Get it all done!

Hey y'all! 

Can you tell I've been living in the Midwest for more than a month now? ;) 

Now that I'm a month into the semester, I had the first two weeks where I was just swamped with school work and events! I had my first papers and a few article reviews due last week and this week, let alone the reading that I had to keep up with. Now it is a little better but I definitely need to keep up with all the homework. Yes, there is actual HOMEWORK in American Universities. Today I want to give you a little overview over the work load of courses at TU. This is overview however will be limited to English and Education courses. I don't have an idea on what is happening in business courses or science courses. TU is actually a very big engineering school. So if you are interested in chemical, petroleum, physical or any other kind of engineering, TU is the school for you.

Check out what was happening last week! 

For my semester here I chose three literary classes: Contemporary Literature & Politics, World Literature and Film by Women and a Jane Austen Literature & Film course. I also have an education class and a fun class, Jazz Dance 1. First of all, I really do enjoy all of my classes. BUT three literary classes mean a whole lot of reading, which is similar to literary classes in Siegen. However, there are SO many papers to write during the semester. All assigned papers of the classes combined, I will have to write at least 48 pages of response papers and essays/ papers. And that are only the literary classes. There are written assignments in my education class too. Basically, by the end of the semester, I will have written essays and papers that add up to the length of a Staatsarbeit.

For those three literary classes I will get 3 credit points, for the education class I will get 4 credit points and Jazz Dance is only worth 1 credit point. In order to be considered a full time student, you need to be enrolled into 12 credit hours total. The maximum of credit hours you can take without paying extra at TU is 18 credit hours. I have the greatest respect for people who take 18 credit hours and still manage to have a life outside of school. While in Siegen it is quite possible to have more than 10 courses and still kind of get along and have a life, it is much harder here because he professors tend to keep you on your toes with Homework, test and pop quizzes (quizzes without a warning beforehand).

I really don't want to make this a super long and super boring post so I will stop here for now. I also do not want you to be afraid of going to TU because of the workload. It might have been a good choice to take one literary class less, but being the nerd I am, I couldn't have decided on which of the three classes to drop for an "easier" one. Right now I'm just really happy to have handed in my first written assignments which will be graded. I have all my fingers crossed that I did well on them. Even though my grades back home do not really matter within my course of study, I really would like to do well in my classes here. 

You made it through the whole post. Congratulations and thank you for reading :)

Jenny Sch.

What a RUSH!

Hey guys! :) 

It seriously has been a rush since classes started. They definitely keep me on my toes with a lot of reading and quite a few papers this semester! Today however, I want to talk about a different kind of rush I had the chance to experience. I'm talking about "rushing" the sororities on campus. 

Let me start by answering some basic questions you will most likely have right now.

What is a sorority?

Sorority is the term for "women fraternities". The general concept of sororities, women fraternities and fraternities is similar to the German "Studentenverbindungen". They are organizations which intend to create a network (and brother/ sisterhood) for students. The members of these organizations generally strive to excel academically and be the best person they can be. Since we live in a world with a very patriarchal history, there first were only fraternities. Women weren't allowed to study yet. When they finally were allowed to study, the men would not allow the women into their fraternities. What the men can do, we most certainly can do too! The first women fraternities (the term sorority didn't exist yet) were founded towards the end of the 19th century. The different organizations gave themselves names which were made up of Greek letters. These head organizations generally have chapters at different universities all over the US.

What is "rushing"?

The official and correct term is "Formal Recruitment". Every year the sororities and fraternities hold a formal recruitment to find new members for their chapter. This process is a mutual selection process. It is what?? This just means that during this process you meet the different sorority chapters at the campus and as you might prefer some sororities, the sororities also meet all the recruits and might like some of them better than others. This process focuses on finding the group of girls in which you best fit in. The chapters are not allowed to reveal their costs for example to keep the "Potential New Members" from making their decision a financial one rather than one based on personalities. This process is very important for the sororities (and fraternities but at least at TU it is way more serious apparently than at the fraternities) because they are looking for "sisters" to join their inner circle, become live long friends and share the history and secrets of their sorority and chapter with. 

Sororities with chpaters at TU

I hope you have a basic understanding of what a sorority is and what it means to "rush". If not, feel free to comment, email me or just use the world wide web. ;) 

Now let me tell you my personal story real quick:

I decided to rush just to meet people, get the real American college experience and because I was curious to get a glimpse at this unfamiliar world. Little did I know how the recruitment process would influence me. The first day of recruitment my group and I went to the six houses located at TU - Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Delta, Delta Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta. We would go into the houses (alphabetical order was super important) and chat with two or three girls of that chapter before leaving the house again and moving on to the next one. At the end of the day we were asked to "rank" the chapters based on which we liked better than others into our top four (equally ranked) and the two which we didn't like as much. The sororities would do the same and decide which girls they would rather see again the next day of recruitment and which they thought might not fit into their chapter as well. 

On Day 2 we would receive a little card which said which houses of the four houses we ranked as our top choices wanted to see us again. I only got asked back to two houses - Theta and Tri Delta. By the end of day 2 and meeting even more genuinely nice girls and learning more about the sororities philanthropies (big, big part of Greek Life!), I realized two things. The sororities were mostly looking for long time commitments, meaning that their recruits would be at TU for the coming four years of college. This actually was at least one big reason why I only got asked back by two houses. The other thing I realized was that I was actually deeply sad about this fact and that I actually started enjoying this world and wanting to be a part of this world. 

Day 3 was a very emotional day. I was nervous if any of the two houses of day two would ask me back for the final day. I was relieved and happy when I learned that Theta as well as Tri Delta had asked me back. This final day of recruitment is the most serious day. It is the last recruitment day for the seniors (last year of college) and the chapters often have little ceremonies which honor the seniors. Being the emotional person I am, there was quiet a bid of crying on my part. I was touched by the ceremonies and the women I met. After going to the houses you were asked back to, we were asked to rank the (max. 3) sororities again and decide from which two sororities we would accept a bid (invitation to join) and also which is our favorite one. I was positive that I would enjoy being a part of both sororities and let my gut decide on which one was my favorite.

The most exciting part of the final recruitment day is when everyone receives their bids! All the "Potential New Members" would get an envelope with a bid card from a sorority. In this process it is possible to end up without a bid but that barely happens. Once everyone got their enveloped we opened them together at once and ran to our houses to meet our new sisters. It was exhausting! But so worth it. :)

Are you wondering where I ran to? If you checked up on my Facebook page, you will definitely know already. For all the others: 

TRI DELTA!!!!

Thank you for reading this gigantic post! :)

Jenny Sch.