Or maybe wait for the one…
by Amir Pliev
Do you know that feeling? That weird sensation in your gut? It turns up around 2 a.m. You know, around that time that you’re waiting to be let outside by the guy standing on the stairs in Elliott blocking the way and only letting 15 people pass each minute or so. It’s around that time that a feel ing creeps up from underneath telling you that this night is not over. After chugging a couple of pitchers and killing it on the dance floor for a couple of hours, you don’t feel like breaking this night up. You want more. And what do you do to solve this predicament? Yes…. Rooie Oortjes!
It’s the place where many hours have been spent either throwing your hands in the air like you just don’t care, or feeling uncomfortable by the weird looks of random people while you are doing exactly that. Wait, let me take a step back real quick. This Introweek, I popped my so-called “Rooie Oortjes” cherry (I know, I know) and I would love to share this experience with you because I know how you all are just dying for all the details. Anyway, as the party died out on a recent dreadful night, that feeling I mentioned earlier crept inside of us, and the imminent truth deemed closer every second: We are going to Rooie Oortjes.
Now you might ask me: how was it?! Was it everything you thought it would be and more?! Well, let me just answer that by saying that I won’t for get that night soon. As I walked in the smoky, warm and sweaty bar, it did not strike me as particularly different from any other bar. It was only that when we moved onto the dance floor that the essence of the place slowly hit me. The first signs were two sentences the bartender screamed into the microphone. “Let’s all give a loud cheer for our birthday girl [can’t remember] who just turned 15!” Aside from some suspicions that she is consuming a substance that she is legally not allowed to consume yet, nothing new right? It was this sentence combined with the next one, also from the bartender, that perfectly explains Oortjes: “Let us all not forget about another birthday boy [dude’s name], he just turned 35!” I have never in my life seen a place where it is possible to have 15 year olds and 35 year olds party next to each other, without it being excruciatingly awkward. Rooie Oortjes is not an exception.
It’s already awkward enough that rows of men are standing against the wall looking at girls (or boys) that are way too young for them, but the fact that they are also trying to flirt with them by just randomly dancing against them, makes it so much more painful. There is something very unsettling about seeing two girls politely ignore a grown ass man while he’s trying to hump them, but at the same time, there is also something very humorous about it. I’ll have to admit, I laughed a bit too hard at that sight. So hard even, that it led to some of those men noticing me laughing at them, who then proceeded to laugh with me. It at least reassured me that they weren’t taking themselves too seriously as well, which I liked.
In the rare case that you are someone who thrives on strange looks while you’re having fun, Oortjes might not become your favorite place to continue your evening endeavors. Fortunate ly, we students have an amazing cure to completely ignore all of the before mentioned abnormalities: Alcohol. Combine this with the fact that there is no place in Middelburg to go to after 2 a.m. it is only natural that everyone is lured into this den. Personally, I won’t say I hated the place. I liked spending my nights there and the parties were fun, I have to give them that. But if I can be perfectly honest, it’s the trashiest place I have been in in a while and I have been in some unbelievably weird places. Now, will I ever return to this temporary night heaven? I would have to answer that question by saying: Unfortunately, hell yeah!
