From the outside looking in, you can never understand it; From the inside looking out, you can never explain it.

This past week was difficult and amazing all at the same time.    I saw students bicker, steal from one another, hit others and downright lie to my face.  Some struggle to understand the concept presented to them, especially telling time.  Others have a hard time blending in with kids their age and are often bullied no matter what my cooperating teacher can do.  I saw students have those "light bulb" moments where everything finally clicks.  Another boy started reading Harry Potter this week.  Keep in mind he's only eight.  It's five days like this that make me want to be a teacher for my whole life.

Thursday I got to take a break from the real world and dive back into the world of sorority life.  That night we had a special occasion in Tri Delta where the seniors get to tell their journey through the last four years and to offer advice to the new girls.  I went first.  To express the last two and a half years of my life and what I owe to this sorority ultimately was difficult.  How do you explain to someone how you've developed life long friendships?  Some people don't understand Greek life.  They think that we pay for our friends and that we party til we puke.  That's not what Tri Delta is about.  It's about those nights that turn into mornings where we spend the whole time watching movies, playing pranks one another and soaking up the time we have left in college.  It's about knowing that when you are at rock bottom that you have 40 sisters to turn to. Although we are all different, we know that that doesn't matter.  We, no matter where we end up after graduation, will always be sisters.

Friday we initiated ten new lovely women into our sisterhood.  During the middle of it, reality finally hit.  This was my last time to wear whites and to go through the rituals.  My best friend April and I stood next to each other through the ceremony.  She was her typical goofy self.  Our other friend Holly finally got a Little Sister this semester.  I'm glad that we were next to each other one last time through initiation.  We all started out as friends freshman year and each joined Tri Delta during a different semester.  I love our story.  If anything our friendship is stronger now then ever.  So much of that we owe to the sorority.  I've lived with both Holly and April before.  We've gone through some of the hardest times together:  April's parents' divorce our freshman year, Holly almost leaving our university that same year, my depression this past year and numerous breakups for all of us between the four years.  We still manage to stand strong and united. 

Today I was also lucky enough to reunite with my friends Erin and Kelley.  The three of us have also been through so much together.  We typically have a family dinner each week, but I hadn't seen them in about a month.  Deciding to get off campus, we went to a local diner called Philly B's.  It's the typical hole in the wall hickish place that Valpo is famous for.  The three of us swamped stories about our lives this semester and it was like we saw each other every day.  Erin and I talked about our plans after graduation.  She is moving back home to Michigan and trying to find a marketing job in  a firm somewhere.  I talked about applying for jobs and possibly being a day camp director for the Parks Department this summer.   We'll see how it works out.  Kelley still has another year at school, but she already misses us.  I'm grateful that I have so many sisters to fall back on.  Holly, April, Kelley and Erin will always be in my life.  Heck, April and I will probably be in a nursing home together when we're 80 reminiscing about the good old years :)