A new addition to the family

You know... Its Friday... and I've had mixed feelings about this week. I've had somewhat a lot to do for everything that I'm involved in, errands to run for myself, people to make happy, etc. Its not that this has been a bad week, just been a different one. The weather here in Muncie hasn't been the best, and its 2 weeks before finals week... So people are starting to stress out just a little bit about their classes and grades with everything. I have been trying to not get stressed over everything this week, and to just go with the flow, even if things conflict and there is a major problem. We can solve it in a few seconds, no worries. This week has flown by though, and I feel that it may be due to the fact that this is going to be a big weekend for me personally. I have a big greek/fraternity event to attend to this Saturday, and have bunch of little stuff to do so that I stay up in all of my classes.

Like I said, this weekend is a big weekend for me and Sigma Phi Epsilon. Joining a fraternity I had a small idea of what i'd be getting myself into. I knew there would be a lot of work, a lot of parties, and a ton of girls. Now to a freshman college guy, the two pros (parties and girls) absolutely outweigh the one con (work), no debate or comparison at all. Now although the parties and girls sound good, there's one thing that sets SigEp apart from the other fraternities. That thing is that little con that was outweighed by the pros earlier. The work.

For the most part, other fraternities on campus will rush a new pledge class, give them bids into the fraternity, and then after a week or two of a few odds and ends, the new pledges are allowed to wear their greek letters on shirts, shorts, sweatshirts. You name it and they can wear it if it has their greek letters on it. That isn't the case at all for SigEp. The theory that we live by is that we must gain respect of the older brothers and alumnus by learning the history of the fraternity we are about to become a part of history for, knowing the older brothers on a more personal level, and making sure that we joined the fraternity for the right reason. Unlike other fraternities, we are not allowed to wear our greek letters until we have completely finished our first stage of the brotherhood which is the "Sigma" stage. All new guys go through this, and do a couple traditions that have been passed on through generations that every Sigma class has had to go through.

One of those rituals that every Sigma gets to go through is called "Big Brother Night". Personally I have been looking forward to this night since I became an official pledge. This night is special because it is the night where we as new pledges get to choose who we'd like as our "older brother" to help us through the next few years in the fraternity. After the semester long process of Sigma we finally have our Big Bro night this Saturday. We don't find out who we get until that night though, so that is the catch. We have an idea of who we might get, because we had to submit a list of our top 5 older brothers that we wanted to have as an official Older Brother. My top choice goes by the name of Joseph Vonderheide. He is a junior this year and we have been hanging out a lot this semester and have talked about a lot of things that the other brothers and i have not, so hopefully he accepts my bid to have him as an Older Brother to be part of my family and to be there for me when I need someone to help guide me. (( I'll keep you updated once I know for sure who I got))

One reason I cant wait for this night, is because all brothers put all of their differences aside and come together to celebrate us getting through the Sigma Stage. Another big thing I'm excited for is adding a new "brother" to my family, and having someone here at school and in my fraternity that I can go to if I need someone to talk to, or just chill with. A big reason this is also a favorite night among the pledges is because once you get your big bro, your big bro gives you clothing with all 3 greek letters on them, and from that point on you are officially allowed to wear the greek letter of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Its meaningful, not because you finally get to wear your fraternities letters, but because your new Big Bro gives them to you, which is why this night means a lot to me personally. Yea the parties are nice, and the ladies are fine as always, but its deeper than that for me. Going through all of this hard work and endless hours of random shenanigans that we have had to do, I truly do understand why SigEp makes you earn your letters. By doing all of this you gain so much more appreciation for the letters, and get a better understanding what it truly means to be a brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Until later,

Peace. Love. and Brotherhood.

-Alex Jordan DeFreeuw

Back to the grind...

Thanksgiving break is over... :(

Such a sad day in the life of Alex Jordan DeFreeuw. My family and I got back from Pittsburgh around 1030pm on Saturday night and what do you know my two best friends Brent and Kalyn were at the house waiting to hang out! haha coincidence?! I THINK NOT!! So we hung out for an hour or two and just chilled till we were too tired to do anything. Then sunday morning I got up at 930 to drive down to Columbus, IN again to visit my friend Christian Miller. Got there around 1ish and hung out with him all day. Drove back to school and then reality hit, that I only have 2 weeks left before finals week.... OH. SHIT.

Now, I'll be honest, at the beginning of the semester my grades were not very good but I have gotten my grades up to an average that I'm not necessarily thrilled about, but based on my grades before, I'm happy with. Plus I will be taking easy classes next semester to help get my GPA up for a good overall. NO WORRIES MOM! I'LL BE FINE!! lol

The next two weeks are going to be hell weeks. I have a couple health assignments due Friday, there is a BSU vs. Butler men's basketball game tonight that I'm going to. Should be a good game!! I have an english project where we have to make a website dealing with an issue we see at BSU and my group is doing the dining services at BSU, specifically where our money goes if we do not use it on meals. Other than that I'm just trying to survive the last few weeks of my first semester as a college freshman. Its kinda weird to think that this first semester is almost done with and I'm almost half way through with my freshman year as a college student. Seems like just a few weeks ago we were moving in and doing "Welcome week" activities and whatnot. Doesn't seem real.

Gotta love being a college student!

Peace. Love. and Cardinal Basketball!

-Alex Guinevere DeFreeuw XXI