2. We aren’t fussy about gifts (we know it’s the thought that counts) so long as they satisfy the social justice crusader in us (i.e. no real fur coats or conflict diamonds), but it’s cheaper for you!
3. Sometimes we may decide to champion random causes, either as a result of our coursework or because we need to feel like we are making even the tiniest difference in the world, we don’t expect you to join in our crusade to end the poor treatment of chickens at poultry farms or the poor treatment of migrant workers but bonus points if you do support our seemingly random causes
4. We are a low-maintenance, cheap date, seriously, just take us somewhere with indoor plumbing and edible food and we’ll be happy (or at the very least we won’t complain)
5. You don’t have to worry about the sorry state of the world, we’ll shoulder that burden for you but you may have to endure the occasional rant about a corrupt dictator or structural adjustment policies, sit tight and the rant will end as fast as it began
6. We tend to adopt some strange fascinations and pastimes, which can include anything from taking up yoga (flexibility is never a bad thing), a sudden political alignment with socialism (cause we just can’t handle Capitalism sometimes, okay), or an obsession with a political figure (*cough cough* Che Guevara, everyone goes through a Che phase, don’t they, no, just me?)
7. Our courses teach us critical thinking and how to develop our opinions and unfortunately unlike other subjects, it’s not something we can turn off when we leave the lecture hall. Feel free to challenge our decidedly strong and at times controversial opinions, we welcome debate, but know that we don’t often like to let anyone win (we don’t even let ourselves win, get into a debate with a DEVS student and watch as they argue their way into and out of both sides until there is no winner)
8. Most of us have a pretty serious case of wanderlust, its pretty much the entire reason we majored in DEVS (the full name of the major is Global Development Studies, we saw the word ‘global’ and thought ‘great, that means travel, sign me up’). As a result of this, you will never have to endure a boring vacation again; our bucket lists are bursting with some pretty unconventional destinations. Not to mention, you’ll probably get some pretty riveting lectures about the downsides of all-inclusive tourism (we like to talk about the downsides of things, I guess you could call us cynical), IMF policies, and corrupt regimes while you’re there. We’ll keep you learning every day, even on vacation.
9. Have you ever heard that the more you travel the stronger your immune system gets as you get exposed to different viruses and microbes? Well, there is actually evidence that this is true, and if this is true most of us DEVS students have excellent immune systems, due to our love of travelling to off the beaten path destinations. What does this mean for you? Well, you won’t have to play the caretaker very often because duh, we don’t get sick very often (though when we do it might be some funky tropical illness so you might want to keep far away from us in that case), and bonus for you we can take care of you when you get a common cold cause our super immune systems will protect us from your amateur germs.
10. Political Correctness, it’s a disease, just kidding, it’s very important, but face it you’ll never be totally politically correct and neither will we. Knowing the list of words we shouldn’t use doesn’t stop us from using them. They teach us all these fancy terms that don’t offend anyone, but the downside is that not everyone understands these terms (Global South, what even is this? Joking, I know what it is, but do you?) So, we stoop to your level and use words like ‘third world’ (I gave away the answer, you’re welcome, impress your DEVS friends next time you see them) to help you guys understand our point or argument (because let’s be honest, we are usually arguing about some point or another). I apologize on behalf of all of us for being hypocrites about this, it’s our duty as DEVS students to bite your heads off for using politically incorrect terms while using the same terms ourselves, it’s the vicious circle of life.
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