Keep It Classy

“Who do you know?”
If you’ve ever been out fratting, then you know that question is probably the most common saying you will ever hear at the front door of a frat house. With almost a third of the student body at UVA being Greek, going to frat parties and keeping mental lists of brothers’ names at each house is only all too ordinary. And this past weekend was no different.
Boys Bid Night, sometimes referred to as “UVA Christmas,” is a night where every frat house throws a party in honor of their new pledges. But, more importantly, it’s a night where tons of girls roam around Rugby Road, party hopping from house to house. In fact, there are so many parties that girls can get into any party they want to, no names needed (for guys it’s a little bit more difficult).
This night of nights leads to sorority girls sporting personalized shirts, lots of neon, frat hats and fanny packs, marker-covered hands with the entire Greek alphabet, and some questionable behavior. When hundreds of girls are let loose to party at a surplus of fraternities, the results aren’t exactly classy – in fact, quite the opposite. Awkward grinding, regrettable dance floor make-outs, and the regurgitating of liquids are at a surplus as well. Here are a few tips on how to avoid these situations and keep it classy for future fratting.
1) Hairbands
You may think that you look super-hot with your long hair flowing as you tear up the dance floor, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that lots of people moving around in a small area can make a room very hot – and sweaty. Wet, sweaty hair sticking to your forehead and the back of your neck is not attractive. Just in case, always carry a few hairbands around your wrist to put your hair up when your hair starts looking a little damp. 2) Hand Sanitizer
Fraternity bathrooms are not exactly what one would call clean, and usually they lack soap (ew!). Washing your hands without soap is definitely not sanitary, and it doesn’t help the large amount of germs being spread around Rugby every weekend. An easy solution is to bring a small bottle of Purell with you when going out. These bottles are extremely portable and usually fit into jean pockets or small cross-body bags, making them perfectly convenient for fratting.
3) Frag, Fracket, and Shratty Shoes
It often helps to have a bag, jacket, and shoes whose only purpose is for going out. A good frat bag is a small to medium sized cross-body bag with a zipper that has a bunch of compartments to hold all of your necessities like your phone, ID card, Purell, chap stick, etc. A frat jacket should be a casual, comfortable, and cheap jacket that you wouldn’t mind losing, and should preferably be compactable enough to be able to fit in your cross-body bag. Your footwear should be comfortable shoes that you don’t mind getting dirty in all of the frat sludge – generally cheap basic black boots that match everything.
4) Phone Prep
If you know that you shouldn’t be contacting a certain someone, delete his or her number from your phone before you go out. Bad decisions are made when you have a little bit too much to drink, so stop the problem beforehand and make sure that you don’t text that person and do/say something you’ll regret. If you really need his or her number the next day, then you can ask a friend for it or ask the person for his/her number and say that you accidentally deleted it.
5) Cop-out
Invent an excuse for when you’re in an uncomfortable situation. Whether it’s dancing with a guy you’re not into or somehow ending up in a brother’s bedroom, you need a quick way to get out of there. Here are some examples: – “Where’s *insert name here*? I have to go find her!” – Pretend to get a text message saying that someone is looking for you – Text your friend where you are so she can come find you and say that you guys are leaving
6) Friends
This is the most important (and most obvious) necessity when fratting. Always go out with friends so that you can look out for one another, whether it’s stopping you from dancing with a particular guy or taking care of you when you’ve had a bit too much to drink. Besides, going out with friends is way more fun than going out alone.