Greek life.

These two words are ingrained in our brains years before entering college. We hear endless stories of our parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends’ experiences in sororities and fraternities. We hear talk of legacies.

We hear debates about which sororities and fraternities are top-tier.

Why wouldn’t we want to be a part of Greek life as well if it’s all we hear about?

However, what many of your relatives fail to realize is that each school’s Greek life is different (including their rush process).

When I went through rush, my parents tried to help me, but the process at University of Florida is very different than the processes at Pennsylvania State University or University of Delaware. All incoming University of Florida freshman: here is your guide to the realities of rush.

University of Florida sorority rush begins a week before school starts. This means you move in early. Not only are you trying to get your dorm room Instagram or Dormify perfect, but you are also having to go to a rush meeting and absorb your final moments with your family. The day after my family left, rush began.

Talk about a quick transition to college.

On the first day of rush, you have absolutely no idea what to expect. You stand there, in an alphabetical line of 40+ people (all wearing the same t-shirt), waiting to enter the house. Keep in mind, rush takes place in the middle of August.

This means that your time spent waiting outside the houses is when you begin to start dripping (and I really mean dripping) with sweat. When there are about 10 minutes or more left before you have to enter a house, you get to wait under a tent.

Sadly, this tent is not SUPER helpful because the Florida summer heat is truly THAT hot. When the time becomes under 5 minutes, that is when the ultimate heat takes over because you can no longer wait under a tent and must line up.

However, the Pi Chis (older girls who have gone through the rush process) help you attempt to keep your makeup from melting off and remain looking presentable. The Pi Chis pass around coffee filters to dab sweat and breath mints to freshen up — these coffee filters become your life.

Once the sweat has been dealt with, it is usually time for the doors to the houses to open.

At the 1-minute-mark, everyone is silent in line. Then, the doors whip open and a line of girls (all dressed the same) come filing out. They walk in perfect formation, welcoming you to their house. They then pair themselves up with one of you, grab your bag and offer you a glass of water. However, what is unknown until rush really starts, is the speed at which these girls take you through their house; keep in mind they are all wearing high heels.

Also, everyone is talking at once. So, you basically have to scream to be heard.

Then, once time has elapsed, the girls exit in perfect formation. This is only one house. There are 17 houses at the University of Florida. You have to rush them all.

On the conclusion of day 1 round1, everyone races to CVS to buy a portable fan-- be smart and buy one before rush even starts! Since you have to rush every house, you do not always want the cup of water they are offering and feel obligated to take it or judged if you say no.

You get tired of walking at a super speedy pace to keep up.

You get tired of talking at super loud volumes and constantly smiling. Between the first 2 days of rush, you do this process 17 times.

The stories about rush being a lot of work are true. It's a lot, and it’s exhausting.

By the second round of rush, you are a little more accustomed to the insanity that you are going through. However, with each round, the style of dressing gets nicer and nicer and the shoes get higher and higher.

With each day, the perfect hair and makeup are still needed. This is a lot to keep up with and quite exhausting. It is also apparent with each passing round the increasing intensity and the fewer number of girls waiting under the tent with you to enter each house. You also might have to keep going back to houses that you really do not want which gets frustrating.

By round 3, you can have houses from 9:30 A.M. until 9 P.M. with few or no dinner breaks. After each round, you must submit your choices to the computer system and this takes an extended period of time. I did not finish round 3 until 11 P.M. Finally, by the preferential round, you can see the end in sight.

Lastly, comes bid day. On this day, you can see it was all worth it.

Greek life is amazing. However, the process is hot and tiring. In the end, it is absolutely worth it because you get to meet amazing new people and become a part of a great organization. While the realities may not seem too pleasant, everyone goes through rush together—it becomes an experience. Looking back on it, it is something all of your friends will laugh at. When rushing, keep these realities in mind so you know what to expect.