Ελληνική ζωή

Hey! Glad to see you are back. I am a little late in publishing this week. I had a rather busy weekend. I went home for the first time so that I could go to my brother's wedding. Anyway, I guess the old adage of "better late than never" comes to mind.

I think I owe you guys a story about Greek Life so that's what I will talk about today. Just a little FYI I used an internet translator to make the tile for this blog. It allegedly says "Greek Life" in greek. So there you have it.

Before I begin to talk in depth about my impression of the Greek community on campus we need to set a few ground rules. Nothing big though.

Rule 1 (and the most important): Forget everything you think you know about Greek Life. Now don't misread that and think I am saying you are dumb or something. The fact is Transy Greek Life is so insanely different than any other campus. Transy is ranked 4th in the nation for Greek Life for a reason, after all.

Rule 2: As a prospective student don't ask anyone their affiliation.
This isn't really a rule in that you won't get in trouble if you do ask. It's just affiliated people are not allowed to tell prospective students (or even first-years until the second week of school) their affiliation. I can tell you, however, that I am an independent. Meaning I am not a member of a fraternity.

Ok, so those are really the only rules I can thing of. Just a heads up, from this point on everything I say will be about the male Greek scene. As a member of the male species I was not allowed to participate in sorority recruitment so I can't speak about it with any accuracy.

So anyway, I came to Transy completely turned off to the idea of Greek Life. I didn't plan on rushing. Luckily, though, I was talked into going through the rush process... I am so glad I did. There is really no reason why anyone should not go through rush. It is free, you meet people, you get free stuff and you have fun. Seriously, if you take anything from this post let it be this: go through rush.

During rush I got to hang out with guys while grilling out, had a formal meal, hang out in the greek halls, and met some people, first-years and upperclassmen, who will be some of my best friends here at Transy.

After rush is over there is bid day/running out. At Transy, those who pledge to a fraternity run out, in front of everyone, and crowd surf through their chosen chapter. It is such a high-energy and fun afternoon. These pictures hardly do it justice.

So all in all, just don't stress about it. There is really no way to make a decision about Greek Life without being on campus and seeing it firsthand. Even though I am an independant, I think the Greek system at Transy is amazing.

Next week is fall break (two days at least...) so I will definitely be getting some much needed rest!

Until next time,

Jake Hawkins