With a line stretching from the Albright Health Center to the Griffin Hall lawn, passerby was sure to stop and ask what all of the excitement was about late Wednesday evening as hundreds of students flooded campus to enjoy the highly anticipated Norse Nights Carnival.

Credited with pulling the entire night off were graduate assistants Jeremy Moore, Beth Volpenhein and Brittany Corde.

“We got here before the doors opened, and the anticipation was building,” Volpenhein said. “That’s what always pays off, when you look out and you see the line is past Griffin Hall. For fifteen minutes straight people were piling in.”

“We’ve been working on it all day, so just seeing that makes it a lot better,” Moore added.

Those students lucky enough to be part of the first 500 received a free T-shirt, while everyone was able to get pizza and refreshments once inside the gym.

Volpenhein said “excitement” is the best way to describe the evening, and those in attendance could feel the excitement as soon as they walked in the door.

Staying true to carnival tradition, students had the opportunity to play games and win prizes, participate in a cake walk, compete against friends in an obstacle course or corn hole, take pictures in a photo booth, and dance to the beat of Norse Code Radio.

Those who participated in the night’s festivities could agree the social aspect was one of the most important parts of the evening thanks to a turnout of around seven hundred within the first 30 minutes alone.

Ryan Krebiehl, junior English major and one of the student workers at Norse Nights, said the best aspect of the event is “everyone getting together” and, of course, “free stuff.”

“[My favorite part is] the togetherness. I’ve seen so many people I’ve never seen before. I’ll look around and see people dancing and just hanging out,” Rosalyn Trimble, freshman electronic media and broadcasting major, said.

“It’s fun to see a ton of people in the rec center,” Corde said. “You usually see the same people coming and going, working out. I think it’s a good opportunity for students to come in and have fun in the rec center, and interact with the staff in a different way.”

With ideas for next year already being discussed, Norse Nights is sure to be a success for years to come.