My Experience Finding the Roost for the First Time

Walking through the large east-facing doors of the Frick Center, I get hit with the lingering smells of stale coffee and industrial cleaning supplies. I walk forward and up the steps into the main gathering space overlooking the campus mall.

It’s not very lively in this area of the building, but it doesn’t feel abandoned either. As I turn left in front of the seemingly unused fireplace, I see the hallway leading towards the school’s spirit store. I gaze through the windows at the brightly lit merchandise with the school’s branding littered all over. I think to myself, “Wow, I should really get some sort of school apparel at some point.”

I reach the top of the stairwell and begin my descent to the lower level of the building. With every step I land on, it seems there are people multiplying, and the sounds of laughter and conversation start to fill the space around me.

When I reach the final step I remind myself what I’m looking for: the Roost. I’m supposed to meet another staff writer from the school’s newspaper to talk about working together on an upcoming article. I continue walking forward towards a makeshift wall that’s funneling the foot traffic around a corner

I’m following the conversations I hear ahead. I feel hopeful. “Crap,” I think. This is terrifying.

In front of me is the cafeteria, filled with my fellow university students. Everyone seems to know everyone else. They’re all in groups laughing and eating; some are even studying somehow. This is definitely not the Roost.

I swing a full 180 degrees on my heels and promptly pull my phone out. “Where is the Roost in Elmhurst University,” I frantically type into Google as I’m walking while also trying to dodge the groups of students walking in the opposite direction.

I pull over to the side of the hallway trying to find some sort of answers through the glass-and-metal device in my hands. I look up and thankfully no one suspects I’m lost. I turn back and walk towards the cafeteria. Maybe I just need to walk over to the other side?

As I’m walking through the cafeteria, attempting to not draw too much attention in the process, I encounter an exterior door to the patio at the base of the building. “All right, whatever,” I think. Walking through the doors, breathing the outside air, I decide to enter the other side of the building in hopes of finding a hidden stairwell or something worth this adventure.

I climb the steps, turn to my right, and reach the door. My destination is close. I can feel it. I cross the threshold and look up to see the same Elmhurst merchandise, just further away. I plant my feet, look to my left, then my right. “No mysterious stairwell around here.”

So, I walk straight. I go down the same stairs again. Instead of walking forward this time, I turn to the right at a break in the wall. There are four doors and no sign of life. “Great.”

I pull my second U-turn of the day, and as I walk through the break in the wall, I see an open door with dark blue paint on the inside walls. I move forward so I can see clearly into the open doorway. And there she is in all her glory. “The Roost,” in bright blue neon lights. I internally kick myself and go on my merry way.