When you first come to college, there are a plethora of opportunities to keep you away from your boring dorm— it's the first step towards social acceptance in the "adult" world. We all want that sense of belonging, believe me— even being a part of a collegiate varsity team with girls who I saw more than my professors, I still was feeling like an outsider at the time. Last semester, there were a total of 849 college girls who all wanted to be a part of Greek Life (or Panhellenic). In short, "Girl World."
Growing up, I was mainly a tomboy kid who loved Hot Wheels, Thomas the train, Pokemon, and the good 'ole video games. As years went by, however, I slowly found myself playing with Barbies, Bartz, Bitty Baby, and dolls I called my own kids. So, I guess you could say I was a part of a prepubescent "girl world." But definitely not the "girl world" society has manifested into today— makeup, taking pictures for the sake of social media, brand whores, and being "basic" to feel like you're on the same level as everyone else
I watched movies, such as "The House Bunny" and the modern-twist version of Snow White called "Sydney White," and it made the materialistic side of a sorority sound extremely enticing. Seeing all of the girls hug together like a family, staying in palace-like dorms, and having all the attention on them was something I craved. At this time, I was in an online high school and mainly lived in chalky sweat at the gym. The only people who were either my age or older were my coaches, the gym staff, or girls on another team that was part of my gym but barely spoke to them.
So when you get into college, is there a thing such as "social suicide?" Sort of, but it does not end in death. Or anything dangerous. Personally, my collegiate conception of this so-called suicide is sororities. Some of my friends and family were members of sororities, which I don't have anything against them, but is personally not my cup-of-tea. If you stop reading, I totally understand. If not, just hear me out:
1. Other opportunities around campus
During my last semesters of undergrad, I had the opportunity to join and run two clubs on campus: The English Majors Association and the Boise State Chinese Club. In my opinion, you gain excellent work experience, collaboration, organization, and can see how these clubs extend beyond the classroom. For me, these are local organizations like The Cabin, Storyfort, Big Tree Arts, and the Asian community such as Asian markets. Plus, joining these clubs has no fees attached!
2. Fees
Believe it or not, it actually costs you to find social acceptance. Who would've thunk? At Penn State, it costs between $350 and $600 per semester. If you think about it, that's a whole chunk of rent! Or your next opportunity to buy a new computer or phone! Don't get me wrong, receiving cool sorority swag is awesome but not at the cost of hundreds of dollars. Call me a cheapskate, but I ain't got time for that.
3. Too much girl drama
My beliefs about drama are just three simple things: 1. Don't start it 2. Don't get consumed in it AND 3. If you don't want to hear it or be near it, just beat it.
There was drama in the gymnastics world, especially since I had grown up in it, but my coach conditioned me well to block all of that out. Before attending college, I couldn't stand the middle school and the freshman high school drama of who likes who, who hates who, who said this about someone—get my drift? I would rather have a stimulating conversation about books or the latest news instead of what to wear for formal or which lipstick looks better than the other for a specific event.
Even though Boise State doesn't have sorority houses like in the South, I wouldn't be able to stand loud girlish screams and to watch them selfie every second. l
Like most things in life, some people are born with certain things and some people are not. When you come to accept that and move on, that's what really matters.
