Day one. I wake up at 5:00 in the morning looking straight ahead at my ugly tan closet doors, that I had already plastered in photos of me and my friends back home. At this point, I’m already feeling anxious and extremely unsure of what I was getting myself into. When I committed to the University of Alabama in late June, I knew I really was not going to have much down here. No family, no friends from home, nothing to engage me in everything going on. So naturally I decided rushing for a sorority was my best bet, somehow. As nobody in my family had been to college before, there was no Greek life. So here I am, on August 12th at 5:00 am trying to rethink why this was, what I thought, was my best idea yet.
Being about eight feet above the ground in my dorm bed, I basically threw myself over the edge and planted right on the floor where I continued to rethink what I was about to do. When I finally came to my senses, I picked up my rose gold plated straightening iron and began to flatten my frizzy mess of hair until my curls were gone and I saw steam escape from the iron. I slipped on a yellow and white floral dress with white wedges to match and took my time putting on makeup, considering it was now only 6:00 am and I still had an hour before go time.
When 7:00 am hit, I strolled out of my dorm to the bus stop where I met a handful of girls in sundresses with curled hair, in the same boat as me. Not a single one of us knew what we were doing but we tried our best to play it off the best we could until the bus with “Sorority Recruitment” running across the front screen stopped right in front our feet, setting off the nerves once again. The short bus ride to Sorority Row seemed like hours while it was crammed with girls talking over each other and smelt of every Victoria’s Secret perfume ever made.
Being about eight feet above the ground in my dorm bed, I basically threw myself over the edge and planted right on the floor where I continued to rethink what I was about to do. When I finally came to my senses, I picked up my rose gold plated straightening iron and began to flatten my frizzy mess of hair until my curls were gone and I saw steam escape from the iron. I slipped on a yellow and white floral dress with white wedges to match and took my time putting on makeup, considering it was now only 6:00 am and I still had an hour before go time.
When 7:00 am hit, I strolled out of my dorm to the bus stop where I met a handful of girls in sundresses with curled hair, in the same boat as me. Not a single one of us knew what we were doing but we tried our best to play it off the best we could until the bus with “Sorority Recruitment” running across the front screen stopped right in front our feet, setting off the nerves once again. The short bus ride to Sorority Row seemed like hours while it was crammed with girls talking over each other and smelt of every Victoria’s Secret perfume ever made.
"...I once again began to question why I was doing this. How was this going to benefit me? And was I wasting my time...?"
Approaching our stop we all shuffle off the bus with nothing but our small bags of water and snacks, and uncertain of what was about to take place in the week to follow. We all dispersed, heading to our “home base” for the week to meet our Rho Chi leader and other members of our group. With roughly 15 people in each group it seemed like I had been stressing all morning for no reason, until I looked around to see that I was surrounded by over 2,000 others. Our group leader promised it was not going to be as bad as we were expecting and that the whole week would go accordingly, reassuring we had nothing to worry about.
Our schedules for the day were handed out to us and before we knew it, it was time to go to our first open house. This is when it all felt real. Too real. About fifty girls lining up on the front steps of the house in alphabetical order in complete silence, and I once again began to question why I was doing this. How was this going to benefit me? And was I wasting my time? Also it was hot and the sun was already getting to me. After five minutes of being antsy, I was brought back to reality when the group leaders began banging on the front doors of the house, letting the actives know it was time.
Our schedules for the day were handed out to us and before we knew it, it was time to go to our first open house. This is when it all felt real. Too real. About fifty girls lining up on the front steps of the house in alphabetical order in complete silence, and I once again began to question why I was doing this. How was this going to benefit me? And was I wasting my time? Also it was hot and the sun was already getting to me. After five minutes of being antsy, I was brought back to reality when the group leaders began banging on the front doors of the house, letting the actives know it was time.
Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Alabama: Door Song
The doors to every house on the row opened at the exact same time to reveal the some 300 members of each house, dressed in house colors with their face and hair done up, some kneeling some standing, all singing. Nobody was ready for this. They all chant their door song in their loudest most enthusiastic voices, excited to welcome new girls into their homes. We flash our fakest, brightest smiles as we’re welcomed in one by one as they continue to sing and dance around. After getting past the greeting of all the hundreds of active members, we stand with one older member to have a quick one on one conversation to show our personality and talk about our experience so far. Moments after one conversation started, someone else would swoop in and take over while the first girl leaves to do the same in hopes of meeting as many people as they can.
Being completely uneducated and unprepared for this first house, I had no clue what to expect for the rest of the day. We traveled down the row in our heels fixing our hair and wiping sweat from our faces at any chance we could. This repeated twelve times for the first day. Twelve. In each house we basically went through the same motions so by the third house you had a pretty good idea of how to act and what to say, unless you’re me and had already lost your voice the morning of. Regardless, it did get easier. Despite what I had thought. Making friends along the way and in each house I felt more comfortable with my surroundings but still didn’t know what to make of my day.
Finally I walked out of my last open house, and headed for the recruitment buses to take me back to my dorm. For the fifteen or so minute ride, I tried to break down my day. Which houses did I love, which houses could I do without or could I even see myself anywhere. I loved how friendly and genuinely nice the girls were in Gamma Phi Beta and also in Kappa Kappa Gamma and down near the bottom of the list was Kappa Alpha Theta. No reason as to why I really did not like it, but when you hear rumors about houses and have no background on anything else about it, you tend to believe everything you hear about it. I was told there was a lot of drama and people hated it. Well, almost 3 months later and as a new member of Kappa Alpha Theta, I can say I was completely wrong about my prior thoughts on theta. In the beginning I was so stubborn and bitter towards being accepted into a house I wanted nothing to do with, so the first few weeks were rough. After time and all the events that I take part in for the sorority, I’ve realized that whatever I put into the house is what I’ll take out of it. If i continue on with negative thoughts and a bad attitude, I knew it would just get worse and I would hate every second of it. After coming to terms with this and branching out, meeting people, finding friends, always having something to do so I don’t waste my years here in my overly decorated, four wall dorm room. I now have the best big that even rushed me during recruitment and was so understanding of my initial thoughts and helped me get out more to do what everyone else was doing. My random idea to join a sorority has so far been very beneficial and has played a big part in my adjusting to college.
Being completely uneducated and unprepared for this first house, I had no clue what to expect for the rest of the day. We traveled down the row in our heels fixing our hair and wiping sweat from our faces at any chance we could. This repeated twelve times for the first day. Twelve. In each house we basically went through the same motions so by the third house you had a pretty good idea of how to act and what to say, unless you’re me and had already lost your voice the morning of. Regardless, it did get easier. Despite what I had thought. Making friends along the way and in each house I felt more comfortable with my surroundings but still didn’t know what to make of my day.
Finally I walked out of my last open house, and headed for the recruitment buses to take me back to my dorm. For the fifteen or so minute ride, I tried to break down my day. Which houses did I love, which houses could I do without or could I even see myself anywhere. I loved how friendly and genuinely nice the girls were in Gamma Phi Beta and also in Kappa Kappa Gamma and down near the bottom of the list was Kappa Alpha Theta. No reason as to why I really did not like it, but when you hear rumors about houses and have no background on anything else about it, you tend to believe everything you hear about it. I was told there was a lot of drama and people hated it. Well, almost 3 months later and as a new member of Kappa Alpha Theta, I can say I was completely wrong about my prior thoughts on theta. In the beginning I was so stubborn and bitter towards being accepted into a house I wanted nothing to do with, so the first few weeks were rough. After time and all the events that I take part in for the sorority, I’ve realized that whatever I put into the house is what I’ll take out of it. If i continue on with negative thoughts and a bad attitude, I knew it would just get worse and I would hate every second of it. After coming to terms with this and branching out, meeting people, finding friends, always having something to do so I don’t waste my years here in my overly decorated, four wall dorm room. I now have the best big that even rushed me during recruitment and was so understanding of my initial thoughts and helped me get out more to do what everyone else was doing. My random idea to join a sorority has so far been very beneficial and has played a big part in my adjusting to college.