84 cups. That’s how much Mountain Dew I drank at the Rott this semester. No joke.
Why would I do something like this? Honestly, I can’t give a rational answer, but I guess it could be traced back to freshman year.Quite randomly, I noticed that every time John D. Roth, professor of history, ate at the Rott, he drank two cups of Mountain Dew.
This pattern continued during my sophomore year. Being gone on SST this fall, I wasn’t able to observe his drinking patterns, but then on March 20, John threw me a curveball. He got a cup of mountain dew and a cup of lemonade. I was understandably bewildered.
John attributes his beverage of choice to the fact that it has a high caffeine count. “Because I generally get up very early in the morning, the block of time right after lunch is my worst hour of the day,” he said. “So it’s mostly about fighting off sleep with the welcome jolt of caffeine.”
John also suggested that, because his family didn’t have carbonated beverages growing up, he’s making up for lost time.
In an effort to emulate a person I respect, I took it upon myself to drink two glasses of Mtn Dew every time I ate at the cafeteria this semester. I’m only signed up for 45 meals, so that comes out to 90 cups total.
It’s been a somewhat uncomfortable experience.
As you might imagine, Mtn Dew doesn’t go too well with all foods. I don’t always want pizza and fries, and believe me, a bowl of cereal and a cup of Mtn Dew do not complement each other.
The worst moments are when I am already stuffed, but still have a cup to finish. To counteract this, I occasionally guzzled down the Dew first, just to get it out of the way. Then I am free to enjoy my meal with any beverage I want.
I decided I didn’t want to cheat on my challenge, so I never went for lemonade like John. Although I was tempted on more than one occasion, I needed to stick to my unhealthy principles.
Reminding me that he only eats at the cafeteria 10-15 times a semester, John recommended I go easy on myself. Solid advice.
I’ve still got six glasses to down.
