Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • In the words of Nelson Mandela, “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity”
  • Flooding at the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works
  • Avbob 2023 Poetry Competition Second Place: Jeannie Wallace McKeown
  • Avbob 2023 Poetry Competition Winner: Sithembele Isaac Xhegwana
  • Residents of Extensions Nine, 10, Transit Camp, Phumlani and Enkanini voice discontent!
  • Makhanda Creatives Speak Out
  • Running towards a drug and alcohol-free Makhanda
  • What’s On 23 – 30 March
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»Uncategorized»O-term? Oh no!
Uncategorized

O-term? Oh no!

Grocott's MailBy Grocott's MailAugust 6, 2013No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

"O-term" is upon us and while this may strike fear into the hearts of many Grahamstown residents, it spells only delight for many students at Rhodes University.

"O-term" is upon us and while this may strike fear into the hearts of many Grahamstown residents, it spells only delight for many students at Rhodes University.

How this term differs from previous terms is beyond me, as far as I can tell, nothing has changed. The same people go out to the same places.

The Rat and Parrot makes a killing before the crowds move on to Friars, and the drunk and debauched then stumble on to Mon, known to people over 30 as ‘The Monastery’, at around 2am.

They drink the same beverages in the same quantity (beer; as much as they can). They arrive at lectures looking their usual selves (road kill looks better). They do as much work as they did last semester (just enough to be allowed to write the exams).

Wednesdays remain the mid-week break from sobriety and Fridays will always be a celebration of a week done and a weekend of regret to come.

Why the invention of O-term is brought over from previous years is a mystery. Since when have students, at any university anywhere in the world, needed an excuse to go out and have a good time?

Why it holds on so resolutely to it’s name is also bizarre. ‘O-week’ made sense, which stands for Orientation Week (during which students learn the geographical orientation of New Street and are required to make life choices with a hangover).

‘Orientation Term’ in third term though?

If you aren’t well oriented with campus and Grahamstown by now the probability that you have missed the boat is about 100%.

What is it about our lives that make it necessary to go out drinking every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday all year and, as if we need an excuse, to declare July and August a time of non-stop ‘maring’ as well? (For the uninitiated, ‘maring’ is derived from the word ‘mare’ which itself is shortened from ‘nightmare’, the insinuation being that you have such a good time that it could be likened to a nightmare. I’m not sure where the logic is in this either).

In 2009 a Drinkaware survey of British teens found that 29% of teens drink because they are bored. Are we bored and therefore drinking as the survey suggests?

Are we alcoholics as Rhodes critics accuse?

Are we afraid of facing the reality of completing essays while sober because Philosophy actually only makes sense when sloshed?

Or are we simply suffering from "Fomo" (Fear Of Missing Out) to such an extent that every opportunity to go out must be taken, lest we miss ‘The Best Night Ever’?

Perhaps it’s just good old peer-pressure?

Heaven forbid we should arrive in lectures on Thursday afternoon unable to contribute our number of alcohol units consumed the night before to the discussion underway.

O-term has begun and whatever our reasons, Rhodes students will continue to behave as they have always done. Some will drink to excess and some will remain hidden in their books.

A lucky few will find the middle ground.

They say it’s hidden somewhere between the last word of the essay due on Monday and the first glass of wine when the essay is done.

That’s just a rumour though.

Previous Article65-day cycle for charity
Next Article Addo rangers on the frontline
Grocott's Mail

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.