Students comment on Duke's Oktoberfest

Duke brough Oktoberfest to West Campus Friday.
Duke brough Oktoberfest to West Campus Friday.
Duke University Union started off homecoming weekend with Oktoberfest, a new annual event that brought the traditional 17-day German festival to chapel quad Friday evening. The event featured food and beer, a live band and suspender-decorating stations for attending students and faculty, as well as posters detailing facets of Bavarian culture. Oktoberfest received positive feedback despite a shortage of food, and DUU is optimistic about upholding the event in the years to come.

DUU President

“I went to the real Oktoberfest last year, and this year I was feeling nostalgic, but Duke’s Oktoberfest was a great way to hang out with other seniors and celebrate an amazing German holiday.”—Alex Lewis, a senior.

“It’s got a very different feel this year. There are a lot of alumni, which is awesome. And the music is great – we’ve never had live music before, and the band members even came in suspenders. The one setback was that we ran out of food, but that just shows how successful the event was.”—senior Caroline Marschilok, head of DUU annual events.

“Food and music alone are great reasons to go anywhere, but I also thought this would also be a great chance to learn more about German culture.”—Levi Edouna Obama, a freshman.

“This was our first time in chapel quad, we had to move to a venue while renovations are underway in West Union. We had more than 300 people come, and the food ran out within the first hour, which shows how into it everyone was.”—senior Tolu Lawal, a member of DUU.

“There’s free beer and free food, which already makes it better than Oktoberfest in Germany. This was a wonderful idea, and we’re all having a good time.”—Lutz Gruber, a German visiting scholar in the statistics department

“I came to Oktoberfest to take advantage of the festivities on campus and make the most of homecoming weekend. Plus, the band sounds great."—Jason Singh, a sophomore.

“Oktoberfest an der Duke is die Beste."—sophomore Logan Brundage, a German 204 student.

“The beer was good but there wasn’t enough food, which is really only half the German experience.”—Liz Kendall, a student at the Nicholas School of The Environment.

“This event was awesome and the band was legendary.”—Alireza Samani, a graduate student at the Pratt School of Engineering.

“There’s free beer, music, German culture…it’s awesome.”—Daniel Jolly, a graduate student at the Divinity School.

“It was as dope as the pope."—Austin Rogers, a graduate student at the Divinity School.

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