5. Rice University’s Beer Bike.
This annual race has been a tradition for over 60 years at Rice University. During the Beer Bike, one member of each team must chug beer as fast as they can. Only once they’ve finished can their teammate hop on their bike and begin racing a set number of laps around the track. On the biker’s last lap, the next chugger begins to chug. And so it continues…
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4. The Primal Scream at Carleton College.
With the pressure of finals weighing heavily on your mind, sometimes you just have to scream to let off some steam. That’s what students at Carleton College do, together in one voice, every semester. At exactly 10:00 pm, the night before finals start, students are welcome to stick their head out the window and let it rip. Take a listen. (Warning: loud!)
3. Indiana University’s Little 500.
Modeled after the Indy 500, this annual occurrence since 1951 is the largest collegiate bike race in the country. The race draws a crowd of more than 25,000 every year. Spectators line up to watch the intense race in which teams of four compete against each other in 200 laps for the men and 100 laps for the women.
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2. The Pull at Hope College.
It’s the most amped up tug-of-war match you’ll ever see, and it’s been happening every September at Hope College since 1898. Teams consist of 18 pullers and 18 “moralers” who are there to cheer on their teammates. People get very serious about The Pull. In fact, the longest single match lasted three hours and 51 minutes. You don’t even want to imagine the sore arms after an ordeal like that.
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1. Dragon Day at Cornell University.
Every St. Patrick’s Day, architecture students design and build these crazy intricate dragons that can sometimes stand several stories high. They proudly parade the dragons around campus, engage in mock dragon fights, and finally light their creations on fire. Why? Who knows? Something else worth noting is that the architecture students and their dragons are usually heckled mercilessly by engineering students. Historically, there’s a big rivalry between these two majors.
Photo Credit: Pawprint Cornell
