Wild Nights Are Calling

It’s that time of year again: running on five hours of sleep, chugging double-shot lattes everyday, and applying layers upon layers of Clinique eye serum to help remedy dark eye circles. Yes, you got it: midterms are here. 

Midterm week at SU-London is especially stressful because professors, prior to this week, have minimized the amount of assignments knowing that many students spend their four-day weekends traveling around Europe. Instead, the work is all crammed into midterm and finals week. So I have four 2,000-word papers and an exam that I am currently preparing for. I may or may not have called my Dad at least 4 times this week bawling my eyes out. His advice? “No, Charlotte, don’t drop out of school. Just work your ass off until fall break comes.”

While I do spend my days working my tushie off, I believe in reward systems. I allow myself to go out and enjoy my nights if I accomplished a lot of work the day before. And trust me, there’s no better way to have fun than to spend nights out around the town. The nightlife here ranges from pub-crawls to West End shows to incredible concerts, so I definitely try new things as often as possible.

I recently spent a night exploring new pubs. I tried Waxy O’Connors in SoHo. It was one of the nicest bars I’ve been to thus far, and had one of the friendliest atmospheres. Unfortunately, it closed by midnight, but then I ended up at a SU-London favorite, O’Neills in Chinatown. O’Neills is always a good time, and you can count on it always being packed. According to one of my Londoner friends, it is a “tourist” pub, but we all love it because of that. We always meet Italians, Spaniards, Irishmen, Dutchmen, you name it. Another perk is that O’Neills almost always has bands that play live music.  I ended up befriending the jolly little Irish drummer from that night’s band, “The Craicheads.” (Trust me, he’s not sketchy despite the name of his band.)

Another night, I went to a Local Natives concert with a bunch of Syracuse students. It was so nice to have one of my favorite bands from Los Angeles fly over 5,000 miles to play in the United Kingdom.  And trust me, the O2 Academy in Brixton was absolutely packed to see them. The venue was especially overflowing with Americans who are also studying here. It was incredible not only to see a show in a different country, but to have a little piece of home all the way over here in England.

I also went to a theater show, “From Here to Eternity,” a musical that is based on the book by the same name. It’s about the lives of men in the World War II era, right before the Pearl Harbor bombings. I usually have a hard time sitting through musicals, but my flat mate, Erin, is a theater junkie, and she dragged me along. It ended up being a great experience, however. Tim Rice, who wrote the music for “The Lion King,” wrote all the lyrics. So clearly, the songs were great. Likewise, the choreography was unique and very modern. It turned out to be a wonderful night out.

Despite the stress, I am well aware that I only have a few more weeks in this incredible city and I continue to make the most of every night here.