My First Uni Party - LSE Crush

College life is really different in the UK. For one, they call it "uni" for university. College is something else, so uni students will usually get offended when you refer to them as college students. Second, the biggest difference is probably that the drinking age here is 18, so alcohol is a bigger part of student life. Or at least, it's more out there. I'm currently living in a student hall and we have a bar downstairs. And all the student unions at schools have bars and clubs and they throw parties. On the flip side, they don't have fraternity parties...they don't have fraternities or sororities at all.

I went to one of these uni parties yesterday because my friend Chloe is in town, and she's an undergrad and they tend to go to these things. Being a postgrad, I've never gone because it mostly caters to that 18-year-old just legal demographic, and it might be an 18 and over club with alcohol, but hell, it's still an 18 and over club, and you know how great those are.

But anyhow, the party was on campus, so I wasn't really expecting much. I just kind of strolled over there, waited the queue and went inside, and it looks like this:

It's like a legit club inside there, with alcohol, DJs, etc. There were three rooms, one spinning hip-hop, one spinning house and pop and one that was more loungy. And the place is packed with 18-year-olds and kids making out on couches and there's like a hooka bar. And the drinks were really cheap. It definitely beats those damn frat parties with the "jungle juice" or whatever it was called and the grainy vodka and dancing in the fraternity basement shit. This place is like a college student's dream!

So here's some pics from the website and from my phone camera:

JiaJia's friends, JiaJia and me. Remember JiaJia from a couple entries ago? He just keeps coming back, doesn't he? Me, JiaJia and Chloe are friends from Shanghai. Chloe and I met him and his friends at Blue Frog Maoming Lu one night and we've kept in touch over the months, so it was like a little Shanghai reunion last night.

JiaJia and Me. There was camera guys wandering around snapping pictures. These days, everyone's paparazzi aren't they? Speaking of which on an unrelated note, my cousin showed me this website, www.xanga.com/ktownfug, and it's SOOO funny and SOOO sad. And it makes me feel SOO glad I don't go to those Asian parties.


Me and Weifen!

Chloe and her friend Alicia.

SO...in conclusion, DAMN, it would have been great to have something like this around when I was 18, but at 23, not so much fun. It was just too crowded full of belligerent drunks and loud. It's nice to know that 18-year-olds are the same regardless of where their from.