Flying solo on formal night
As formals approach, so begins the pressure and anxiety of finding that clean suit from the back of your closet, one of the dresses that has been in a dry-cleaning bag since last semester and, oh yeah — a date. Just when you think you’ve found that perfect hip-hugging dress or the tie that doesn’t have beer stains on it from the last tailgate, have made the dinner reservations for 30 at some restaurant where you will undoubtedly run into the rest of your Greek house, you realize that you still have no one to take.
There are, of course, those lucky to have an automatic date because you are either dating someone (and they’re just waiting for you to tell them when the formal is) or you have a friend that is a guaranteed date who is always willing to put on a suit and get a free meal.
If you fall under neither of these categories, similar to myself, you are left stranded and have a running list of date possibilities, crossing off one after the other as drunken weekends pass. What to do, what to do? It seems like most are picking option C: going solo.
Going to a formal alone is not a bad thing at all. It is historically been one of the most popular options, leaving your wallet half full and night at a loss of awkward silences.
“You don’t have to worry about making sure your date has fun,” said Charlotte Huffman, sophomore journalism and Spanish major. “When you go with girl friends, they’re going to have fun on their own.”
Formals, however, are notorious for giving guts when asking that cute guy in your accounting class out. Sure, the only conversation you’ve had with him was asking him how to balance an equation out, but what better time to get to know him with nine of your best friends surrounding you! Awkward silence? Just ask him to pass the bread while you finish the rest of your wine.
“You only have a few more years with just girl friends,” said Angela Fraser, sophomore art history major. “There’s no pressure to be a good date.” So while you may feel handcuffed to your mystery date, you can dance the night away when you and your best friends all go solo. Of course, that also means finding an unhitched guy or girl to flirt with and buy your drinks, unless you want to get in a fight for stealing someone’s date.
“I’m more inclined to take a date my junior or senior year when you’re getting closer to the more serious dating-scene,” Huffman said. “Now, I can just have fun with my girlfriends and be goofy.”
Girls are dropping the dates to attend these galas with each other. Dinner parties at an apartment are cheaper and often more entertaining than going to some fancy restaurant. Guys spend the earlier part of the night watching TV, ordering pizza and playing bei rut until just after one in the morning where they proceed to stagger over to the busses.
After college, the only “formals” you have to look forward to are the office holiday party where you spend the night avoiding the geeky sales associate and downing the free champagne. Although avoiding asking the awkward question of “so, do you want to go to formal this weekend? Yeah, with me” can be difficult to time with your future date, there is an excitement of seeing your crush freshly showered and dresses to the nine. Of course, owning the dance floor with your best friends without the uncoordinated date by your side is always a pleasant change.
On a different note, I would like to defend last week’s column, as it apparently upset at least one member of the Panhellenic community. Writing about the recruitment week and the extreme fashions that parade through each of our houses is not downsizing or “negating” the recruitment process. It is in fact a reality, as we are all lucky enough to attend a dedicated private school where “going Greek” is a way of life, not just something to do.
In fact, I am a proud member of the Panhellenic community and served as one of two in charge of recruitment in my sorority, getting a mere three hours of sleep a night (if I’m lucky), as well as spending numerous hours on the Panhellenic Recruitment Committee, which has been working for the past 16 months at designing and directing a better recruitment process. Not that my resume should be influential, but it should be an eye-opener to those who think I’m some cynical loser who spends her afternoon parked in front of Hughes-Trigg taking notes about those “superficial stereotypes” that stroll by.
If you are to visit just about any other campus across the nation during their recruitment week, I am sure you will be shocked by the general informality of it all. Joining a sorority is fun and all those new members should be proud of their new letters. I would have given up on SMU long ago had I not become a dedicated member of my sorority. But let’s face the facts — not many people our age even know what Jimmy Choos are, let alone wear them to truck back and forth between the Greek houses.
Instead of bashing out on one who needs to relax about the recruitment process before officially going insane, take life with a grain of salt. Being in a sorority has been one of the best experiences of my college career and will be remembered for the rest of my life. Oh, and by the way, I happen to think my column adds humor to most people’s week and is an excuse to tone out of class for ten minutes, which is in fact adding something very worthwhile to this campus, thank you.
