I was once you. And no, I’m not involved personally in Greek life yet. I started dating a fraternity president. Now, I have never in my life hung around Greek life in college. When I started my freshmen year, I was totally against it. It was for the standard, “I don’t want to buy my friends” stance. I’ve been hanging around both fraternities and sororities now since the start of the school year (roughly 3 months). And in these few months, my opinion about them has changed completely.

See, dating the president of a fraternity comes with a little more than dating your average frat boy. I spent so many of my nights in the chapter room hanging with the guys, was invited to different events, watched the now brothers go through pledge ship, and honestly, I knew a good bit of what was going on behind the scenes. When I first started going to the frat house, it was so awkward being around a big group of boys. Now, I consider them all close friends. Especially the new brothers, because I was right there bonding with them as they were bonding with the fraternity. I never in my life would have believed you if you told me I would care about a fraternity, but now, I genuinely care about every single brother and I know a bunch of them care about me too. You don’t know how many nights I had to call or text a brother for help with something, and every time, they were there. So apparently not all frat boys are heartless drinking machines.

Now being around a fraternity came with hanging around sororities too. I’ve seen my handful of fake, stereotypical sorority girls, but I’ve also seen so many sweet, friendly girls. Girls who talk to you no matter if you’re in a sorority or not. I’ve seen sisters interact together, and seen first-hand how they do actually care about each other. It’s not some fake front they have up, when a sister needs help, someone’s there for her. One example I can give you is from one night in the bar. A girl was passed out in a chair by herself, obviously needing help. As soon as word got out that she was from a specific sorority, there were so many sisters surrounding her trying to get her taken care of. Now, old me would have blamed it on them trying to guard their sorority name being attached to some girl passed out at the bar, but knowing these girls you could tell it was more about making sure she was okay.

Greek like has totally taken me by surprise. Now, there still may be your stereotypical frat or sorority here or there, but the majority of them do honestly take sister and brotherhood to heart. They do care about each other and the community around them. It’s not just buying your friends; you’re making real friends for life. I plan on rushing in the fall so I can be a part of such an interesting community.

So, to every anti-Greek person out there, I was once you. I understand every angle you’re coming from, but I recommend experiencing Greek life first hand before continuing your stance. It might actually surprise you.