Out N About: The New Secret Weapon For Staying In The Know

What I remember most vividly about the months and weeks leading up to move in my first year was not anxiety around making friends, whether my roommate and I would get along, or even living 8,000 kilometres away from home. It was the sheer panic around which events to go to during freshers week. Without a friend on every committee to tell me where to go and when, I created a Facebook account, taught myself to use it, and then went digging desperately through the events pages. I genuinely thought my life, and future success at university, hinged on getting an early bird Starfields ticket.

There were so many events every day, and I had no idea which ones to go to or not to go to. Even after a month at St Andrews, I would spend a solid chunk of time every weekend digging through Facebook and Instagram, trying to figure out what was happening that week, where it was, and how much the ticket cost. As an events writer for The Saint, I also had to keep track of the hottest and the most obscure events, as well as attend a fair few, in order to keep our content diverse and inclusive.

So, I was fairly surprised when, after coming back from winter break, my friends started telling me about new events they had heard of. Where was this information coming from? A new Instagram page called @outnabout.sta. Out N About was created by two students who, like the rest of us, “were overwhelmed by the event-finding process in St Andrews”.

Rather than put up with the outdated systems of marketing events across various platforms and spreading the news by word of mouth, or better yet, a booth set up outside Taste, Out N About consolidates and posts upcoming events on its Instagram page, with weekly breakdowns detailing date, time, and location. In addition to ease and efficiency, another motivation behind the creation of the page was to help “students who are not the most extroverted to find activities and friends that share similar interests”.

St Andrews is an incredibly social university, and, ultimately, nightlife is a big part of that. Many of the larger, and more established societies like some of the fashion shows, union-hosted events, or regular events like DTF and Throwbacks have a larger network and therefore more opportunities to advertise and market themselves. Smaller societies or other types of events that aren’t focused on partying can prove more difficult to find and feel intimidating to engage with despite their prevalence.

For new students who may be overwhelmed by Freshers’ Week and the St Andrews social scene, or, for existing students who aren’t as interested in partying, this resource proves particularly helpful. It not only points them towards other types of social events but offers options tailored to their interests, therefore fostering inclusivity and diversity in the events hosted and the people attending them.

Furthermore, with a tradition of high ticket prices, resources like Out N About show that it is possible to go out and have fun at events like pub quizzes or a wine tasting, rather than emptying your pockets for a ball or fashion show.

Moving forward, Out N About’s application, which is expected to launch this month, will have three primary features: matching users and events based on preference, an all-events database, and a group option where students can share events with friends. However, given that Out N About is relatively new and its app fresh off the press, event organisers need to reach out to them in order to be initially featured. While this does give smaller societies and events the opportunity to be promoted on a larger scale, there is no guarantee that every event will be included.

As it continues to gain popularity around St Andrews, Out N About states that its goal moving forward is to “build a community in St Andrews where no student ever feels left out. Where every single student can find events, meet people, and make memories that resonate with them.”

Image: @outnabout.sta