How To Find Swifties In Another Country

By Alexis Greenberg

Last semester I started a Taylor Swift club called the KU Swift Society. There are over 30 chapters all over the world, although they’re not connected by a central national or international chapter like sororities or fraternities. There are several in the UK, and both Oxford and Cambridge have Swift Societies.

Oxford has 1,710 Instagram followers and 18,000 likes on TikTok. They frequently hold events such as black tie balls, pub quizzes, karaoke, movie nights, and more. I reached out the day before we flew to London to see if they had any events going on the day we’d all be at Oxford together. Unfortunately they said no, as their term had already ended, but I wasn’t deterred.

I reached out to the University Colleges London Swift Society to see if they had anything going on. Apparently their events are students of the university only, (as are KU’s, but if we had an international visitor I’d bend the rules, personally) but their committee members offered to go out for coffee and hang out. Thursday finally rolled around and I was so nervous, although I wasn’t sure why. I shot their Instagram page a message letting them know I had arrived at the coffee shop and what I was wearing/what I looked like. Their president, Alessandra, got there first, and we spoke for half an hour about their society, how they started it, where she was from, and more.

Once the Treasurer, Alex, and Welfare officer, Toni, arrived, we all got drinks and spoke about a wide range of topics. I asked them what they thought about Taylor not announcing international dates of her tour yet and they told me how university works in the UK. They were pretty jealous that I am able to take electives such as Stretch and Mindfulness, University Singers Choir, and The London Review.

We got on the topic of politics and they each spoke about Romanian and British politics. Alessandra told me about when she lived in the US for a year during high school. She told me the story of how Trump walked past her during a school trip to D.C., and how someone on the same program the next year died in a school shooting.

I told them about our trip to London, where I’d been so far, making a London Boy music video, and why I started a Swift Society. They told me they have four hundred paying members of their society but one of their events only got 3 attendees. I felt much better about our average 12ish attendees. I learned a lot about how their society operates and how student organizations in general typically work in England. They are all third year students, and were preparing for graduation right after exams. They talked to me about the uncertainty around leaving a leadership position and the upcoming elections the club was holding to select the next year’s committee. I’ve still got another year at KU but I’m already missing having such a strong community of people with a common love for Taylor and her music. This amazing experience showed me you can find a fellow Swiftie anywhere; at Freshman Orientation, concerts, in my classes, in Wescoe at the Underground, and even in another country.