Heavy metal music leaks from the walls of Downing University Center Subway, occasionally amplified from the doors swinging open as students take a break from the show.

Clusters of teens and 20-somethings stand outside talking and laughing. This is a typical fall night for them during the school year.

Megan Sansom and Lauren Hartley, both Bowling Green freshmen, take a few drags from their cigarettes. Sansom lets out a long, uninterested sigh.

They’ve been coming to Nite Class for years, not because they enjoy it, but because there’s nothing better to do, they say.

“The music kind of sucks,” Hartley says. “But this is all we have – other than going to a party.”

“Well, this is more of a pre-party thing,” Sansom adds. “If you’re really bored, you can chill here with friends.”

Hartley twiddles her oversized, lens-less, red Sally Jessie Raphael-like glasses, trying to think of something else she likes to do in Bowling Green at night.

Just as she begins to speak, Bowling Green sophomore Kyle Golden walks up and interrupts.

“I’ll tell you,” Golden says. “There’s nothing to do here but get drunk and get in trouble or go vandalize something.”

This is Bowling Green after dark.

A mile or so away students are seen surrounding a lone bar on College Street.

Outside, people mingle on the porch, sharing pitchers of beer as a lanky man in a black T-shirt checks IDs of anyone hoping to get in. Empty plastic cups stacked on top of each other decorate the railing of the porch.

Inside, Bowling Green senior Brad Hogue enjoys a drink with his cousin Ray Durlin.

They came to catch up with each other and enjoy the food at Froggy’s Pizza Pub.

Durlin moved away from Bowling Green a few years ago because he joined the Air Force and was stationed elsewhere. “I missed Bowling Green,” Durlin says. “I missed being able to hang out, relax and watch football.”

Hogue looks around the bar, pointing to things he likes about it. He says that if he had to move away after graduation, the night life of Bowling Green is one thing he’d miss.

“Compared to cities of its size, you can’t beat it,” he said.

Across the bar, Louisville senior Lauren Schafer and Cincinnati senior Lindsey Frank socialize with their friends to alleviate stress from the school week.

They say getting ready to go out is half the fun.

“We get to primp up and wear cute clothes,” Schafer says.

As she takes a sip of her drink, Schafer says she and her friends usually go out to Brewing Company or to Nashville.

“It’s so nice to go out and see your friends and not have to worry about studying for a test,” Frank said. “It’s about having fun.”

To these people, nighttime in Bowling Green is the perfect time to visit with friends and family they don’t usually get to see.

Bowling Green junior Kim Reeves, Smiths Grove senior Holly Bryce and alumni Clayton Shuffett and Dustin Roemer prefer quieter evenings, surrounded by close friends.

They walk out of the Great Escape Theater after watching “Good Luck Chuck” one night. Going to the movies is something they only do once or twice a year, Reeves says.

Roemer laughs at Reeves’ comment. “Yeah, I’d rather have close friends over, hang out and get in the hot tub.”

They admit going out to local bars is not their “thing” unless there is a local band playing, such as their friends’ band Von Guarde (formerly The Secret).

“We really like going downtown for concerts in the park,” Bryce says.

Seeing bands like Skip Bond and the Fugitives and The Ernie Small Blues Band is something they all enjoy during the summer.

It’s about midnight and across town music blasts across a PA system as bowling pins crash. Dozens of people, young and old, gather at Southern Lanes to enjoy a game of bowling, mini-golf and hot slices of pizza.

Former Western student Billy Webb, from Bowling Green, came to Southern Lanes to meet up with a few friends.

On most occasions, he enjoys going out at night because it relieves stress, he says.

“If I could go anywhere in town, I’d go to a bar, but I’m still too young,” he says.

To Webb, nights in Bowling Green are ever-changing, full of surprises and unexpectedness.

“Stick around for a while, you may still see something,” he says.

Reach Heather Ryan at diversions@chherald.com.