When the opportunity to live in my fraternity house came up at the end of last semester, I took it without pause. I figured a queen-sized bed and a thermostat would be better than a twin-sized mattress inside a seedy dorm without air conditioning. A larger living space, controllable temperature and a house to share among four people sounds ideal while trying to survive college. However, there are many other things to consider.
When you live in a frat house, you are essentially living with the whole fraternity. Although you have your own living space, a variety of brothers will be there at any given point in the day. It’s like clubhouse with video games and an endless supply of beer. It’s a place for the brothers you would do anything for to feel welcomed. Even though they do not live there, it is their home as much as it is yours.
When you live in a frat house, there will be messes. You will wake up one morning after a party not being able to see the floor under the copious amount of Coors lite and Budweiser cans. There will be solo cups everywhere and unidentifiable liquids in places you won’t be able to fathom. Unwashed dishes will overflow out of the kitchen sink and the trash can will smell. The tables will be uncontrollably sticky and the wooden walls will smell like a hangover. It may not be the cleanest home, but you will take pride in the fact that it belongs to your family.
When you live in a frat house, you will be annoyed at times. Parties will coast along until 2 a.m. with bumping music and there will not be any sleep to be had. When you want peace and quiet, the exact opposite will bless your ears. Although you do live there, it is not your house to control. You go along with what the majority of your brothers want to do despite your own agenda because it is what’s best for the organization. Sometimes, you will not be the happiest of campers and when you volunteered to live there, you signed up for a mess and noise. Although it is a little less sanitary than you would like, living in your fraternity house will be one of the best experiences you will have in college.
But most importantly, when you live in a frat house, you will have fun. You will have some of the best times with your brothers doing the stupidest things you can think of on a late Tuesday night or lazy and hungover Sunday afternoon. You will make memories you will cherish for the rest of your life in the filthy house you, and the ones that have come before you, take pride in. The party is always ten steps outside of your bedroom door and you can drunkenly fall asleep with the same number of steps to your bed as there were to the party. You will laugh, you will troll, and you will rejoice at the fact that you have one another and they are only a phone call and a few steps away.
