Sorority Life

Hello. My name is Brittany and I am 18 years old. I am a freshman here at the University of Arizona. I was born here in Tucson, Arizona and have wanted to go to the university here ever since I heard about it. Now that I am fulfilling one of my many dreams, I continue to make more. I am in a sorority at the U of A (as we call it). Sororities are groups of girls that do things together to help make the community better. Lots and lots of girls go to the different sororities and talk to some of the girls that are already in the sorority. Everyday the girls pick the sororities they want and then go back to determine if that is the house they want. At the end of the process, they are given their sorority. My sororities name is Alpha Chi Omega. All of the girls are great and I love everyone of them. It is like we are one big family. We have fundraisers and do community service. We also just hang out with each other when we are not doing sorority events. When Homecoming comes around (it is a very big event for our school) we pair up with a fraternity, which is just like a sorority except with guys, and we build a float. All of the sororities do this and it is a big competition. There is also something called serenading. Serenading is when a fraternity sings and dances for a sorority and when a sorority sings and dances for a fraternity. As embarrassing as it sounds it is actually a lot of fun. Several of the sororities did a serenading competition as a fundraiser. My sorority, unfortunately did not win. A lot of the things we do in Greek life (the name for all of the sororities and fraternities) are for charity and benefit other people. We also have date dashes which are a lot of fun. date dashes are when we invite dates and get on a bus and go to a "secret location." We went on a date dash a few weeks ago and we just ended up going to a mexican restaurant, but there was food, music, and for those who are allowed to drink alcohol, a bar. The date dashes also have themes. My sorority's date dash next week is "Go Hollywood." So they said we could dress up like an actor or actress or like we are going to a "red-carpet event" with famous people. As a new member in the sorority, I get a big. Bigs are big sisters since all of the girls are your sisters. I am known as a little, short for little sister. It is a week long process of our "bigs" giving us presents and clues to figure out who they are. At the end of the week they give us one last puzzle to figure out who they are. Fraternities also like to hang out with the sororities. They have parties and most of the sorority girls will go. Some have themes and some don't. But they are just a lot of fun in general. Once a week, we have meetings called chapter meetings to discuss about future events and issues going on presently. We have to dress up and look nice since they are formal meetings sometimes. Because we are new members, in order to become actives we have to go through initiation. I am not quite sure what iniationis because it is a secret to us. The only thing they told us about it is what day it is on and what to wear. But I love it so far. I would definitely have to say it is the best decision I have made since I have been in college/ I will fill you in when I find out more. What is your school like?