Since I moved into an apartment this year, I’ve been asked at least a dozen times whether I miss living in my sorority house.

And of course I put on my best sorority-girl smile and say yes, I really loved it and miss it constantly.

And of course people think I’m lying and actually couldn’t wait to get out.

Fine, fighting for time in one of six showers (with more than seven times that number of girls) wasn’t the best experience of my life. But at least the water was always hot. I can’t say that for my apartment.

Maybe having set lunch and dinner mealtimes was mildly annoying when I had late classes or had to be at work at the odd hours journalists operate on. The selection and quality was significantly better and cheaper than most Green Street spots I now frequent since I spend my life at the Illini Media building.

Even if I did spend enough time at my apartment to make my own meals, I’m just not the best cook in the world. I do make a great chili cheese dip, but a girl can’t live on that alone. So I’m stuck with sandwiches, soup and the occasional piece of chicken and some microwave rice or some pasta when I’m feeling domestic. I dream about the pancakes, eggs and bacon we used to get on Fridays for lunch in the house sometimes.

The rooms and closets were exceptionally “cozy,” sometimes girl fights (not the fantasy type) broke out over whether we were going to watch The Office or Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday nights on the big screen downstairs and there was the occasional drama about who took this one’s shoes or who liked this guy first. But that sorority-girl smile when people ask me about living in the house is real in spite of these little things thatAs great as it is to have my own space in an apartment, I miss having a group of friends available any time of the day or night. When I lived in, there was always someone there to talk to, go out with, grab lunch with, borrow clothes from, or just lay around the house with.

Of course I still do that with my roommates at our apartment, but on the rare days I’m home alone, I actually miss being around people all the time. may seem annoying. I blame my instant messenger and g-mail chat addictions on living in a sorority house. Being alone for long periods of time just feels counter intuitive now.

With half of my pledge class and the entire class above me preparing to graduate now, it’s hard to realize that they won’t even be in Champaign next year. I had trouble adjusting to not having them down the hall, I can’t imagine what it will be like adjusting to not seeing them for months or even years.

That’s the thing about living in a Greek house, for me at least. Imagine the friends that you made freshman year in the dorms. Life at U of I wouldn’t be the same without them, right?. I was placed on a floor full of sophomores that already knew each other freshman year. Though I had two great roommates, I didn’t feel like I had the best experience possible without a floor full of new people experiencing the same things as me.

Living in the house provided that and a group of great girls I know I’ll keep in touch with, even though we’ll all be scattered across the state of country in a few years and we have some trouble just finding time for each other now.

Without living in the house, I never would have become as close to those girls that I’m already dreading saying goodbye to.