Growing up, the only expectations I had of what college was like were based on the experiences that my babysitters, parents and movies presented it all to be. My parents would say it was where they met their best friends for life, my babysitters would tell me how hard they were studying and movies showed insane parties thrown by fraternities that never ended and were full of people who seemed to be living the best days of their lives.

Then there were the homecoming weekends where I would visit my parents' alma mater and watch my mom laugh and cry alongside her sorority sisters. My mom would say how she wanted me to join a sorority one day and have the same memories that she cherished so much. And looking back, all this meant nothing to me, it was just another thing my mom would tell me that would enter one ear and go out the other. I also was sonot the sorority type of girl, having grown up with two brothers. I hated pink and had never seen any of the Mary Kate and Ashley movies.

But by the time college rolled around, the word sorority quickly became the topic of every conversation I had with people before I left for school and there was the roller coaster of emotions and a week of walking around 12 houses before I came to find you. You screamed for blue on blue and thought that I'd fit in, too. And come that bid day Kappa, I thought I would, too.

So here's to you Kappa Kappa Gamma, the sorority that welcomed me with screaming voices and open arms at a time of major transition in my life. You have filled my drawers full of shirts and given me someone to sit with in class every day. My phone is full of contacts with keys and fleur de lis next to them because of you. You have trusted me with you secrets and have become a major part of my college experience.

But Kappa you are so much more than hundreds of new likes on Instagrams or t-shirt making machine. You helped me through the whirlwind of a freshman year, teaching me more than I ever could have imagined. You have helped me grow up and taught me to love myself the same way I love chocolate. You have made me become the girl a boy wants to marry and a person confident enough to move mountains. You brought 300 new people into my life that I can call friends and sisters while giving me a bond with thousands of girls across the country. And not only that, you gave me a whole new friendship with my mom, grandmother and cousin by welcoming them into your arms, too.

Kappa, you have become a place where I am most excited to go at my best and, most importantly, at my worst. You have given me the opportunity to shove my face with pizza at 3 a.m. while being surrounded by girls with messed up makeup and tears in their eyes from uncontrollable laughter. You have given me more than just friends, but people that I miss the second they leave for class. You have shown me the sorority forty is an all too real reality (dangit). You have taught me tradition and given me a support system that nothing could even attempt to break through. You have made me even more basic than before and shown me how to sorority squat like a pro. The people you have surrounded me with have supported my dreams and helped lift me high enough to grab them.

You made made laugh until I cried and chased away tears of sadness. Kappa, I really love you and there are not enough thank yous in the entire universe that could repay you for all you have done for me in the past two years.

So KKG, this one's for you.