Anyone else going Greek?  I never thought I would, but low and behold I am!  All throughout high school I always told myself that I would not go Greek because they were all just stupid party boys that did not care about their education. 

Last year at the student preview day I got to see the clubs that were here at Embry-Riddle and I was so excited to see what I could start doing this year!  Finally, after going around and talking to clubs like Mixed Martial Arts, Mile High Airsoft, and the Anime club, I realized that there were a few tables left: the Greek tables.  I was at the event with my dad and I just did not know what to do because there was really no way around except to go past them, so I hid behind my dad and told him to walk towards the door so the Greek guys could not talk to me.  We started walking and all was going well.  Just before we got to the stairs heading to the doors, the worst thing I could imagine happened: one of the guys actually came over and started talking to me.  At first I was scared, but I pulled myself together and introduced myself, praying that this encounter would be quick and painless.  Quite the opposite.  My dad walked over to the table and started talking to the rest of the guys from the fraternity.  I did not know who they were but all I remember was seeing the letters for their “cult” as I called it back then.

After talking to them for what felt like forever, my dad finally seemed to be satisfied and we said goodbye and left the club fair.  I remember telling my dad on the way to the car that I hoped I never got involved in a fraternity because all of those guys looked so stupid like they were only in college to party and I was going for my education.  He told me to just wait and see, claiming I might end up changing my mind.

When I arrived at Embry-Riddle, the first night of staying in the dorms was crazy!  All of my suite mates were getting to know each other and having a great time playing poker.  Randomly, someone knocked on our door and two older students asked if we wanted some pizza.  We invited them in and introduced ourselves.  They then invited us to go hang out with them and play some poker with their friends.  Only a few of us decided to go, myself being one of them.  When we got to the house, I was looking around and on the walls I saw a some picture frames with a bunch of students’ pictures on them.  When I got a closer look, I saw that I was not just hanging out with some older students, I was hanging out with some guys in a fraternity!  Not really thinking anything of it, I just went on to play poker and get to know the older guys.  During the game, one of the fraternity guys invited us younger guys to hang out with them the upcoming weekend to get to know us better.  Before I knew it, I was bonding with all of these really cool older guys that were not only good students (they had told me so themselves)  but normal college students that went out and did things like brothers.

Over the weekend, the older guys introduced us younger guys to more of their “brothers” and it was when I met the last of the brothers that I finally put two and two together: these fraternity guys were the ones at the table I had talked to a few months prior!  I could not believe my eyes when I started to recognize them and I was appalled that I had talked them down so much during the schoolyear because these guys were like mentors to me at this point!  I began to freak out and all of them looked worried until I explained that I met them all at preview day.  They laughed and some of them remembered me and the day went on.

Over my first few weeks here at Embry, I have been spending time and bonding with these great guys from Sigma Pi (I asked what the symbols meant at one point).  We have been cliff diving, had a Bar-B-que at HAAS, and just hanging out together when there was nothing to do on campus.  A few days ago, there was an information meeting for the fraternity and I attended.  At the meeting, the members talked about what they did as a brotherhood and gave some testimonials about their first few weeks as freshmen on campus.  They also told us that the next night they would be holding interviews for potential brothers.

The night of the interview I wanted to impress, but at the same time I wanted to let the guys from Sigma Pi know that I wanted to have fun at the same time.  When choosing my attire, I went with a tuxedo!

I was just trying to have some fun and go with a James Bond look, but I just did not seem to capture it…oh well!  I went to the meeting and it was about the equivalent of a job interview (minus the resume).  It only lasted about 10 minutes and I was finished.  I went back to my room to wait for 7 p.m. on Friday (today) night when I will hopefully be accepted into this new brotherhood!  Wish me luck!!!