Coming into college as a freshman was a huge and confusing experience in itself. I never saw myself taking the extra step and putting myself out there by joining a sorority. Not only did my new surroundings make me timid, but I also had the wrong idea of what it was like to be a sorority girl.
Hollywood painted a picture for me-a picture that was so over fabricated that it really shifted my views on so many people I knew. I thought sorority girls were just blonde bimbos who partied too hard and slept around way too much. I'm embarrassed to say that this was my view on these girls who actually are nothing like that.
The freshmen I was acquainted with started to rush in the spring semester and I began to see what sororities were actually about. They all made so many new friends, met so many new people and made so many new memories. I was beyond jealous watching these girls kill it all over social media-they were all so happy.
My views then began to shift and I realized that maybe sororities were my thing. I wanted to be out there, I wanted to be social. I wanted to impact people's lives and make great friends while doing so. I'd so much rather be doing a fundraiser than sitting in my dorm on a Tuesday afternoon. I'd so much rather be able to call so many girls my friends-even better, my sisters.
So, by the end of my second semester, I began my research. I read info upon info on all the sororities on campus. I knew their reputations from word of mouth already, so it was just a matter of picking apart the ones that felt right for me. When I came back this fall semester I put myself out there and approached one of the sororities and talked to them. In no offense to them, they really just didn't feel like the right group of girls for me. My hope didn't completely go away though, because they had mentioned that a couple of more sororities were doing informal recruitment this fall as well.
As a sophomore I was really entranced by fall recruitment. The fact that I could catch up to the girls my age and get right into the gist of things is such an appealing thing to me (I'm the world's most impatient person). So, I did some more research and realized that another sorority I was kind of interested in was also doing fall recruitment. Their instagram was filled with information about events they were holding for it, etc. I checked some other sororities instagram's and they had posted nothing so I assumed this was my only other choice.
After doing some more research on this sorority I was kind of iffy about how I would fit in. My impatient mind was thankfully talked out of any major commitments, and I contacted some people to see if there were any other sororities doing informal. I found out that one of the sororities I'd been keeping my eye on, Delta Phi Epsilon, were also going to be doing informal. They didn't post anything about any events (and still haven't) but I'm ready to put myself out there to try this new experience.
I've never been the social type until I got comfortable with my surroundings and I'm excited to test our this "new me". If there's anything I learned from this experience, it's that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. It's probably the most cliche thing I've ever said, but it speaks so much truth. Do your research before you decide what you like and what you don't like. You'll never know what experiences you're missing out on.
