I had this feeling that you were going to say that--I was over there a lot when I taught at Auburn! I still have some miniature dollhouse food (the kind you show and don't play with!) that I got there. I loooved that place--is it still there?

AnchorAlumna, I will certainly take your words of caution to heart. The specific information I've given so far about Emma is probably all that I will provide.

Emma went to the "optional meeting" last night where she joined a huge throng of other PNM's who waited outside the Student Center. I hope to post a picture my wife took of the PNM's later tonite or tomorrow. Probably due to the huge numbers of girls that Panhellenic was processing, it took quite some time. As they stood waiting, most of the PNM's around Emma exchanged small talk and talked about the heat. It was still around 92 degrees even at 6:00 in the evening.

Emma met her Pi Chi and Pi Chi group and was assigned a number. Apparently, for this week, instead of being known as Emma, she'll be identified by sorority actives as number 123 (not her real number, of course)

Several suitemates are going through rush as well, so she is walking with them to meet with their Pi Chi groups prior to Convocation. After that they will start their first round of Ice Water Teas.

By the way, if there are any other dads, moms or pnms that want to add to this thread to talk about this year's Auburn recruitment experience, please feel free to join in.

I'll try to update again tonight after day one of Ice Water teas is over.

Good luck to all of the Auburn PNMs today!

No, Mom closed I think two years ago - she decided that she wanted time to go and see grandchildren. I think it killed her when I had a boy- not a whole lot of stuff that he could use.

Good luck to all of the rushees today- I know it is hot and humid here in Atlanta - and I am sure that it is probably worse in Auburn.

dad, hoping "emma" is doing alright in the heat today and that you will be able to update later tonight how everyone did this very first day of recruitment.

Update
 

We got an update from Emma during her lunch/snack break. She said that she had already visited five houses and that it seemed to go by very fast.

The other thing she said was that so far it was hard to differentiate between them.

Hope to have more later.

that can be hard! if she can make notes after each party, that might help her remember them easier. back in my day, we had a rush booklet that listed each sorority with a photo of their house and general info. about that chapter, and a place for us to make notes, which we did in between parties. don't know if they still do pass out recruitment booklets to the pnms, though.

Good luck to Emma!

Encourage her to take pictures (where she can) of this experience! It's such a fun/hectic/emotional time and most people only do it once, she'll definitely want to remember this crazy-fun time of her life!

My mom suggested I carry a little notebook with me during recruitment so I could keep notes on each house. I still have that notebook, and my first impressions really make me laugh now.

Auburn does have recruitment handbooks with a TON of information, including space to take notes on each chapter. You can view this year's book on Auburn's Panhellenic website.

Recruitment Handbook

I still have my notes from when I went through recruitment in 2001. To help me know which chapters I liked best I gave each one a score 1-10, just like in the Olympics! It really helped me remember which ones I liked better than others.

The young lady I wrote a rec for at AU is having a blast! I'll keep ya'll posted!

OleMissGlitter, the young woman that I wrote a rec for at AU said the same thing! She absolutely loved today! But of course is a bit tired!:)

Final update of first day
 

Just finished talking with Emma. She is having a great time! Although it was hot, it seemed to get cooler later in the day. She drank plenty of water so she didn't feel the effects of the heat too much.

Being a huge baseball fan, I have decided to use major league baseball teams to represent the various sororities. These are completely random, so please don't assume that there is any correlation between a sorority and baseball team.

Here goes. Today she visited the following:

Dodgers
Orioles
Pirates
Astros
Cardinals
Yankees
Red Sox
Blue Jays
Rays
Reds
Brewers

She did take some notes in a notebook she had with her, and she found a connection with many of them, but she still struggled a few times remembering which one was which. Generally, most of them made a favorable impression on her. Probably the three which stood out to her most today were: the Pirates, the Blue Jays, and the Reds.

She likes her Pi Chi group and her Pi Chi is really nice.

Oh...she already has a monster blister from the shoes she was wearing today.

Tommorrow she visits the final 6 groups and then she and the other members of her Pi Chi group will fill out their preference forms for use for the first cuts.

Yay! Emma likes the Pirates and Blue Jays, my two faves! :)