With students returning to school frantic for a good time
(we all know Christmas Vacation gets quite
boring), the commencement of fraternity rush stomps all over the fun WashU
students are supposed to be having at the beginning of a new semester. While
the workload is still manageable enough for students to explore hedonistic exploits
more than 2 or 3 nights a week, all fraternity sponsored parties are suspended
so that we can man-flirt without “hindering the rushee’s judgment with alcohol.”
(hm.)
Whether you like it or not (every non-Greek at WashU: “OMG I
hate the frats!”), fraternity parties
are an integral part of the social scene here. Yes, they’re sweaty,
overpopulated and repetitive, but they get the job done on a Friday night. So
when the IFC bans almost all parties, get-togethers, mixers, etc., we all get a
bit antsy. We begin to get bitter towards rush. Things get weird. An anonymous
friend of mine had these fluid words to say about the unfortunate process:
“Fuck
freshmen. Honestly, just fuck the freshmen.”
Here are some (interesting?) options to pass the weekend evenings
during fraternity rush.
1. Hit the bar scene.
Do you love
spending $80 in a single night? Then cab from location to location in
excessively overpriced taxis (has anyone else noticed that the EXTRA on cabs
here are absolutely insane? If you have more than 2 people, the driver slaps on
an extra 12 bucks”¦). Once inside the
bar, try your best not to get disgustingly overheated despite the dangerously high
occupancy of Wash U students at favorite off-campus havens. Explain to your
parents later that you simply don’t know how that $80 disappeared off of your
debit card.
2. Experiment with strange Saint Louis
attractions”¦
Such as concerts
on the East Side! Are they dangerous? Certainly. But do they serve as simply
the best people-watching of our young lives? Absolutely. I had the pleasure of
going to and AWOLNATION concert for free the other night (courteousy of
REDBULL, who gave me a free media pass for being a commissioned Campus Basement
writer. No, I’m not kidding.) on the east side of town. I have had limited
experiences with the “alternative music scene” of the Midwest, but I speculate that
it might have been the most eclectic bunch of white people ever gathered in one
room. The bartendress looked eerily similar to Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler, the tattoos and mohawks were
frequent and multicolored, and the average male looked like a bouncer on Wash
Ave. If someone invites you to something as strange as this, you go, and you
enjoy.
3. Revert to the freshmen tendency of drinking
in your room.
Sit around on the
40, fight with the girls about who controls the music (I’m beginning to hate
Rihanna”¦or “Ri-Ri,” Christ.), sip-sip on some drank, and call it a night at
12:30 after eating an animalistic amount of fried food at Bear’s Den. Feel free
to act belligerently for a bit while you’re there ; we all understand that this
is a frustrating time.
That’s all I got. Keep busy, explore, and try to survive
this uncharacteristic lack (even for WashU) of social activity.
