No, I'm actually a biology major who loves English, too. :) Actually, I kind of like all subjects.... But thank you for the compliment! I'm glad you're enjoying my writing.

Philanthropy, Day Two
 

Today was going to be a short, more relaxed day since there were 4 party slots total. I could visit up to three, but assumed I'd never have a full schedule. Before I got my invitation, I hoped that I would see Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings, and/or The Scarlet Pimpernel.

My invitation read:
Lord of the Rings
Twelfth Night
The Scarlet Pimpernel

Ah, so it was official that The Mortal Instruments, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Hunger Games had cut me. But yay, I was going back to Lord of the Rings and Scarlet Pimpernel! I had kind of forgotten about Twelfth Night. I liked their philanthropy so I was glad to return to Twelfth Night, but they didn't really stand out to me as a sisterhood I'd like to join.

First Party: Lord of the Rings
I think it was nearly impossible for any sorority to stand out to me after how much I adored The Great Gatsby. But again, the girls of Lord of the Rings were as sweet as ever. This was a much quieter party than the others had been. I liked their philanthropy and the activities surrounded by it. One of the girls I talked to was absolutely 'adorkable'-- an adorable dork. She asked me if I had come up with a halloween costume! Haha I actually already had a fantastic flapper costume at home in case I would need it in college, so I told her about it. I mentioned my love for Great Gatsby (the book, not the sorority! What a disaster that would have been!).
I left this sorority a little unimpressed, but like I said. It was hard for any of them to stand out.

Second Party: Twelfth Night
I didn't know how I felt about this sorority. I knew a couple of sweet girls in it, but I just didn't get the feeling I fit in. Their philanthropy was meaningful to me. I don't know. I was pretty sure if Twelfth Night showed up on my bid card, I'd be fine with it. But I didn't love it....

Third Party: The Scarlet Pimpernel
I was happy to be invited back to Scarlet Pimpernel! They were my last party on the first day (when we visited every chapter), so I'll bet I wasn't too memorable. Their philanthropy also meant a lot to me. But again, they weren't really standing out to me....

It was time to rank. This was a disaster. It was hard to compare chapters from the day before with chapters from today. If a sorority didn't stand out to me, it was hard to decide whether I should 'cut' it or 'keep' it. I also regret to say that I was beginning to be influenced by peer pressure. I had heard the talk. I knew which chapters were popular and successful and which ones weren't as much. I don't think these rankings hurt me too much in the long run, but let's just say I should have thought longer before finalizing them.

1. Wuthering Heights
1. The Great Gatsby
1. Pride & Prejudice
1. Paper Towns
1. Harry Potter
1. The Scarlet Pimpernel
2. Hamlet
3. Lord of the Rings
4. Twelfth Night
5. Catcher in the Rye

In bold, I have marked the mistakes I think I made. That night, my gamma chi said we should research our remaining chapters. Learn about their history and founding, that sort of thing. This gave me time to think about what I wanted from a sorority in the long run. Through this process, I realized I should have cut Paper Towns (I only ranked them higher because of their philanthropy and popularity!), and I should have kept Lord of the Rings or at least ranked them higher than Hamlet. I liked the girls in Lord of the Rings better! Ugh, it was kind of a mess and I was nervous for Skit Round. But I knew everything would be just fine.

Up next (later tonight, hopefully): Skits!

A Hunger Games recruitment -- now that could be quite a story.

But sink me, I have to give major props for The Scarlet Pimpernel being on the list.

I watched the Hunger Games movie Friday night and was struck by some of the similarities between the Games and recruitment! Yikes. Haha.

I definitely made a couple of strategic errors when I went through recruitment (this was back when a PNM could cut if she had more invitations than were allowed for that party round), but I still ended up joining the sorority that was my favorite all the way through. It all worked out in the end!

Skits, Day One!
 

I was very tired on skit night. Tuesday was the last day of philanthropy and we had a break Wednesday for the first day of class. This gave me a break but it also gave me time to get nervous. As I was getting ready, I played some of my guilty pleasure music on my iPod to help me get excited. But as I walked over to the parties alone, I couldn't get rid of the anxious feeling in my stomach.

I receive my invitation. There is one party, Lord of the Rings.
Okay. That's okay, I told myself. So I didn't quite like them philanthropy round, but I wished I had ranked them higher. I liked their history and founders. Although this sorority wasn't the favorite among my fellow PNMs, I was happy to return to them. They seemed to give everyone a chance. I had been told many times that they are one of the more diverse chapters personality-wise and have the most out-of-state students. I really liked this about them.

Unfortunately this did nothing to ease my anxiety. I had faith that I'd at least return to Great Gatsby for the second day of skits.

Lord of the Rings's skit was pretty adorable! Obviously there wasn't anything I could find wrong with it, since so far I had nothing to compare it to. The girls were funny, cute, and obviously loved their sorority. Several of the girls I had talked to over the week were in it, so that was fun to watch. However, I was tired and nervous and losing my concentration during conversations. It also didn't help that I was paired with another PNM in our conversation. That always made me nervous.

And let's be completely honest. I wasn't sure I wanted to be invited back to Lord of the Rings when I wanted so badly to be a Great Gatsby. (a Daisy Buchanan? Is that what we would be called? lol)

I went home and went to bed. We could visit up to 6 sororities during skit round, and there would be 4 parties for day two of skits. I could still have up to 5 sororities for this round! I was still nervous, but had faith that tomorrow would be a better day.

I really hate that this school is only giving you half a schedule for each round. It seems awfully nerve-wracking and pointlessly cruel. It would be much better to give you the whole schedule for the whole round, even if it's on two different days.

There are pros and cons to both ways. :)

What are the pros? I just don't get it.

Ooooh...interested to see where you end up. And wondering if P&P is KD, only because it's my favorite book. What a coincidence if so!

Yeah, I don't understand this either. Seems to me like it would keep the PNMs' hopes up for their favorite houses, but what if they're not asked back? PNMs will be wasting time thinking about their preferred chapters when instead they could have been spending the first day learning to love another!

I'm with you. Normally I can see both sides of an argument (a true Libra) but I'm having trouble thinking of the pros. The best I can figure is that by only getting a little at a time, you focus on the houses that day. You don't know (unless it's in your first half) whether your favorite kept or cut you, therefore you can't dwell on that. Therefore you look at each one individually without getting caught up in what's printed on a sheet of paper. However, if that's the goal I would think they'd only release each invite right before that party- not half & half. Regardless, I know it would've driven me crazy when I was going through!! I think I'd feel constantly anxious with not knowing what's coming next.

ErinHope- I love that you could identify where you should've ranked differently. I think many of us have thought through that, but for me at least I didn't realize my mistakes until after I went through recruitment as an active. I wouldn't change where I wound up, but the journey could've been better :) You are light already years ahead of where I was!

Yes, this would just make me more nervous, too.

I think one pro would be since you don't have your whole schedule, you can't freak out about who cut you until you've seen presumably half of your schedule. And by the time you've been to half of your parties, you might as well finish out the round, right?

Ok 1) I LOVE the fact that you included Paper Towns in your code. I'm a big young adult fiction fan, and John Green is my absolute favorite. I bawled like a baby through the last half of Looking For Alaska.

2) You're an awesome writer, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your story!

Oh, and 3) You've got a fantastic name, from one Erin to another ;)