It's widely known that Americans love their sports. They're passionate about them. But I think sports at UNC are at a whole new level.
As the full-time, dedicated exchange student I am, I'm always trying to live as many American college experiences as possible. I have been to all of the football games that have taken place at UNC so far.
And by football I mean football, not soccer. Yeah, Europeans, learn the difference already.
And it has been intense.
First of all, there's a thing called tailgating, which basically consists of people drinking before the game. What's the purpose? I have no idea, I mean there are games that start at 12 a.m. so here they don't mess around... only if they're 21+ though, which is a whole other story.
People of all ages go to these games, and they go all out. They don't just wear blue clothes— they wear Carolina Blue clothes, some of them even get temporary tattoos and face paint. Let's not forget about the food. If you want to you can have a three course meal during the game and snacks, lots of snacks. People even bring comfy seats to the stadium. Going to a football game is basically like going on a trip... a camping trip with all of your friends and family — everything in America looks camping related to me, ok?
But here comes the best part: the goat. UNC's mascot is a goat (well it´s technically a ram), and you might be thinking of the mascot as a person with a costume on but here, just in case that wasn't enough, they have an actual animal at the games. It's real, and it's called Rameses. And it's, again, one of those things you need to accept and not question.
Something that didn't shock me was the fireworks. Of course at a college football game there are going to be fireworks and A LOT of smoke every time there's a touchdown. Not to mention the dance team and cheerleaders celebrating by doing not-at-all-dangerous stunts plus the 300-student-marching band playing some catchy tunes. Of course. It's the same in Europe, I promise.
After going to a couple of football games my life goal now is to feature in the fans camera. Hopefully I´ll get the next one.
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