So, you’re a freshman at a college with first semester rush. You’re making all these new friends, catching up on all your schoolwork, and attempting to sleep. You’re keeping your Snapchat streaks alive and scrolling through Instagram, seeing your home friends, family members, and girls from school in different chapters’ posts. It’s your job to make an effort to reach out to everyone you love, because they’re waiting to hear. Of course, they know you are busy- and you’re still busy now- so hopefully this list of people to text, snap, and call back helps you remind everyone you love just how much you love them.
1. Call your mom.
Or your dad, your siblings, your grandparents, or your older cousin whose fraternity brother has a younger sister who also rushed and you guys are in the same pledge class. Now’s the time that something interesting has come up to tell your family; you don’t need to repeat your major you don’t know yet, or how classes are, or that you haven’t been to the gym lately. Reassure your family that you’re happy, or if you’re upset, get your cat on FaceTime.
2. Remember all those streaks? The ones you mindlessly send every day to your home friends? Yeah! Text in your home group chat asap.
All of your best friends want to know what you wore to rush, if you saw that girl from their camp, and how you’re feeling. They saw the Instagrams, but they care more about the exhausted finsta story from 2am at the library you posted. They’re going through the same thing, whether it already happened or they rush second semester. And it will feel great to get everything off your chest to people who have no idea who you are talking about.
3. Find your other friends on campus!
You and all your home friends, camp friends, and new friends are not all going to be in the same chapter. Let them know about the cool girl from your rush line who’s in their pledge class that they’ll love, and that you know it’s going to be hard to make plans right away. My recommendation? Order in food to one person’s dorm, do dinner for an hour, and then head to the library together. I got my hallmates (let’s hear it for Fifth Fisher!) from freshman year together in my apartment after we all had rush practice; we never even made it to the library we were laughing so hard and telling stories about the summer. Maybe there’s a girl from your rush line who ended up in a different house than you and you really wanted to be her friend – now is the time to reach out and make coffee plans.
Of course, it’s going to be crazy busy. Make sure to meet your sisters, because becoming sisters doesn’t mean automatic friendship. Also, I hear school is pretty important. And sleep. But make sure that your friends and family know you survived rush and are on top of things (even if it isn’t true). Unlike in high school, being in college doesn’t mean that you’re just friends with the people you see in your classes everyday, and your closest friends and family are worth the effort. Most importantly, remember to breathe.
Images courtesy of University of Michigan Panhellenic Association