A year ago today, I had just finished high school, and all I could think about was starting college. Finally, I would be able to study what I wanted, meet new friends, start a whole new life. The possibilities seemed endless, but joining a sorority was not one of those possibilities. Sororities were for girls like Elle Woods, girls who owned everything glittery and hot pink, a chihuahua spoiled more than most children, and more money than they knew what to do with. I had nothing against sorority girls, though I might mock them from time to time; I just absolutely, positively, was not one. I was a tea drinking, book reading, cat owning nerd who cared more about school than most things. I could not be a sorority girl.

Fast forward a couple of months, and I was eight hours from home at a small liberal arts school in Pennsylvania. I dove head first into my classes, soaking up every bit of information. I knew coming in that Greek Life had a decent presence on campus, but I would not become one of the 30 percent -- I was too focused on my academics, and I was not bouncy Elle Woods. What I found out, however, was that very few of the sorority girls were Elle Woods. Many were just as focused on their classes I was, on top of research, internships, jobs, and student organizations. They were theater majors, psychology majors, physics majors, and they did not fit the mold I put them in. After going to several informal recruitment events, I realized these were not a bunch of bubbly girls, they were a group of intelligent and amazing sorority women, and I wanted to join them. In the spring, I went through recruitment and found my home. It was the best decision I ever made.

Going through recruitment helped me meet dozens of women from all over campus.

Despite trying very hard to make a lot of friends, my social sphere consisted of the floor I lived on in my residence hall. When I went through recruitment, I talked to girls from every major with diverse personalities and interests. I’m not best friends with every girl I talked to, but just going through recruitment helped me to realize that the sororities are one big family. After recruitment, I started talking to the girls I knew were in sororities that were also in my classes, which helped me to make friends and also have people to do homework with. Having Greek Life in common helped take away some of my anxiety and made my classes much more enjoyable, realizing I had something in common with a few people in every single one of my classes.

I realized I could confidently have a conversation with someone I’d never met before.

A lot of my friends would be shocked to realize that I can be incredibly shy around people I don’t know, because in a group of friends I know well, I tend to be the loudest. Around people I’ve never met, however, that’s a different story. I don’t want to be looked at, much less be forced to participant in conversation. During recruitment, as I walked into each party, I was greeted by a sister and brought to a corner to talk. Each girl genuinely wanted to talk to me, which melted away my anxiety. I was able to forget how nervous these situations should make me, and had so many great conversations. I might not be the most suave in social situations now, but I’m definitely more comfortable around people I don’t know.

Calling the members of your sorority chapter “sisters” isn’t just a tradition.

Even on bid day, I thought calling the girls your sisters was just another one of the many Greek traditions. After just a few days, I realized they really were my sisters, and I had just joined a family. Like a family, not everyone likes each other, but we all love each other, and would do anything for one another. At sisterhood events, or even just eating lunch with the girls, I feel the love we have for each other, and it’s truly amazing.

I found a love for public relations I didn’t realize I had.

A lot of my sisters know I call me the PR queen, and I like to think it’s true. After being in my sorority for a couple of weeks, I was put on PR committee, and I was pretty irritated. Determined to give it my best shot, I asked if I could handle our Instagram account. I had a lot more fun with it than I thought I would, and soon decided I wanted to take over after our PR chair graduated. At my slating interview, I was asked why I wanted to be PR Chair because I wasn’t a communication arts major, and I said that I didn’t have any intention of doing PR before, but now I realized how important it was to the chapter and how good I was at managing our social media accounts.

It taught me to view people with more complexity.

As a sorority woman, you’re going to have sisters you don’t like, as you said, but you love them anyway. Being in a sorority taught me to see the positives in people that would usually get on my nerves. I learned to really like some girls I disliked before, and was surprised how well we worked together doing different tasks in the chapter. I realized that me not liking someone doesn’t mean they’re terrible people, we just don’t click, and that’s OK.

Sorority life isn’t all glitter and the color pink, so if your sorority recruitment link is open, register! You can always drop out during recruitment, you’ll lose nothing if you just give it a try.