Let's talk about London nightlife:
we aren't in Kansas (or Georgetown, Texas) anymore.
When it comes to studying abroad, there is one thing that most, if not all, American college students look forward to: being legally able to consume alcohol! For a lot of students, chances to study abroad happen before their 21st birthday, so being in a foreign country where the legal drinking age is 18 can be a very novel and outrageously fun experience for those who aren't morally opposed to a nice glass of wine or a cold pint... Or two. The unfortunate part comes when you return to the States and find yourself still under 21. Luckily for me, I'll be celebrating my 21st birthday right here in the UK (or Paris...) come November 30th!
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| Keeping our wine perfectly chilled at Latymers. |
So with this newfound sense of independence and plenty of legally accessible alcohol, naturally one of the first things that college students want to do when they're abroad is go out for a night on the town. As for London, the nightlife scene can definitely be compared to that of any other major city, however there are several distinct differences between weekend evenings out in the United States and evenings out in the United Kingdom. For one thing, people tend to start their evenings much earlier in London. As American college students, my peers and I figured initially that a popular sports pub close to our flat would be fun and loud on a Friday night at 11:00 p.m. We ended up having a much quieter round of drinks than we originally intended when we discovered that we had arrived after the pub's real rush hours, which are usually earlier around 6-10 p.m. Whoops.
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| Words to live by. |
This past weekend, I was able to have some unique London nightlife experiences that were radically different from each other: late night dinner at
The Wolseley on Friday and
London's version of Oktoberfest in Kennington Park on Saturday (to quote one UK Oktoberfest guest, "We're just as good at partying as those in Munich..." I wouldn't know for sure since I haven't been to Munich, but I will say this crowd was definitely having a blast).
The Wolseley was absolutely grand.
I don't always wake up feeling like blowing £80 on myself in one very short evening, but when I do, I make sure to do it in style. (Here's a
handy currency converter to help you understand my UK spending habits... I hope it brings you more joy than it's brought me). I can probably blame this impulsive decision to splurge on a great evening out on the fact that I had spent the better part of Friday (8 hours, to be exact) writing two papers that were
supposed to be about 3 pages each and turned out to be almost 6 pages each... Insane, right? I promise that this wasn't just me being ridiculous and overwriting - it happened to other students, too! Needless to say, by the evening I was absolutely brain dead and all I wanted to do was something fun and spontaneous. I did a little research, found some nice places open for dinner late, and made reservations for 10:30 p.m. at The Wolseley since it seemed to be
a pretty well-recommended place.
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My Instagrammed summary of the evening!
Evidently you aren't really allowed to take pictures inside
The Wolseley, so we got lucky to get a couple of snapshots! |
The Wolseley is located next to the Ritz in Piccadilly, and it's really a treat to dine there simply because of its beautiful interior. Evidently the Wolseley is brilliant for breakfast, so I definitely need to try that soon, especially because I had a wonderful experience with dinner. Lauryn and I had fun getting all dressed up and having an excuse to wear our high heels, which have definitely been lonely here in London (cobblestone and thin heels don't really agree with each other!). We arrived half an hour early, so we got to relax in the bar and have a couple of drinks before dinner. While we were there, we eventually made friends with one of the bartenders, who was kind enough to make us
a yummy Jack Daniels Manhattan free of charge! When our table was ready, the maitre'd escorted us to our seats while carrying our drinks on a silver tray and proceeded to help each of us into our seats; needless to say, we adored the service.
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I am absolutely delighted in this picture.
Hooray for fine dining! |
The food was absolutely delicious! Lauryn ordered the fish of the day, which was cod, while I tried the boiled salt beef, and yes, we did have wine with our meal. It was so wonderful that we were still there after midnight! I think you could say that the real adventure didn't begin until after we left and had to figure out how to get from Piccadilly to West Kensington without the benefit of the Tube, which closes by midnight. Let me illustrate this distance for you:
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Point A is The Wolseley and Point B is the general area we should be in.
Please take note of both the Thames and the location of Fulham, were we ended up. |
We actually did get great directions for taking the night bus from our bartender friend who lives in the West Kensington area like us... Unfortunately, it was dreadfully cold outside, and we thought it would be a good idea to simply hop on the first bus that came along. In our defense, taking buses around here is already a little more confusing than taking the Tube, and night buses are just altogether hopeless. I mean, I still can't understand them as well as I would like to. I knew we were more than a little off course once I noticed through the darkness that we were on a bridge crossing a large body of water. Yes, it was the Thames, and no, we do not live anywhere near the other side of the river. At that point, I decided it would be a better idea to get off this crazy night bus and brave the chilly London night. Lauryn and I ended up at a little bus stop with two other dodgy-looking individuals near Fulham, at which point we charged a cab that stopped near us - yes, in our high heels, with our numb fingers and toes, we quite literally charged at a cab. Inside the cab, we found a disgruntled young woman who clearly didn't enjoy two giggling American girls squeezing into the open seats while she paid the driver... Again, whoops. What can I say? It was cold outside so we wanted in! But we really were polite and friendly about it; I think she wasn't having a very good night. We made it to our flat within a few minutes, and we thanked the driver profusely. It was overall a very good evening, and so much fun!
Saturday night at Oktoberfest was a completely different experience.
Almost our whole Southwestern group went to Oktoberfest that night, and after a pretty decent commute to get to
Kennington Park, we had to wait in an enormous queue for at least a little over an hour to get in. I will say though, there's nothing like several bottles of cheap
Lambrini and drunk, boisterous Europeans running around to keep you entertained while you wait. We even got to witness an ambulance with its blue lights flashing drive through the park grass, through the middle of the huge queue, and around to the back of the massive white tent - presumably to rescue some unfortunate partier from the effects of too much alcohol. There was even a very tall man with some accent I couldn't identify who came running out of the tent yelling like a mad man and was so excited that he nearly jumped into a large, nearby dumpster (really though - he pulled his upper body completely into the dumpster before someone else kind of yanked him back out).
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The gang! Minus Katie, who is our delightful and magnanimous photographer.
Thanks, Katie! |
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| I'm adapting to tent culture quite nicely. |
Once we finally got into the tent, we ordered our extra-large pints which came in those lovely mugs that make
Oktoberfest so much fun, and headed over to jump around on top of tables like everyone else. It's hard not to get excited about dancing on tables when there is live music and live, crazy drunken people imploring you to sway back and forth and sing along with them.
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| This picture seems to be self-explanatory... I was having a good time. |
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Check out these costumed fellas...
James, Lauryn, and I managed to get pictures with them!
Yes, that is a man in drag on the left rocking the blonde wig. |
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| James is creeping while we dance on a table. |
But, you may ask, don't people fall off these precarious, shaky tables if they are so intoxicated? Why yes, as a matter of fact they actually do! We had several people, one woman in particular, falling on us repeatedly, and of course there was a sort of domino-effect with all of us falling backward and beer flying everywhere. Sounds like a pretty great time, huh? It was! A word to the wise though, if a lederhosen-clad man asks you for a kiss on the cheek in return for a fun picture, they really aren't trying to get a kiss on the cheek - it's a trick! I would have to say that another highlight of the evening was definitely the security guards running frantically through the ten to the table next to us, where two men had just begun a pretty intense fist-fight. We, of course, were thrilled to be witnesses to an actual fight so close to us! Despite all the craziness going on under the tent, we managed to make it out unscathed and quite happy! It was definitely a successful evening, and I am oh so happy that I was able to enjoy Oktoberfest in the company of such delightful, fun-loving people.
That's a little more than a brief summary of my wonderful weekend. I do hope that you all are having fun and enjoying your weekends wherever you are!
Here are a couple of Benjamin Franklinisms on drinking to send you on your way:
“In wine there is wisdom,
in beer there is Freedom,
in water there is bacteria.”
and
“Beer is proof that God loves us
and wants us to be happy.”
- Benjamin Franklin
So on that delightful note, Cheers!
Or, more appropriately, Prost!
xoxo,
Les
