am pretty happy about that because I think that maroon is a very pretty color and white, is just white.

The theme of the Maroon Mob for the game was WHITE OUT. Which was not that creative, because at the home game before the Whetersfield game the theme was BLACK OUT. But it was still fun that many people were there and that there was a theme, a theme makes a mob look more united.

In this game we had nothing to lose, nothing nothing at all. So we went for it, but we kind of got knocked down. We lost the first set with I think (I am not sure because it is a while ago since we played that game) 15-25 and the second with 17-25. We did not even make it to 3 sets, that would have been amazing though, but no.

Even though we lost that game pretty hard, I was super proud of our team. They played so good, it was hard yes and we did not win but still the Varsity team played amazing.

Something weird about Whetersfields volleyball teams is that the Freshmen team is not good, neither is the JV team, but oh my... the Varsity team amazing. It is so weird that the difference between those teams is so big.

Thursday, September 21st:

Class Day

Thursday was class day. What that means is that everyone in school wears the color of there class.

Seniors --> Black

Juniors --> Yellow

Sophomore --> Purple

Freshmen --> Pink

My whole class wore yellow well not everyone because not everyone had the color yellow in their closet. It was pretty cool to see all the different colors. The thing is that there was a big separation between every class. During the day that was not necessarily a bad thing, for me it was actually pretty handy because till that time I still did not know if that one person was a Senior or a Sophomore. During the night it got intense, but that is spirit night so I will talk about that later.

On this day we were able to show our pride for being a Junior. We are kind of a big deal. I love the shirts which are designed special for the Juniors. They are really, really yellow though.

Spirit Night

Oehhhhh Spirit Night. Well that was not just something. I think I can say that winning Spirit Night is the most important thing ever in Homecoming week. Next to winning the Homecoming game, but winning the homecoming game that is something we do as a school. Winning Spirit Night is something you do as a class. So oh my... there was a big separation between the classes, Juniors were Juniors and nothing else. Spirit Night equals war between the classes. This year it was really extreme between the Senior and the Juniors (oh my...), the reason why because everyone wanted to win very badly.

During spirit night there are several activities for which you can score points. We all wore our class colors and you could feel the tension between the different classes.

I introduce to you the class of 2019

The activities were:

Tug A War

For the people who do not know what a Tug A War is. It is a game were two people pull at different sides of a rope to get the middle over a line. In Dutch it is touwtrekken. I was in Tug A War, oh that was so much fun. A not so fun thing about Tug A War though, my hands hurt so bad. It actually surprised me that I did not have any blisters on my hands.

So the first game the Juniors played against the Freshmen, and we were not going to lose that game. So we did not, we won and pretty fast to. I would have been a miracle if the Freshmen would've defeated us.

After the Junior - Freshman game the Seniors played against the Sophomores, just like the Powderpuff football game. After a little bit of a struggle the Seniors won and I was not really happy with that because we probably would have defeated the Sophomores, not that I want to brag but they are underclassmen.

Well we had to Tug A War against the Seniors. Oh I wanted to win so badly like super badly. The class which won would play a Tug A War against the whole faculty. I heard no one ever won that game.

We started playing the finale and that was tough. We pulled as hard as we could, until our hands hurt so much. The Seniors were really strong and the strong guy on our team lost his footing at one point. Well that was the moment we lost... Kind of a bummer but I had a lot of fun. The Seniors could not stop saying that they won in the Tug A War not even after they lost in different things.

Caterpillar Race

The Caterpillar Race. I had never even heard of that. Four people of each class race against each other, but they not just run back and forth. Well they do fun while they are wearing pantyhose. So one person has one leg in one side of the pantyhose and the other person has one leg in the other side of the pantyhose. Imagine that with four people.

It was hilarious, because it is not that simple to run with four people in three pantyhose. Oh and also, the most funny thing of this whole thing was when the Freshmen were running and one of them fell and pushed the other three on the ground too. It was so funny, probably because they were Freshmen!

Juggling

I think this was one of the coolest things of the whole spirit night. During the sign-ups for the Spirit Night (because you had to sign-up for the activities) we needed someone who could juggle. We could not find anyone so we just started signing up random people. After the girls left with the sign-up sheet I asked my friend Nadia, as a joke, if she was able to juggle, because we needed someone. And she said "Yes, I can juggle". I was totally amazed. As fast as I could I went to the girls with the sign-up sheet and I changed the people for juggling.

The thing was everyone knew that the Seniors were going to win the juggling contest, because they have a pro in juggling. That guys have won the past 2 years, but he did not win in his Freshmen year because he was not allowed to juggle with one hand. Yes he is on that level, the chance that we would beat that kid was small (well it was in our head).

It was time for the juggling contest and every one was super excited because that is just the spirit during Spirit Night. People started juggling and really fast the majority of the people dropped one of their balls and had to leave the contest, but not Nadia and the guy who represented the Seniors. At first they just had to stand while juggling, but that took to long to than they had to walk. That also did not make Nadia or the Senior drop one of their balls. But than they had to stand on one leg... That was something, balance is a tricky thing.

So there they were 2 people juggling on one leg. People described Nadia as a flamingo who was just standing there counting how many balls she threw up. Next to her was the Senior hoping and moving, oh I do not know what he was doing. He did a great job though.

I think we (like the whole school) watched them for 5 minutes maybe and they someone dropped one of their balls. The thing is it was not Nadia. The Juniors had won this contest, we had won!! Because of Nadia, an exchange student from Norway. We defeated the Seniors and oh we were so happy. The thing only was we were not done with Spirit Night yet we still had some game/contests to go.

Water balloon toss

For the water balloon toss two people of each class play this game. And they toss a water balloon back and forth until it breaks, the class who breaks their water balloon last wins. The thing is though that every time they succeed to toss the balloon right the participants have to take a step back. So every time they toss the balloon it is further and further away.

Whipped cream bubblegum

This was one of the weird games. Every team had four participants, two of them hold a plate full of whipped cream. Somewhere in the whipped cream is a bubblegum ball. The 2 other people have to find the bubblegum ball with their mouths and blow a bubble. Let's go Junior, because we won!

Hula-hoop

Pretty self explanitory I think. The person who can Hula-hoop for the longest time wins. The Junior class did not win this part, I think it were the Senior who did, but we did end up 3rd.

Frozen T-shirt

This sounds so weird, a frozen T-shirt contest. I have to be honest before I went to the US I had know idea this even excited. So okay, for this contest every class lets 4 people play. Those four people get a frozen T-shirt which is rolled up. The four people who are playing this game have to unroll the T-shirt and someone has to put it one. Only when someone is really wearing the shirt, your class has won. This sounds pretty easy but to unroll those T-shirts are really hard to unroll. Eventually the Junior class because 3rd I think. That was because a girl was wearing the shirt but she was not able to put her arm through one of the holls.

At the end they revealed the winner, and may I remind you that the class of '19 became last each year they participated in the spirit night. So the referee started to tell us which class got which place.

" 4th place --> Freshmen" When he said this we were already very happy that we did not lose.

" 3rd place --> Sophomore" Yesssss

And now the exciting part arrived because if they tell you the 2nd place you know 1st place.

" 2nd place --> ...... Seniors" AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

" 1st place --> Juniors" AHHHH YES, WE WON!!!!

When we figured out we had won the class of '19 ran into the middle of the gym and started screaming and jumping. That was an awesome moment and it created an amazing memory.

Are you able to find me on the picture?

Friday, September 22nd:

Maroon and white day

"Yeah maroon, yeah white, yeah Princeville, fight fight fight"

That is what we yell after a touchdown (I think), after the band is done with playing the schoolsong. To be honest I have no clue what the lyrics is of the schoolsong, maybe I have to figure that one out.

So on maroon and white day you have to wear (really have to) maroon or white to support the football team. So that is what most people do, they wear a maroon or white Princeville shirt except for the football players and their dates. The football players wear their maroon jersey, because that is the jersey they play in during home games, and their dates to the homecoming dance wear their white jersey, which the football players wear to games at a different location. So I had a football player as my date to the homecoming dance. That guy is big, so I was kind op drowning in his jersey, but it was a lot of fun to be part of this tradition.

Homecoming game

The homecoming football game, that is what it is all about. We played this game against United and I have no clue were they are from. This was a pretty fun game, there were a lot of people because it is the football game of the season. Also the weirdest thing happened. Someone from United threw the ball into the face of someone from Princeville, then someone else from our team caught the ball, ran (let's say) 4 yards and he made a touchdown. It was pretty amazing. I am actually kind of surprised that I saw it happening, because mostly when cool things happen I always look the wrong way.

Eventually we won this game with 48-0. It was a pretty fun game! I think I say that about every football game which we have won, just because I really love going to football games. Football season is one to never forget.

Saturday, September 23rd:

Homecoming dance

The Homecoming dance is kind of a big deal (just like us Juniors). Girls pay $200 for their dress and then again $100 for their shoes or maybe even more, because why not it is homecoming. To be honest that was way to much for me. So I bought a $100 dress and $40 shoes. That was enough for me, because at the dance it self you do not wear your heels and people do not pay attention to your dress. Well not really they do pay attention but not that much. It was kind of funny though but I was wearing the same dress as two other girls at my homecoming dance. I got a picture with one of the girls and said to both of them that they had a pretty dress, because I do not really care if someone has the same dress as me. I think I just like that we have the same style, a way to become friends, right.

For me music is such a big part of a party. When the music is not good it is easy to say that the party sucks, so the DJ got a big responsibility. It would have not surprised me if, here in Princeville a country town, the DJ only played country music. Well it was not that bad and I knew the majority of the songs, I was really happy I could sing along with them.

A really funny thing is that there was line-dancing during the dance. I had never seen that before, line-dancing at a school dance. Because no one would ever do that in The Netherlands, well not in my area.

Before the dance it is a tradition to take pictures and then go to dinner. So we took pictures at 5:00 pm or something and they turned out great! Even though most parents just took the pictures with their phone. After the pictures we left for dinner, but we were really early even though to reservation was already at 6:15 pm which is not late at all either.

For dinner we went to a place called Knuckles in Dunlap. It is a cute little pizza place with really good pizza, so I was pretty happy that we had good food in a cute restaurant. I do not know why but a thing in the American culture is that the boys pay for the diner check. It does not bother me necessarily because I do not have to pay anything, but still the boys are not super lucky if someone wants to go to a fancy place.

Long story short, I had an awesome time at the Homecoming Dance.

On this picture you see me on the left and Nadia on the right, my Norwegian friend. The day after our calves bothered us both, because we jumped so much during the dance.