Before starting at LSU, my knowledge of Fraternities and Sororities was fairly limited, my only sources of information were the film American Pie: Beta House and the T.V series Glory Daze. So to my knowledge, I assumed fraternities or “frats” were simply party organizations which were incredibly manic, and disorganized. Since arriving here to The States, I’ve been keen to learn more about these somewhat secretive organizations which are so alien to me, whilst I felt as if I needed to learn more about something that is quintessentially American. At British universities they simply don’t exist, the only social groups that come close are our sports teams, but even still you cannot really compare the two. A word that I certainly associate with frats is “brotherhood,” a word that people like to throw around when talking about the subject, again this was something I was curious about.

Luckily being English and knowing various other international students I had my way in, and so I met up with my mate Tom. Like me, he is an exchange student from England; however, unlike me he jumped into the deep end and joined a frat. A morning after one of his weekly social events I met him at his apartment, despite a eventful night with his “brothers” he is still sporting the frat boy look, khaki shorts and a polo shirt. I don’t think you’d get away with that gear back in England, but hey, when in Rome. After a bit of catching up, I began to ask him about his relatively unique experience in a frat as Englishman.

H: So Tom, how much did you know about frats before you joined Theta Xi? What did you expect?

T: I’d seen in films and stuff I guess, like American Pie. Just the parties, girls, you know? The big houses, khakis...

H: Chinos?

T: No! Not chinos, khakis.

So Tom and I, prior to him joining both thought of those very stereotypical ideals that one subscribes to when they think of frats. However, I did learn from Tom’s blunt reply that, they’re definitely khakis and not chinos, although I still don’t have a clue about what the difference is.

H: Why did you want join a frat then?

T: I heard it was the best place to have parties, I just thought it would be cool to be the only one of my mates to have joined one. Also I knew it would be a good place to make friends. Some of my closest friends here are part of Theta Xi, mainly because you spend so much time with them.

H: So what were your first thoughts as you were shown around the frat houses for the rushing (recruitment) process?

T: A lot of handshakes. There were a lot of handshakes. You had to shake every member’s hand and often there’d be around fifty of them. Theta Xi’s house was especially clean, I was expecting a house like in American Pie, which was a piece of s**t . Most houses were really presentable, but to be fair they were trying to impress us.

H: Now I know Theta Xi were well turned out, but what else made you choose Theta Xi?

T: I got on really well with the other boys who were rushing at the same time, but honestly what really turned me over to Theta Xi, was that I’d heard they had an exchange with the “Tiger Girls”. They’re like cheerleaders, but better, they’re all extremely attractive. – (Here I had to re-word what Tom really said, which is perhaps understandable)

Currently the main themes that stand out in the dialogue are parties and girls. The image of frats that we Brits typically subscribe to, had been reinforced from what Tom had said. However Tom did divulge with me various surprising bits of information.

H: In what ways is it different to what you first expected?

T: It’s not actually all about parties. Like Theta Xi has one of the highest average GPA ratings, so they say if you need a break from the social events, you can have a breather to study and stuff.

I definitely don’t remember the “Stiffmeister” having to crack open the text books, whilst having a break from getting hammered and playing football against dwarves, oh well. Tom also told me you have to pay to be in the frat, but he wouldn’t tell me how much, again this was something that was news to me.

H: Are you treated differently in the fraternity because you’re British?

T: Even the guys love my accent, they do ask me some ridiculous questions, the other day someone asked me, “Do they have Christmas in London?”

H: I’m not going to even bother commenting on that.

T: But, at the same time the boys make sure I’m treated fairly, I still help out setting up on game days and setting up the tailgate with the other pledges.

I asked one of the other pledges, Rex, an actual American, whether Tom is treated differently for being English. He said, “People tease him for it, in a funny kind of way, but he’s still treated like a brother”

Me, Tom and his “brothers” at an exchange social, the frat boys were rocking the Space Jam dress code.

At the moment my idea of fraternities hasn’t altered drastically, it still seems like partying plays a big role in it all. Tom’s experience as a Brit in a fraternity is not radically different either. The stereotypical theme of brotherhood is undoubtedly alive and well. Although I was shocked to hear that studying doesn’t necessarily take a back seat in the lives of these boys, who call themselves “brothers”. All of this did make me think, “Why don’t we have frats in Britain?”

Probably because all this talk of brotherhood would force the reply of, “Pipe down, you melt!”.