[AOE2AlphaPhi]

So by the first day of formal recruitment, I was pretty sure I would be Cole Haan or Chloe. The first parties were a Friday afternoon/evening. My Rho Gammas said it was Go Greek Day, so all the chapters were supposed to focus on general reasons to be Greek and also tell us a little about their chapter. We were told to dress casually, and I wore a mauve v-neck shirt with jeans and a mauve sweater that had little rows of sown on flowers on it. (I know that sounds terrible, but trust me, it was pretty cute.)

Cole Haan was the first house we visited. They don't do door chants at UPS, but I was still really overwhelmed. The actives were lined up on either side of the doorway and as our rho gamma group walked up, the next girl in their line would walk the pnm in. Once we were inside, I recognized a few of the actives including a girl who was my boss in the admission office. I was excited to see that she was a Cole Haan--until I said hello to her and she clearly had no idea who I was. They offered us water or lemonade, and I had a glass of water. It was really awkward for me to drink from the glass while I was having the conversation, so I made a mental note not to get a drink at the other houses. I talked to four or five girls at Cole Haan, and really only connected at all with one of them. I answered all the normal questions about where I was from and my major and in one of my conversations there was a lull, so I asked the girl I was talking to what was special about Cole Haan compared to the other houses. She snapped back "This is Go Greek Day, so what if I just tell you about the Greek system as a whole." I felt really bad about myself after that and was barely listening when she told me about the greek system. I couldn't remember else anything we discussed or who I talked to by the time I got home that night. I left Cole Haan confused. I had expected to fall in love with it, and I definately had not, so I was just worried that the rest of the houses were going to be worse.

Next our group went to Kate Spade. I was less nervous about this chapter because I knew some of the actives and I was hoping I would talk to them. They had the same lined up thing at the doors, but at that point I knew more what to expect. The first girl I talked to at Kate Spade was kind of strange. We talked about their philanthropy, which really impressed me, but even though our conversation flowed easily, I just didn't feel like I would be friends with her if we'd met in another context. The rest of the girls I met at Kate Spade were really cool. We talked about a lot of different things and had a lot in common. I was also really struck by how beautiful the room we were in was. I felt like the party was much shorter than the one at Cole Haan. I left confused, because I had kind of expected to cut Kate Spade first, but I liked it a lot more than Cole Haan. I was still kind of swayed by Cole Haan's cache though.

Chloe was next. At this point I was exhausted, but praying I would like this house more than Kate Spade or Cole Haan. These girls were lined up at the door also, and I really liked the conversations I had. It was clear to me that the girls in this house were diverse and really involved in a lot of things on campus. They told me about their philanthropy which happened to be something that was really important to me, and talked about their activities. It was clear to me that the sisterhood was really strong at this chapter, but I wasn't sure I would fit in. I was also interested that the actives I talked to were a lot girlier than the stereotype is for this chapter. I thought the room we were in was pretty unattractive, but I liked the women enough that I didn't care. As I left this house, a lot of the girls I had talked to waved to me and said bye, even remembering my name! (I know now that this isn't that big a deal, but it made me feel really great.) I was really excited after I left this chapter.

Francesco Biasa was the last chapter we visited. They did the same thing with the lines, and as I walked in, I noticed that I also knew their rush chair, who was standing next to the door greeting people, from my work on the school paper. The first girl I talked to at this chapter told me she had the same sweater as I did, and we talked for a little about what a useful sweater it was and what a great deal it had been. It really was an amazing sweater. We also talked about the get to know you stuff, and Jen, who I knew from Art History came over to say 'hi.' I was really excited about that because Jen was basically my hero. I talked to another girl, and we bonded because we had both gone to Catholic high school, and a lot of other girls. I could tell the women at this house all really liked eachother and I loved that. I was surprised that I couldn't stop smiling as I left this house.

That night we had to rank the houses, but we would go back to all of them the next day. My sheet read:

Francesco Biasa
Chloe
Cole Haan
Kate Spade

I really struggled with order of the first two and the last two, and in retrospect, I should have put Kate Spade before Cole Haan, but I let reputation get in my way too much, at least for the first night.

Sally's list was
Cole Haan
Chloe
Francesco Biasa
Kate Spade

Jil's was
Chloe
Francesco Biasa
Cole Haan
Kate Spade

and Elizabeth's was
Chloe
Kate Spade
Cole Haan
Francesco Biasa.