Sororities and Fraternities as a Subculture

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I was 18 years old and still going to high school when I first visited a university and experienced the real college life for a weekend. I was completely naive in that world and had no idea about how diverse and distinct from reality it was. But there was something that really caught and continues to trap my attention about my visit to this peculiar school: fraternities and sororities. I had not known what they were, until my visit made their concept clear. Even though I was not an integral part of them, I could see what they were all about. I would define each one of them as a separate subculture with their own rules and rights.

The school I visited was Dartmouth College. It is located in Hanover, NH - a very small town, where restaurants and hotels are scarce, but fraternities and sororities are plentiful. A little over fifty percent of the students there are members of the Greek system, and that is how they really get to make friends and turn their college life into a much more joyful experience while residing in that tiny town. When I went to Dartmouth, a friend of mine, which was my guide through the whole voyage, accompanied me. He went to Dartmouth, and graduated from there, and because he was not an exception to the rule, he had also been a part of a fraternity for his whole college experience, and even more, he still is part of that fraternity.

The name of his fraternity is "Sigma Phi Epsilon." Their house is huge and very close to the school; actually it is located in front of the College President's house. It is made of wood and it is really old. It has a big red door that distinguishes all Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternities nation wide. I was explained that because the very first Sig Ep had a red door, all other cha...

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... learn all this information, they go to their alma mater and remember old times. Weddings and birthdays are the reunion of all the members, and it feels just like being at Dartmouth, in the "old house," behind the big red door.

What really makes me say that they are a subculture? The way they behave, how they have their own version of popular games, the way the assign unique names to each one of their members, and how close they remain to each other even though right now some of them are far apart, going to different graduate schools, or working in different states. All the members of this fraternity make out of the time they spend together an unforgettable experience that remains with them forever. Those that already left the school, as my friend has, remember those years as the best of their lives and the people that they knew as their unconditional friends.

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