At larger schools, many girls refer to their sorority experience as “the best years of my life!” and “how was I never in a sorority?”. Mine is probably a little different.
In high school, I was a floater. I was really nice (hopefully I still am) to everyone, but I had a small group of girlfriends. We would each lunch together everyday, do some stuff on the weekends, and text in our group chat every day. After graduation, we all ended up going to different colleges and tried to find our place. One of which is also a Greek woman at UNC Wilmington! During the second week of college, I came home for labor day and my dog passed away. She went into heart failure that the vet couldn’t catch it. I had my first migraine ever and I had lost my best friend. What a topic during recruitment that was! I hadn’t felt a loss like that since my Nana passed away when I was 5. Getting my bid was probably the best feeling ever. That sounds super cliche, but when I opened it and saw those Greek letters above my name, I couldn’t help but be so excited that the girls I talked to during recruitment felt the same way about me that I did about them. It’s like when you get a match on Tinder! Someone actually likes me!
Throughout my first semester, I battled with chemistry and finding my groove within this new group. Like I said, I was a floater so I had a small specific group, so finding that group right off the bat was really hard. Coming back from Christmas break, my Pappy (maternal grandfather) passed away. Although we knew it was coming, it still hurt and left me heartbroken. At that point, I had never felt closer with my group of friends. My big, grand big, and my “extended family” checked on me everyday and made sure I felt so loved during those weeks following. Unfortunately, a falling out with a friend left me isolated the second half of second semester. I had also moved dorms, so I was already away from a lot of my first friends at college. Thank goodness another Greek organization welcomed me with open arms and showed me friendship and inclusitivity when I was at my lowest point.
Greek life isn’t always about just your organization. It’s the community we’ve built here at Appalachian. Even if you aren’t wearing Greek letters, someone is still going to go out of their way to make you feel appreciated. Don’t get me wrong, most of my strongest bonds are with my sorority sisters, but I still have bonds just as strong outside of my organization.