Heather Langerman's Senior Speech

You know you love Alpha Chi when you stalk fall formal pictures from an Internet cafe in the middle of Buenos Aires, and when you try to break into the house over the summer just to see the new decorations and furniture. You know you love Alpha Chi when you look forward to formal all quarter, and when you start wondering over the weekend whether there will be Alpha Chi Pie for dessert after chapter. You know you love Alpha Chi when there are infinitely too many memories to recount in a single speech, and when you realize that a sister is someone who you can't imagine your college experience without.

These are the women who have been there for me through it all. My sisters are the ones who join me when I decide that a huge brownie and ice cream from Whole Foods is a better use of time than studying, and the ones I call when I'm panicking about finishing a paper or studying for a final. They are the ones who I feel most at home with no matter where I am in the world.

For me, one of the most defining experiences of college was studying abroad for five months in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Study abroad was the most incredible and the most difficult experience of my life. During the first weeks in Argentina, I was simultaneously thrilled to be exploring a new city and deeply missing the friends, family, and relationship I had left in the States. I was torn between immersing myself in Argentine culture and language and staying connected to my life and activities at Northwestern.

Alpha Chi allowed me to have my cake and eat it, too. With my Alpha Chi partner-in-crime, Jen, I soaked in the best steak and shopping Buenos Aires had to offer and ventured on twenty-hour bus rides to experience hiking, biking, whale watching, and glacier climbing. At the same time, if I was feeling homesick or overwhelmed, all it took was a Gchat catch-up session with my Alpha Chi roommate-for-life, Erin, to remind me that my sisters would be waiting when I came home.

These are the women who I have learned from, and who I am constantly impressed by. They are the women who travel to Africa, Israel, and Latin America to save the world but still have time to put together an impressive costume for a "Seven Figures and Gold Diggers" crush party. They are the women who are dedicated to varsity and club sports but help Alpha Chi make an impressive showing in intramural football, Frisbee, and dodgeball. These women are the leaders of student groups on campus but are still enthusiastic about pitching in for Alpha Chi's quarterly philanthropy.

These are the women who I have spent countless days and nights with, who have been there for studying and for partying, who have been my roommates and confidants. My sisters are the ones with whom I celebrate happy events and commiserate over sad ones, and the ones who tolerate my tone deaf singing, New Jersey pride, and propensity for Facebook-stalking. These are the women who will be the next wave of movers and shakers -- the doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists, professors, and politicians of the future. They are the women whose accomplishments I look forward to hearing about in the years ahead, but the women with whom I wish I could spend another four years.

I remember being in your shoes as a freshman, wondering what sorority life would bring. I heard the actives say that a sister was somebody to order pizza with and to dance to Britney with, but I had no idea that my sisters would become the people who have made it all worthwhile.