My First Bar Experience

Wednesday night, there was supposed to be an orientation event at the Union bar to learn about the activities and events and services that the Students Association has to offer, and also free wine (almost all of the more social orientation events involve free wine).  Of course, because of the way Albany Park (where I'm living) is set up, I had yet to meet any other JSAs (study abroad people).  So, I walked over by myself, assuming that it was going to be a sort of sit and listen event.  Upon arrival, I realized that it was a mingling event, and that, while you could probably ask the SA Events Coordinator about the activities and events and services that the Students Association has to offer while you received your free wine, it was not some sort of informational meeting.  I absolutely suck at mingling.  And, having arrived alone, I of course looked like the awkward person standing around by themselves.  Fortunately, I mustered my courage and walked up to a couple of girls sitting at a table, who were not in what appeared to be a pre-formed and completed friend group, and we ended up sitting and talking together for a while.  They both go to Duke, and share an apartment there.  After a while, we decided that we should go to a pub.  So we left and wandered the streets of St Andrews, searching for somewhere that looked nice.  After a while, we stumbled upon The Keys, established in 1858.  There were a few old people inside (which, in retrospect, should have tipped us off), and after standing outside debating for several minutes, we decided that we should go in.  We were immediately greeted by an elderly man who seemed to be both drunk and perhaps suffering from some sort of older-person-memory-insufficiency.  We spent forever trying to figure out what we wanted (earlier we had decided that since there are so many pubs, we wouldn't have to ever go to whatever one we picked again if we made complete fools of ourselves trying to order drinks, having had no experience in this), and ultimately, Hannah ordered tea, I ordered a Smirnoff Ice, and Veronica ordered the same.  The old man insisted on paying for our drinks, which on the one hand was nice, and on the other, sort of defeated part of our purpose in wanting to buy drinks ourselves.  We sat don, and he came over and talked to us.  Forever.  He asked us several times where we were from, why we were here, if we were at the uni, etc etc.  He would walk away every now and then, but always made his way back to us.  After a very long while, we finished our drinks and left, agreeing to not go back to The Keys again.  I returned to Albany Park, and found my flatmates at their friends' house, watching The Return of the King.  When I told them I had been to The Keys, they laughed and told me that that was where the locals go, not the students.  They promised to show me the right places to go the following night.  Overall, it was a memorable night, if not the greatest.