Journal Entry #5

OMG, what a weekend! It all started out Friday night. Waiting at Ackerman Turnaround is where the pledge brother bonding all started. The ride to retreat was not too bad, but a little awkward as well. Kent Grover drove Ms. Vastola, Sammy, Meg and I to retreat. We were unable to stop for dinner because we were the last to leave and had to get there as soon as we can. The whole ride there we were texting our pledge brothers trying to figure out what was going on! Our hearts dropped when we were told that our phones would be taken away for the weekend! (We’d soon figure out that this wasn’t so bad!) When we arrived there we were shoved into a VERY tiny room; Cindy, Priscilla, Jason and Yeon were the only other brothers that had arrived. We soon figured out that we would all be staying in this room. The rest of our brothers slowly started to arrive (Thanks Sai for bringing us pizza!!). We were not too keen of the idea of all twenty of us sitting in that room. We were in there for a few hours, until a mysterious man in a black hoodie cracked open the door and called my name. I walked out half anxious and half nervous. I walked out to a pitch black room. That’s when I heard Mr. Tejwani say “Caline, it’s Lucas. I’m going to blind fold you. Do you trust me?” So I said yes. I was blind folded and lead out to what I believe was the garage. There I waited for all my brothers to be lead out as well. Then the same man told me that he would be leading me, to only listen to his voice and not the distractions, and to lead my brothers, blind folded. It was a trust walk. We walked up and down stairs, around things, and over things. The whole time people were yelling false directions, making animal noises, and telling me that I was “doing it wrong”. We ended back in the tiny room. A few minutes later Mr. Tejwani came in and gave us clues from our bigs as to who they were. “I’m not a twin, I was not on a Disney Channel show, my older sister isn’t Jessica, but we have something in common.” My immediate thoughts=WTF?! But we’ll get back to that later. After that Ms. Shahinian and Ms. Ho came in so that we can do a little group sharing; five questions: highest high, lowest low, biggest dream, biggest fear, and life changing moment. I won’t share what was said, but I will say it was a big insight to my pledge brothers. We learned things about each other that we never thought we’d ever know. Soon after starting this, Ms. Shahinian and Ms. Ho suggested that we move to the garage since the room was far too hot. And, luckily, after ending we were able to score the garage as our new sleeping room! That was the end to Friday! Saturday was such an adventure. After having breakfast we were immediately sent back to the garage. We were told that we would be performing a skit and song, so throughout the day we brainstormed and wrote out our skit and song. Soon Ms. Shahinian and Ms. Ho came in to the room and we played a little team building game; the human knot. We soon found out that we were actually in two intertwined circles, and it took us 15 minutes to undo the ‘knot’! After that we had elections. I didn’t get president, but I did get brotherhood chair along with Jason! After that we had lunch, tacos! Which we ate in our garage. Soon after, four Alumni came in to talk to us. They each talked about their Kappa Alpha Pi experience, what they got out of it and why they love it. Then we were able to ask them questions that we may not be able to ask the actives. Ms. Shahinian gave us a list of the bigs, and that was when I finally figured out who my big was, ALL THANKS TO BRITTANI! Not a twin= Mary Kate and ASHLEY, Not on a Disney channel show= ASHLEY Tisdale, older sister isn’t Jessica= ASHLEY Simpson, something in common= ASHLEY! After that we were TAKEN OUTSIDE TO THE BEACH. We played a couple of fun games with the actives. This was one of my favorite parts of being there. However, we were soon sent back to our garage! A couple minutes later we were told to get our Big clues and go upstairs. I was pleasantly surprised to see all the actives wearing clothing and accessories that had to do with their families. We went one by one guessing who our bigs were. My turn! I guessed Ashley! Even though she was unable to make it, I was welcomed to THE BITCHES family! We broke up into our families and were welcomed. My fellow Bitches (Nikki, Meg, Ronald and Sai) and I were so excited!! We absolutely LOVE our new family and are SOO happy to have been chosen to be their littles!! After that we had to prepare dinner. Which was a bit hectic! Unfortunately, dinner did not come out as planned and we had disappointed Ms. Shahinian and Ms. Ho. We all felt really bad and upset about it, but we knew we had to stick together as a pledge class. After dinner we performed our song and skit, which I do believe the actives enjoyed! After that, we were put in a very serious situation. Ms. Shahinian called us up and began to scold us in front of all the actives (who looked quite stern). She quizzed us, some of which we got and some of which we didn’t. I felt so disappointed. We looked extremely dumb and unprepared in front of all the actives. At the end of her scolding, we were pleasantly surprised! The rest of the night was actually not officially a Kappa Alpha Pi event, so I won’t get into details. But I will say that it was a very fun, interesting, refreshing, loud, smelly night full of love and laughter. The next morning we all got up, cleaned the house, and headed back to UCLA. I spent the majority of the weekend in a one car garage with 19 other people. 19 other people that I thought I’d have to deal with for the next few weeks so that I may cross into the fraternity. 19 other people that I did not know much about and had no interest in learning more. 19 other people that were all different. But by the end of this weekend, I’m happy to call these people my family. I know more about them and am excited to learn more. Yes, we are all different, but for some reason it just works. Staying in a concrete room with nothing and no phones to turn to as a cure to boredom may have been the best thing to come out of this weekend. We are now prepared to embark this pledging journey together. I’m ready and eager to face all the challenges thrown at us during the pledging process, because I know that with these people we can accomplish it all. All because Chis got it that way.
Chi love you guys!!!