It’s after midnight. It’s cold out, the wind is blowing and only a few people can be seen shuffling from one destination to another.

In other words, it’s a perfect night for Sweeps to see what students do when they get the late-night munchies.

Lincoln Highway has many late night restaurants to satisfy the hunger cravings of NIU’s night owls, including McDonald’s, the Junction, Pizza Pros, Tom and Jerry’s and Lukulo’s. But as with most places, weather, especially cold weather, affects the amount of foot traffic these restaurants get late at night.

“Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest,” said Gina Osterholt, a sophomore business management major who has worked at Lukulo’s, 1101 W. Lincoln Highway, for about a year. “The inside of the restaurant starts to get really busy around two in the morning and around 3:30 a.m. is the cell phone takeout rush.”

Lukulo’s does get its fair share of late-night patrons who should have gone to bed instead of trying to get a bite to eat. Some interesting events happen with the late-night crowds.

“People get in fights a lot,” Osterholt said. “Sometimes they fall asleep in the drive-thru. People don’t just fall asleep in the drive-thru, they also fall asleep in the booths. They’re just waiting for their food, get tired and fall asleep because it’s kind of late at night.”

Not everyone is peaceful, either.

“The craziest story was two guys started to beat each other up in the drive-thru,” Osterholt said. “They ordered their food, paid and pulled forward, didn’t grab their food, stepped out of their car and started to beat on each other. We had to call the cops. That’s only happened once, but usually they just fall asleep.”

On this night, the patrons of Lukulo’s were a bit more mellow.

“Well, we were at a couple of get-togethers, so afterwards we got hungry because we were out so late,” Aaron Hull, a freshman performing arts major, said. “It’s kind of like tradition. After we hang out with groups of people we just go and have some food. We go out and have fun. We get hungry after we have fun. So we come here, we eat then we go home and go to bed. You know, just call it a night.”

Another local eatery people seem to visit at 1 a.m. was the Junction, 816 W. Lincoln Highway.

“At two in the morning, we get pretty busy,” said Lacey Hamel, a junior textiles apparel and merchandise major, who has worked at the Junction for about three years.

“Weekends are crowded. Friday nights are the best because we get the bar rush. The worst thing that I’ve seen here was people puking all over their food, on themselves and all over the place,” she said. “Then we get the people who are trying to sneak in beer. If the bars are busy, then we’ll get busy. College kids come after midnight usually, to eat, hang out and study.”

When walking around the Junction, it was obvious the weather and the fact the bars were still open were keeping the crowds low.

“One of the reasons it’s not busy right now is it’s still a little early, and it’s cold out,” said Shashank Tirumala, a graduate mechanical engineering student. “It’s an ideal spot to converse with people. People come in and play cards, or even bring in board games. Several people come in and play chess or checkers. It’s a good place to sit down and relax.”

The night owls of NIU were not out in full force on this cold night. When looking for said students, the McDonald’s drive-thru staff was too busy to comment, Pizza Pros was deserted, Molly’s and Bar One were packed and very few people were walking around.