Coming into my university as a freshman, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to rush a sorority. It didn’t really seem like my kind of thing and I didn’t know much about it, but then I decided that I should give it a try, so I did. I didn’t know it then, but when I decided to accept my bid it would be one of the best decisions I would make in my entire college career. On bid day, I ran into the arms of smiling girls that I had never seen before, but who would soon become my shoulders to cry on, late night study buddies, roommates and best friends. I watched all my soon to be sisters be so excited to greet us, and I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand how they could possibly love and care about 120 plus girls, especially someone they hardly knew, like me, but now I do.
For me personally, I went to an in-state college, where most of my high school friends went. My biggest fear was not being able to branch out and meet new people. With the help of my sorority, I made friends from all over the country. Although I still have my friends from home, my sorority has helped me meet people that I would not have otherwise never had the opportunity to. People that I might have never met are now the people that comfort me when I come home to them at 2 a.m. crying over a boy, and are the ones that put me back together after a day of doing terrible on exams and convince me not to drop out of college.
Ever since joining greek life I have become (kind of) financially responsible. Sororities and fraternities require dues, so I know that I can't go online shopping for shoes and blow every penny I have because then I wouldn't be able to pay my dues. If a special event like formal is coming up, I know that I should maybe skip out on a few Chick-Fil-A trips so that I can buy myself, and maybe my date if he's nice, a cute t-shirt. Don't get me wrong, there are still times when I find myself with $1.73 in my bank account and have to text my parents begging for money, but it's much more of a rare occurrence now.
The bonds you make with your sisters aren't just during the school year. The girls you meet are the ones you drive seven hours across the Pennsylvania turnpike for, just to hangout with them for a long weekend over the summer. They're the ones that drive an hour to your house over Christmas break just to watch a movie with you. I would drop anything for any of my sisters if she needed me. If I stayed in on a Friday night and someone came home drunk and starving, of course I'd drive her across campus to get some chicken nuggets, and I know she'd do the same for me.
Although waking up early on a Sunday morning to do community service after a long night isn't necessarily my favorite thing in the world, it's worth it. Going to walk a mile across campus with my sisters to raise money for Alzheimers and listening to the stories about how the terrible disease has affected families and lives of people makes all of the work you do to raise money to help find a cure worth it. Holding a canned food drive and having your entire sorority house filled with a few thousand cans to donate to those in need is a feeling that isn't easy to find. The feeling of knowing you're helping someone else is an amazing feeling and I'm not sure much else can top it.
My sorority has helped me become a much more outgoing and social person. In high school I was by no means shy, but I would never have had the courage to walk up to someone I didn’t know and start a conversation with them. Now it's something I not only enjoy, but it's something I'm good at. Once I was food shopping with some of my sisters in Kroger, we were lost and looking for the frozen chicken after a sorority event. A women with her two children approached us when she saw our letters and told us she was an Alumni of our sorority from different school. After a short talk, she pointed us in the direction of the frozen chicken. Sisterhood.
Formals and date parties. Honestly, need I say more? Who doesn't love getting all dressed up and pretty to hangout with their friends all night? Living in the sorority house makes these kind of events even more fun. The entire week before the event, sisters are running around the house hunting for a dress to borrow that will match perfectly with the heels they just bought from the boutique you always take little group shopping trips to. It's like prom all over again, but more fun and filled with people you actually like.
Greek life has done wonderful things for my GPA. With 120 sisters, it's impossible to not find someone that's amazing at calculus that will help you with your homework. You never have to worry about going to the library alone because theres always at least 20 girls there that would love for you to pull up a chair and study with them. Even things as simple as sitting in a class alone are sometimes not a problem. I have a class in a massive lecture hall with 200 students, and one of the first people I saw the first day of classes is the girl that lives down the hall from me in the sorority house. Needless to say, I now have someone to whisper comments to when the professor makes stupid jokes, quiz me before exams and to text for the notes when I'm just too tired to crawl out of my bed for class.
Greek life is and will continue to be a large part of my life, even after I graduate from my university. The girls that I laugh with now are the ones that I will be laughing with years later at Alumni events. My sorority has led me to some of the best people I could've ever imagined. I still have two more years left at my university and cannot wait to make more memories with my people.
