oh, where are my manners? i'm really sorry about your break-in... that really does blow. my house was robbed a few years ago. its a total kick in the stomach.

but when you get it all together on the homefront, dont be afraid nor fight the urge to update, ok? :D

Y0u have sympathy about the car thing too.

finale!
 

Fortunately (I guess) all that was taken out of my car was my iPod. The guy will have a fun time selling it though considering it has my name etched on the back, and it will look a tad obvious that it's stolen if he has to scratch it out. Dumbass.

Ok I'm going to try to wrap up my story now!

I made the decision to drop out of Giverny and rush again the next year but for one reason or another I kept putting it off. None of the houses did COB and I wanted to be in a sorority so badly that I couldn’t imagine waiting an entire year to have the chance. And what if Bordeaux cut me next year? So I decided to give Giverny a few more weeks.

At first I just felt bad and couldn't bring myself to do it. Then I started getting really close to Caroline and we started talking about big sis/little sis stuff and I thought it would be great if she was my big sis. After a few weeks I got in the groove of going to classes, I joined the equestrian team, I got a boyfriend, and I got to know more girls in my pledge class and loved always having someone to hang out with.

I had once been so sure I wanted to drop out but now I was really starting to like Giverny. Also, one of my quad mates had pledged Marseille but had already dropped out because something happened that made her not want to be in the house. I remembered what my Rho Chi had said about the house's true colors coming out and I wondered if I would be stupid to leave Giverny when there was no doubt that these were really nice girls.

I was still unsure after about a month but we were having our new member retreat and I thought it would be a good chance to decide for sure what I wanted to do. It was during the retreat that I finally realized how much I loved the Givernys. Deep down I knew all along that this was the best fit for me but I had wanted to be the popular party girl so badly and was so worried about what everyone else would think of me that I had ignored my gut instinct completely. After talking to the rest of the girls in my pledge class I realized that I wasn’t the only one who had concerns over the reputation of being the anti-social house. We didn’t have a problem being seen as the smart girls but we did have a problem that everyone seemed to think we did nothing but study. That night we vowed that by our senior year we would have the reputation of being the smart, classy, AND fun girls.

Giverny was not a struggling house when I joined but I do think they were a little apathetic when it came to recruitment and it definitely showed. The whole time during rush I just thought they seemed bored and uncomfortable which was a huge contrast to the loud and bubbly girls in the other houses. Fortunately my school changed the silence rules so it wasn't such a feeding frenzy the first week before rush started but in my experience just the fact that only 2 girls from Giverny had called me, when probably 50 from Marseille and Bordeaux had called me, was a big turnoff. I'm sure there were PNMs who would have been the complete opposite of me and would have hated being bombarded by sorority girls, but at least at my school those girls would have been the minority. Once everyone realized that we just needed to be more aggressive and "cutesy" during rush there was a major turn around in morale and the girls that we got on bid day. My sophomore year our bid day was probably one of my best memories because all the new members were so excited to be there and it was just a huge contrast to the year before. My pledge class always joked about our disasterous bid day (it wasn't that bid day itself was awful but I was not the only one who was upset to be there that day!) so during our senior year the new freshman class threw us a "re-bid day" complete with bid cards, gifts, and a bid day party.

They also had a tendency to only hang out with a particular fraternity, so all of the other guys said they were anti-social because they’d never see them at their house. There was one fraternity in particular that was spreading the worst rumors about us my freshman year but just by hanging out at their house and supporting their philanthropy events their opinion on us completely changed and now they’re one of our biggest supporters. Initially a lot of girls were against being nice to them since they weren't nice to us but I can't tell you how much their support has helped us.

At our new member retreat we had to write letters to our future selves then at our senior party 4 years later we got them back. Here are some excerpts from mine:

“Right now I’m at the new member retreat. I’m having a really good time which is surprising because I didn’t think I would. I was worried that I made the wrong decision but I am having so much fun tonight that I’m not worried anymore. I’m so happy that these girls are my new sisters because they’re so cool!” It goes on like that for a while and ends with some rambling about how much I missed my dog

And if you haven’t figured it out by now, Giverny is Alpha Omicron Pi! :D

This was also in 2002 and even though that's not that long ago the stereotypes for all the chapters have completely changed. So if any future PNMs are reading this and trying to understand my campus you'll be 5 years behind!


So how did it end up for everyone else you ask?
Caroline was my big sis and we became really close. She was basically my mentor and I learned so much from her and just gained a lot of confidence by being around her. She was incredibly smart, gorgeous, had great fashion and makeup sense, could talk to anyone and was always the life of the party, but was also phi beta kappa and just a truly interesting person. She was chapter president her senior year. She’s now working with a top law firm in Manhattan and is engaged to her cute fraternity boyfriend (the same one from philanthropy party ;))

My roommate initiated in Lyon. She liked the girls but never really got involved and ended up de-activating her junior year.

One of my quad mates pledged Bordeaux and loved it. The other got a bid to Marseille but ended up dropping out a few days later. She rushed again the next year and pledged Bordeaux. I ended up getting to know a lot of Bordeauxs through them and really liked most of them but never regretted my decision to stick with AOII.

Do you want me to reveal the chapters? If I do it will completely give away the school and I also don't want to hurt anyone feelings since I tried to be as honest as possible about them and I could understand someone taking offense.

I seriously think that you and I are on the same brain waves.

I'm really sorry about your car!!!!! I have lunch with one of my SAI sisters everyday and her house got broken into last night for the second time in the year she's been there. Her lease is up in two weeks.

YaY FOR ALPHA OMICRON PI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm really glad you gave the "geeky" chapter a chance.

Great story!

I'm curious to know what the other chapters are :)

She didn't drop out, she only thought about it.

Tons of PNMs are in this situation on bid day and most of them end up happy once they give it a shot. Thanks for sharing. AOII is lucky to have you as a member, and you are lucky to be an AOII!

That was a really great story, thank you! :)

I hope girls planning on rushing this fall read this because it is truly inspirational reading how you struggled with your decision, but ultimately realized that your initial gut reaction to where you fit was the right one. A house's "reputation", either good or bad, should not be a reason to decide to pledge.

I'm so glad you had a happy ending, but then again, I'm clearly biased. :) Sorry to hear about your car and ipod but very thankful they didn't hurt you or your car!

AWESOME
 

I vote that this be a "sticky" thread at the top of the board.

PNMs, please keep an open mind and heart.

I'm glad y'all liked it! It was fun writing it, almost therapeutic in a way :) I definitely went into recruitment with the attitutude that I just wanted to be in a sorority and didn't care which one. But then I got so wrapped up in the atmosphere and what people were saying that it became more like a competition to get in the "best" house. I think it's important for PNMs to realize that during rush week you'll hear a lot of good and bad things, but just because someone else doesn't like a house doesn't mean it's not a great fit for you. And as far as reputations go, I seriously thought people were judging me on the house I was in but I realized that I could make a name for myself in any house I joined. If I wanted to be the crazy party girl then there was nothing holding me back, but in my case I realized that's not who I was. And for PNMs who do end up in a house that they didn't like during rush, it's always worth giving them a chance because you never know how much your feelings will change about all the chapters once they don't have to impress you anymore. And to be totally cliche... you'll get out of a sorority what you put into it.

I graduated in '06 and miss being an active AOII so much! I joined an alumnae group, because of scheduling I haven't been able to go to any events but I'm really excited about it.

And thanks for all the thoughts about my car! I'm lucky that at least it was just my iPod and not my entire car! And the bizarre thing is that my insurance covers the iPod but not the window the guy broke :rolleyes: Not to mention I had something much more valuable in the backseat :eek: I definitely learned my lesson about leaving stuff in my car.

And that's so scary AlwaysSAI! I can't imagine how scared I'd be if someone had been in my apartment. Just knowing they were in my parking lot is bad enough! The police said about 20 cars in my complex were broken into last night so it's pretty scary that nobody noticed them. I'm in a big city but it's a nice area and it's a gated complex so I've always felt safe here but now I'm not so sure. I had a long talk with the apartment manager about security, especially because the parking isn't great and sometimes when I get home late at night I'll have to park on the opposite side of the complex and walk by myself. It's well lit but security cameras would have helped in this situation. The police also said there have been a lot of home break-ins in the area so the complex is going to put better locks on our doors. I just don't understand what's wrong with some people...

Thank you for sharing your story! I too received a bid from my second choice and have never regretted it.

I'm sorry about the break-in of your car. It happens in the bubble of suburbia, too.

great story!! yay for AOII!! this would definitly be a great sticky thread!!

p.s- i am also curious to know the other houses!!

My guesses are KD, Tridelta, and Chi O. (Only because I am pretty sure I know where you went to school!) :)

But which are which?

Could this be Rhodes College?

PNMs, please take note. This is solid advice.

kelcaopi, congratulations to you and AOPi!

Me thinks so!

Yes this is Rhodes College!

If you happened to use the search function to look for my previous posts this might have been obvious ;) But I've been enough of a lurker that I wasn't sure if anyone would think to do that. Also if you're AlphaGamUGAalum or anyone else who happened to read my "finale" post within the first 5 minutes after I posted it, you would know which school this was as it accidently slipped. Clearly discretion is not my forte :p

And I'm going to reveal the chapters but first you need to read the DISCLAIMER! This was 5 years ago, the reputations for every chapter have changed, and I have no hard feelings toward any house. Plus these were my personal impressions. I ended up becoming best friends, joined at the hip pretty much, with a Lyon. When she rushed our freshman year she thought the Lyons were the sweet, down to earth house and had heard Giverny's reputation said about them. So apparently we did not meet the same people! She also went to philanthropy round at AOII and was turned off that the active only talked about social events when she should have been talking about the philantrhopy so she thought they were the hardcore party house. One of my close friends in AOII was turned off by Marseille because they hadn't called her once during the first week of school and they had called me every day! So she thought they were the anti-social house when she started recruitment while I was impressed with how outgoing they had been. My roommate sophomore year was a Bordeaux but wasn't into the party scene at all and *gasp* was not blonde! I thought the Bordeauxs did nothing but party when I first met them but after I got to know them I realized how much they did for their philantrhopy and how they were involved in so many things on campus. We had a joint philantrhopy event every year and they were always great to work with. And a lot of the Lyons that I got to know were genuinely sweet and would have been horrified to know that I thought they were snooty and elitist during rush. I had good friends in all the houses and one of my favorite things about the chapters is that every one was diverse in its own way. There were reputations but all the chapters have over 100 members so there's a little bit of everything in each one.

Ok, without further ado...

Giverny - Alpha Omicron Pi
Marseille - Chi Omega
Bordeaux - Delta Delta Delta
Lyon - Kappa Delta

Sorry, kelcaopi, I didn't mean to out you! I just live in Memphis and know girls in three of the houses at Rhodes. Also I go to Millsaps so I've heard a lot about your Greek life. Congrats on AOPi :) That's what my grandmother was at Rhodes.

Kelcaopi,

You kept alluding to the "thing that happened last year" with Marseille, and how "true colors start to show after bid day." What was the big secret?