[Eirbear]

I have a couple of stories that stick out in my head...

Thanksgiving break of my Freshman year, which was just before I was initiated, I went with the marching band to Italy. Part of our trip was taking a bus down to, and then back from, the Amalfi Coast. The problem about taking a bus to and from Amalfi is that it's at the bottom of a mountain, so the trip is really curvy and a lot of the band started feeling motion sickness on the way back, including me. In fact, I felt it so bad that I started gagging, our director had to stop the bus so I could get off. My Big was sitting at the back of my bus, and as soon as she realized that the bus was stopping so I could get sick (which was about two seconds after I walked off), she ran outside to help. Our director even got back on the bus after she came out, because he knew she would help. When we got back on the bus, my Big went to incredible lengths to make sure if I felt sick again, I wouldn't have to worry--she found a bag and a thing of tissues. I was really touched that she was taking such good care of me.

Another story I can think of just happened this past fall. A pledge brother of our Sig Ep chapter died in a car accident and everyone in the Greek system was quite shocked. There were only a few of our sisters who knew him personally and were close friends with him. The brothers held a candlelight vigil and, even though most of us never knew him, almost our entire chapter turned out to not only support the brothers through their tragedy, but to support our sisters who were close to him. The second we all got there, we went and gave our sisters hugs, and at the end of the vigil, the sisters who knew him cried on the rest of our shoulders.

And the last story I can think of...Our house gets incredibly hot, especially during ceremonies, because we keep the windows closed and there are candles and it's a small chapter room for the size of our chapter. This past spring, during the Initiation ceremony for the spring class, the heat started getting to one of our sisters. I guess she started swaying a little (I wasn't standing near her, so I'm just going on what I heard later), and a couple other sisters noticed. Without so much of a word to anyone else in the room, two sisters helped her walk out of the room and up the stairs. They stayed there, gave her a chance for some air, some water, and to lie down. She was really grateful, because she couldn't leave the room on her own and seemed worried that she would have passed out if she hadn't gotten out of there.