Friday, March 21, 2008

Prospective Question #2

"Hi, I really enjoy reading all of the Tulane blogs, it really gives you a good feel for experiences people have at Tulane. I noticed that both you and Lauren joined sororities, and I've heard that about 1/3 of people do. I was wondering what made you decide to rush. Could you also talk about Sigma Delta Tau and Pi Beta Phi, the two that you joined? I've never wanted to be in a sorority, but reading your guys' experiences makes me reconsider. Thanks!"
-Mary


I'm sure a lot of you guys have Greek-related questions, so I'll try my best to answer some of them here!

From the last statistic I've heard, about a third of Tulane is Greek... so that means that about 70% of our students are NOT. Basically, either way you go, you can still have a lot of fun!

Sorority Recruitment (what many of you may know as "Rush") is a two weekend process held in January, during the second semester. You guys will have all of your first semester at Tulane to figure out if you're interested in going Greek. When you actually go to all the different houses in January, you'll get a good idea of what each house has to offer, and you'll usually be able to tell which sorority would best suit you. Even if you don't plan on pledging (joining a sorority), I'd definitely recommend going through Recruitment - you'll meet so many great girls in the process!

I've provided links below for all of the different sororities and fraternities at Tulane; I don't know the histories of each one, but you can read up on them if you'd like!

There are 10 sororities at Tulane:

There are a lot of fraternities - 15 in all

Hopefully this entry answered most of your questions... If y'all have any other questions, send me an email! ahollier@tulane.edu

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Spring Fever

Hi readers! It's been another beautiful, exciting week here at Tulane... In a few words: Auction, Initiation, Honors Weekend, Vampire Weekend! Alright, now for a little about each topic...

Auction
Saturday afternoon my New Member Class hosted an auction at our house to raise money for our sorority's national philanthropy, Prevent Child Abuse America. We auctioned off different "service packages" (for example, mine was Double Date - two of us will have dinner with the highest bidder and his friend at Fresco's, who donated a complete meal for four), sold baked goods, and had several raffles. It was very fun and successful - we raised over $600!

Initiation
Sunday morning the girls and I got up early (9am and before = early for us!) and put on our white dresses for our ΣΔΤ Initiation Ceremony. It was really special, full of tradition and meaning... and it means that my New Member Class and I are now official members of our sorority! We got our gold torch pins, which are really pretty, and we can now wear our letters! It's so exciting to finally be a full fledged member! (On the right is a picture of me with my "family" after being initiated. Top row: Erin, my Big; Dana, my GrandBig; Sam, my "Aunt." Bottom row: Me; Sam, my Twin; Juleya and Anna, my "Cousins.")

Honors Weekend
As both a Green Wave Ambassador and a member of the Honors Program, this weekend was HUGE - Sunday and Monday made up the first of this year's two Honors Weekends, special events for accepted high school seniors who have been invited to join Tulane's Honors Program. We were a
ll so excited to see so many prospective Green Waves on campus, so I had to get involved! My friend Dan and I led a campus tour together and I hosted a prospective student, Liz. I love showing people my school, something I'm so excited about and proud of! Sunday night, a group of us that were hosting got together to take out our prospective students. We wanted to show them a little piece of New Orleans, so we rode the streetcar downtown, had beignets at Cafe Du Monde, and walked down Bourbon Street just to take in the sights (there's a picture on the left of all our prospective students enjoying Bourbon Street). We piled into a cab and rode back to campus, where we enjoyed some late night food from The Rat in the LBC, a Tulane student tradition. The next day was Monday, so the hosts had classes, but all the prospective students got to enjoy some BBQ and create their schedules for the upcoming fall semester. To all of you who came to the first Honors Weekend, we hope to see you guys around campus in the fall!

Vampire Weekend
This might be the most exciting to
pic of this post! I don't know if you guys have heard of Vampire Weekend, but they are an AWESOME band -- in fact, Spin magazine called them "The Year's Best New Band." So why am I mentioning them in my Tulane blog? Because THEY PERFORMED A FREE SHOW ON CAMPUS YESTERDAY! They're currently one of the most-played bands in my iTunes, so obviously I was so excited to see them here on campus. They performed on the patio outside of the LBC, overlooking the quad, so lots of people came out after class. Seriously - how awesome is that?! A concert conveniently placed on campus, performed by an awesome band, completely free of charge... hats off to TUCP (Tulane University Campus Programming) for setting up such a great event for Tulane. The guys were really cool; they hung out after the show to talk, take pictures, and give autographs. I had come straight from class, so all I had for them to sign was my math notebook! (On the left is a picture of the guys performing, and on the right is a picture of me with VW's Ezra.)

Well, that's pretty much it as far as exciting things that have happened in the past few days... I also need to point out that the weather has been warm, sunny, and PERFECT! Aaaaand I'm leaving Friday afternoon for a Spring Break trip to Florida with some friends!

Until next time,
NOLA♥

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Quick Post...

Okay guys, I am craaazy busy this week (mid-terms!), but I promised I'd write about a few things, so here's a quick life-update!

Last week was Big/Little Sister Week in my sorority. Every day I'd get a package full of goodies delivered by some of my favorite fraternity guys. Each gift had a theme (beach day, sleepover, etc.) and a clue about the identity of my Big, but she was really sneaky and gave me fake clues! We had our Reveal on Thursday night, and all of us got to meet our families (Big, GrandBig, and Great GrandBigs)... some of us are even twins! Most of us were given costumes from our Bigs, so we either matched our families or were wearing something that has been passed down through our families from year to year. (There's a picture of the bottom half of my family: my twin Sam and I with our Big, Erin. We were the Hannah Montana twins, and the letters on our tshirts had our "family fabric.")

I also told y'all that my mom was coming in for a visit... For Christmas I had given her two tickets to the Michael Buble concert in the New Orleans Arena, so she decided to take me as her "date" for the night. We went shopping together, had dinner at Superior Grill, went to the concert, and spent the night in her hotel room... sometimes it's so good to just get off campus for awhile to spend time with your family! I just wish my dad could have come too - my parents and I are really close, and there are times when I really miss them. One of the good things about Tulane for me is that I'm only about three hours away from home, so it's not too much of a strain for my parents and friends to drive over for a visit.

(And now for a corny segue...) Speaking of visit, we are going to be having a LOT of visitors on campus this weekend for the first Honors Weekend! Spring is the busy season for GWAs (Green Wave Ambassadors) because we have lots of activities planned for admitted prospective students - Destination Tulane throughout March and April, two Honors Weekends in March, HomeRun in April, and LOTS of daily tours as people are making their college decisions. I definitely recommend visiting each school you apply to, because choosing a university is about much more than how a place looks on paper. You have to be there and experience a place to see if you'll like it. I know the first time I came to visit Tulane, something just clicked and I knew this is where I wanted to be! Alright, I'm not going to get mushy or anything... If any of you guys are coming in for Honors Weekend, look for me! I'll be giving a tour at 12:45, having dinner with some of you guys at 5:30, and hosting a student overnight. Also, if y'all have any questions about this weekend, send them my way! I've enjoyed hearing from you guys on Facebook, and my email address is ahollier@tulane.edu. While I'm talking about prospective students, I thought you guys would enjoy this article. Happy reading, and I can't wait to see you guys on campus!

(Wish me luck on my exams!)

♥ from Sunny NOLA