Once a year Rand dining hall takes time out of its busy schedule of fake Mexican, fake Mediterranean, and awful American food, and instead offers its patrons a sampling of cuisine from some distant port of call.  This year’s event, slated to happen this Thursday, looks to be the most ambitious yet as the SS Rand departs for beautiful Somalia!

To tease diners, those in charge of the event have been leaving clues all over the dining hall, all of which point to only one location.  Vanderbilt’s exceptionally intelligent student body had no trouble finding the world’s smallest volcano (Somalia’s Mt. Garoowe) and well over 49 million people have seen the video of Somalian prisoners dancing to, “Thriller.”

The decision to take the SS Rand to the East African nation came from Vanderbilt Dining director Camp Howard.  According to Howard the evening will highlight the cuisine and the culture of the, “Leopard Nation.”

According to Howard, diners who come to Rand tomorrow can expect to enjoy, “delicious ghee-fried lamb, tasty Somali Malawa, and soul crushing kidnappings!”

Thats right tomorrows menu will feature plenty of all those famous Somali foods we all love, and lots of the pirate-style kidnappings we all fear.

Upon their arrival tomorrow night, students will be thrown into the, “Brig,” at the bottom of Rand.  Here they will wait until dining officials can find some friend or family member willing to pay their, “Ransom.”  After that, the newly free students will be able to head topside and enjoy a good meal.

When asked what would happen if students could not find someone to pay their ransom, Howard maniacally replied, “Oh they should definitely find someone to pay.  I don’t think anyone wants to find out what happens if they don’t pay.

When asked how many international laws the school would break by so kidnapping student diners at Rand, Howard cooly responded, “Enough.”