Now, I know what you’re all thinking: how does a college senior go to an entirely different country where it is legal to consume alcohol by the ripe age of 18 and not talk about her experience with the nightlife. Well, I am here to say that I will be doing just that. Being the budding 22--year-old that I am, I have come to learn a thing or two about drinking. So here, I will let you in on my little tips and tricks for how to have a fun night out in London…
I will warn you, however, that I did not have a completely crazy, take-full-advantage-of-a-country-that-can-out-drink-the-United-States-any-day kind of experience. In fact, it was nothing like that. By the time the evenings rolled around, I was sometimes too tired to even lift a glass of water to my lips, let alone a Guinness. Ah yes, let’s start there.
St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick’s Day in London. We had the evening free of any planned activities and from all the things we had done throughout the morning and afternoon, I was ravenous and quite thirsty for something that wasn’t water or a cappuccino from the hotel (a blog on that to come later!). So, my best girls and I figured we would try a small, dark pub that was down the street from our hotel. We walked in, found a booth in the back and plopped down. Turns out, the spot in which we sat was rumored to be the same area that Jack the Ripper took his first victim. Yeah, we realized this about halfway through the meal and nothing was the same from that point on. After about 10 minutes of sitting around, we were confused that no one had come up to take our orders yet. We knew what we wanted but there wasn’t even any wait staff to flag down. Just two guys behind the bar. We watched as a few people went up to the bar, paid, and sat back down with their drinks. Not too long following, food came out and was placed in front of them. Okay, so that’s how this works. We each went up to the bar and ordered our burgers and fish and chips and of course, without fail, we ordered our Guinnesses. Or would it be Guinni? Whichever the grammatically correct word, each of us ordered our pint and me, being the lover of the brew of our group, watched eagerly for my friends’ reactions to their first sips. I mean how much better can it get? Throwing back a Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day in London. I guess the only thing that would beat that is being in Ireland. But the Irish pub gave a nice Celtic touch. When they put their pints down, I waited rather impatiently and asked “well???” Needless to say, I know how to pick the brews.
Fast forward to a few nights later when we actually went and stayed out past 10 pm. A group of us ventured over to another small, dark pub except this time the crowd was much older, and I believe we were some of the only girls there. Which, as you could imagine, drew some attention to the six American 21-year-old girls. We engaged in fun conversation, mostly trying to debunk or confirm any myths they had about Americans as they attempted their best American accent which was the stereotypical valley girl dialect, and we gave our best shot at an English accent, only for them to be horrified by it. Yet again, I continued to slug back a tall pint of Guinness, which many found to be quite impressive.
But that’s enough of the older pub scene, where are the clubs? Where do all the students go on the weekends? How lit does it actually get? The answers to these questions are, respectively: everywhere. I don’t know about the weekends because we didn’t get to experience a true weekend out, but they start by Wednesday night. And LIT. Ballpits, smoke machines, lasers, drinks with crazy names, and more. London has it all, let me tell you. And they get started by like Tuesday and Wednesday night which is unheard of here in the US, or at least where I am in the US. The music makes the floors rumble and you’ll know it all, it’s not like they have any different taste in music than we do here. The drinks have funny names that with the more you have, the funnier they will become. Hint: it’s not Guinness because that’s not funny to say. But the Porn Star Martini is hilarious after you’ve already had three.
So, if you ever find yourself in London and in desperate need of a fun night out on the town, you know where to get one. Ballie Ballerson, Cargo, XOYO, all of these places will ensure you have a worthwhile night. Just, as always be smart and be safe. I am not responsible for anyone who does anything stupid after they read this. Cheers!
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