Bid Day - One Year On

Though it may appear that I abandoned the blog forever, sorority recruitment (rush) has brought me back. 

After 3 weeks in my amazing home in Sydney I came back to America. I wasn’t even coming “home” here, I was starting at a new university, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (or UNC). I will be at UNC for the semester as part of the Robertson Scholars sophomore “switch” (which I will discuss soon!)

I didn’t really get a chance to settle in before sorority rush started. This time, however, I wasn’t trying to show different sororities why they should want me but rather show PNM’s (potential new members) why they should want to be in Zeta Tau Alpha.

Rush is no less weird from the other side. You meet innumerable amounts of girls and try to have interesting conversations with them in about 7 minutes. You evaluate them and they evaluate your sorority based on the 4 maybe 5 girls they met that round. All members in the sorority will wear identical outfits each round eg: blue jeans, neutral wedges and black shirts. My hair was straightened, makeup carefully applied and nails painted. We chant… as in peppy American movie “Go Zeta!” style chanting. We complain of sore feet, lost voices and tiredness, much as we did last year.

The difference was this year I had 100+ girls with me on my side that I love. We danced in between rounds, shared lipsticks, took innumerable selfies and laughed at each other and the whole process.

I fell in love with my Zeta sisters all over again. They are fun, vivacious, hilarious, caring and crazy girls that in so many ways define my life here in America. As our (now former president) said in her speech one round, these girls make you feel like a strong, independent and powerful person.

It’s funny because Bid Day last year I wouldn’t have thought I’d feel that way at all. I wrote about Bid Day at the time but I was very cautious. I didn’t want to offend my new sorority nor seem bitchy or ungrateful. The truth is when Bid Day came Zeta was not my first choice, in fact it was my last of three.

I cried on Bid Day.

At the time I felt a bit ridiculous. I went into sorority rush for fun, promising myself I wouldn’t make it a huge deal like a lot of ‘Americans’ do. Now I was staring at a bid and was crushed. It wasn’t that I disliked the girls in Zeta, not at all, I just had liked one other better and had gotten caught up in the social standing of another.

I was late to my own Bid Day because I didn’t want those nice Zeta girls to be insulted by a look of disappointment on my face. When I arrived however, my Bid Day Buddy was waiting for me, all alone outside. Katlyn, the girl that I loved from the first time I met her, the girl who would become my Big, inspiration and role model, ran into my arms and shrieked with happiness. I instantly felt loved, and accepted as every girl, both a new member and a current member, made me feel so welcome.

Though I had fun those first few days, I didn’t forget my disappointment completely for a few weeks. It was funny, but falling in love with Zeta crept up on me and then hit me all at once. Now, I cannot imagine myself anywhere else.

In Zeta I find myself constantly accepted, encouraged and welcomed. These are the girls with whom I have wiped away tears, laughed until my sides hurt, danced at Shooters, shared clothes, secrets and aspirations. These are the girls that make me forget that a sorority seemed like a remote American-movie concept and that I am so far from home. Our symbol, the crown, isn’t inconsequential but rather a reminder that each girl here is the queen of her own life.

I have had to find ‘home’ in different places since leaving Sydney, but in Zeta I think home found me.