If you are in a sorority or are an alumna of a sorority, chances are you have or will have lived with your sisters at least once in your collegiate days. You might choose to dorm with them the year after you are initiated because you have become BFFs by the second year. You might rent an apartment or house with a few of them for senior year and have your letters hung in almost every room. Or, if you are very lucky, you will get the chance to live in your sorority’s house. If you are one of those lucky few, you will endure one of the most interesting year(s) of your life.
At the moment, I live in my sorority house. I am now in my junior year and have lived in my sorority house for the past two years. Apart from myself, there are 46 other women who live in the house. Yes, I know: it’s a lot of estrogen in one place. That’s probably the reason that at one point of each month we are all at each others necks, making it feel a little bit like a third world war. There have been ups. There have been downs. And I could say that together, we have endured some of the uppiest ups and the downiest downs.
Besides the fact that our sorority house looks like a fraternity house most of the time due to the messiness, it’s a pretty fun place to live. Our house was built early in the 1900’s. It’s been around for some time. These walls have seen and heard a whole lot of boy talk, long study sessions, millions of outfit changes, and, “Does this look cute or no?”
Now it’s not like the stereotypes you have probably seen in the movies with all the nail painting, braiding each other’s hair, and pillow fights. Well, it is. It’s just not as glamorous. But, if these walls on my sorority house could talk, they could tell you everything. And, I’m sure any lady who has lived in her sorority house would agree.
If these walls could talk they would tell you:
About every break up they have seen or heard about and every little tear, hug, or minute spent complaining.
About the amount of outfit changes we have before we choose the perfect one to go out in and how many times they heard, “Does this look better than the first one?”
How many times we have borrowed each others' clothes. And how we don’t just have one closet, we have 47. Sounds like every girl's dream until you lose your favorite pair of jeans to another girl's closet.
About all the boy talk and the first stages of a relationship. They could tell you about the times we’ve had crushes and spent lots of time stalking their Instagrams while asking our friends, “Do you think he’s cute?”
About the amount of complaining they have heard about how many hours we stayed up studying for an exam or about the exam we failed after staying up for hours studying…
That we think it is much more fun when we are all in the showers at the same time because we can blast music and have sing-a-longs, especially when we are getting ready to go out.
The amount of times we have ordered fast food to the house when we are too lazy to walk. Or about how many times we have had to convince each other that our diet is a bad idea. And, you only live once so you might as well order large fries.
About all the shows we binge watch together…and the ones we wait to watch every week on TV. Everyone wants people to be quiet, but everyone still makes a comment on every little detail in the show. “Oh my god that would never actually happen.” “It’s just a TV show Karen, obviously it’s not real.”
About the times that we see our exes at a bar with another girl and come home crying to people waiting to help us. They could tell you that we think that other girl is not as pretty as our sister (even if she looked like a model).
That on the weekends we eat like pigs and don’t feel guilty about it until Sunday when there is no food to eat in the house.
That sometimes we enjoy staying in and piling in one room to watch a movie over going out. And we love to bring snacks.
How many hours we slave away making crafts and paddles for our Littles. They could tell you how they never turn out as cute as the paddles on Pinterest like we wanted them to. But then, there are those select few girls who always make theirs look flawless.
About the countless amounts of times we have pretended we were in a music video while playing that one song over and over again.
How many times we get slaphappy and do idiotic things. You would also find out that there are many videos doing said idiotic things.
They would tell you that even though it’s raw, it’s real. Living with 46 other women is not always easy. Sometimes you butt heads, but sometimes it’s exactly what you need. When you come home from a bad day and you need a pick-me-up, your sisters are there. When you need a good laugh, your sisters are there. When you need someone to eat with, your sisters are there. When you need someone to complain to, or vent to, or go out with you, or anything else really, your sisters are there.
Like I said, there are ups and downs. But, those highs and lows make our college experience what it is. They help us build strong friendships and a strong sisterhood. Ultimately, I think I speak for all of us when I say that during the good and the bad we still wouldn’t change one single moment for the world.
If these walls could talk they would say, “These girls have a bond like no other.”
