Brothers

Most days are pretty average. You wake up, you shower, you brush your teeth, get dressed, have breakfast, go to class, have lunch, talk with friends, go to class, go home, have dinner, do homework, get to bed - etc., etc., etc.

Some days, though, you do all the same things...and then something else happens that just blows you away.

Last Friday was one of those days. In the space of about ten minutes, I was offered two incredible, life-changing opportunities. The first was being chosen as an admissions blogger, which would have been more than enough for me. As for the second opportunity, I've been deliberately ambiguous until this point...although someone made a very accurate guess. ;) Basically, the story goes something like this.

Like many other freshmen, over the past week I've been busily participating in Fraternity Rush. At first, I thought I had learned all I need to know about fraternities during CPW - and I was wrong. In fact, fraternity life here at MIT runs so much deeper than I had ever imagined. No matter what fraternity I was visiting, the brothers were more than happy to introduce me to their culture, their house, their traditions, their vision, and - most importantly - themselves.

How to describe the brothers of MIT? They are dedicated, intelligent, funny, athletic, social, passionate, innovative, and so many other things besides. Basically, they are some of the best people I have met in my time here.

And now I'm one of them.

This morning, I pledged as a new member of MIT's Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. The brothers of Phi Kappa Sigma - the Skulls, as they're popularly known - are, collectively and individually, among the favorite people I've met at MIT. I've gotten to know them (and my fellow pledges) fairly well over the past week or so, and I'm incredibly honored to call them my brothers.

As I was thinking about how to wrap up this entry, it occurred to me that I've now come to a kind of crossroads, a point of transition between the life I know and the life I am entering into. Even though I've taken the first step by pledging at PKS, I don't really know what lies ahead of me. In the same way, I still have absolutely no idea what it's going to be like to be a genuine admissions blogger.

But somehow that doesn't bother me as much as it would have before I came to MIT. Now, though, I know that standing before the unknown isn't supposed to be terrifying.

It's actually part of the excitement.