Sophie Victoria Hay, 2014

Name: Sophie Victoria Hay
 

Major: English

Activities: Her Campus Magazine, Theta Sorority, Blogging, and Flat Hat

Year: Sophomore 

How have you been making friends at W&M as an exchange student?

My sorority (Theta) makes it easy to make friends because I am basically given 90 girls to befriend. I really like my family within my sorority because it’s a smaller, supportive group. Everyone is so friendly and really goes out of their way to get to know you. I know I always have someone to have lunch with or hang out with. 

Do you have Greek life in England?

We really don’t have anything remotely similar at home. People seem to socialize more broadly here and have many different groups of friends. 
 

I don’t think Greek life would work in England because of all stereotypes they hear in movies. I know from experience that Greek life isn’t like that. The sorority girls are smart, there is no rivalry and everyone is very inclusive. W&M has basically knocked out every stereotype I had of sororities. In reality, sororities get a mix of girls. There is no cookie cutter theta girl or sorority girl. 

Hands down, joining Theta is the best decision I’ve made since being in America.

How are you keeping in touch with friends at home?

I write a blog (http://thevirginiamonologues.wordpress.com/) with my friend Bella Jolly. The original aim of blog was to keep parents and close friends updated. However, more people at W&M read it than at home because we put a different perspective on things they take for granted. One thing we have written about is American’s fascination with tie-dye because it’s not popular or well known in the UK. Some people come up to us at parties and say  “I’ve read your blog”. It’s really surprising! Posts from our blog are now being featured on flat hat online.

Are you used to living here now?

Yes, I am. Sometimes I stop and think, “Woah, I am in America”. I don’t notice American accents anymore. At first the workload was really challenging but I managed to adapt to it. The material is not much harder but there is simply a lot more of it. In some ways I like it because I don’t feel geeky when I need to go study.

Will you miss it?

I will really miss it. This is something I will never get to do again and I am so happy to be experiencing it.