Theta Love

Before leaving the States I had the opportunity to travel back to Cleveland to visit some wonderful friends of mine.  Since time was limited, I planned a dinner at The Melting Pot with my Little and my best friend, and then I had planned to visit my sorority house the following morning before heading back home.

I left Thursday afternoon at the beginning of a snow storm.  Some counties were reaching a Level 1 Snow Emergency as I traveled the freeway (going anywhere from 40-55mph the entire way), but I knew that this was my only opportunity to visit with my friends in CLE - so I drove onwards.  I arrived in Cleveland three hours later (it usually takes 2.25hrs) and rounded up the girls.

It turned out that my former roommate, who also joined Kappa Alpha Theta in the Eta Pi chapter’s founding class, was in town because she had dropped off her sister for RA training.  Caroline came along with us for din din and it was a really great night!  After two hours of fondue and bellies stuffed with yummies, we slowly made our way back to campus.

I dropped off Caroline at the Beta Theta Pi house and Emily, Angela, and I headed over to Angela’s apartment.  What an adventure!  The power went out in her apartment and I showed her how to flip the fuse.  Clearly my months in Ethiopia have paid off.  Just kidding - I knew how to flip a fuse in like…fifth grade.  It’s one of those random things that dad made me do as part of my “training”.  That and how to unclog the toilet, how to mow the law, how to do my own laundry, how to replace the wax seal on a toilet, and how to order food at McDonalds.  I’m not kidding.

We proceeded to watch Whip It and I almost made it through the whole movie until I fell asleep on Emily’s shoulder.  When the movie was over we said goodbye to Angela, brushed off my car, and headed to Northside.  Emily and I stayed up until 3am talking about life; it felt really good to talk to her again because we’d been rather out of touch over the semester.  Trying to keep in touch with people from overseas has really made me realize how difficult it’s going to be when we all have full-time jobs.  Right now I can’t just pick up the phone to call someone, and when I’m online usually no one else is on because they’re sleeping.  Hopefully I will be able to make time for people while in medical school (assuming I get in; knock on wood!)!

I fell asleep on Emily’s comfy couch with her super warm blanket and woke up around 11am Friday morning.  This was epic because I hadn’t slept in that much all week!  We got ready and headed over to the Theta house, but then I found out they were having their recruitment workshop in another building on campus.  It was really nice to see a lot of my Theta loves and I’m really sad that I didn’t have time to really talk with everyone.  I also didn’t want to interrupt the recruitment workshop so I didn’t give a big hello and good luck, although now I wish I would have.

It was really cool to see that while a lot of things change, some things stay somewhat the same.  My younger sisters are going places and doing things.  My adopted-Little, Sam, has a boyfriend now; Sasha and Katey are studying abroad in Denmark; Claire just got back from a semester in Morocco; Megan is applying for a Fulbright; Kate is still wonderful; Lauren is still hilarious; my birthday buddy, Neethu, is super cute; my niece, Rachel, can’t be found without a smile on her face; my prospie, Rachel, is getting very involved in the chapter; the list goes on and on.

I really miss my girls and I think I’m finally realizing how weird it is to be an alumna.  I paid my alumnae dues before I left Ethiopia, but I’m not part of any chapter since I’m abroad…it’s kind of weird.  I’m looking forward to attending some events when I’m back in the States, but I know it won‘t be the same as my days with the Eta Pi Thetas.  I also miss my fellow graduated seniors who are now in medical school, pharmacy school, law school, graduate school for public health (MPH), chemistry (PhD), film, anesthesiology (MS), and anatomy (MS), and working with an archaeology something or other (sorry, Erin).  We’ll see what city I end up in, but I’m sure wherever I go I will always find Theta love.