"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.
