Uni life - Nights out

Going out as a student is very different to going out as a “normal” person. The main theme is to spend as little as possible and for some, maybe even forget as much as possible.

As mentioned in previous posts, I’m a first year at the University of Lincoln studying journalism and along with many other first years, I go out once or twice a week. Lincoln is quite a small city and has around five clubs and a few bars. A positive of its size, going out is really cheap, around £2 for a drink. Also, the whole town centre is within about a 10 minute walking distance, so you also save money on taxis or buses. However, once you’ve been to every club and decided which ones you would rather not enter again, the nights get a bit repetitive.

One thing I definitely noticed was how different it is to go out as a student, rather than to going out at home. At home I was used to going out around 8-9 ish, drinking in bars and sometimes going to a club when it got a bit later. But as a student it’s not really the same. What we usually do is “pre-drink”, and here’s a simple Urban Dictionary definition in case this phrase is new to you:   

“Sometimes shortened to pre. A small party usually held in someone's house where people drink store bought alcohol before going out to a bar or club. This usually means they are tipsy or nearly drunk by the time they arrive, meaning they do not have to buy expensive drinks at the bar

Joe - "Are you going out tonight?" 

Jason - "Yeah, Emma's parents are out of town so she's having predrinks at hers" 

Joe - "Count me in"”

And then go out around 11pm. This tends to make the night go a lot faster and there’s a strange kind of rush to get as drunk as possible before going out, in order to spend less when you are out. So it's becoming more a rush than a relaxed night out that it should be.

So overall, I think for some students, nights out become a kind of necessity or ritual, that is now just rushed like a routine. The same things usually happen with the same people, but we continue to do it anyway. 

Sophie x

PS. Not necessarily written from personal experience, more of a general account on student lives.