Elegantly wasted

Sign up for a Cape Town tour and chances are somewhere along the line you’ll find yourself heading out to Stellenbosch for a wine tour. This beautiful little town in the heart of the Boland region of the Western Cape lies surrounded by a whopping 130 wineries, cellars and wine farms.

But that is not the only thing that Stellenbosch is famous for. Stellenbosch University is the only Afrikaans-medium tertiary education facility in the whole country and was first officially established in 1918 (although there have been accredited education establishments in the town from as early as 1685). In the intervening years, the student body has grown from a modest 500 to an incredible 22 000 individuals that are housed in hostels, student homes and flats throughout the town. Those are the boring stats…

In reality, Stellenbosch is one of the most vibrant student towns you will ever come across. I studied a BA in Languages at this fine institution and can honestly say that there is no way to properly describe the energy that suffuses our beautiful campus. Think tree-lined avenues, beautifully solid faculty buildings, the largest subterranean library in the Southern hemisphere and then add 22 000 kids that just got out from under their parents’ thumbs. You can only begin to imagine the ensuing chaos.

This absolute elation culminates at Carnival, normally held at the beginning of the year when all the First Years arrive, fresh from high school, home school or a gap year abroad. Those who were lucky enough to get place in a hostel are then herded , coaxed and gently bullied into participating in ‘Vensters’ (loosely translated to ‘windows’), the street show portion of Carnival. This basically involves a girls’ and boys’ residence teaming up to produce a street play that is performed throughout town for one evening during Carnival Week. Further festivities include the mandatory floats, a big music festival on the town common and lots and LOTS of drinking.

It is estimated that the clubs in Stellenbosch accrue around 20% of their annual revenue during Carnival time. Interestingly enough, pharmacies also report a 40-50% increase in sales of the ‘morning after’ pill during this time… Get what I’m saying? The first word that comes to mind is debauchery.

Since I first arrived in Stellenbosch in 2003 the idea of Carnival has become less and less appealing each year. What’s so great about running around, losing your friends, your wallet (and at times, a few smidgeons of self-respect) – struggling to find parking and struggling even more to get into a club where you are supposed to be having oodles of fun, all the while struggling to even breathe? Pretty dismal outlook, hey?

The truth of the matter is that you outgrow Stellenbosch. There is a famous drinking song that was written by a local musician/writer called Koos Kombuis that says ‘Stellenbosch is no-man’s land’. Nothing could be truer. The first few years of studying in Stellenbosch constitutes utter bliss. You simply cannot walk into class, the library, a club or even a restaurant in town without running into someone you know… and then they start leaving. For jobs in the city, for courses at other universities, for other continents. And before you know it, it is four years later and there is not one single person you know in Bohemia. Sad but true.

As cliché as it sounds, the only thing you can really do is live in the moment. Enjoy the crystalline beauty of each moment that you are allowed to be part of it all and look forward to becoming a sentimental alumnus who write blogs about her alma mater just because she misses it all so much (even the debauchery).

Happy Happy!

Even after severe warnings that I would be facing imminent drugging and sexual abuse from the predators that would be lurking and circling like sharks in the feeding frenzy that is Long Street, I still went. Driven by pure determination to spend my first New Years among the crazy crowd that inhabits Long Street after hours, I devised a three step safety plan.

1. No drinks from strangers – or rather – no opened drinks from strangers
2. Don’t leave the club with a stranger
3. Have an ICE (In Case of Emergency) number on me.

Why Long Street particularly you may ask. For me, the street encompasses most which I admire about the city. Long Street is one of the oldest streets in Cape Town with a length of 3.8 kilometers and rich in history plus is laden with numerous Victorian buildings. These gorgeous buildings have since become home to various book shops, galleries, music, photo and travel shops, trendy clothing shops, cosy restaurants that serve African, Indian and other international foods and a host of clubs… which are all my favourite things.

No tour of Cape Town is complete without wandering down the glittering road called Long Street. It pulls in a colourful crowd and is the breeding ground of all things unorthodox. So with my purse and cell phone left behind and a few Rands shoved into my trusty clutch bag, I headed off to The Dubliner – an Irish Pub where I met up with Mags, my side kick for the night. A drink later, it was off to what promised to be an amazing night as we hopped from this club to the other. Hours and many, many, drinks later, Mags and I found ourselves in the street and in the thick of things with a marching band blaring and dancing along to colourful tunes… a spectacle synonymous to Cape Town.

With hazy vision, boerewors roll in one hand and my trusty clutch bag in the other, I witnessed my first entry into the New Year as a Capetonian. Not so glam, but hey nothing ever is after many, many drinks later.