With my own initiation right around the corner, I thought a piece about sorority life would be fitting. When I was younger, I had no idea what Greek Life was. All of my knowledge was from movies, TV shows, my parent’s old college friends, and random stuff I heard in the news. I never quite saw myself as the sorority type.

Living in a house with 80 other girls at one time? My mom grew up with four sisters and that seemed like too many, so for someone who spent most of their life as an only child let me tell you, 80 is a lot. However, my interest was piqued during a college tour, and I started to dig a little deeper.

Soon, all of the benefits started to outweigh the negative stereotypes portrayed by mainstream media, and I found myself signing up for formal recruitment, also known as rush, at the beginning of this semester.

Now, let me tell you, rush was rough. We started the Friday night of the first week of classes, and we only visited five of the seventeen sororities on campus. I was already drained from those houses, and we had another thirteen to go the next day, and this was all just for round one! I honestly thought I was not going to make it. But, I kept my head up and my mind open to all of my options.

After visiting the other thirteen houses, it was time to rank the houses. I thought it was easy that first night. There were some houses I felt I clicked with and wanted to know more about, others I knew I would not fit there.

When I got my list back the next day, I had been right because those houses had not asked me back. It was time for round two of rush and so I went to my next group of houses, I think I had a total of ten that day. We could have at most thirteen, so I was one of the lucky ones who got a few breaks throughout the day. From there I tried to dig a little deeper, maybe get past the ‘what’s your major?’, ‘where are you from?’, ‘how are you liking school?’, and ‘why did you choose to rush?’.

Getting away from those topics was harder with some houses, but others, the ones I was starting to see myself in, it was easier to connect with those girls. Again, that night I felt like it was easy to differentiate between the houses I could see myself in, and those that I could not. I had to wait an entire week before I found out which houses invited me back.

It was torture to wait that long for my next list. I’ll admit, I felt a little but hurt whenever a house I felt I connected with had dropped me, but looking back it all happened for a reason. That day was round three, and so we visited at most eight houses. I had six, so again I was able to take some breaks throughout the day.

At the end of that day, we cut our houses to our top three. Going into that night of ranking I knew exactly what I was going to do, and then Preference round came. I would have been perfectly happy if I found a home in any of the houses in my top three. Probably a little abnormal, but I liked the conversations I had been having and the girls all seemed to have similar interests to mine, but they were different enough to help me grow into a more rounded person.

At the end of pref round, we were all told to rank our top three in order from favorite to least favorite. I was conflicted. I went the entire process knowing exactly what I wanted to do, and here I was on the last day with no clue what I was supposed to do. I texted a few friends and family for advice, but they all just seemed to say, "you’ll be fine". I knew I would be fine, I just did not know what I wanted to do. I ended up going with my gut and thinking it’ll work out the right way no matter where I put these houses on my list. And you know what? I was right.

I have found my forever home with these girls. I know it sounds cliché, but it all worked out the way it was supposed to work out. I’ve started to make friendships with girls in my pledge class, and most of them I probably would not have met unless I joined Greek Life. I am getting to know upperclassmen, most of whom I can ask for advice when I need it. I am getting to know people from other houses just because we have an affiliation with a house. The girls in my house want me to succeed, they want me to be the best version of myself I can be.

They study with me, they make sure I am avoiding stress, and they are always there if I just want to talk, and in return, I do the same for them. I spent the first sixteen years of my life as an only child, and no one can replace my little sister, but I can gladly say that my heart is big enough for all of the sisters I have met and gotten to know over the past few months.

I will forever be thankful that I decided to go Greek, even just for the opportunity to meet girls in my Gamma Chi group and those that stood in line with me before I walked into each of the different houses. So, I would like to thank each of the houses that knew I was not going to click with their girls because I have found a home in my sisters and I have found a group of people I will always be able to count on.