I took my mum to Big Cheese and it was one of the best nights out I’ve ever had

Let’s be honest here, we always kind of dread it when our parents come to visit. Yes, you get to do Arthur’s Seat for the first time sober since Freshers’ Week and maybe pop to the museum so you can utilise your History degree in some kind of way. Most importantly, let’s not forget the nice meals out that don’t consist of Teviot nachos or Pizza Paradise at three in the morning.

But, it also means actually cleaning our rooms – by clean, we mean shove all the clothes in the closet and cover the dirty mugs with a towel – and giving the overall illusion of satisfactory hygiene.

This all changed on the fateful day of Friday, the 26th of May when I took my mum to the renowned, beloved Big Cheese night at the University of Edinburgh’s Potterrow, and revolutionised the parental university experience forever.

The build-up

This fateful night started simply at an Italian meal in the Victoria. I was with my mum – Sharon, Holly, Liv and her mum – Joanne. After helpings of pasta and wine, we noted the restaurant’s close proximity to Teviot and decided to head over to the Teviot Library Bar for nachos to give our parents the full student experience. On the way to Teviot, we passed a massive queue and in our confusion, stopped one of the bouncers asking for the cause behind it.

“It’s Big Cheese,” he said, “it’s a Friday but it’s the last one before everyone goes home for the summer.”

I immediately said, “Oh my God, it’s fate – this was meant to be; it was meant to happen.”

Little did they know, I was being 100 per cent serious. I wanted to sesh and I could feel it in my fingers, toes and liver. 

After a few rounds, the moment finally came: My mum finished off her drink and declared: “We’re going to Big Cheese.”

The calm before the storm

Getting in to Potterrow 

We had hit it at just the right time. Those with stamps had already gone in, and it was too early for other pre-drinkers to arrive at George Square. 

Everyone was a bit drunk, including our mums. The students in front of them kept looking around at the group, wondering what was going in. Despite this, we maintained morale and composure without a care in the world – it was our last night, might as well go for it. We whipped our IDs out and wore our wristbands with pride.

Always crucial to snap the moment

The drinks

Liv went to go buy everyone a VK (for your information, it was the green VK: apple and mango). When asked by our parents why she picked this particular beverage, she insisted it was the “drink of choice and absolutely compulsory.” 

There’s nothing better to bond a mother and daughter better than a shared VK.

Halfway throughout the night, my mum disappeared and nobody knew where she went. She came back with not one, not two, but five beers.

“Get ’em on, girls,” she said, with a grin.

Nice to know I’m definitely not adopted.

Absolute power duo

The music

The music was predictably cheesy but that was what made the night brilliant since everyone could enjoy it.

When I asked my mum for her rundown of the night, she said that the cheesy songs took her back to her “uni days.”

After all, there’s nothing quite like the combination of sugar-fuelled alcoholic drinks and listening to Robbie Williams’ ‘Angels’ amongst a sea of sweaty, hormonal students to make you feel young again. A girl even came up to my mum and told her that what she was doing was brilliant and that she took her Dad to Big Cheese when he came to visit.

We called it a night at 2am, deciding that they were satisfied after ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ came on. A perfect ending for a perfect evening.

Out of the nights out I’ve had, that’s got to be one of the best. It was honestly amazing and all just kind of in the moment. We didn’t really plan it and didn’t really care what anyone else thought.

My mum remarked that she didn’t feel “different from the crowd, people were coming up to us and saying it’s brilliant that you brought your family, so I felt very welcomed.”

‘The place was packed, everyone was very friendly, and security was spot on so you felt safe enjoying yourself.”

It’s clear that Big Cheese is a night for all ages. As lovely as an evening at Montpeliers is, Potterrow on a Saturday Night blows a three-course meal right out of the water.