When I came to college, I didn’t think about joining Greek life, but being Greek has given me more than I thought it could during my college career. One of the greatest experiences that Greek life can offer is their ritual, with each one being different. The most important type of ritual is initiation, which is kept secret except for those initiated into the bond. One of my sorority sisters said that we know things that only other Phi Mus know about. I thought about that, and how true it is.
Of course, each Phi Mu, and other members of Greek organizations have their own experience. I’ve been Greek for a year now, and I love meeting new sisters and introducing them into a bond that we will share. They became friends and sisters of mine that I spend time and build memories with.
My sorority has what we call “Inspiration Week,” which occurs the week before the new members are initiated. I’ve heard other people refer to the week before their initiation as hell week. Most people ask what inspiration week means, and I tell them that each night of the week we have an optional sisterhood, an activity we do together to spend time with one another. This is a great chance for the new girls to get to know their sisters better, and vice versa. The first letter of the title of each of our events, when put together, spells out “Phi Mu.” We have a fun competition where we dress up in anything pink (one of our colors), we have dinner together, an ice cream social, a movie night, and what we call “unity night.”
My personal favorite sisterhood is unity night, where each of us has the chance to tell our stories if we so choose to do so. We talk about anything that we want to that has happened to us before or during college. We explain how we joined Phi Mu, and most of us explain how it has made us feel at home. For the last three semesters now, as I listen to my sisters tell their stories, I would be able to relate to the stories that they told. I think that night we all felt the same connection, one that will bring sisters close together.
Our inspiration week, especially unity night, is something that most people have said is a nice thing that we do, something that sorority sisters can bond over. I think a sisterhood like this makes us realize what we have with our sorority sisters, or what we can potentially build. I exercise with my sisters, I have lunch with them, we make crafts for our sisters together, and they will be among the friends that I talk to after college. After listening to my sister’s stories at unity night, I realize they are the type of people that are such close friends that I would call them my sister, even if we were not in a sorority together.
Ginger Rae Dunbar is a third-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. She can be reached at RD655287@wcupa.edu.