How to: Bar Crawl

Cal Poly is in session. Students swarm through campus and file in and out of classes. You're thinking about the chapter reading they have tonight, their next class, their new dorm, their senior project, how to get to the gym, what's for dinner tonight? Where's in yours bathroom? Kate and I know things can get a bit chaotic as a student navigating the ins and outs of college life.

At cal Poly. We focus on learning by doing, but sometimes you don't know what to do well. Emma and I are here to answer your who, what, when, where, why? And how's here? On CP one oh one Learned by Listening, presented by KCPR ninety one point three.

Hi Mustang, I'm Emma Hughes, a third year English student, and.

I'm Kate Lopenski, a third year journalism student here at cal Poly, and we're here to share our tell all guide on how to survive and thrive at cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

So grab a notebook. You may want to write this down.

Oh what it's time to be alive? I turned twenty one recently on March second, and we actually celebrated Emma's twenty first last night. Explaining the vibe that we're bringing to the table today. Yes, so last night was so much fun, and today we're just going to take you through everything, and so in remembrance of our beloved Piscey season and our best birthdays yet, I think we can both agree on that, Yes, we're going to do a deep dive into the famous slow tradition the bar crawl.

So first we need to explain like what the bar crawl is and like get into our experience about like going through living the bar crawl while it is still fresh on our minds or as fresh as it can be the next day.

Yeah. So personally, I had been waiting since the very beginning of time, since since straight out the womb, since I popped out. Yeah, I came out and was like I need the slow bar crawl. Just kidding now, but this was like the myth, the legend, and I was looking forward to mind so much. And then I was just especially excited for Emma's because yeah, I knew what we're gonna make this episode.

Yes, and I couldn't go on Kate's because she's a little older than me and an older woman. Yeah cougar, but I couldn't go to the bar. So I went to her pregame, and you know, I celebrated with her for a short period of time and sent her off like a loving mother watching her child go away. But last night it was finally my turn, and Kate was there with me every step of the.

Way, not every step. I did leave part of the way through to go get Taco Bell, but I was doing good at that I was like, I'm a little tiugh, I'm gonna tap out before this gets any crazier. First, we wanted to talk a little bit about what the bar crawl sign was, because this is an essential part of the experience.

There's traditions within the slow bar crawl tradition, and the sign is one of the most important parts. Yeah.

So essentially, the sign is designed to make sure that you're able to visit all of the most popular bars downtown and drink some of the grossest things that you will probably ever consume. I know that Emma has something to say about the bullswoot shot that we're going to get into a little bit later, but for now, like, here's some of the different challenges that are normally included. So one of them is tworking in bubblegum alley. I

Ye, she said, crawl say less.

You were polite about it.

Okay. I also had a friend. I was doing my bark crawl with another friend who was also celebrating her twenty first so we like twerked together. It was like a cute little like couldn't be on our hands and knees both like it was.

Just it was raining, y yeah, I mean, but no matter what, gotta do your crawl what other ones? I had to do twenty one pushups? I did that in the line at the mark. That was really funny. I know that you had to get twenty one pictures? Yes, people, were you able to do that?

I have some pictures, yes, certainly. Okay, I haven't actually counted them, but I was asking anyone and everyone like do you want a picture? I actually ran into someone dressed as grew from I remember that, yeahs, And I was like, wait, can I get a picture with you? So they were like decked down in a full bald cap and like the scarf and everything. So I definitely have some good pictures. No, we met some characters last night, for sure.

People were really fun and awesome. And like, I love the whole energy of people just wishing you happy birthday. Yes, when you're wearing that sign, the bouncers flicking you in the head with your ID, yeah, or stamping you on your forehead, that's a big one. You might still be able to see Emma's on her forehead. Yeah, that's a tradition unfortunately. Yeah, they love embarrassing you and you get to live with that for a little.

Yeah, but it is what it is. Write a passage here and slow. So I actually ended up bringing my sign today so that I could read off some of our fun little show it to the camera.

Oo ah vodka.

My drink of choice was just Kirkland signature of vodka. She just comes and clutch, you know, cheap, easy lover.

This was something that I didn't know about Emma before last night, and now I know that you are a vodka Gurley.

I am a vodka Gurley. I'm a tequila So okay, I'm not exclusive with vodka though, like I will branch out, you know whatever anyone wants to.

Well, you had to last night.

Yeah exactly. But apart from the drinks, which we will get into later, I also had to get someone's number, give someone a kiss, do the forehead stamps in the selfies. I had to FaceTime my twenty first contact, and my contacts are actually linked with my sister's contact because we have the same Apple I D so I had no idea who I FaceTime last night. Luckily they did not answer, but yeah, and then pop a bottle, make a toast.

Another thing too, another like good challenge to have on there is like a liquid ivy chug or a water chug that saved me. Like that actually was a turning point in my night. I think that I would have been a lot worse off if I didn't do that.

So and I was also with the water the ice that they put in it. I was just like lunching on the ice all night because I was just like I it just I don't know something about ice, man. It just was my life Saver last night.

Well that helped you with the Bull Sweat, and let's get into that now. I think it's about time.

So that was actually number one on my checklist was to do the bull Sweat, and that was the first place we went to. We hopped in the car after the pregame and we're dropped right off at Bulls Tavern.

We're at our first bar of the night. This is Bull's Tavern, Emma. How are you feeling. We're about to get your first drink the bull Sweat? How are we doing?

I'm doing great, but I haven't had it yet, so we'll see how this goes.

I'm excited. This one literally put me into tears, so we'll see how she does.

First legal drink for this.

The bull Sweat shot is made of rum, tabasco and Worcester sauce. I can never say that Worster worsh Okay, yep, m hmm, me on that if you will. But I'm about to like grill, Emma right now, because what you're supposed to do is you're supposed to take the shot and then chase it with beer so that the spice just gets all around in your mouth and it just makes the experience all the more miserable. I actually cried after mine.

Did you really? Tears in my eyes? Tears were welling in my eyes when I was like, girl, no, you worked on your makeup. We're not doing this.

But I have a bout to pick up with you. Because miss Emma did not drink the beer. Okay, if I had to do it, hear me out, hear me out.

Okay. I saw my shot, and I saw the beer, and I saw a cup of water. There was three different cups. And I asked my other friend who went with me, shout out to you, Sammy, who is now getting me into trouble because I asked Sammy. I was like, do I take the shot and then chug all that beer and then get water or what? And She's like, no, the beer's just there's a chaser. You can have like a little sip and be fine. And I was like, okay, Sleigh.

Meanwhile, on mine, I had like my best friend like forcing the beer down my throat like chug chug chug, so I had no way out of that.

Well, thank you for not doing that for me. I no, I can't deal with you giving me shit for it now, but nice.

Yeah, but you crushed it. You did great.

Thank you.

Yeah, we were in and out on that one. You did your job and then we left.

Yes, yeah, it was a quick wham bam, thank you ma'am at Bulls Tavern mm hmm. And from there we went to the mark and that was where I got my lovely little forehead stamp.

M that still has not come off, but yes, yeah, I like to call mine my battle scars because like I just like it doesn't come off. Yeah no, And you can just tell, like looking around at everyone in your classes, like who went out that weekend, because you can see that like dark blue stamp, yeah on people's wrists everywhere. And we thought we were being smart and we just went to get stamps early when there was no line, y, because that's what you do.

You get stamps and then you can come back later in the night and pass the line, right.

Yeah, but that was not a possibility because there was even a line later on for people with stamps and it was just a whole ordeal. So like we did not end up going back there, No, we did not.

But yeah, but I've heard I've heard good things.

It is really fun.

Yeah, I've heard that it's one of the better places to be.

So yeah, if you like to dance, like the Marcus for you, it.

Was definitely like, I feel like the biggest, one of the biggest bars. That was again a little quick stop. Okay, next up on this crawl, this little walking tour if you will, that we're taking you on was Buffalo, which we actually thrived at something in the air there were like this is the place to be.

So I was introduced to the Goblet by my friend Morgan. Shout out to Morgan, and she got me the rainbow Sherbert goblet and I had it and I just knew. I just looked at him and I was like, I need to buy this girl a goblet. I don't know if you can hear me. Bye bye, Emma her first goblet ever. Pray about Herbert flavor. I hope I feel like that. So I had come over to her with this giant just chalice.

Yes, picture me on a dance floor dancing, not a care in the world. And then Kate like an angel walking up to me with a halo behinder and this giant goblet chalice cup Fi.

It's like spilling everywhere, It's all over my hands. But pretty much a goblet is just a mix of fruit lit curers oh my gosh, I can't say words, fruit liquor, licour, and then like a hard alcohol like vodka, tequila, and then just a whole can of something. Usually it's a Seltzer,

I love those. They're luckily they gave us two straws. Kate and I were sipping all night and that was great. But yeah, when we pulled the can out and a whole nother drink, I was like, girl, I can't do it. So I passed that off to Kate for sure.

But I pulled the assist on that lab and the DJ was killing it last night all of the back.

And like actually putting in the work. Like it wasn't just song song song, it was like remix and like I don't know any technical DJ terms, but he was doing stuff. Hm.

No, his transitions were clean. He definitely picked up on the energy of the crowd, Like if everyone wasn't vibing with the song, he just transitioned to the night. One man knew what he was doing and we appreciated it. Yes, So then yeah, afterward, we mosied all over to the library where Emma had her statue of liberty.

Statue of Liberty is three shots shots one that's red, one that's white, and one that's blue, and you just got to pound it back.

Which is actually very easy.

Yes for us. Yeah, I will say I have a friend who like struggled through hers. But I think you kind of have to like pick at what point in the night you're taking this one because it is three drinks. So it was still early on for me, Like I'm kind of a heavyweight, so I was like, this is a good time to get some shots in me, and you know, it was fun. It was very fun. It went on easy.

So okay, so we have just exited the library where Emma did her statue of Liberty.

It was so good. It was actually easier than I thought, no, because it's for the corpse, so it's like super easy.

And the music was really fun. Okay, we can hear it right now. Emma, how are you feeling. We're up, been halfway through. How are you doing.

I'm actually doing surprisingly well, Like I have two more drinks to go, and I'm doing well.

Honestly, I think I'm doing worse than you are. So this is super fun. Heavyweight meat lightweight. Yeah. Yeah, you're just starting a lot about us right now. Copy Thursday, Happy Bark all day. It's been a great night, and Emma's doing so well. And we met the nicest gruel in the bathroom who bought Emma and I drinks. It was she deserves a special shot. Yeah, yeah, that was very fun. We got white tea shots. I was very happy that she recommended that one. I knew you were gonna like that one.

Yeah, it was very good. I was impressed, and I was like so appreciative because she just like saw us in the bathroom. We talk, you know, girlies in the bathroom doing their thing, and she's like, I'm gonna buy you a shot and I was like bet, and she did.

I helped to return the favor someday.

Yes, her friend, she said, is going on a bar crawl next week, and I told her I will see her there and I will buy her a drink. So okay.

And then after that, I said child for now, and I went on my marry way to Taco Bell with Emily. I need to give her a shout out on her here as well, because she was like, do you need to ride back? I'm like yes and food. So we all Taco Bell and it absolutely hit. But you went to the barcade and I have a funny story for this one.

Well, guess who I saw at the barcade None other than our lovely editor Ashley. So that was like a fun little surprise. I was like, hey girl, and I knew she's gonna be there, and so we took a sound bite and got some good clips for you with Emma Hughes.

And where are we right now? Emma the arcade bar.

Yes, we are at the arcade bar and it's called barcade And why are we here tonight my bar cral?

Yes?

How are we feeling tonight? Emma? So good, so good.

Let's elaborate scale of one to ten.

Nine for sure three words describe your barcol so fucking at BIC And they do not serve hard alcohol, which was a disappointment because we were about to get frisky and do our blowjob shot. But no, no, no, because no heart alcohol there. So we just chatted and hung out. And I will say despite not serving hard alcohol, it was definitely a fun vibe because you have all the games. I think they have pool tables and stuff. So yeah,

I've never been when the bar was open, so I would be so down to go back and grab a beer and hang out.

Yes, totally. And then after that we went to McCarthy's, which was Ashley's recommendation. However, bone to pick looking at yeah, looking at you, pointed eyes because I went there and I had like two more drinks that I had to cross off on my list, which was the AMF Audios Motherfuckers and the blowjob shot, and I asked, I was like, hey, can I get an AMF And the bartender was like, no, we don't serve those, and I was like, Okay, can I get a blowjob? And he's like, no, I've done

Well, yes, we can all go on a CP one on one field trip and yes work related. Yes, yeah, I've never been so that would be good. Yes, we will check that one out again at a better time. But we ended up closing the night out at mcclin talks, and there I actually did get to complete my AMF and my blowjob shot.

Kate, do you want to explain what those drinks are? So?

The AMF is where you say audios and you are done for. It is a mixture of vodka, rum, tequila, blue curse ol, sweet and sour and then sprite or seven up, so as you best believe there's a lot going on in.

That yes, which again you have to time it right. I did that to our It's the end of my night because I was like, if it truly does get me fucked up, I am ready to go home. I've done like everything else on my list. Yeah, so I was like, this will be like the home stretch, final push, final surge of like whoo, I'm having a fun bar time, you know. But yeah, and then after that was the blowjob shot, which.

Is that's Khalua Bailey's with whip cream on top, and were you able to successfully complete your blow job shot? I was, oh, my gosh, so my protty right now.

Yeah, I like I was surprised because I watched video of you doing yours and I was like, oh no, I don't know if I'll be able to do it. But we sat my friend Claire up on the bar, put the shot right where we wanted it, and I like licked the whip cream off and I was like, slay, this is good. And then I just like I don't even know how it happened, but I got the cup

I feel like that's the norm. I did the same thing. I was not able to do it. You're I think the only person I've ever heard of that's been able to successful.

I hate that. I think there's video evidence prove. But but yeah, so it was actually pretty decent. I think that was my last drink of the night.

That's a good way to end it, not too.

Yeah, too bad, well because I had the amf as like a little precursor and exactly one final little shot to take. But yeah, so those were the drinks.

Yeah, that was all you. You didn't make it to Frog and Peach, which is one of my favorites, so I want to talk about that for a quick second.

Please do.

It's super fun. There's always live music there is a long line. Usually that's why you didn't go. Yeah, because it was cold and wet outside, so that's not the vibe. But I really like going there and I cannot wait to go back again.

We also never went to Mother's Tavern.

Because it was closed last okay, yes my tap, Yeah, that's where I did my blow job shot and it is fun in there.

Okay, I didn't.

I don't think I went on like a great night. It wasn't my favorite, but I would go back.

Okay. So we have like a list of things we still need to do exactly. We did a lot, but there's still plenty more out there for us to try.

We're still spring Chickens through the Bar really are, so we have all the time on our hands.

That being said, there are some things I wanted to touch on to plug another episode. We have our how to Party at Polly, where we talk about you know, frat parties, house parties, things like that. The bars are a lot in a lot of ways similar but also quite different, so I kind of wanted to talk about that a little bit. First of all, alcohol, Yeah, it's right there, you order it, you have whatever you want, and it's good drinks but it's expensive. But it's expensive.

Okay, so my best advice is to have a stable jacket. Okay, yeah, I wear my lother jacket every single time.

I go out.

It was raining last night, yes, so and it is acceptable to wear a jacket to the bars, which keeps you a different than other different than other parties, which is great. And then you can wear whatever you want really, I mean usually it's like jeans and like a cute top or something like that.

Boat shoes I know we talked about, like the are like party shoes like frat shoes.

Yeah, you don't want to, you don't want to do your frat shoes for Yeah, I usually do like a nicer sneaker or boots or something like that.

And then what are the best nights to go because Thursday, I know it was busy last night.

Yeah, Thursdays are probably the better, like one of the better nights to go for students, just because like it's just fun running into people, right. And then I don't even know, I feel like Fridays are decent and then Saturdays are like, eh, not really Yeah.

And they don't have cover charges during the week but on wendays.

Yeah, oh yeah. When I went to Frog and Peach on the weekend, it was like a little cover charge, but that was because there was live music. Yeah, and that was on a Saturday.

So and then as far as planning goes, just make sure that you have friends, you're going with people, and you know how to get home exactly.

Yeah, make sure that when you're on your barkral you have someone to go home with you, like a roommate or a friend, just to make sure that you get home safe and that you get in your pajamas, brush your teeth, you know, whatever you need help with.

Yeah, I had a friend last night who was staying primarily sober so that she could. I mean, of course, last night was because of the bar crawl, Like me and my friend were planning on getting pretty drunk. But yeah, it's always good to have people who you trust around you so that you know how at home and you know that everything's good. We did have a fiasco where my friend left her phone in the uber after being

There happens to the best of us. It is okay, Emma and I love hosting CP one on one and getting the chance to share our barkral stories with you, and we want to keep this going.

Well, we're in luck because kcbr's annual Pledge Drive has finally arrived. Our Pledge Drive will run until May twenty fourth, and now is your time to support the next generation of producers, graphic designers, and on air DJs by helping us reach our goal of thirty thousand dollars. All donors will receive exclusive, limited edition merchandise including T shirts, mugs with coffee stickers, and match boxes.

Whoa match box?

That's right, Maybe you can use those during your barkrawl. Donors can go through our website at KCPR dot org slash donate. Well, that's all the time we have for today. One last piece of advice. Stay hydrated and I don't just mean alcohol. Drink water, have liquid IV on hand, and stock up on PDIA LTE.

Anyways, we'll be back with more tips and tricks next time on CP one to one. Learn by listening. You can find us on any preferred streaming platform for the next.

Episode and to keep up to date with CP one on one and all KCPR podcasts, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Spotify, TikTok, or Facebook at KCPR nine to one three.

Or check us out on KCPR dot org slash podcast. And we actually said goodbye to you all from the bars, so let's insert that in right now roll the clip signing off, I'm Kle Penskey and.

I'm Emma Hughes. Thanks for tuning in to all things Cowpoly