Did it hurt, Sparklers? You know, when you fell from heaven?
Okay, that was bad. But I don’t know any other way to tell you all how much I FREAKIN’ LOVE YOU! Your comments make me want to send each and every one of you really bad poetry. In fact, here’s a little haiku I wrote after reading mdsq36’s comment:
How your beady eyes
Bury my heart in the dirt
Enchanting squirrel.
Okay then. Now that I’ve made you all mildly uncomfortable, let’s talk about school stuff!
What it’s like to Rush a Sorority:
Night 1
Expectations: Based on what I’ve seen in movies, I figured my night would probably include blindfolds, abandoned warehouses, and ritual sacrifices.
Reality: I watched way too many movies. The night included nachos (free food!), coloring, sports trivia, and talking to a whole lot of incredibly nice girls. I spent an hour traveling between the different tables in one of the school’s conference rooms, doing little icebreakers while talking to the sisters. It was kind of awesome.
Night 2
Expectations: I thought I was going to talk to so many girls and they would all think I’m really cool and ask me to be in their sorority right away. Because I'm cool, right?
Reality: The second night followed the same structure as the first: I went around to the different “themed” tables (arts and crafts, sports, other), talked to the sisters, ate free food. I started doing something really stupid halfway through the night, though: I started comparing myself to the other girls there. I’d see a really outgoing rush-ee telling a story about how Oprah said the ice-cream shop she worked at was the best in the country, and I clammed up. Seriously, how could my “fun fact” that my dream job is to work at Disney compare to the girl who sang before the Olympics or the girl who has four kidneys? I only have two kidneys! I still had fun, but I felt lame afterwards.
Night 3
Expectations: I was going to be myself and just have fun.
Reality: We all compare ourselves to others. Especially girls—we’ll look at another girl and think she’s so much skinnier, prettier, funnier, or better than us in just about every way. And it’s stupid because we wind up feeling bad about ourselves. So at the start of the third night, I decided I wasn’t going to do that anymore (which is a lot harder than it sounds). I went into the third night thinking “Even if I don’t get into the sorority, I want to say that I had fun.” And I did have fun. And the next day I found out I made it through the first cut when I got an invitation to the Preference party!
Preference Party
We met in the same building as before, but this time they split us up and started sending cars of girls to an undisclosed location. The location wound up being an adorable restaurant where the sisters had reserved us a room. They let us order whatever dessert we wanted, and we went around to the different tables playing “getting-to-know” you Bingo. It was so much fun, and the apple-walnut pie I ordered was DELICIOUS!
And then I didn’t get in. The very nicely written rejection email came the next day thanking me for rushing and encouraging me to try again next year. The thing is: I don’t feel too bad. I know according to their bylaws, the sorority can only take a certain number of girls. I still had fun and I don’t regret anything. I might even rush again next fall.
(DISCLAIMER: No two rushes are the same, just like no two college experiences are the same. I’m sure there are “bad” sororities like the kind you read about in the news, but that doesn’t mean that “good” sororities don’t exist. At least some of them have free pie!)
College Fact #15: You don’t need 4 kidneys to be awesome. This doesn’t apply just to sororities, but college in general: Be yourself. When you’re not trying to be somebody else, it’s a lot easier to just have fun.
Next week I’ll be back with what it’s like to have a boyfriend (spoiler alert: AWESOME!), and how I spent my weekend (spoiler alert: less awesome, since I spent it studying).
First, sleep.
Sleep is for the weak,
Faye :)
What do you think about sororities? Have you ever rushed?
Related Post: Sleep is for the Weak
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Topics: dating, clubs, Advice, girls, sororities, freshmen, rushing, colleges, faye, sleep is for the weak, first year of college
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