First pub experience

Last night I was excited to go to my first “pub.” In my eyes, a pub is supposed to be welcoming, cozy, and laid back. We must have picked the wrong pubs to go to.

Shannon, Jen, Lily, and I invited a few people to our flat before we left on our search for a pub to hang out at. There were 13 of us (yes I counted, I wanted to make sure we all returned together) sitting in our living room in a big circle. We went around the circle, introduced ourselves, and made jokes that it was like we were at camp or something playing awkward icebreaker games. We decided to walk to some pubs that were supposed to be about fifteen minutes away. After about 30 minutes, we all walked into some pub that promptly told us that they were closed. Definitely a letdown, considering the entire pub was almost full. We ventured on towards pub #2 that displayed a very disappointing sign in the window, “We enforce a strict over 21 policy after 6 pm. If you look under 25, we will ask for your identification.” WTF? This is supposed to be the London, where the legal drinking age is 18. We kept walking, and decided to head back towards our flat to find a different pub. As we walked back, a few of us ran into the bathroom at the over 21 bar. They hadn’t carded us on the way in, so we passed the word along to the rest of our group so that they could come in. After everyone ordered drinks minus me and one other girl, the bartender came up to us and asked for our ids. We weren’t even drinking! We told her we didn’t have our passports on us and she was very adamant about us leaving immediately.

This is where the group split up. There were five of us that weren’t 21, so we took another group’s advice and went to a bar in South Kensington that had normal rules about the drinking age (it was considered a bar, not to be confused with a pub, and not to be confused with a club). It reminded me of bars from home a little bit. There was a small dance floor (probably 8 by 10 feet) which was my favorite part. They dance so different here! Everyone kind of does their own thing in a techno-y way. We tried to fit in, but failed miserably. We requested Black Eyed Peas, and the entire dance floor went crazy. Some Brits that we met tried to show us how to dance, and in return we taught them the “sprinkler” and the “lawn mower.” We also taught them how to play beer pong, which they went nuts over (“Guess how I will be spending my Saturday afternoon?” they asked us after we explained the game). Lily figured out a great strategy for us on the dance floor (“Just dance like you are making fun of them”). When she tried her strategy the Brits congratulated her on getting a hang of it!

All in all, it was an unsuccessful pub experience, but turned out to be a great night anyways.