After transferring to the University of Illinois this past fall, the 2013-2014 school year was a series of first for me: first year at Illinois, first date event, first Unofficial…you get my drift. Last weekend, I got to experience my first Greek Reunion, which gave me the inspiration to write about my experience and play teacher by giving the epic Greek Reunion a grade this summer.

When it came time to go home for the summer, I was saying my goodbyes with the thought in mind that I will not see my sisters and friends until August. However, everyone I hugged goodbye would say “Hey, its not that long. I will see you at Greek Reunion!”

“Huh? What’s Greek Reunion?” I thought. 

Being that I have only been at Illinois a year, I had to have my pledge daughter explain that Greek Reunion was a time when the entire Illinois Greek community comes to campus for a weekend to catch up and have fun. This has apparently been a tradition for years and has turned into an event that has almost the same reputation as Unofficial (not quite, but it’s close).       

Because I would spend the summer in Dallas, Texas, I knew that I would be missing my sisters terribly by the time July rolled around. Once I heard about Greek Reunion however, I wanted to do anything in my power to make sure I was present for this epic weekend.    

I was thrilled when my mom said I could attend my first Greek Reunion, so the next weekend, I hopped on a plane to my dearly missed Champaign, Illinois. Driving from the airport to campus, all I could think about was “What should I expect?”  

Before I left, I brushed up on what my fellow Odyssey staff writers wrote about Greek Reunion, which gave me the idea that I should be prepared to have fun. Nevertheless, I really didn’t know what I should be expecting -- whether there would be a lot of people who really came back or if it would be anything like the parties held during the school year.  I think it is safe to stay that all these silly thoughts flew out of my mind the second I stepped into Red Lion that Saturday night.

Try picturing a whole campus being nearly empty, and then walking on Green Street to find it overrun by all people Greek. It seemed as though there were representatives from every sorority and fraternity on campus (which is a lot), and even members and friends from other college campus. It was looking a lot like Unofficial, excluding the green.    

When I walked through Red Lion, I was once again faced with the struggle of trying to find familiar faces among the blasting music and swimming through a sea of giddy college students. Once I saw my group of sisters outside on the Red Lion patio, I raced over to them. What happened next makes me choke up every time I think about it.    

Remember the final scene in Home Alone, when Kevin’s whole family rushes into the house, swarming Kevin into a big family-sized bear hug? Well, that’s pretty much what happened when my sisters saw that I came all the way from Texas to spend the weekend with them. If I didn’t know what true sisterly love was before, I do now. The next series of hours was a rapid progression of hugging friends around the bar, catching up with my sisters, and pretty much moving to wherever the fun was going next.

The pièce de résistance  was when it started pouring at 3 a.m. However, we didn’t care. Even after walking all the way down Green Street and back, and getting soaked in the process, I would still give my first Greek Reunion an A.

The reason I didn’t give it an A+ is that I truly think Greek Reunion will be even better next year for my last summer as a college student. However, this one weekend with my sisters contained memories that I will never forget, making me so happy that I didn’t have to go a whole summer without seeing them. I guess that’s what Greek Reunion is all about - catching up, having fun, and knowing that three months of summer could never change true friendships.