|
A retro tale: 10 years ago today.........
Was my bid day. February 9, 1999. I CANNOT believe that time has gone by so quickly! In honor of this, I decided to post my recruitment story. I have had it typed up for a while, but decided to wait until recruitment was over. Obviously y'all know where I ended up and what school I went to. I decided I didn't want to keep that totally secret, as there really isn't anything negative about any chapter in my story. I have used a code, which I will NOT divulge on this thread. If you would like it, please PM me. I journalled almost every day from the age of about 7 to about 22, so my rush experience is in there in pretty great detail, which is why I am able to impart that to you guys! Please forgive me, I am sure this is going to be VERY long winded LOL. A note for PNMs: This story is 10 years old. Things have changed a decent bit at Maryland since my time. We have lost one group and I am fairly certain a lot of dynamics have changed. Please keep that in mind. So without further ado.....................
|
senior year and the semester leading up to recruitment
Let me preface this by giving y'all a little background on me up until the point of recruitment and what my first semester at school had been like up until this point.
I went to a public high school in a VERY wealthy county, in one of the wealthiest towns in that county. My family was pretty well off. My dad is an orthodontist, and many people always assumed we were RICH because of that, but not necessarily so. There were 6 children in my family. My mom was a stay at home mom and ALL the kids up until I entered middle school had gone to private schools. So we were doing OK, just not as ridiculously well off as everyone else in our town. I was the only one of the 6 of us (and I was the oldest child and only daughter) to graduate from a public high school. I was a punk/alt rock theatre girl for most of high school. My idea of “fashion” in high school was a Breathless Mahoney (Dick Tracey LOL) t shirt, plaid kilt with safety pins in it, black fishnets, Doc Martens, and plenty of heavy eye makeup. That was the “uniform” of my group in high school. We never really fit in, but I always WANTED to. I remember looking at my parents' yearbooks (they both went to Maryland, too) and seeing the sorority pictures. I always thought that I might like to be in a sorority one day. Anyway, I digress. My fashion taste changed a lot during the summer before senior year. I always LIKED pretty, girly clothes, but that was against the uniform, so I never wore them. Senior year I decided, I would do what I wanted. So I went from Doc Martens to pretty, girly Ralph Lauren polo dresses (they looked like long polo shirts-that I got at the Ralph Lauren outlet in Reading, PA YEAH) and to my surprise, my core drama group were still cool with me. Some thought I was a “traitor”-I really learned who my friends were that year. Still loved my punk music, and Tori Amos, and my 90's alt rock and all that jazz, but I felt like I was becoming more of myself. I enrolled at my parents alma mater spring of Senior year. This was NOT my first choice school. My dad had been “underwhelmed” with that school, Albright College, when we went to visit, plus UMD had a MUCH better academic reputation. Plus I got into College Park Scholars too, which I was pretty excited about. Downside, College Park was 20 minutes away from home, and my parents were NOT going to let me live on campus. So I got there fall of '98. I had met some people during orientation, but I quickly realized that in Scholars, if you didn't live in the Scholars dorm, you were out of luck. By the time first day of class rolled around, everyone already had their friends. Plus campus was HUGE.....about 25K undergrad students. I used to joke that if you saw someone one day walking across campus, you may never see that person again. Plus when people were out and about, they were on a MISSION to get from point A to point B, so no one was looking up, there was no way to say hi, or strike up a conversation. None of my friends from high school were going here. I was miserable. I felt lost. I would go to my friend's school in Baltimore and hang out with her every weekend. I was hell bent on transferring there for second semester until my dad made a suggestion..........................”Why don't you try to join a sorority”. Neither of my parents had been Greek, but my dad had been bid by a fraternity at Maryland which he had declined. He didn't want to deal with the hazing LOL! I guess in the early 70's hazing was pretty rough. After all those years from the last time I looked at dad's yearbook, I never really thought about greek life. What would my friends say? Surely I would be laughed out of the park. I decided it wouldn't hurt to try. Freshmen couldn't join until second semester and I was TOTALLY clueless about the process, but I decided over winter break, maybe this was something I would try....... So it was day of classes second semester-January '99. I had a brand new job as a waitress at a restaurant near home (my parents believed in teaching the value of money. If there was something I wanted, including clothes, I had to buy it, unless it was Christmas or my birthday. I even had to pay for the maintenance and gas in my car), and an obligation to baby sit every Monday night for the family I had been baby sitting for since 8th grade. I was walking in the Union and I saw a table set up advertising recruitment. I walked up to the table and asked the two girls there what was going on, and they explained they were signing women up for recruitment. Ahhhh, my chance! I eagerly signed up. Then they told me the orientation meeting would be Friday night. Crap, I had to work that night! I told them and they informed me that it was OK, my Rho Chi would call me Friday night with all the details. That was it. They didn't tell me the dates for the rest of the week, nothing. My Rho Chi, Megan, DID call Friday night, and my mom took the message. She had NO idea about sororities OR recruitment, so she didn't think to ask about what I should wear to the rounds, or what the schedule was. She did tell my mom that I should meet at the Armory the next day, 10 AM, and to dress casual, and WARM. OK. I came home from work and was VERY excited. I couldn't wait for the next day. |
Yeah...a local recrutiment story! I guess you're from Bethesda.
|
Quote:
|
I LOVE retro threads! Can't wait to hear more!
|
Tours-Day 1
I understood that “casual” probably meant something a little more. I wore a nice cream colored turtleneck sweater (it was COLD here in January) and nice jeans, and I made sure my hair and makeup were done. I was going to approach this like a job interview. I get to the Armory and all I see is a SEA of navy blue peacoats and dark wash bootcut jeans. Oh hell........what in the WORLD was I doing here? I was wearing a bright red parka......THEY TOLD ME TO DRESS WARM dammit! And a lighter color jean. They were bootcut..............Express to be exact. I was solely wearing Express jeans then. I think MOST of my wardrobe came from Express. They were the only ones to have short length pants that weren't too long or too short and looked good on me! I see a familiar face......Jackie, a girl I had gone to middle school with. She runs up to me and says hello.............she's as nervous as I am. She asks, “Are you wondering what the hell you are doing here too?” I nod. Clearly she knows more than me. She's wearing the required uniform. Finally, someone yells to everyone that we should find our Rho Chi and get into our groups, and sadly, Jackie isn't in mine. Our Rho Chi group will be visiting all the chapters with another group headed up by Sara. My Rho Chi finds me and hands me my rush book. I briefly glance at the schedule. Holy Cow! We are seeing 8 chapters today and 7 tomorrow? How in the heck am I going to keep this straight? She tells me to write everything down in my book on the chapter's page. She also hands me a stack of calling cards and tells me to deliver one to each chapter we visit.
The following chapters were present at Maryland at the time: Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Delta Pi Alpha Epsilon Phi Alpha Omicron Pi Alpha Phi Delta Delta Delta Delta Gamma Delta Phi Epsilon Gamma Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Theta Kappa Delta Phi Sigma Sigma Sigma Delta Tau Sigma Kappa Zeta Tau Alpha So here's my code-this is the order of our visits during Tours. In keeping with the punk/alt rock girl theme, I will use bands that I LOOOOVED when I was in HS (and many of them I STILL love) The Ramones Nirvana The Clash Blind Melon Filter Mighty Mighty Bosstones Dropkick Murphys The Sex Pistols The Cure The Pixies-I had actually been in class with a Pixie, Beth, the semester before. It was a one credit class, trying to orient freshmen to the school. She had AP credits so she joined in the fall. I always remembered her bid day shirt.....it was a Maybelline theme........”Maybe she's born with it, Maybe she's a Pixie” Beth was awesome. I hoped I would see her when we visited. Alice In Chains Live Weezer Pearl Jam The Smashing Pumpkins Now keep in mind, I was a commuter. I knew NOTHING about greek politics. I hadn't heard not a single rumor or a single stereotype-NADA! I was totally clueless about EVERYTHING sorority. The Ramones: Holy geez, I was NOT prepared for the screaming and clapping and singing when we entered the house. I remember having a nice conversation with the member who spoke to me during this round. She asked where I went to high school, and when I mentioned the name, she excitedly told me that one of their sisters who had pledged the semester before as a freshman was from my high school. Uh oh......I knew this girl, she had been a class officer and was uber popular. Our groups did not mesh-at all. I had a feeling I wouldn't be asked back here Nirvana: I talked to Shana here. She was a sophomore and in the same major as me! She was also in the year ahead in my same Scholars program. We had an AWESOME conversation, beyond the boring, “What's your major” chit chat common in the first round. I was SO excited. I also saw Liz, who had been a TA for us the semester before in my Scholars class, and Melissa who I had made friends with during Intro to Shakespeare the semester before. I had no idea either was in a sorority. LOVED this group, definitely wanted to return. The Clash: I had a great time here. The conversation went well. We talked a lot about socials and living in the house. I LOVED the idea of living in a sorority house. I explained that I grew up in a house of all brothers, and I would LOVE to finally live with only girls! (It was true, teenage and middle school boys stink sometimes, literally, haha) And plus, my dad would feel A LOT better knowing I was living in an all female house versus a co ed dorm, and would MAYBE let me move out next year. I definitely want to come back! Blind Melon: All the chapters had themes for the first party. There are only 2 that I remember what their theme was. It was “Walk of Fame.” I remember because they had black poster paper covering the ENTIRE chapter room. It was VERY dark. I was also staring at the “stars” the whole time because the member that I was paired with would NOT make eye contact with me (eye contact is a HUGE thing for me) and was playing with her hair the whole time. She seemed totally disinterested in talking to me. I told her about my waitressing job and her response was,” Oh, well pledging takes a lot of time, maybe you should rethink if you want to join a sorority or not if you want to keep your job” I wrote a big fat NO in my rush book. Filter: I remember sitting in the kitchen with my sister, Jolene. She was very sweet, but very quiet, and we didn't have a lot in common. Much of the conversation felt forced. I wrote, “Sweet girls, but not for me” in my rush book Mighty Mighty Bosstones: Megan, the sister I was paired with and I hit it right off. We started talking about what drama nerds we were and how much we loved Tori Amos. This one is a definite YES! Dropkick Murphys: I met Pia here. She was super sweet and funny. We talked about our future career goals. She was a Government and Politics major too and wanted to be a lawyer, like me. I felt really good here and hoped to come back. Plus the house felt so warm and cozy. It really felt like a home The Sex Pistols: This was the last visit of the day. I was totally exhausted and my face hurt from smiling so much. I met Danielle here. Our conversation was nice, but I was so tired that I was having trouble staying engaged. So my favorites after day one were: Nirvana, The Clash, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Dropkick Murphys. I judged them on how the conversations went, and who I felt most comfortable with. |
Yay! I was hoping you'd do a retro thread!
|
Yay!
Retro thread, retro thread! *tosses confetti* |
Tours-Day 2
The second day I arrived at our designated meeting spot at 11am. I was a little less intimidated now, knowing what to expect. I wore another pair of Express jeans and a cute light blue knit top. I still felt a little silly though since I didn't even OWN a navy blue peacoat. It was definitely easy for me to find my coat at the end of the parties though. I remember a lot of PNMs getting their coats mixed up. Today as I waited for the parties to start, I noticed that A LOT of girls from my Scholars program were going though, probably almost HALF of them! I had also gotten to know a fellow PNM in my group, Lynn, a sophomore, the day before. At our Rho Chi meeting, Lynn was asking Megan if we could skip any parties. Megan told her definitely not. Later Lynn told me that she had been to events in the fall at The Smashing Pumpkins and they were total “bitches”. She complained the ENTIRE day that she did NOT want to go to the party at The Smashing Pumpkins. Well now I was intrigued. I couldn't WAIT to meet these Smashing Pumpkins girls and see if they really WERE bitches! So we set off on our day of meeting the final 7 chapters.
The Cure: Well this party just started OFF on an awkward foot. The President and Recruitment Chairs came out and introduced themselves, just like at every other chapter. The difference was, they were wearing business suits, which I just thought was weird, because everyone else so far had been wearing matching letters. I started hearing the grumblings and outright LAUGHING from the other PNMs in my group. I later learned this was the smallest chapter on campus. I didn't really care too much. The thought of a small, tightly connected group really appealed to me. It was further strange because as I entered the house, all the OTHER sisters were wearing letters and jeans, just like everyone else. Why did the President and Recruitment Chair have on different clothes? Once we got inside, we were paired up 2 PNMs to a sister. I remember everyone I met here was very nice, and the conversation hadn't been terrible. I just couldn't shake how DIFFERENT this party was from everyone else. The Pixies: Oh, The Pixies. Their cheering and excitement was INFECTIOUS. I was led inside and met by Leah, who led me into the kitchen and took my coat. As she did so she kind of laughed and I gave her a puzzled look. Then she said, “I am sure you are thinking just what I did when I rushed, 'What the hell am I doing here?'” She then proceeded to tell me that she showed up to recruitment just a year earlier wearing a bright red parka too. Oh my gosh! I felt a HUGE weight lift off my shoulders! Finally, someone I could relate to! She proceeded to tell me that she thought “the sorority girl uniform” was pretty ridiculous, and who you were on the inside was what mattered. Then she handed me off to talk to none other than Beth from my class from first semester! Beth seemed THRILLED to see me and exclaimed, “You should have TOLD me you were rushing, I could have helped you plan!” At that moment, I wish I had too, because clearly I hadn't planned. I left this chapter positively beaming! Alice In Chains: My first thought..........this is the most AMAZING incredible house I have ever seen! I was led inside and taken on a tour. The member leading me, Jess, started asking me where I was from. She told me that there were several members there that had gone to high school with me. When she said the names, I was kind of awestruck. The two names she mentioned, Lauren and Patience had been two years ahead of me in high school. Both were cheerleaders, and generally recognized as perfect, especially Patience. She and her boyfriend had been basically royalty at my high school. She also mentioned that the chapter was HUGE. That really turned me off, honestly. I wondered how you could actually be friends with so many people. As she led me out of the room, we ran into Patience and Jess introduced me and mentioned I was two years behind her in high school. She said hi in a very warm way, but I could tell she didn't know me from a hole in the wall. I didn't expect her to. Her crowd and mine were polar opposites. I wrote, “too big” in my rush book. Live: I was met by Andrea here. This was the second of the two that I remember their theme for Tours. It wasn't because she was so standoffish, like the sister from Blind Melon had been, but she was SO painfully shy. The conversation was boring, and it was like pulling teeth to get her to talk. Their theme was “Winter Wonderland”, and half the time I found myself staring off at the snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. I didn't hold it against them, though. I myself at one time had been VERY shy. Weezer: I met Casey here. She was a total crack up, and I loved that! At the time, my guilty pleasure was teen movies, and this era was teen movie central. I had just seen “She's All That” and I LOVED it. We talked the whole time about that movie, and how cute it was. Then we were led into the living room to watch a sisterhood video. This was the only chapter to do this, and it really stood out to me. I LOVED this chapter. Pearl Jam: The day was really starting to wear on me as we entered the house. It was lucky because this house was a whirlwind of energy. This was the ONLY chapter that did bump groups during Tours. Some I talked to maybe one or two other sisters, but here I talked to 5. In 25 minutes! My head was spinning from trying to remember all the names. It was kind of overwhelming, but I absolutely LOVED every single sister I met. They were all incredibly funny. I definitely wanted to return here. The Smashing Pumpkins: Dun dun dun..................the bitches. Lynn was practically crawling out of her skin as we walked toward the house. The more she talked about them, the more intrigued I got. I figured there HAD to be at least ONE “bitchy” sorority as the doors opened. The first thing I noticed was that the president was African American. That impressed me. My group of friends in high school was VERY racially diverse, and I hadn't seen one African American girl yet. UMD sororities are VERY diverse now, but when I first joined, they weren't really at all. I walked in, wondering if Lynn was right. I met both Kara and Alyse here. Both were seniors, and both were incredibly friendly and down to earth. I was starting to question Lynn a lot, and questioned her even MORE as I left the house. On my way out, I saw Kari, who had been my OA (Orientation Advisor) over the summer. She waved at me. I had LOVED Kari. She had really allayed a lot of my fears about being a commuter student over the summer, and got me SO excited to start classes in the fall. It appeared that Lynn had been quite wrong, but still I wondered what had happened to give her such a bad taste. That night, my family went out to dinner at Barnaby's, a British style pub that was close to home and a family favorite place, even though it technically was a bar. It was the first time in a LONG time we had been out to dinner. My dad wanted to know all about it. And I told him after today, my second day favorites were: The Pixies, Weezer, and The Smashing Pumpkins. |
Quote:
|
Oh...and by the way, Go Alice and Chains! (Of course, every time my husband and I hear an A&C song, we change the lyrics to ones about being found dead in our home after a week with our dogs feeding on our dead bodies! Yeah....it's gross, but Lane Staley died an aweful death~)
|
Quote:
Anyway, re being from Olney, I could understand why someone wouldnt know it. When we moved there in '85 there was one stoplight. It has expanded SO MUCH since then. They keep building ridiculously huge house after huge house. What really happened was people from Rockville and Bethesda that wanted to live in a more intimate community started moving there in probably the late 80's early 90's-that's when Olney really started to explode, but compared to Bethesda and Rockville, we are still pretty tiny. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Can't wait to read more! |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Must. Have. Moar. Retro thread!!!
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
What like Damascus or Poolesville? Olney might as well have been Damascus for the longest time. We are very close. And much love to Poolesville. The reason that it isnt so built up now like the rest of MoCo is because they enacted a rule that anyone new buying land has to buy at least 25 acres and they cannot parcel it out if they are buying on the outskirts of town. I like that. Keeps some green space at least. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
invite pickups and general life craziness
After we got home, I called into work to get my schedule for the next week. Crap. I was scheduled to work the second day of Set of 10 (the second round) AND a double on the day of Set of 5. Preference was also a Monday night, and I was supposed to babysit. My mom was mad when I suggested I talk to Mrs. S. about having that night off. I had made a commitment to the family, and my mom and Mrs S. were best friends at that time. I think she saw in me that I NEEDED some close friendships in college though, and she agreed to talk to Mrs S. for me. Now I just had to figure out my work schedule.
I had gone into recruitment at pretty much the last minute. We had to ask off 2 weeks in advance to have a day off. I thought about dropping. There was NO WAY I was going to get a dinner shift AND a double covered. I finally decided that I would stick it out, but I would need to decide which day I would have to miss, because knowing my co-workers, I would be missing at least one. At lunchtime the next day, I went to get my invites for Set of 10 at the Union. This was before RFM, and there was no ranking by PNMs so we got a list of who had asked us back and we had to pick who we would return to. I found Megan, my Rho Chi. I talked to her about work, and she told me that missing one day of Set of 10 probably wouldn't kill me, but I needed to be at Set of 5. Ok. I could AT LEAST find someone to cover my day shift and I could make it to work in time for dinner. My list looked like this: Nirvana The Clash Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Cure The Pixies Alice In Chains Live Weezer Pearl Jam The Smashing Pumpkins I was invited to 10, and you could return to a maximum of 10, so I didn't have to regret anyone. I was pretty happy about my list, but no Dropkick Murphys? I had had a great conversation there! Oh well, still had ALL my favorites left. I was pretty surprised by Alice In Chains, though. I did NOT think that the “perfect” girls from my high school would want me back. I also ran into Kristen at invite pickups, one of my FAVORITE people from Scholars. She asked if I was happy with my list. I told her I was and asked how her recruitment was going. She was dropping. WHAT?!?!?!?!?! She said she had realized sorority life wasn't for her. I was a little surprised, but didn't try to talk her out of it. I figured everyone could make the best decision for themselves. Set of 10 would start tomorrow night, so for now I was focused on figuring out my situation with the S kids and my waitressing job. I had to babysit that night. When I arrived Mrs S. pulled me aside in the kitchen and told me my mom had called her earlier. Uh-oh. I really hoped that that hadn't disappointed her. I LOVED the S family. Mrs S was even my Confirmation sponsor. She explained that she was ECSTATIC I was rushing! She knew that I was having a hard time meeting people at school, and she herself had been a Pi Phi in college (Pi Phi wasn't on our campus) As luck would also have it, her dad was coming into town that weekend to stay with them for the week, so I wouldn't be needed anyway! Problem #1 solved. Later that week I begged and pleaded for someone to switch work schedules so I could have off Saturday afternoon. As I suspected, there were no takers for ANY of my shifts at first. FINALLY after much convincing, I got one of my friends to pick up my day shift so I could at least go to Set of 5, but I would still need to be there for dinner. Problem #2 solved! Now I just had the rest of recruitment to focus on. |
haha, I was going to guess MoCo! A lot of my college friends are from MoCo.
Can't wait to read more, my bid day was 5 years ago Friday :) |
Set of 10 (Round 2)
Set of 10 parties started on Tuesday and I woke up early to get my outfit ready for the day and get myself made up. I would have to wear the clothes I would wear that night to school because there was NO WAY I would be able to go to class and then drive home, get ready, and get back by 5 when the parties started. School WAS very close to home, but rush hour traffic in the DC/Metro area is absolutely ungodly. It had taken almost an hour to drive 15 miles in rush hour traffic before. I consulted my rush book and noted that the dress for the day was listed as “casual”, which was REALLY hard to interpret. I decided on nice jeans, and a white blouse underneath a fitted black wool V neck sweater. I put my makeup in my backpack so I could touch up before the parties and headed to school.
In Scholars that day, ALL the girls going through recruitment were buzzing about how the weekend had gone, and outfits they were planning on wearing that night. They were ALL going to wear khaki's. My mouth dropped. Apparently at the orientation meeting they had been told that that is what they should wear. I wasn't going to be able to get home to change. I was stuck and totally mortified. I was sure that this was going to ruin my chances, and I definitely knew that I was going to feel REALLY stupid at all the parties. I worried about this for the rest of the day. Sure enough, when I met my Rho Chi group at the Armory that night, it was a sea of khaki pants. I felt totally under dressed and VERY self conscious. Megan sensed this and apologized for not being more specific as to what to wear, since she knew I missed orientation. There was nothing she could do about it now, I thought, as she handed me my schedule for the night. It read: Alice In Chains Pearl Jam Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Cure The Smashing Pumpkins Now I felt even WORSE. There were SO many of my favorites that I was going to miss because I would have to work the next night. I REALLY wanted to see Nirvana, Weezer, and The Pixies again, and I worried that now my chances with any of them would be doubly ruined. I decided to put on my most fake-confident face and try to let my personality shine. It was going to be hard, and a very, very long night. Alice In Chains: What a way to start the night, totally under dressed, feeling not that great about myself, and having to start at a chapter I really wasn't sure why they had invited me back. All the sisters AND the house looked perfect, as always. I started to feel better when I met Steph. We laughed about the recruitment dress code mix up and she griped that she thought the expectation for dress should be made A LOT clearer in the rush book. She even complimented me on my sweater/blouse combo. I felt at ease. Then she passed me off to another sister. I could tell right away that this was going to be a hard conversation. We had absolutely nothing in common as we worked on the chapter's philanthropy project. I just tried to steer the conversation towards philanthropy. Then came the fatal mistake in my book: The philanthropy chair stood up to make a presentation about philanthropy. She mentioned a group they worked with and I was ECSTATIC. It happened to be a group that I had been involved with almost my entire life. Score. When I got back to the conversation, I mentioned to the sister that I had been involved with the aforementioned group. To my horror, she replied in a not very nice tone, “Oh, XYZ group, I'm not sure about them.” I made a mental note that I did NOT want to come back here. Pearl Jam: I was met by Jamie here and we went into the kitchen to work on the philanthropy project. We mostly talked about that. It was hard to get a read on her. I was pretty happy when I was then met by Stacey who lead me into the chapter room to talk some more. She was hysterical and we joked about my outfit disaster. She asked me what I did outside of class and I mentioned my job. She wanted to know all about it as she was interested in getting into waitressing over the summer. I told her about it and gave her some interview tips and tips on how to handle a big station, things like that. Then we started talking about one of my favorite things EVER......DAWSON'S CREEK! She was a big fan too. We laughed and I found myself get into a goofy mood. Maybe too goofy, I don't know. I was sad when this party was over. Mighty Mighty Bosstones: It was a far walk to get here from Pearl Jam so I had to walk fast. I was practically out of breath by the time I got there. I first met Kelly who I worked on the philanthropy project with and we listened to a presentation about philanthropy by their philanthropy chair. I was then met by Amy, who gave me a house tour. I liked their house a lot and Amy was really cool. They had pictures of some famous Mighty Mighty Bosstones on the wall and one happened to be an actress in one of my favorite shows. We talked a lot about that show and how funny it was, even though based on what it was ABOUT, maybe shouldn't have been funny at all. I was enjoying myself a lot. The Cure: This was another far walk, and unlike the other chapters, I only talked to one member, and they didn't give a house tour. I met Christina and she was so easy to talk to. She was funny and again we goofed around about my fashion misunderstanding. That's how I treated it everywhere, I tried to laugh about it with the sisters. I just wanted to make sure they understood that it was a misunderstanding, it wasn't because I was a total frump. This was another Dawson's Creek conversation, and she mentioned that one of the other sisters, Ashley was a TOTAL Dawson's Creek nut and had even MET James Van Der Beek. I was impressed. It still struck me as weird though, that their parties were so different than everyone else's. I wasn't sure what to think about this group. The Smashing Pumpkins: The “bitch” house again. I was excited to come here. At this point, I was DYING to prove Lynn wrong, and she was starting to get progressively more and more annoying about it. She hadn't been asked back here. I was met at the door by none other than Kari, my OA, who I had ADORED! I was so happy to see her and she remembered me! She took me on a house tour as we talked about how my first semester had gone. Then she led me into a bedroom where I met Lisa. That is where we did the philanthropy project, along with a group of maybe 2 other PNMS and 2 other sisters. I think NOW this might be considered a huge no-no, but it wasn't then. Lisa was very cool and we talked about the perks of living in the house, especially during Homecoming/Greek Week time. She was the chapter's star volleyball player, and that made me smile. I was TERRIBLE at volleyball, but my mom had played very well and I LOVED watching! I couldn't wait to tell Lynn how wrong she was. Overall, I had fun that day, but no one REALLY stuck out to me. All of the chapters that I had REALLY loved from Tours I was going to be missing and I was still really disappointed by that. The next night I went to work and REALLY didn't want to be there. I wanted to be at recruitment, visiting my other favorite chapters, and I hoped the fact that I WASN'T there wouldn't hurt me. I don't think I did very well on tips that night. |
Well, so far, it sounds like the jeans-khakis misunerstanding didn't hurt too badly, and you recovered from it pretty well. I'm interested to hear the next installment.
|
As someone else who rushed 10 years ago, I am really enjoying your story. Can't wait to hear what happened next!
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
invite pickups round 2
The next day, I had to go to the Union to get my invites. I was very nervous as I found Megan, who handed me my list. It looked like this:
The Smashing Pumpkins The Cure The Clash Mighty Mighty Bosstones Live Nirvana I was overcome by happiness and incredible devastation at the same time. I was ecstatic that Nirvana wanted me back, even though I missed their party. I was also very happy about The Smashing Pumpkins and Mighty Mighty Bosstones, but I was crushed by the fact that both The Pixies and Weezer had released me. Megan saw this and encouraged me to be positive. I still had several chapters left that I REALLY liked, and the rest I still felt good about. That helped me put things in perspective, but the rejection I felt really stung, too. But I had a decision to make. I could go back to 5 chapters, and I had 6 on my list. It was between The Cure, because of the awkwardness I'd felt at their parties, and Live, just because I hadn't connected well with the member I had met during Tours. I decided to keep The Cure, because even though there were awkward moments, I had genuinely liked all the members that I had met. I marked “Regret With Interest” on my card for Live. Megan also made sure to tell me that Set of 5 would be more dressy, and most women would wear black pants. Now, when a sorority woman at Maryland 10 years ago told you to wear black pants, you knew EXACTLY what she was talking about. Ten years ago, “sorority girl pants” were all the rage. They were a nylon/cotton blend stretchy bootcut pant with an elastic waistband. EVERYONE was wearing them. I already had a pair because they had been popular in my high school as well. They were from Express, of course. (In case you hadn't already noticed that theme LOL) There was one day to wait until Set of 5 parties started on Saturday. I started getting very excited. The feelings of rejection didn't last long for me. I was totally focused on making the best possible impression on my remaining 5 chapters. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Ten years ago, “sorority girl pants” were all the rage. They were a nylon/cotton blend stretchy bootcut pant with an elastic waistband.
Oh man, I felt like such a sellout when I finally bought my sorority girl pants. It was only a few months after that I finally pledged, and I still believe high school me would have kicked college me's butt for that! :p |
Quote:
|
Quote:
</hijack> Please continue your story - I'm really enjoying it a lot! |
I thought about withholding this comment, but I'm sure it'll make some people laugh.
I have no idea what "sorority pants" are. :rolleyes: |
Quote:
For reference, I even found a pic! http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/...izonaBlack.jpg |
OMG, we didn't call them that obviously, but these really were all the rage when I was in early HS.
|
Set of 5 (Round 3)
Saturday morning rolled around and I woke up SUPER early to get ready for the day. I wore the requisite black pants, black sling backs, and a dark brown, chocolate brown, and brownish-gray striped V neck fitted sweater. I also packed my work clothes away in my car so I could change on the way there from the parties. We started at 11 AM that day.
When I arrived at the Armory, I met Lynn and she asked me who I was liking so far. I told her I was most excited to see Nirvana. Then I sheepishly told her I had actually liked The Smashing Pumpkins too. She kind of gave me one of those “Oh, that's nice” smiles as Megan handed out our schedules. Mine looked like this: Nirvana Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Smashing Pumpkins The Clash The Cure Nirvana: As I walked into this house, I was SO SO excited. Overall, they were my favorite chapter remaining on my schedule. I walked in and was met by Heather. This is where things started to go downhill. She was very nice, but very meek and quiet. The conversation definitely had not been as engaging and interesting as it had been with Shana. I found it much the same with the other sisters I met this round. I did see Shana, Liz, and Melissa during the party though, and they all made a point of waving to me. I hadn't yet gotten to talk to Melissa during recruitment yet and I was kind of bummed about that, since we had gotten to know each other very well the semester before. They performed their skit at the end of the party. It was “Saturday Night Live” themed. They redid all of the popular sketches of the time, like The Spartans and added in Nirvana. I remember being disappointed that there was no Goth Talk though. I loved that one. As I left the house I was getting worried. They had been my favorite and I had really felt let down today. Mighty Mighty Bosstones: This chapter started the party with their skit. It was Hollywood themed and they re-enacted scenes from popular movies with Mighty Mighty Bosstones added in. The main thing I remember here was the FOOD. OMG it was incredible. They served my FAVORITE dessert here, but I wont say which because it might give this chapter's identity away. I got to talk to Megan again here and we had another great conversation about music. I also met Julie and she honestly was one of THE funniest people I had ever met before. I was starting to feel a lot better about today, and Mighty Mighty Bosstones had definitely moved up in my eyes The Smashing Pumpkins: And again, “the bitches.” I had liked them so far, but nothing about them had REALLY stood out to me yet, like some of the other chapters had. I was fairly certain that they were definitely NOT bitches though, and there really must be something wrong with Lynn. I was met here by Lesley. I had actually gone to high school with her and our groups of friends definitely overlapped, although I didn't know her too well. She was in the lit mag crew and I in the drama crew, there were several people in my group that did both, so we all knew each other in passing. I really enjoyed talking to Lesley and catching up on all the latest news of everyone that had been in our respective circles. This was also the round this chapter did house tours and it was in one of the rooms where I was passed off to Honey. Uh-oh. I could TELL that this was going to be an awkward conversation. There were a few moments of silence and we started in on the “What's your major” talk. I was NOT feeling good about this, until for some reason and I cannot remember why, we started talking about cheese. She exclaimed that she LOVED cheese and could survive solely on cheese and potatoes if she had to. OMG me too! From then on, the conversation was GREAT and I quickly realized that this girl was almost the exact same person as me. I was so sad when the skit started, which was a Fashion Show Theme because I wanted to talk to her more. As I left, I realized that this chapter had moved up to my number one. The Clash: This chapter had us line up outside alphabetically and then we were led inside and seated in several rows of folding chairs where we would watch their skit. It was The Clash Talent Show themed. It was so cute, there was a sister who did a comedy routine around The Clash which I loved and then one routine that took the cake. There were 3 sisters, one playing acoustic guitar and they sang The Indigo Girls song “Closer to Fine” in harmony. I was SO SO impressed. I met Audrey here and told her how impressed I was and that I played guitar too. She thought that was awesome and mentioned that they had quite a few musically talented sisters. After the house tour, she guided me into the TV room where I was introduced to Lauren, the chapter president. We talked and she asked if I had any questions and so I asked her what she thought made The Clash unique among all the other chapters. I think I stumped her because she searched for her words and said something like, “I really don't know anything about the other houses, but I know I joined The Clash because I felt I could most be myself here.” I was hoping my stumping of her wouldn't reflect negatively on me as I left. I was really liking this chapter too! The Cure: I was met by Ashley here. To my surprise she pretty much already knew everything about me. She said her sisters had all adored me and told her so many great things about me. This kind of creeped me out, but then we started talking about Dawson's Creek and she had me totally enrapt about how she had run into James Van Der Beek in an airport. I was so jealous. Their skit was Studio 54 themed and honestly left a lot to be desired. It seemed like something they had thrown together at the last minute. Everyone I had met here had been SO nice, but it just didn't seem like they had put in the effort that the other chapters had. This chapter was at the bottom of my list, but I wouldn't be totally pissed if I had to come back. After the last party was over, I raced to my car, changed and got to work just in time. Invite pick ups were the next day but since I had to work, Megan told me to rank 1-5, give the list to my mom, and she would call her to get the ranking if I needed to release anyone. After today, I could say with confidence that my ranking was: The Smashing Pumpkins Nirvana The Clash Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Cure |
| All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:05 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.