True story guys: I just returned from a four-day stay at what might go down as the most memorable accommodations of my life thus far. Yes, I just spent four glorious and luxurious days at a fraternity house. You know I’m always game for something new, fun and adventurous, and truth be told, this vacay was most definitely all three of those things. What girl out there can say that she’s done something like this? Not many. I thought that knew what to expect…I’d definitely been to a frat party (or 100) during my own time in college, but let’s just say I had no clue what was coming. No joke, I had the time of my life!!! From the moment my plane landed  on the tarmac I was running and  I totally felt like I was a part of these guys’ special crew. Here are a few things I learned.

1. These dudes live to jam and generally speaking, they like to quite simply just have fun – case in point, these are just two of the tens of photos of have of the bros dancing it out. I love that they’re not too cool for school. On the second night of my frat house vacation, we ventured out of the house (which BTW is a 30 room mansion) and we successfully crashed another frat’s party – quite the win.

2. If you want to par-tay, you best be ready to clean up. My first morning of the Frat Party vacay, I literally cracked up after leaving my lovely little room (I had my very own room BTW and it was quite nice – more importantly it was spotlessly clean), I noticed this sight right outside my door. Fascinating. Moreover, hard evidence that lots of fun was had in this large hallway. Yes, that is in fact a large leather couch.

3. Frat guys are not all stereotypes. We’ve all seen the movies, heard the stories, and are familiar with the stereotypes, but I after my immersion vacation, I can personally attest to the fact that these guys are friendly, funny, chivalrous, and most importantly, they provided my #1 survival necessity: coffee. Can they be semi-gross sometimes? Uh, duh. Of course, they’re boys. Nothing like waking up to a house full of shirtless dudes telling their unbelievable tales of the night before and sipping your morning joe (all while wearing knee-high boots…didn’t really want to go shoe-less on some of the questionable floors). I felt like I was living in a movie – it was awesome and so fun!

4. A Frat House Vacay also means you’re introduced to a new city and a new college. How often can you say that on a recent vacation, you saw a dinosaur skelaton and one of the world’s most iconic landmarks in the same day? Well, I can. Side note: The fraternity bros are excellent tour guides – they have tons insider details on the city and the university. Speaking of which, can you guess where I am? My tour guides were awesome!

5. Life Lesson: You can’t always take things at face value. Sure, these guys that I vacationed with for four days like to party and have fun. But honestly, when I sat down to chat with them one-on-one, I found out that they’re some of the most fascinating people I’ve ever come into contact with. One of them (get ready for this) was literally the California State Scrabble Champion (still nerding over this), another one scored a 1560 on the SAT, and one of the guys already has a legit 20 year life plan (I don’t even have mine completely down to a T yet). They were gracious, lovely hosts, and kept me LOL-ing for 4 days straight. I’m defintiely planning a return trip.