Ski Gloves: $78
North Face Sleeping Bag: $177
Package of 10 pairs of handwarmers: $10
Getting to see the Blue Devils in action against the Tarholes: priceless?
Duke students are unique creatures. Everything that we do, we do it big. We say, “Go big or go home and you can’t go home so you might as well go big.”
Sitting in Bella Union, I heard two students debating how to create a computer chess program that is unbeatable. I thought to myself, “Only at Duke”, not because only Duke students would try and create such a program—we all know that Harvard students would do the same. I thought, only at Duke would someone like me, a person as far into the Social Science rabbit hole as possible, would be genuinely interested in how that process would work.
We Duke students apply this same spirit to the terrible tradition known as Tenting. Rumor has it that a few students from Mirecourt inventing tenting in the 1980s. If the rumor is true then I say to those students (in my best Ceelo Green voice) “FORGET YOU”.
Tenting really sucks. Most nights the temperature falls below 35 degrees and the days are cold and windy. Being in a tent with so many people at one time is not only uncomfortable but leads to conflict. At this point, I hope that I don’t see my tentmates for the next two years.
Did I mention that I was tenting? Well, I am. It is probably the worst mistake of my life. I am as sick as a dog and the thought of another day in the tent makes my physically sick. Do I regret it? Not one bit.
Tenting represents the precise reason that I came to Duke. Tenting is about supporting your team no matter what and building relationships with those in different social circles. My lack of Greek letters does not keep me out of K-Ville just like those who are members of Greek organizations cannot depend on those organizations to keep them in K-ville.
Like Duke students, tenting has a purpose. It is a means to a greater end that we will (hopefully) remember for the rest of our lives. Tenting is both the best tradition and the worst tradition at Duke. However, its rank is not the important in the greater Duke experience.
It has cemented its place in Duke history and if it is eliminated next year or 100 years from now it will have given students a shared vision.
So, why do we tent? At the end of the day, we approach supporting our basketball team much like we approach our studies: go big or go home. And home is 3,000 miles away.
Ariel Smallwood is a Trinity sophomore. Her online column will run every Tuesday.
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