American Sports Cafe

I'd been waiting for this night since the first week I'd got here. I had heard so much about this place and I was immediately drawn to the no cover, and cheap drinks. £1 pints all night long. I was planning to get shit faced. Needless to say...I succeeded.

Nearly everyone from Huron University did the 10 minute hike to just past Leceister Square to American Sports Cafe. It's an American haven in London. Every student studying abroad, and a few locals flock to this modernized bar for cheap drinks, classic american music and an atmosphere much like the ones we're use to at home.

It was a fantastic night. I started it off with a can of Guinness, which by the way they dont' have open container laws here so I was free to rome the streets with a can of Guinness in one hand. It was awesome. I get to the bar and immediately hit up the £1 pints. Chug one down and hit the bartender up for another. There were loads of people there from Syracuse, Cincinnati, FSU, UF (on other programs) EVERYWHERE! The atmosphere was so chill and packed. We conquered a table and began playing quarters. It was only 9:30 p.m.

By 11:30 p.m. I'd chugged close to 4 pints and knocked back a few from quarters. I was nearly done drinking, but the night felt like it was just beginning. The Brits have the right idea. They start early and end early so that they can get up the next day and function. This bar fortunately has one of the rare licenses to stay open until 3 a.m. It's usually extra for other bars to do that, but the Brits don't understand that value of making an extra buck by staying open late.

I was drunk and on the verge of vomiting. I ran into the bathroom and every bathroom here has one of those attendants that hands you a paper towel and offers to spray cologne on you. I avoided the guy and made my way to the stall just in case. I coached myself not to vomit. The bathroom was cool though it didn't have urinals it had like one long urinal across two walls. So you stand next to the guy and everyone's urine runs down the same pipe towards a drain. It sounds weird. So yea I avoided the attendant because that meant I had to tip him and that was one less drink for me.

We stuck around for a couple more hours drinking of course and dancing. They played Eric Prydz- Call on me (which is huge here Scambo) and I finally heard the Baywatch theme song techno version "I'll be there" (I didn't believe you Kareem) It made the house jump. The night melowed out later when we were all pretty hammered and then it started reminding me of home. The DJ played "Livin' on a prayer" "Build me Up Buttercup" (or whatever) and other 80s classic like "Pour some sugar on me." The bar had an XS mixed with Swamp vibe to it. It was good times.

We left around 1 a.m. and it was 6 of us. We had no idea where we were going and we were one of the first groups to leave. Somehow we made it home, but it was sheer luck because as we passed a street one of us would recall walking by or past that street at one point during our stay here this far. We later find out that we walked in a zig zag pattern and we were the last bunch to arrive at home it took us so long.

We did stop at McDonald's on the way though. Let me just tell you that I was starved and craved Five Star pizza like crazy. I settled for McDonalds. I though they'd have a pound menu (equivalent to a dollar menu) but they didn't. Then it happened. I saw the Big Mac. Oh, by the way they still call the quarter pound with cheese a quarter pounder so Pulp Fiction is wrong. I ordered a Big Mac and I don't know if it was the alcohol or what but it was the best fucking Big Mac of my life. I enjoyed every bite of it and savored that flavor of two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, NO PICKLES, onions all on a sesame-seed bun. I envy you guys only paying a buck for it at home.

I concluded my night by falling asleep to one of my all time favorite movies "The Boondock Saints." Fucking Amazing Times. However, there was one thing missing...Laura.