It was called Rush Week.  A week where all the fraternities on campus throw their biggest parties in an attempt to lure new Freshman & Sophomore recruits into their fraternity.  It was there way of showing off and it was my way of meeting new friends and drinking underage for free.  I had already done my homework on which fraternities were the most popular and I had narrowed it down to two.  These two were rumored to throw the best parties and apparently hung out with the hottest sororities;  which was already stirring up some concern with my girlfriend.  She knew how hard I had worked at that community college so I could get into the University and didn’t want to see me throw that all away for some fraternity.  Not to mention, she wasn’t thrilled that I wanted to join the fraternity that just so happens to hang out with the prettiest girls on campus.  But I assured her that the only reason I was joining was to meet friends and get involved in campus activities.

Night one of Rush I cautiously walked the streets of fraternity row, quietly popping in and out of different parties in search of one of the two frat houses I had my eye on.  I had no clue where I was going, the streets were a zoo and the parties inside the houses were even more wild.  I could feel some anxiety begin to set in and for a brief moment I wanted to go home to my girlfriend.  Thats when I heard, “Hey…want a shot?”  Yes, a shot! Thats exactly what I need.  A nice big shot of this black licorice stuff everyone in college likes to drink.  I didn’t know what I drinking at the time but I would later find out that black licorice tasting stuff was called Jagermeister and boy did the frat guys and sorority girls like to drink it.  If they weren’t shooting Jager, they were downing shots of Goldschlager; the liquor with the little gold flakes.

So with a steady flow of these two fine spirits accompanied by several other brands of liquid courage entering my system, all my anxiety was gone and I was starting to have a good time.  I walked confidently into each frat house as if I was already a member of years and started random conversations with strangers that seemed to all turn into knee-slapping, eye-watering tales of laughter.  I was a hit at every house and I was being heavily recruited & pitched by every fraternity.  I had completely forgot about the two frats I initially had my eye on;  In fact, I never even made it to their houses.  Once I started taking shots I began walking back in the same direction I had come from, entering the same houses I had already been to and seeing the same people I had already seen; only this time I was wasted.

I was having one of the best nights of my life.  All of the parties were so cool and the fraternity brothers at each house were even cooler.  They welcomed every new recruit into their house with open arms and southern hospitality and made sure we always had a cold shot of Jager in our hand.  I must have cheers two dozen times with two dozen different fraternities.  These guys were making it difficult for me to choose which frat I wanted to join.  But deciding on a fraternity wasn’t the only thing I was having a difficult time with.  My vision suddenly became a little blurry and then everything started to spin.  I was having trouble walking straight and I could feel myself starting to feel very sick.  The anxiety immediately started to set in again.  I was surrounded by hundreds of people that had crammed themselves in this house and their bodies were acting as a barricade to the door.  There was no escaping this and no fighting it any longer, before I could even think of a back-up plan to outside, I had my head buried in potted plant in the living room, giving back every shot of Jager I had taken that night.

When it was over, I could feel the glare of everyone’s stare on the back of my neck.  The music had stopped or maybe I had gone deaf.  All I know is there was complete utter silence in that living room.  I stood up waiting to hear the loud roars of boos followed by humiliating remarks; but instead I received the loud roars of celebration, laughter and clapping, as if I had just won the big game.  One fraternity brother handed me a cold beer and another handed me a shot of Jager.  As shocked as I was to see and hear their joyous reactions to me puking in the plant; I was extremely relieved, so I smiled, gave a little wave and decided to go home and safe my strength for night two of Rush.

Welcome to college…