The lake is a constant hub for Northwestern students and local residents. But what draws them there in the first place? Supriya Akella has the story.
[SOUND OF WAVES CRASHING ON THE LAKEFILL]
Lake Michigan has cemented itself as an unofficial part of Northwestern’s curriculum. Day or night, there is always someone at the lake.
At 9 a.m., runners crowd the Lakefill. Two ladies are going on a walk.
JOAN LESKA: It’s a gorgeous morning. It’s got the best view. It’s a beautiful walk, and it’s not busy. It’s one of the best walks in the city, I think.
RHYAN ZWEIFLER: It’s my favorite place to come. When you come over this bridge here and the lake just opens up for you, it’s like my heart opens up. You guys are so lucky to go to school here.
That’s Evanston resident Joan Leska, and East Rogers Park resident Rhyan Zweifler. The two drove here to walk together.
[SOUND OF RUSTLING LEAVES ON LAKEFILL]
Around 11 p.m., the lakefill starts to serve a new population. Weinberg sophomores Takeshi Chang and Gregorio Nazzi are also here to walk.
TAKESHI CHANG: Me and Greg, both of us have a goal to hit 10,000 steps a day. Obviously for a lot of health reasons, but also it allows us to go on nice walks like this and enjoy what the campus has to offer.
GREGORIO NAZZI: Yeah, and I still need to hit my 10K so that’s why I’m walking right now. I missed one day by like 50 steps since getting on campus. That’s it.
For Weinberg freshman Claire Whitehouse, a lake walk was a good way to end a long day.
CLAIRE WHITEHOUSE: I’m here because I had a migraine and I basically slept all day and sat in the dark all day, so I was like I need to do something. I have to listen to music for my house music class, so I was like, I’ll do that as I walk.
She said the lake brought some healing.
WHITEHOUSE: I don’t know if it necessarily fixed it, but it kind of gave me clarity that it’s gone. So that’s nice.
[SOUND OF WATER SPLASHING]
Summon Gebrelibanos, a first-year in McCormick, is here to call his parents.
SUMMON GEBRELIBANOS: Usually I’ll just FaceTime them because there’s also a time zone difference, so this is usually like right before I go to bed and then it’s also like when they’re done with work. I try to do it every day, just because freshman year, I guess they’re kind of worried a little bit. Yeah, just to let them check in on me.
With the waves crashing on the rocks and Chicago lights twinkling in the distance, it’s an ideal place to call parents.
GEBRELIBANOS: Having a lake is better than not having one. You can always come down here and just relax, enjoy the scene, look at the skyline down there and all that.
At 2 a.m., the lake is louder and more deserted. The city lights are dimmer in the distance, and the water looks darker and deeper. But for some, it offers the perfect end to a long day. This is first-year Emmett Van Buskirk.
EMMETT VAN BUSKIRK: I just finished my lab report for chemistry and I needed to clear my head before I went to sleep, so I thought I'd go on a walk and I ended up here. I’ve been out here for a few minutes. It’s definitely calming. The waves are pretty soothing. Yeah, my brain is definitely shutting off. This is the first time I’ve done this, but I mean it works. It is definitely really interesting to be in almost pitch black and hearing nothing but crashing waves.
Freshmen Emily Song, Sebastian Braun, Andreas Makiling, and Leo Sun met at the bridge to hang out.
EMILY SONG: Leo texted me like, Hey, you wanna hang out at the lake at 1 am the other day. And I was like, Hell yeah. So then we recruited a bunch of people and now we’re at the lake. I think it’s relaxing because there’s nobody here at the lake. You could just scream and there’s nobody here or maybe there’s also gonna be people here screaming at 2 a.m. but hypothetically you could be here and scream and it’s just nice.
SEBASTIAN BRAUN: Back home, I lived by a lake and I could walk there and I guess I
could walk this lake too. I guess I’m lake bound.
SONG: I mean, I’ve only been to the lake at night and I feel like that’s like a really unique experience compared to going to a lake during the day because nobody’s here and it’s so nice and you feel the waves.
ANDREAS MAKILING: I think for me, I’m from LA, so the closest body of water we usually have is on the ocean, so I think having a lake on campus definitely is a really nice change of pace. I mean like I love any body of water, so having one on campus to just be able to go and relax at is something I really do love about this campus.
SONG: It feels so magical.
So if your to-do list feels like it’s just getting longer — you haven’t hit 10k steps yet or need to call your parents — consider taking a walk to the lake. It’ll hear you out.
Supriya Akella, WNUR News.
