Old School?
This blog entry about the events of Tuesday, March 01, 2005 was originally posted on March 13, 2005.
DAY 500: “Staying here is sort of like the movie Old School for me,” I told Aviv at the three bedroom Kitsilano apartment of University of British Columbia (UBC) undergrads he shared with David Sebastian and Adam. I was of course referring to the 2003 Todd Phillips contemporary comedy classic film starring Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Will Ferrell as thirty-somethings who, in their Thirties Mid-Life Crisis, decide to open a community-wide fraternity so that they might re-live their wild college days of beer funnel parties and streaking nude across the quad and to the gymnasium.
“You should really see the UBC campus,” David Sebastian suggested to me as a thing to do that day. He had raved about the beauty of his university’s campus, with its gardens, golf course, and Museum of Anthropology. I really didn’t have anything planned that day, so I decided to pay a visit — besides, being on campus increased my chances of seeing college girls gone wild.
It was midterms week and everyone in the house had left me to get to class or a study session, so it was just me catching the eight-minute ride on the No. 17 UBC-bound bus around noon. It was sort of weird for me to be on a university campus again (picture above), as most university things look similar, and I was instantly transported to memories of lecture halls, bulletin boards, student union centers, textbook bookstores, cheap eateries of Chinese food and pizza, physics buildings, and libraries old and new. With my young appearance I blended right in, unlike some of the other obvious-looking non-students passing out flyers for Religious Leaders Day.
“[Yeah, I’ll take one, if you give me directions,]” I said. I was looking for the Woodward Library to meet up with David Sebastian for a bit.
The guy tried to pretend he was legitimately on campus instead of an outside loiterer, looking at the flyer himself to see if the directions for Woodward were on there — completely ignorant of the fact that the lecture he was promoting was in some other building. “Uh… Hmmm… I’m sure any student around here could tell you where it is.”
“Oh, like this one?” I pulled over a random college girl walking by (not gone wild) and asked her. She said it was around the corner and down the promenade and so I went off, leaving her there trapped in a pitch about Religious Leaders Day with that stranger.
WOODWARD LIBRARY AND ITS COMMON HANGOUT AREA was a familiar scene, with groups of students gathered around with chips, soda, books, and way more laptop computers than back in my college days in the mid 1990s. The ethnic make-up of UBC included many Indians and even more Asians — so many that there was even an Asian temple-influenced Asian Center building on campus.
It wasn’t hard for me to find David Sebastian (a.k.a. “The Dave”) with his signature curly hair, sitting at a table across from Brynn, his “girlfriend” (at least for the hour) for their “study date.” The Dave introduced me to her but told me that I had actually met her at the party before — I had no memory of it, much like I have no memory after many drunken nights.
They were pretty busy studying biology or something, so I left them to it to wander the campus. I managed to find the garden and the museum, but mostly I found many students totally focused on something called “studying.”
Where are the wet t-shirt contests? The KY wrestling matches? The hazed fraternity pledges with cinder blocks tied to ropes securely attached to their penises?
Everyone was in study mode for midterms and it wasn’t the stereotypical college scene at all. Seriously, not a kidnapped mascot pig of the rival school or a crusty old dean in sight. But that’s not to say that studying was all serious; that night when David Sebastian was back at the house in his room trying to get a lab report done, Aviv walked in to exchange in their usual banter.
“Out,” David Sebastian asked.
“Okay, don’t let me disturb you,” Aviv said — before suddenly humming and dancing the Mexican Hat Dance.
WANDERING AIMLESSLY THAT CHILLY AFTERNOON, I decided to call up Mayra, the blonde Brazilian girl I had met at The Blarney Stone over the weekend to see if she wanted to meet up. I knew she was in class at her English school, so I was planning to leave the following Old School/Will Ferrell-esque message:
Hi Mayra, this is Erik Trinidad… I met you at The Blarney Stone last weekend… Anyway, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to get some frozen yogurt, or perhaps a whole meal of food, if that would be agreeable…
However, she didn’t have a voicemail system set-up, and every call I gave her (even later that night) ended up in a dead end. And so, I just sort of got caught in the whole studying vibe of UBC and spent most of the afternoon posing as a student even more but just parking myself at a desk in the Koerner Library with my iBook (and iClamp) to catch up on Blog duties since I was so behind. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, it wasn’t much like being in the movie Old School after all — or was it?
Across the street from the edge of the UBC campus was Wreck Beach, a beach frequented by students and Kitsilano hippie-types, which I stumbled upon that afternoon in my wanderings. It was too cold for anyone to be around for beach activities, but I went anyway to check it out. A sign designated the beginning of the short hiking trail that linked the main road with the shore below, through the trees of a Pacific northwest fores—hold on, wait a minute… did that sign just say what I think it said?
WOOOOOOOO!!! WE’RE GOING STREAKING!! WOOOOO!! YEAH!! C’MON EVERYBODY, WOOOOOOOOOO!!!
In all honesty, I hadn’t actually gone streaking in my former college days at all, but I guess when you’re at the nude beach by a college campus, it’s never too late to learn.
Next entry: Preparing For Re-Entry
Previous entry: Home Is Where The Nettles Are
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Comments for “Old School?”
would be nice to see sarah shahi streaking instead of your ass…
do you think KFC is still open?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 01:18 AM
I just got home and sit down to read…that last picture sure is the clincher for the entire blog. Excellent ending!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 01:28 AM
Ah! My eyes!!!
Posted by dunlavey on 03/13 at 01:44 AM
Better than Will Ferrell’s behind!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 01:55 AM
hahaha
Posted by Alyson on 03/13 at 02:12 AM
LMAO
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 02:24 AM
Nice Erik. That last photo reminds me of you in Summer Place, on Boracay! Remember? Oh come on, don’t tell me you can’t remember that night….
All the best, buddy.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 02:30 AM
Now that is much better than a poo pic! LOL Is that cellulite I see???
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 02:37 AM
OMG - I second Rina’sLMAO!!
The greenness and grey is so reminiscent of my University - UW - who, btw, is the #1 seed in the Albuquerque region for the NCAA tournament!!
Yes, that was not on topic, I know…
Question - did the library have wi-fi?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 04:53 AM
Dude, somebody has to buy you an ass!
Word Life.
Moman!!
Posted by Cheif Boot Knocka Moman Australia on 03/13 at 06:20 AM
Woohoo! Erik gets naked online… once again
Posted by Chris Hillcoat on 03/13 at 10:44 AM
GET IN THE CAR FRANK! (I MEAN ERIK!)
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 01:22 PM
“He must work out!”
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 01:46 PM
That’s hillarious. I cannot even imagine taking that same photo of myself and putting it on-line! Did you see any other naked people?
Has anyone else ever been to Paradise beach in Mykonos? That’s an entertaining clothing optional beach!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 03:32 PM
i could have been fired for opening up that pic!
who was the “lucky” person holding the camera to snap the pic???
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 03:43 PM
SARA: ” I cannot even imagine taking that same photo of myself and putting it on-line!”
I suffer for my craft.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 03:44 PM
Hahahahahhhahhahahahahahha! (pausing to catch my breath) HAHAHHahhahahahhahahahhah!!!
Hey, are all those footprints on the beach yours or are they footprints from all the ladies trying to catch up for a piece of that rump?
Sara: I was at a clothing optional beach on Kos. Lots of man boobage, and very difficult to distingush the men in speedos from the women.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 04:19 PM
SCOTT: the camera was on a log, set on a timer…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 04:44 PM
ALI: They are footprints of bears.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/13 at 04:46 PM
OMG!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/14 at 01:50 PM
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This blog post is one of over 500 travel dispatches from the trip blog, "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World (Or Until Money Runs Out, Whichever Comes First)," originally hosted by BootsnAll.com. It chronicled a trip around the world from October 2003 to March 2005, which encompassed travel through thirty-seven countries in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. It was this blog that "started it all," where Erik evolved and honed his style of travel blogging — it starts to come into focus around the time he arrives in Africa.
Praised and recommended by USA Today, RickSteves.com, and readers of BootsnAll and Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, The Global Trip blog was selected by the editors of PC Magazine for the "Top 100 Sites You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without" (in the travel category) in 2005.
Next entry:
Preparing For Re-Entry
Previous entry:
Home Is Where The Nettles Are
THE GLOBAL TRIP GLOSSARY
Confused at some of the jargon that's developed with this blog and its readers over the years? Here's what they mean:
BFFN: acronym for "Best Friend For Now"; a friend made on the road, who will share travel experiences for the time being, only to part ways and lose touch withThe Big Trip: the original sixteen month around-the-world trip that started it all, spanning 37 countries in 5 continents over 503 days (October 2003–March 2005)
NIZ: acronym for "No Internet Zone"; a place where there is little to no Internet access, thus preventing dispatches from being posted.
SBR: acronym for "Silent Blog Reader"; a person who has regularly followed The Global Trip blog for years without ever commenting or making his/her presence known to the rest of the reading community. (Breaking this silence by commenting is encouraged.)
Stupid o'clock: any time of the early morning that you have to wake up to catch a train, bus, plane, or tour. Usually any time before 6 a.m. is automatically “stupid o’clock.”
The Trinidad Show: a nickname of The Global Trip blog, used particularly by travelers that have been written about, who are self-aware that they have become "characters" in a long-running story — like characters in the Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show.
WHMMR: acronym for "Western Hemisphere Monday Morning Rush"; an unofficial deadline to get new content up by a Monday morning, in time for readers in the western hemisphere (i.e. the majority North American audience) heading back to their computers.
1981ers: people born after 1981. Originally, this was to designate groups of young backpackers fresh out of school, many of which were loud, boorish and/or annoying. However, time has passed and 1981ers have matured and have been quite pleasant to travel with. The term still refers to young annoying backpackers, regardless of year — I guess you could call them "1991ers" in 2013 — young, entitled millennials on the road these days, essentially.
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