Allow me to begin by laying it all out on the table: I don’t DO clubs. I know, it’s true. I am a 23-year old female living in the trendy metropolis that is Chicago, and yet put me in a glitzy nightclub, and all you see is a fish out of water. This is for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I’m not a very good dancer, and I own more pairs of Chuck Taylors than I do stilettos. In addition, I couldn’t tell you the difference between a Far East Movement and LMFAO song if my life depended on it. No, seriously, I just had to look up, “Who sings that Party Rock-something song?” on the Internet. I am the club-goer equivalent of the band geek, or the president of the Chess Club.

So there you have the truth. All that being said, there is an exception to all my painfully awkward club outings. Here I am, all the way in Italy visiting my family, and while describing my weekend outings to them, I found the words, “STAY is tight,” falling out of my mouth. Yes, I recently had a transcending experience in the downtown Chicago club, which according to its website is actually a “lounge” rather than a club, but potato, pahtahtow.

Unlike most nightclubs I’ve been to which seem to be obsessed with industrial-chic, STAY adopts an all-wood, almost Scandinavian interior. Everything from the bar, to the ceiling is built from wood. When music and people are added to the mix, the small room gives off a nice contrast between modern and trendy, and cozy and calm. And somehow, among throngs of people, I always managed to get a bartender’s attention within less than 30 seconds. Never once did I have the urge to yell “t-t-t-today, Junior!” I asked for a vodka cranberry and the pretty girl behind the bar went the extra mile and suggested blackberry flavored vodka to me, which I thought was cool. ‘Twas delish, nothing like ice cold blackberry on a warm summer night.

I remember there was a particular moment at STAY in which I literally felt a wave of euphoria wash over me. Katy Perry’s “E.T.” had come on. I tend to find most of Katy Perry’s music obnoxious, but I must say, that song is undeniably amazing. Everything from the eerie, hard beat to the dark, sci-fi and yet romantic lyrics, is awesome to me. I searched the crowd for my friend, blackberry vodka cranberry in hand. I stopped to take a sip of my drink right as the bass in the song grew stronger, preparing for the chorus. I literally felt the bones in my chest and the floor under my feet reverberating, as I let Katy P’s pretty voice serenade me. I looked around me at all the happy people. Not pretentious, overly dressed-up party animals, but people just as happy as me to hear that song and be in that space.

I sipped the blackberry drink and smiled alone at the moment, probably creeping a few patrons out in the process. But still, I really had an ethereal experience that night. I drank way too many of those blackberry drinks, met a few people who actually wound up becoming friends of mine, and felt the almost ghostly feeling of hearing good music played that loud. I suppose I should take STAY off of my black list, and to borrow Katy’s words, tell you that STAY is supernatural. It’s extraterrestrial.