Packapalooza
North Carolina State University is a university known for its vet school teaching and research as well as engineering and agriculture. I noticed along the route I take to the vet school that there are a lot of agricultural science and development buildings. University of Surrey also has a well-known vet school but is more known for its business and management courses. Either way both have a fairly good focus on biological science.
This week the University of Surrey started back at classes which means that the Freshers’ Fayre has taken place. While getting to know more about NC State I found out that they have an event called Packapalooza. I was told it was a fayre where societies and schools within the university advertise and you can get free stuff, like the Uni of Surrey Freshers’ Fayre. The name Packapalooza comes from the fact that the University asks you to be a part of the Wolf pack; that’s right I now run with the pack, well I don’t actually run but still. There are many slogans and sayings related to the fact that the school animal is a wolf. It even goes far enough to have the quote:’ For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.’ From Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, written on an archway as you enter campus. So what other name would this fayre have?
My only previous experience was the Fresher’s Fayre at the University of Surrey. This was held in a tent and there were booths with people that try and talk to you and lure you around with free stuff. There were about 50 booths maximum at Surrey. In proper American fashion Packapalooza was more than twice the size and as a result it was held outdoors. They shut down an entire street. It had dedicated zones of 30 or more stalls including an entire zone for food. Something I found strange, which I did not expect, was that people queued for the stalls and I thought the Brits were known for their queuing! Not in this case. At the Fresher’s fayre you just jump straight in and grab what you want or crowd around until you get the attention of the person running the stall. In the US people made a line of 30 people for a free chicken sandwich (granted I was tempted but it was way too hot to stand in line for any amount of time). Also, there wasn’t that much free stuff, obviously I missed a trick because the place was already full of people when I got there at the official start time.
It seemed to me that Packapalooza was more of a community event than exclusively a University event as there was a lot of businesses and stores that weren’t directly associated with NCSU. This meant that there was a lot more people than just students but families too. Being an Alum of a university is also really big here so plenty of parents and older people were sporting NC State merch. Another point of interest is alcohol. The dynamic of alcohol is very different here in the States. First off you can’t drink until you’re 21 and as such most events are alcohol free, especially for freshman. In the UK, I distinctly recall my housemates getting drunk and me being left to look after a housemate that couldn’t sit up so much so I had to hold her up while she vomited into a bucket. So, in the UK alcohol is seen at most university events as the legal drinking age is 18. In the US they have alcohol specific areas and even then they are not that obvious. Secondary to that the party scene is very different, you are much more likely to go to a house party or bar here than you are a night club which is the preference in most UK university towns. But that is a little off topic.
Not only did Packapalooza have music and events on stages along the entire street all day, they also had a grand opening event which seemed more of a community/ town hall situation than something you would hold at a freshers’ event. They were officially opening the renovated Hillsbourough Street an area that includes shops, restaurants and even a roundabout! So, this event was a real mix of students and community which was not my expectation at all. But, it was pretty fun and I got a cute wolf stress toy so I can’t complain. Overall, the day was hot, humid and I got to get a feel for the sheer number of people that come to events such as this and believe me Americans don’t do anything by halves.
