"The Ugly American," Part 2

Sun God Festival is UCSD’s flagship event of the year. Though essentially a big concert, it was set up like a carnival and lasted from noon to midnight on Friday, May 15, on RIMAC (standing for something about recreation) Field, located on the north side of campus. There was the large “Main Stage” with an accompanying giant screen where the headlining bands played. On the opposite side of the field there was the “Dance Tent” where DJs did their thing club style. Center field there was “Midway,” a circular tent where many comedic and lower-key performances took place. Towards the west side there were the Student Organization Booths and the portapotties. Conveniently across the field from the portapotties was the food-court area, which serve pizza, teriyaki chicken, and funnel cakes.

Some of the musical performances on the main stage included Augustana, Sara Bareilles, and N.E.R.D. In Midway there was Cirque Berzerk (complete with flamethrowers and funny mime people-things) and Kaba Modern (of MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew fame). That’s all fine and dandy—the default fun part.

The fun part was fun, but that’s not what I’m going to talk about. Sun God is seen as the one day when the UCSD campus comes alive. Normally seen as socially dead, UCSD becomes the party school that many wish it were. Students from other schools come down for the event to take part in the festivities. I myself saw many of my high school friends there. Fortunately, I saw them before they left to get drunk.

This brings me back to the “ugly American” stereotype again. Admittedly, I had only planned to write one post on this matter, but seeing the events surrounding my authorship, it would do well to reflect some more.

The Eleanor Roosevelt College campus is off in the northern area of campus, where few people go. I like it up here because of that fact. Although it takes me longer to walk to class than I would like, its placement off the beaten path makes it quiet. RIMAC Field, where Sun God took place, lies adjacent to ERC and as such, Friday night saw more people up there than usual.

Alcohol was not allowed into Sun God. To this effect, we had to empty all bottles so that no liquids were allowed in, in effect. So to get drunk many students would drink as much as they could before hand and then stumble in through the liquid checkpoints. According to my international drug policy professor, this is more dangerous than at parties, where drinking is more gradual and has time to process.

That night, the ERC campus (as well as Sun God) was bustling with tipsy people. I’d never seen it so crowded. My suite hosted three separate parties at the same time somehow. It reeked of alcohol and bad judgment. One of my suitemates drank what I believe to be vodka from a yellow bottle, sitting against the wall in a corner looking like a crying child. Another one of my suitemates looked more predatory than usual. All in all, their ‘good time’ looked like a group of people full of fake happiness and despair at the same time.

The next morning I woke up to find a mess in our common room. Our segmented couch was disjoined and those infamous red party cups were thrown all over the place. I saw what I thought to be vomit strewn all over the walls; and only later was I informed that it was just salsa. (Consolation?)

All I can say is I’m glad this doesn’t happen every week. I promise the next post will be more of an upper.

Copyright © 2009 James Philip Jee
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