Visiting other chapters
 

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I have visited 15 Beta houses outside of my own chapter. What I usually do, if it is not a planned road-trip or Convention, is to call ahead and see if it is alright to drop in for a night. I have never gotten a negative answer from any of the chapters, and most of them have given me a bed to sleep in and provided breakfast/lunch/dinner. I have stopped by unannounced to a few chapters, and was welcomed in like a brother should be.

Every chapter I have seen has been different than mine, and I am glad it is because it really shows the diversity of Beta Theta Pi throughout North America. I think that is typical to say..."If I went to blah blah blah University, I probably wouldn't have been a Beta....." I am sure you all could say that about different schools.

In a nutshell: Call ahead, print a map and bring some sort of a gift. For road-trips, our chapter usually makes a paddle with the individual chapter letters, date and then insignia on it, and presents it as a gift to the host chapter. I personally show up with a case of beer (if it is not a dry house), or send a thank-you letter to the Pres. when I get home.

There is nothing cooler than showing up at another chapter house, looking at their message board and seeing "Two Oshkosh Betas will be in town tonight! Show them a good time!".

PS, I make it a point to stop into other fraternity and sorority houses on different campuses too, if at all possible. I have toured some houses of Sigma Chi, Theta Xi, Alpha Xi Delta, Phi Kappa Sig, Delta Tau Delta, Phi Delts, Sig Eps., DG, KAT....etc. (Sometimes I just go in and do a little exploring on my own....now thats fun!)

I've visited a few other DZ chapters aside from my own. Sometimes they knew I was coming and other times, I just stopped in without notice. All of the girls have been very polite and were glad to show me around their house, no matter if they expected my visit or not! :)

As for differences in the girls, I didn't notice much of a difference. Of course, I usually didn't stay longer than a day (in most cases only a couple of hours), so it's hard to get a good impression of someone without knowing them for a while. However, I was never disappointed with any of the girls I met, and they were all very nice and "sisterly" to me, which made me very proud to be a Delta Zeta. :D

Road Trip
 

I think that it would be tons of fun to take a road trip with a couple of sisters and stay at other houses along the way. Although, it seems that it would take a bit of planning beforehand.
-lea

Over a few years, U Tenn, U KS, UMKC, Tulsa, U Ark. William-Jewell. Ok. U, Ks St.

Missed oportunitys at U Ky, U Neb, U Neb Omaha!

Remember, it is always great to meet fellow Brothers/Sisters around the country! :D

I've personally met brothers from literally anywhere from 100-150 or more other chapters across the country. What I've found is that there is no mold to which you can fit any two SAEs other than the fact that we all believe in The True Gentleman and we all experienced the same Ritual. All of them have been great.

I have never been to any Alpha Xi houses, but I did go to the Sig Ep house at the University of Cincinnatti with my boyfriend one weekend. We live in the area and he has a couple of friends that go there. He also worked one summer with a guy that is a Sig Ep there. Nothing was going on; they only had a handful of brothers in the house because it was their parents weekend. The guy my boyfriend knew was not there either. One guy was nice to us, but it was strained; he didn't know what to say to us and didn't offer to show us around. The others just kept to themselves and we wandered around outside. I can't say it was the best experience, but it probably would have been better if more people were there. I would like to go again, but my boyfriend hasn't expressed any interest since then. Too bad, we're a lot of fun!!:p

I hate to say it, but I've heard the same about the SigEps near me too. I have a friend from when I was in high school who was a SigEp at a nearby university and I've had friends in SigEp on my campus, but when I asked both about any interaction with their brothers on different campuses, neither could answer in the affirmative. It would seem that even though they're national, SigEp likes to stay confined to one campus. To give proper credit though, both chapters in question are strong on their respective campuses, so I guess it's not all bad. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. :rolleyes:

I've visited a few chapters of my sorority and a few have visited us. We called in advance and planned mixers or events. Once we were driving past a college campus and dropped in. They were very nice about it, but I don't recommend it. I think our social chair and chapter president called their chapter to find out if they were interested in a road trip or in hosting us. If they were interested, we went or they visited. I would say overall it was a positive and fun experience. The downside is that we didn't have a house so it was difficult to have anyone visit us.

I've been in several our houses: Wisconsin, MIT, Northeastern, and Brown (of course Iowa State, where I live in). Agree with everyone else, that every houses have characteristics which always be good. Also we're having regional, which will be at Wabash (next month), and I'm planning on attending.

My pledge dad also visited Union, Darthmouth and Toronto - and he said they're "different". As far as I know, we always welcome our brothers from different charges. Would be nice if you call the houses you will visit, so you know what to expect.

Re: DG chapters
 

CutiePie, you know you have to come down to Seattle to visit our DG chapter...we'll give you a house tour, and if you get a chance perhaps even stay for dinner! We'd love to have you :)