Bored over winter break with a desire to get out, my friends and I decided to head over to Medusa nightclub in downtown Elgin. Medusa is a 17-and-up nightclub that my friends and I wanted to find out more about. Medusa Chicago hosts “Medusa Saturday,” which is an event that anyone above the age of 17 is permitted access to with proof of a photo ID.

On Jan. 5, I went to Medusa for the first time with a group of nine girls. It took an hour to drive to Elgin from Naperville and we arrived around 11 p.m. The line to get into the club reached nearly halfway down the sidewalk and consisted of mostly what seemed like high school and young college-aged students.

Once we entered, we walked to the second floor, where the main dance stage was crowded with people from edge to edge. At the end of the dance floor is a catwalk. Loud EDM music pounded in my ears and neon strobe lights made it difficult to see. At first, it was hard to get used to the dizzying lights, and it was impossible to have a conversation with anybody without screaming over the music.

We were surprised to see many other high schoolers at Medusa, including others from Central. We spent most of our time with them on the overheated dance floor and left once or twice to cool down or get water in the girls bathroom. The foggy bathroom was packed with girls attempting to fix their hair and resting on two plastic covered couches. Whereas on the dancefloor, I couldn’t see the quality of the building, the bathroom revealed exactly how ratchet and grimy Medusa really is.

When we weren’t in the bathroom, we were on the dance floor watching dance-offs and creating mosh pits. Because I was so close to so many strangers, multiple men came up to me which was really uncomfortable. I quickly learned the importance of staying with at least one other person at all times in order to avoid inappropriate interactions.

At one point, a friend of mine was being bothered by what seemed like a college age guy. After being asked to leave several times, my other friend had to physically shove him in order to make him listen. Later on, a girl from my group left the dance floor alone to respond to a text and was followed out by a random guy. All of my friends were safe, but the circumstances certainly made us uneasy.

We stayed at Medusa for about two hours before we left and did not have any more issues for the remainder of the night. Despite the few unfortunate circumstances, my friends and I had a fun first experience at Medusa.

Medusa Saturdays open at 10 p.m.  and close at 3 a.m. The cover is $20, or $10 if you arrive before 11p.m.