By: Payton Miller
If I wrote about everything I learned while living in the Gamma Phi Beta house here at the University of Northern Iowa, this blog post would go on foreverrrrrr. And I mean forever. So, here are a few of the things I learned that have stuck with me the most while living in the cutest house on Merner Ave!
Personal space does not exist.
While our house is pretty spacious considering 16 girls live in it, you are still always awkwardly twisting around someone in the kitchen or sharing one of the couches in the TV room with 4 other people. Fitting 60 women into one room during work week and recruitment brought a lot of smells, laughter, and glitter. While living in the house, you learn how to equally divide every room in the house and find the best way to make the most of your space. I really learned how to downsize, and moving out of the GPhi house into a new one taught me how to really value my space.
There is ALWAYS something going on.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a random Wednesday afternoon or 1:00 AM on pref night of recruitment, there is always something going on! I can truly say I was never bored living in the house. Here are just a few of my favorite highlights from my year in the house:
Prank wars with PIKE
Sitting in the TV room telling crazy stalker stories
Mathematically figuring out how many pizzas we needed to order on a snow day
Watching the tow company tow a car that had been parked in front of our driveway for a couple days
Piling into the tiniest room (best room ever, I miss the cocoon everyday) to chat with sisters
Making a coffin for ΣAE Paddy Murphy (and winning!)
Hosting the annual All-Greek Fall Fest
Work Week & Recruitment !!!
Getting ready for date nights & formals!
Hosting our 50th anniversary and showing alum members our cute cottage
I will forever cherish those memories and how much I under-appreciated all of them. At the time I thought they were just fun things to do while living in the house. I didn’t realize they were memories I would hold onto forever. But now as I look back, getting close to the end of my collegiate years, I am so grateful for the time I had to make those memories
Glitter…EVERYWHERE,
There was always glitter stuck on me. I would wake up in the morning and find it all over my bed. It would be in my shoes. In my hair. Everywhere. And I figured out the best way to get it off of skin and clothing.
You learn everything about everyone.
Shoutout to roomie (ily Macayla) for listening to me cry about wanting to drop out every other day!!! That girl deserves an award. And so do all of the other house girls for helping me through all of my problems, hyping me up when I felt bad about myself, and always being excited about the things I told them! What I wouldn’t give to be sitting on the blue stairs one more time with the house girls, listening to everything they had to say. I miss all of the laughs, tears, and everything that came along with those talks. Whether it was 2:00 AM on a Friday night or right after a formal meeting, those were the best. And it didn’t matter what we talked about. It could be about the latest boy drama, childhood memories, or just something funny that happened that day. What their favorite beauty products were or their favorite fast food fries, it didn’t matter. It was a place to be vulnerable and protected, knowing that my sisters were always there for me, no matter what I had to say.
Sharing is caring!
That’s it. That’s the tea.
You always have someone to do things with.
You want to go to Target for absolutely no reason at all other than just walking around? You’ve got sisters to go with you. You want to walk over to PIKE to watch a movie? You’ve got sisters to go with you. You want to go to McDonald’s for fries and a Diet Coke? You’ve got sisters to go with you. Do I need to say more? No matter what it is, you’ve got a whole house of girls you can ask and there’s always someone happy to go along for the ride.
It was the BEST year of my life!
While there are so many more things I learned living in the house, the thing I learned the most was how special this sisterhood truly is. I hear it all the time from non-Greek people, “You’re just paying for your friends”, and, “Those friendships won’t last once you graduate.” But what they don’t understand is what it’s like to be a part of it. And what it’s like to live in the house. Sure, we got on each other’s nerves and pushed each other’s buttons. But we also supported one another and shared our love. I had the best time ever the year I lived in. I found a confidence in me that I didn’t know I had, I got closer to the people who would become my best friends, and I genuinely had fun. I really did find my home away from home. I am so, so grateful for this true and constant sisterhood. So here’s to the house girls of 2018-2019: thank you for the best year of my life. I love you all to the moon and back.
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