Name: Felix Kaplan
Hometown: Edinburgh
Degree: Classics
Year: 4th
This weeks Campus Cutie is captain of the winning novice team from the St Andrews Strathtyrum Charity Polo event last month, Felix Kaplan. Now finishing his fourth year as a Classics student, polo is his main interest, “I mean, I only have one class a week, so I don’t have a lot of free time” he says deadly serious, characteristic of his sense of humor: outrageous statements delivered with absolute sincerity. While this can at first be slightly off putting, once you’ve become accustomed to it, it’s hilarious. In fact, when described by friends, Felix’s unique style of joking and playfulness is one of the first things to be mentioned, as is his relatively new and dashing mustache.
Despite coming from an equestrian family, Felix didn’t really get involved himself until coming to university. “I did pony club when I was six- and I was adorable!- and then about a month before Uni I just thought, ‘Riding’s one of those things you ought to be able to do—these car things, they’re just a passing fad…and like most things, it’s cheaper at Uni.” Initially involved in the Riding Club, he followed his instructor over to polo and found that he enjoyed it more. “I could either work really hard and compete, or go and play polo and people would automatically think I was cool,” he says, lightheartedly poking fun at the stereotypical ‘polo image’. The pink and primrose colors his victorious team, ‘Those Guys’, played in, are in fact the racing colors of his great grandfather, the Earl of Rosebery, whose horse Ladas won the Epsom Derby in 1894 (I highly recommend a quick Google of this, as it yields some entertaining caveats).
One of the refreshing aspects of Felix is his ability to appreciate the absurd in daily life, especially with polo. He certainly takes his sport seriously, but he can also laugh at it, as evidenced by one of his created personas, Ignacio. “He’s basically you’re stereotypical creepy older man from bad romance novels; the protagonist of a terrible Mills and Boon. But also, he’s an Argentine polo player. In Argentina, there’s a genre of polo guys that you get, who say things like, ‘When you finish a swing, finish it pretending you’re pointing at a pretty girl on the sidelines’ [said in a lisping Argentine accent]. He turns polo advice into love advice, and vice versa.” Ignacio is only one of several alter egos that Felix has created and developed with his close friends, including a socially questionable German interior designer, and a classic British TV documentarian. “You have all these things you might want to say, but you couldn’t as yourself, and that’s where they come in!”
Always the gentleman, Felix was guarded when it came to questions about women, and his love life. Though he did admit that living with two women for the past three years has only taught him that we can be, “messier than I ever thought possible!” He met his long-term girlfriend, Olivia, at a polo party.
Felix will be spending his summer working in London, and will return to St Andrews in September to begin a Masters in Management. And in his own last words, “Write to me if you have more questions, HerCampus. For twenty-shillings you can join my fan club—you get a decoder ring and an official hat!”
For more information on the University of St Andrews Polo club, or their charity Strathtyrum event, check out their Facebook page.
RAPID FIRE:
Favorite Restaurant: Seafood Restaurant
Favorite place for drinks: 40’s
Favorite place for coffee: Northpoint
Favorite event: Strathtyrum Tournament
Any hidden talents?: No, I’ve never seen the point of hiding them… (Editors note: he is a fantastic cook)
Big night out or quiet night in?: Big night out…it makes me sound cooler, have a dinner party, get smashed, go out, it’s the circle of life
Union, Lizard or Vic?: Lizard