Cultural Immersion

Cultural Immersion

Introduction

On January 31, 2012, I went to Hippo with three of my classmates. Hippo is located at One West Street, Baltimore, Maryland and their phone number is 410-576-0018. Hippo was established in 1972 in Mount Vernon which is known as the heart of Maryland. The Hippo has been a cornerstone in the gay and lesbian community in Baltimore. Their motto is that “everyone is welcome” They have dance night, video screening in the bar also have several pool games in the saloon. They have everything that suites everyone's mood. I was exciting to go to Hippo because I was really very inspired by the name of the bar, and at the same time I was curious to see the interior of that bar.

Discussion

I was going to the bar for the first time; since I do not know anyone there I thought to take my classmate with me for a company at the bar. We both wanted to attend the bingo as it sounds to be a great fun involving in the game; we had seen that on the website. When we reached and asked to play the bingo the management told us that they have bingo open on Wednesdays only, but unfortunately we cannot go on Wednesday because of some other commitments and classes to attend on Wednesday night. Therefore we decided to attend and go to the bar on Tuesday after the class. On Tuesday they have something special for the people attending the show, they had show tune video madness with glee and pool games in the salon area were also open for all to play and have fun. There was no entry fee to enter in the bar but the cocktails were charged, they were of $4.

My class mate came late; I had to wait for him outside the bar. In the mean while waiting for my class mate I was very excited to go inside the bar, lots of thought were going through my mind which in turn was making me conscious and uncomfortable, because I was in that place where I felt like I do not belong. When my classmates came, we went to the door towards entrance, they asked for our ID's to get in. The lady at the door smiled while asking for our IDs (Newton, 2010).

I thought that was nice because you do not usually see that at a straight club. I felt a little bit comfortable. When we both entered the bar it was empty, I could hardly see people around. The ambiance was good, three people were playing pool and nearly five people were at the bar having drinks. I Walked up to one lady who was sitting at the bar and introduced myself. I also told her why we were here. I asked her why it was so empty today. She said everyone was in the video room watching show tune video. We went to the video room and there were a lot of people watching TV, drinking ...