| Photo from Paul Greenough (Left) // Natalie Kahn | Staff Photographer
Left to right: Paul Greenough, Ryan Berlin, and Rachel Pester
For some transfer students at Penn, Spring Fling evoked memories of their old universities.
College sophomore Paul Greenough spent his freshman year at George Mason University. He said Fling reminded him of Mason Day, a one-day annual event when the school sets up amusement park rides and holds a concert on campus.
Last year’s performer at Mason Day was rapper Juicy J.
Greenough said the event starts at 2 p.m., the concert begins at 8 p.m. and everything finishes by 10 p.m. He called this “low-key and underwhelming” compared to Penn, where Fling events happen throughout the entire week.
“Fling is part of the culture at Penn,” Greenough said. “Right when I got in, I started to hear, ‘you’re going to love Fling,’ and I just kept thinking, ‘what is Fling? What is it?’ Now, I finally understand.”
College sophomore Rachel Pester had similar experiences at Duke University before coming to Penn. Like George Mason, Duke holds an event on the last day of classes — fittingly called Last Day of Classes, or LDOC.
This year’s LDOC, to be held this Wednesday, will feature Canadian hip-hop artist Tory Lanez, Daya and American band Panama Wedding among other acts. Pester remembers watching hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd and pop band Saint Motel last year.
The event at Duke is free, Pester said. She added that although the event only spans one day, she appreciated that she did not have class or work to do afterwards.
College junior Ryan Berlin transferred from the University of Maryland and said Maryland also organizes a daylong festival with a concert.
Called Art Attack, the event will feature Grammy-Award winning rapper 2 Chainz this year. Berlin said when he was a freshman at Maryland, Jessie J headlined the Art Attack concert.
“The concert is a big deal because they usually get really good people,” Berlin said. “Better people than Penn gets for Fling.”
Like the events at George Mason and Duke, Art Attack spans just one day. Even though students celebrate during the weekend, all school-sanctioned events are limited to a single day.
Berlin, Greenough and Pester all attended the Zedd concert at Penn this year. Greenough preferred the Penn Park location to that of Mason Day’s concert, which was a parking lot. The Art Attack concert, on the other hand, was held at the University of Maryland’s football stadium.
Pester said she left the Zedd concert early due to the rain. She also attended some of the student performances in the Quadrangle but ended up going inside as a result of the weather. She said that although the rain put a damper on her experience, she still enjoyed her first Fling at Penn.
Greenough said he noticed the effort that both student groups and the University put into Fling-related festivities.
“Penn spent a lot more money all around,” he said. “It’s a big deal here.”
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