Everyone is going to have their different views on how they think sororities and Greek life works. Most of the time, the ideas of what people think Greek life is like comes from how movies portray these organizations. I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't sure if this type of thing was even for me. I had heard all the stereotypes -- that sorority girls could be shallow, just liked to drink and party all the time, would only spend time hanging out with their sisters and drop other friends, all of the sorority girls are super girly, and they were basically just paying a bunch of money for girls to be their friends. I had even heard these thoughts from my friends in high school during our senior year -- a thing that had prevented me from rushing my first year of college because I wasn't willing to give Greek life a fair chance to be a part of my life. However, after joining in the fall, I can say with certainty that joining a sorority has had nothing but a positive impact on my life.

Since joining a sorority, I have found my family away from home -- the people that I know that are always going to be there for me, in good and bad times. These are the friends that are willing to walk across campus to sit in my dorm in the middle of the night just to listen to rants during bad times, spend over 15 hours in the library a day in the study room during final weeks, having a constant group message that blows up your phone in the middle of the night, and changing all of phone backgrounds to embarrassing Facebook photos from middle school of each other.

What I have learned over the past few months is that being part of such an organization is much more than the stereotypes of just partying and drinking all the time. It is about finding the people that are constantly going to support you and be willing to drop down anything to protect you from danger and harm. These people come in with open arms and never fail to let you know that you are cared about.

Here's to the best memories spent at Carowinds together riding roller coasters, painting non artsy pumpkins to show holiday cheer, cuddling on the couch in order to watch movies and The Bachelor, and cheering under the sun in the crowd at football games.

I came into this process and organization unsure to whether this was the right fit for me. However, these girls have come to show me that it is absolutely okay to be who I am as a person, to pursue my dreams, and to challenge myself to be the best person that I can be. I can never thank these girls enough for showing me that diversity is amazing and in fact can bring people together as a whole.

So, if you are having doubts like I did about Greek life and sororities, don't let what other people say or stereotypes prevent you from trying it out. From my own experience, listening to such things can prevent you from meeting amazing people in such organizations and making some of your best memories.