You've spent a week trecking around incredibly nice houses and insanely beautiful girls in uncomfortable shoes while eating your 56th breath mint for the day. It's all over and your life just changed in a big way. Maybe you are happy with the letters in your bid day card, or maybe your heart sunk deep into your stomach, but you're willing to try. Either way, you are beginning one of the weirdest and most wonderful journeys of your life. There are some things you should know though.
You are so much more than those shiny new letters.
Wear your t-shirts covered in your letters with pride. Get a stick for the back of your car. Get water bottles, bags, books, blankets, and anything else you can find and plaster them with your letters. Be proud of what you are a part of because it is so much bigger than you realize at that moment. But just remember, you are worth so much more than those letters. You are smart. You are kind. You are strong. You are life-changing. You are driven. You are a Greek woman, but you are also you. You should never have to change who you are to fit your chapter's image or keep up with your sisters. Anyone who asks you to change who you are just fit what they think you should be is not your friend. You are not required to drink anything you do not want to. You are not required to lose weight. You do not have to hang out with that boy from Beta Theta Apple Pie just because your sister is with his brother. Anything that makes you uncomfortable or endangers you is not worth. No matter what they say.
Hazing is not normal, nor is it acceptable.
Hazing is never, ever acceptable and is a violation of what your chapter stands for. It does not matter if it's "tradition" or if your big did it and is fine. Hazing is wrong. Hazing is unacceptable. Your university will preach that, and hopefully, your chapter will uphold that sermon. If they do not, it's not okay and you need to tell someone. A few bitchy girls is an acceptable exchange for your life or one of your friends. Accidents happen, and even a seemingly silly night of making the pledges see how much they can drink can end in a disaster. Nobody should lose their life because they wanted to find friends.
Enjoy what is ahead of you.
Greek life is this crazy, weird, cool thing. Your life changes in so many ways and you find people you never thought you needed in your life. It's normal to wear the same t-shirt as fifteen other girls while going out. Almost creepy chants will fill your head for hours on end. Glitter becomes a staple in your life. Other Geek women start coming up to you and randomly talking. You have someone to sit with everywhere you go. There's all this and so much more. I am only beginning to realize what my sorority means to me and how much that affection will continue to grow. Greek life does not end after you graduate, that's only the beginning.
Here's to beginning life as a Greek woman and the incredible journey you have ahead.
(Disclaimer: My sorority does not haze, nor do any of the others on my campus. The hazing section of this article is just to put out awareness on the subject and let people know that there is nothing normal about it)
