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| Outside Gamma Phi Beta for the first time |
For those of you who have seen any kind of American
teen ‘chick flick’, or the overrated British reality show ‘Sorority Girls’, a
sorority is an exclusive club for pretty, blonde, snobby American girls. This
club has brutal initiations where the poor freshman college girls are put
through their paces to prove they are worthy of such a privilege. Once their
worth is proven they are taught to be real ladies who wear pretty dresses,
never curse and use their silver wear in the utmost lady like fashion. Sorority
girls are the perfect girls.
Well for those of you who have been fed this ideal,
here is the truth…
During my second week at OU I was lucky enough to be
introduced to the president of Gamma Phi Beta (G-Phi) Sorority at a Pilates
class. This one encounter earned me an invitation to the sorority house in
which she lives with around 60 other girls. My roommates and I had a guided
tour of the beautiful white house with its many bedrooms, communal bathrooms,
leopard print carpeted study room, huge dining room and equally huge living
room. Once we’d finished being awed we were treated to a free dinner and our
first introduction to what it means to be in a sorority.
This is what I learned…
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| Decorations in the girls rooms |
During a girls first year of university (freshman
year) she decides whether or not to ‘rush’ the week before her classes start.
‘Rush’ is the official name given to the process of applying to be part of a
sorority. During rush week all the girls who chose to apply visit every
sorority house on the first day, each of which has a Greek name e.g. Gamma Phi
Beta, Kappa Kappa Gamma. Now what I learnt form TV (which let’s face it should
never be taken seriously anyway) was that the sorority chose which girls they
wanted based on how they spoke, dressed and acted at a one-on-one interview
with the president of the sorority. This initially made me think who in their
right mind would want to join something that would judge you so harshly? I
found out they want to join them because there is no such thing as these
ridiculous interviews!
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| Photos of sorority alumni around the house |
Instead, on each day of rush week the girls narrow
down their choices of which sorority they like best e.g. on the second day the
girls visit their six favourites, on the third their five favourite’s etc. etc.
each day spending more and more time at the houses so they are able to get to
know the girls in their favourite sororities a little better before they chose
the one for them.
Unfortunately for some girls there is a horrible catch:
the sororities themselves can ‘cut’ girls they don’t get along with even if
those girls have chosen that sorority as their favourite. On the upside they
will be placed with a different sorority. Overall the application process is a
mutual decision dependant on whether the girls joining and the girls already
joined like each other. After all they do have to spend the rest of their lives
calling each other sisters.
There are no brutal initiation periods; the
initiation dinner is about as crazy as it gets for these lovely ladies. They
take a pledge that they will be part of the sorority and will keep all
traditions such as sorority songs and mottos secret. Each sorority has their
own signs; G-Phi’s is the crescent moon which you can see me and my honorary
sorority sisters making with our arms to the left. The girls say things to each
other like ‘I love you to the moon and back’ showing the strength of their
bond.
Once you are in a sorority the girls are your sisters
and you can never join another one. If you choose to quit or are thrown out for
inappropriate behaviour, you are never allowed back in. So it is an exclusive
club, but a nice one.
A friend in the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta retold her
‘rush’ experience as overwhelmingly loud, happy and friendly. She explained how
each sorority has all their girls line up inside the front doors and sing to
you before they open their doors, which is kind of intimidating as there are
literally hundreds of girls wearing the same t-shirts, looking identical, ready
to greet you. One thing I will always remember was her response to my comment
“that’ll be you next year singing and scaring incoming girls” which was “yes,
I’ll be scaring the little freshman with my immense amount of love for them all”
and this was one of the most genuine statements I have ever heard.
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| The sororities trophies |
The truth is, a sorority is all about friendship,
love and sisterhood. It is nothing to be afraid of. It’s not for everyone
because it takes a lot of time and effort. Yes the inside dynamics can be
horrible, but only as horrible as 60 girls sharing a house trying to get along
all the time can be, if you have ever been to an all-girls school you can
appreciate that yes it is hard and sometimes it sucks, but at the same time it
forces you to bond with girls a lot more closely than you would otherwise.
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| At a football game with the President and OU mascot! |
I am so thankful to have met the girls at Gamma Phi
Beta and have them accept me as their honorary international sister, teaching
me about their bond, sharing their t-shirts and annual gatherings with me. It
has brought me to meet so many girls, some of which taught me the rules of
American football, others participated in making my 21st more
memorable than I can ever imagine and others are just plain good friends.
My experience has been fun and I’ve met girls who
don’t care what you look like or how you dress, they just want to be your
friend. Hey, maybe I just got lucky with this sorority and all the rumours are
true, but I guess we’ll never know…
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