Bars, Beers, and Bare Feet
Ok so heres a “chilled” post about life at Rhodes. I’ve been here roughly 3 weeks and I’ve learned (and I’m still learning) some of the Rhodes culture. First off, everything is “chilled” not chill. Heres a list of the top 10 most interesting things I’ve encountered, seen, or have been told by Rhodes University Students:
1. The drinking age in South Africa is 18, thus when you go to a bar you really can’t distinguish who’s a baby and who’s a grad student (or “post-grad” as the call them here).
2. They have really funky names/terms for things that I never thought could have another name. Examples: bathing suite= swim costume/cozzy, traffic light=robot, bro/brah=bru, very soon=now-now, later, but not to far away= just-now, BBQ= braai, sorry to hear that= shame, dorm=res, The list goes on for days.
3. Don’t tell your friends, or anyone, that you’re taking a nap! It means you’re going to go sleep with someone, and not in the literal sense of the word. So for the first week we all told people that we were taking naps everyday... awkward.
4. If you’re a girl its taboo to order/drink beer. I still don’t understand this, but it would definitely make sense as to why all the international girls were getting weird looks from the bartenders when they ordered beer.
5. Boys have bars in their res’, they don’t have to sign in gusts, and don’t have quiet hours (sexist much Rhodes?!).
6. They don’t have pop-tarts, but boy do they want them. I had a 30 minute conversation with my friend Sam about pop-tarts because she had no idea what they were but had always heard them mentioned on American TV shows. And its not just pop-tarts, everything from red solo cups to Reese’s, they want to experience it all.
7. Yes, they do watch American TV. More than I do actually.
8. THEY ALL DRESS SO WELL. South Africa, or at least Rhodes University may be the capital of hipster nation. Seriously, all I brought were basics and I feel so boring next to their beautifully crafted outfits. Its like an Urban Outfitters catalog up in here.
9. People don’t wear shoes. Rhodes was/is a huge hippie campus and some people just don’t wear shoes. Hipsters. Hipsters everywhere.
10. There’s a club for everything and anything you could ever want to do. Tonight I attended wine tasting night hosted by, you guessed it, the wine tasting club! When I say a club for everything I mean a club for everything: surfing, animal rights, rugby, canoeing, underwater hockey, toastmasters (public speaking club), poetry, math, HIV/AIDS awareness, debate, religion, etc.
1. The drinking age in South Africa is 18, thus when you go to a bar you really can’t distinguish who’s a baby and who’s a grad student (or “post-grad” as the call them here).
2. They have really funky names/terms for things that I never thought could have another name. Examples: bathing suite= swim costume/cozzy, traffic light=robot, bro/brah=bru, very soon=now-now, later, but not to far away= just-now, BBQ= braai, sorry to hear that= shame, dorm=res, The list goes on for days.
3. Don’t tell your friends, or anyone, that you’re taking a nap! It means you’re going to go sleep with someone, and not in the literal sense of the word. So for the first week we all told people that we were taking naps everyday... awkward.
4. If you’re a girl its taboo to order/drink beer. I still don’t understand this, but it would definitely make sense as to why all the international girls were getting weird looks from the bartenders when they ordered beer.
5. Boys have bars in their res’, they don’t have to sign in gusts, and don’t have quiet hours (sexist much Rhodes?!).
6. They don’t have pop-tarts, but boy do they want them. I had a 30 minute conversation with my friend Sam about pop-tarts because she had no idea what they were but had always heard them mentioned on American TV shows. And its not just pop-tarts, everything from red solo cups to Reese’s, they want to experience it all.
7. Yes, they do watch American TV. More than I do actually.
8. THEY ALL DRESS SO WELL. South Africa, or at least Rhodes University may be the capital of hipster nation. Seriously, all I brought were basics and I feel so boring next to their beautifully crafted outfits. Its like an Urban Outfitters catalog up in here.
9. People don’t wear shoes. Rhodes was/is a huge hippie campus and some people just don’t wear shoes. Hipsters. Hipsters everywhere.
10. There’s a club for everything and anything you could ever want to do. Tonight I attended wine tasting night hosted by, you guessed it, the wine tasting club! When I say a club for everything I mean a club for everything: surfing, animal rights, rugby, canoeing, underwater hockey, toastmasters (public speaking club), poetry, math, HIV/AIDS awareness, debate, religion, etc.
And there you have it, a little summery of Rhodes life.
Cheers,
A chilled American
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| Our first night out in Grahamstown at the famous "The Rat and Parrot" |
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