An Everyday shoe?
During my first week in Madison, I was waiting for a friend near Langdon Street, next to a frat house with a name I neither remember nor dare pronounce. Out of the house emerged 50 brothers all wearing the exact same pair of leather flip-flops. If American men share any similarities with the ones from my home country, this was not a coordinated effort. Since my encounter with the frat brothers, I have been awakened and have put on my “flip-flop-catching-glasses,” and let me tell you about my findings. Flip-flops are everywhere, styled in a million different ways and in styles I have never seen before. This makes me wonder: how and why?
A little background on me and my history with flip-flops; I am a Swedish exchange student who has spent a little over a month in the United States. My flip-flop experience is limited to beaches and showers, so I have some catching up to do.
I have spent this month searching far and wide, trying to produce an explanation for the flip-flop epidemic. First, I thought that it might be because they are cheap and accessible, excellent for slipping on and running around town in. But after some extensive research, also known as Googling, I discovered that flip-flops can go for as much as $1,750 on the Nordstrom website, so clearly it is not just about the price point.
Then I thought that maybe it has simply been too hot. Who can be bothered to put on an actual shoe when the climate is almost tropical with humidity levels on par with a steam sauna? I spent early September lying flat on my back by the lake, an activity that flip-flops are literally made for. I thought that my silly flip-flop observation was simply an expression of summer, and as it got cooler out, they would be switched for another shoe.
You can imagine my shock when I showed up to class this week, armed with a woollen sweater, boots and an umbrella, and found that the person next to me was still wearing flip-flops. This made me feel like I was surely missing out on some cool, suave flip-flop secret that all Americans are in on. So, in an attempt to assimilate, I wore flip-flops to class. I’d like to round this off with a question to the flip-flop wearers: how do you do it? By the end of the day, I not only had blisters, but my shins were covered in dirt that my shoes flipped and flopped up.
Clearly, I am missing out on how to properly flip-flop but who knows, maybe I will be American enough to know how to by the time snow comes around in December. And if there is some kind of secret to the flip-flop, please reach out and let me know. I am itching for an answer!