As Simple as Sweatpants

American college students have a different idea of how to dress than I do. In my first week at Truman, my roommate had a 7:30 a.m. class, but didn’t wake up until 7:25 a.m.  What happened in the next five minutes may have changed my life forever. He put on his sweats and wandered off to class leaving me awestruck at the sheer indifference of his genius.  Without his intending to do so I was acquainted with the idea of wearing sweatpants to class and it blew my mind!

College students in the U.S. dress up for class informally and this was a new concept for me. Back home, in Nepal, getting ready for class is a daily ritual. Many of the colleges still adhere to the uniform dress system, while the other still insist in having some strict form of do’s and “don’ts in regards to student dress code.  Wearing shorts or sleeveless shirts are a big no-no.  We must dress in a way that lets our professors know we respect them. That is not to say that we dress up in business attire every day, but we are expected to wear shoes, pants, t-shirts (to say the least) and if possible to have our hair combed.  I don’t mean to say that the majority of American students dress this way.

Photo from: http://www.hptops.com/db_images/thumb/sweatpants

Still, wearing shorts and sweats to class without your professor asking you to leave is as alien a concept to me as the United Nation to Attila the Hun.  The right to freedom of speech also allows students to wear t-shirts with various messages on them, a theme unheard of in Nepal. I also found wearing t-shirts of the organization you belong to, free t-shirts you receive or t-shirts from high school very common in the U.S.

Outside of class, I found the dress at “themed” parties to be different as well and I have yet to attend and ugly sweater party in Nepal.

Jeans and t-shirts are worn by both Nepali and American students, but it is very rare for older people to be seen wearing jeans and shorts back home. While in USA you can find women dressing in accordance to how they see fit, women (especially married) are expected to dress modestly.

Even though we wear different things in Nepal, I must admit, that I find being allowed to wear sweats to class is one of the most powerful revelations I have had since coming to America.