Personal Narrative: My Experience At The Open House Party

For my field notes, I was a participant observer amongst a similarly classified group of people (fraternity life), in three different scenarios. The first scenario was at a Greek philanthropy event, hosted jointly by a fraternity and a sorority, with the goal of raising funds for UConn’s Violence Against Women Protection Program. My second experience as a participant observer was at an open fraternity party, meaning that any outside guests were theoretically welcome to attend. Lastly, I attended a fraternity date night, which is when each fraternity member can invite one date to the otherwise typical house party. At the philanthropy event, I did not notice any specific behaviors that seemed to be out of the ordinary—it is essentially what …show more content…
Men and women I saw earlier in the day seemed to have transformed into completely different creatures; many women were wearing much more revealing clothing, were much more eager to mingle with males, and seemed to be much less composed. Similarly, many males looked around the room, paying much more attention to females than they had earlier in the night. I was surprised about the daytime to nighttime transformation. It was almost frustrating to notice how much inhibitions had been lowered and how what seemed to be a “normal” group earlier in the day turned into a group on the prowl to find a mate. I felt more uncomfortable during this experience—I did not like having sweaty arms touch me, seeing female undergarments everywhere I looked, and feeling somewhat out of place. Unlike at the philanthropy event, I felt the need to conform in order to fit in with the rest of the group. “Fitting in” included screaming the words to songs, trying to talk to some of the fraternity men, and running with three other girls (holding hands) to the …show more content…
It was surprising to see how much different I felt being associated with the group in the nighttime than I did in the daytime. While I was surprised at the level of apparent normalcy in the daytime philanthropy event, I was slightly disappointed and nearly disgusted to see how much the same individuals changed after just a few hours. My experience really showed me how much an occasion can influence a group, its appearance, its actions, and the overall feelings in