New Beginnings
A fresh start. The opportunity to re-invent yourself or be a better version of who you were. It's a good thing right?
Even before school began, I started my college experience with one of the most trying processes on campus: Sorority Recruitment. I never ever ever would have thought I would be trying to join a sorority. I went to an alternative 7 year school with the same classmates from middle school through high school and whoever people thought you were at 11 years old stuck with you until graduation. I reveled in the idea of doing something new of being more than just the "smart girl". So without signing up for any back up housing in the dorms, I assured my parents who were completely foreign to the concept of "Greek" that I wouldn't end up homeless for college and enrolled in Formal Fall Recruitment. I began carpooling with my high school friends every day to be shuffled around to 16 houses full of beautiful, smart and outgoing women all in the hopes of finding the right fit. Day by day, the list of houses got shorter, they stopped overlapping with my friends and some chapters that I loved did not invite me back. I was confused; what was genuine, what did it mean, where was I going to live for the next four years? I lost faith that I would truly end up where I belonged but I kept coming back. On the last day I opened up an envelope in Denny Hall, threw on a tshirt, ran to 22nd and immediately began moving into Sigma Kappa.
"You're sleeping on a porch?!?!"- My mother was not very understanding nor a fan of the concept of sleeping in a room with 40 other women. That and the fact that my room was a dresser and half a closet was enough to make her seriously consider pulling me out of the chapter house and commuting to school from home. But I refused. And after a week I hardly noticed anything strange with my living arrangements. I was constantly surrounded by genuine love and support; I (almost) forgot the hell it took to get here.
School was a similar yet different story. I took classes to meet honors requirements, general education requirements and begin the path to a career in healthcare. Coming from a rigorous high school, I thought I could handle anything college threw my way. But I had a harder time in class, for the first time in my life, and it really shook me up. With the help of my sisters I learned to adjust my ideals, believe in my work ethic and appreciate the improvement over time. And that's how it started; with unrealistic expectations and perfectly imperfect results.
Even before school began, I started my college experience with one of the most trying processes on campus: Sorority Recruitment. I never ever ever would have thought I would be trying to join a sorority. I went to an alternative 7 year school with the same classmates from middle school through high school and whoever people thought you were at 11 years old stuck with you until graduation. I reveled in the idea of doing something new of being more than just the "smart girl". So without signing up for any back up housing in the dorms, I assured my parents who were completely foreign to the concept of "Greek" that I wouldn't end up homeless for college and enrolled in Formal Fall Recruitment. I began carpooling with my high school friends every day to be shuffled around to 16 houses full of beautiful, smart and outgoing women all in the hopes of finding the right fit. Day by day, the list of houses got shorter, they stopped overlapping with my friends and some chapters that I loved did not invite me back. I was confused; what was genuine, what did it mean, where was I going to live for the next four years? I lost faith that I would truly end up where I belonged but I kept coming back. On the last day I opened up an envelope in Denny Hall, threw on a tshirt, ran to 22nd and immediately began moving into Sigma Kappa.
"You're sleeping on a porch?!?!"- My mother was not very understanding nor a fan of the concept of sleeping in a room with 40 other women. That and the fact that my room was a dresser and half a closet was enough to make her seriously consider pulling me out of the chapter house and commuting to school from home. But I refused. And after a week I hardly noticed anything strange with my living arrangements. I was constantly surrounded by genuine love and support; I (almost) forgot the hell it took to get here.
School was a similar yet different story. I took classes to meet honors requirements, general education requirements and begin the path to a career in healthcare. Coming from a rigorous high school, I thought I could handle anything college threw my way. But I had a harder time in class, for the first time in my life, and it really shook me up. With the help of my sisters I learned to adjust my ideals, believe in my work ethic and appreciate the improvement over time. And that's how it started; with unrealistic expectations and perfectly imperfect results.