Birkenstocks: The unofficial shoe of Ithaca, New York
How I went from hell no to hello
I grew up in the suburbs of New Jersey, so you can guess the kind of culture shock I had when I decided to take my life and move it to upstate New York, where I decided to reside in one of the top “hippie towns” in the entire country. The people were different, the surroundings were different, but most of all the fashion was different.
What was with all of the townies in dreadlocks? How much tie-dye can one person even own? And yeah, I get it, being barefoot is comfortable sometimes, but do you really have to do that in a restaurant? But the one thing that troubled me most of all, more than the view of that man’s hairy feet when I was minding my own business in The Commons? Those gross clunky looking things people around here like to call Birkenstocks.
When I first stepped on campus my first day of classes freshman year, shocked was an understatement describing my reaction to seeing these leather strap on messes everywhere. Even on men. Even on my professors! My roommate, a fellow New Jersey suburbian herself – bless her soul – was equally as distressed. HOW on Earth could these people think that these so called sandals looked good? And with socks? I was an emotional wreck.
After being disgusted for a good year about my classmates’ choice in footwear, I began to understand the appeal of these once nicknamed Jesus sandals. Maybe I became desensitized to how they looked, or maybe I fell and hit my head one night while out at 2floor. You can never be too sure. But all of a sudden I started actually liking these shoes. There must be something good about them if almost every person I’ve seen in Ithaca has a pair, right?
To my surprise it turns out that these Birkenstock things are actually a large chunk of money, at least to a broke college kid like myself, and are made with some pretty nice materials. So, a little while into my sophomore year, I let myself (or actually my mother) finally purchase a pair. I’ve officially turned into a girl who sometimes either looks like a homeless man or a Bernie Sanders loving hippie.
Or in other words, a true Ithacan.