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Set Two: House Tours
Another day, another sundress! At this point, we don’t rank our chapters. We simply receive a list of all the chapters that have invited us back and pick up to eight out of that list. I am invited back to all of the houses except Bob. Remember, these are the days without lots of early release restrictions, so it’s not too unusual to have an overabundance of invites in the second round. Although some cuts are definitely made after the first round, many girls are in the position where they are the ones regretting parties. I remember being a little horrified that Randy and Kitty invited me back. Did they think I am a dog too? Lisa later explains that they invite everyone back since almost everyone will decline unless they “belong” there or didn’t get enough other invites.
Since we can only return to eight houses, I cross the following four off my invite list:
Kitty
Randy
Leo
Hyde
The first two I cross off the list because I am a shallow teenager and would be mortified to be associated with a “dog house,” in spite of the fact that I liked the Kitty ladies. The last two I crossed off my list only because their names were similar and I couldn’t figure out for sure which was which! One of them I didn’t like at all and the other I felt pretty neutral about, so I figured I would eliminate both of them to avoid going back to the one I didn’t like at all. Sheesh. So that left me with:
Red
Eric
Laurie
Jackie
Kelso
Midge
Fez
Donna
And here we go . . .
Fez---- A nice Junior who I hadn’t met before took me on the house tour. From the street, this house looks rather small, but it spreads out onto a very deep lot. The dining room was large and elegant and she explained the way the meals worked. Prior to this, I had no idea that it was normal for someone who didn’t live in a sorority house to actually eat there. The food sounded much better than the cafeteria food and that made me extra happy. They had several bedroom styles that slept between two and four. They were all decorated really cute and seemed much larger than my dorm room. More bonus points! We went out a side door and crossed through a large private courtyard. This was the place the sisters used for tanning. I thought that was a great idea! Of course these were the days when we basted ourselves in baby oil boosted with iodine and covered double record albums with foil to catch the maximum rays. Eeeeek! There was another small wing on the other side of the courtyard and each room had its own door. These were the “senior apartments” where seniors could live. Each had a private bathroom, living room, separate bedroom and a small kitchenette. I loved this! I had a great time talking to my tour guide and the girl she bumped me to afterwards. They had such great senses of humor and it was obvious how much they loved living in this house. I left feeling even more positive about this group. I’m definitely wanting Fez the most.
Kelso – This house is just gorgeous, a stately old mansion and the exterior is painted my favorite color. That definitely appeals to me. Yes, I am shallow! An older girl from my high school gives me the tour. I’m pretty excited when she tells me she was so happy I was rushing. I didn’t know her well at all, so it made me feel pretty special. We talked a lot about old times as we walked through the house. When we get to the first bedroom, I’m a bit confused. There are no beds in these small double rooms, just closets, chairs and desks. Duh dah dun! This house must have one of the dreaded sleeping porches! And indeed it did. At least I knew what a sleeping porch was this time, but was still completely unimpressed by the whole system, even after seeing it and hearing what it was like to sleep there. Since I am a super light sleeper, all I could think about was girls who snore and talk in their sleep and how that would ruin my life! And of course I was much too overwhelmed and intimidated to ask questions about it. I was far too concerned about this girl from my high school maintaining a positive opinion of me. (What can I say, I was a pleaser. Age and experience have really helped with that!)
Jackie – This house is a little newer than most and has very modern architecture, so it’s not traditional looking. But it’s got lots of windows, making it feel sunny and light. There has been an addition to it recently because of the chapter’s continued growth. And it doesn’t have sleeping porches. Yay! The chapter president gives me my house tour and tells me what great things she has heard about me from Liz. She is also a Central Suburbia grad and has been Liz’s best friend since they were in third grade. I think being in a sorority with your childhood friend is the coolest thing ever. The President is as cool as Liz is, and I do feel a little intimidated that I might not be cool enough to fit in here. It does however make me really happy to hear she already knows who I am, but I fail to grasp if there’s any significance to being toured by the president.
Eric – This is the house that I think looks like I imagine a sorority house should look like. I am in love with the staircase in this house! It feels like I am Scarlett O’Hara. There are lots of fun framed photos of the girls posing together on the stairs. Unfortunately, I am not as enthusiastic about the girls as I am the house. My conversations seem stilted, and although they are nice enough, I am realizing this is the slightly nerdy smart girl house and I’m not really going to fit in.
Red – Vicki picks me up right away. Oh God. She will not stop talking! I can’t get a word in at all as she gives me the house tour. AND SHE DOESN”T BUMP ME! I am stuck with her the entire time. Did I mention she won’t stop talking? I don’t care how nice the house is or how wonderful the sisters are (not that she will ever let me meet any more of them to even find out!) I can’t stand being in the same room with her much less living with her. I vow to never come back to this house ever again!
Midge – The house was beautiful and the girls who rushed me were pretty and nice. That’s about all I remember about this one. I left with a favorable impression, but I’m still not quite feeling it here. A lot of the other girls really love this chapter though!
Laurie – I honestly don’t remember much of anything about this group or their house. They were that bland for me. The only things I do remember is that the house was pretty dated and run down, and the girl that gave me the house tour told me a few pledges with high GPAs could move in right away. After my experience in the first set with Randy, as promising as it sounds on the surface, I am sure that is NOT a good sign.
Donna – The house is another traditionally styled mansion, although I think the exterior color is sort of icky. (There I go again!) A girl I have never met before gives me my tour and I learn she is an East Suburbia grad. In addition to discovering we have a lot of people in common, I also learn that she went to the same summer camp I did, only different sessions each year so we never met. We even lived in the same cabin and belonged to the same “tribe,” which I thought was a pretty funny coincidence. In spite of the icky color, the interior of the house was beautiful and elegant. It was clear that someone had put a lot of time and effort into decorating and maintaining the place. I particularly loved the TV room and the way she described how they loved to pile in to watch Charlie’s Angels each week. That show was one of my guilty pleasures and I was excited to find that other girls shared my secret. There were a variety of room configurations here: doubles, triples and quads. But most importantly, no sleeping porches!
After the parties, we are to list our top five houses and then rank the bottom three. My list looked like this:
Midge
Jackie
Kelso
Fez
Donna
1. Eric
2. Laurie
3. Red
After we turn in our lists, I go out to grab some pizza with some of the girls in my group. We have a great time talking about our different impressions of the houses and our likes and dislikes.
When I get back to the dorm, all hell is breaking out in my room. Lisa is lying on her bed, sobbing hysterically. Tina is on the phone yelling at someone. She’s so mad that there’s a vein popping out on her forehead and her face is bright red. Our third suite mate (who arrived the previous day, is not rushing and is very anti-sorority) is sitting cross legged on her bed and smirking. “I suppose those Fez bitches didn’t invite you back too?”
Lisa’s mother had already called most of the alumnae association and the house itself to complain. Lisa’s mom was a very well connected and active Fez, and Lisa was a triple legacy. She was told there was nothing that could be done as there were far more legacies than the house could take; in fact there were more legacies from just our hometown than slots available in the pledge class. Although Lisa’s Fez dreams are now over, after talking to her mom, she decides to continue rush and consider the remaining houses she has. She had a full schedule that day, so otherwise rush had been going well for her.
Tina immediately starts talking down Fez, insisting she hadn’t been that impressed with them at all, and talking up some of the groups that had been on her “not good enough” list yesterday. What a difference a day makes.
All of this stuff about legacies and cuts is really boggling to me. I do have to suck it up and admit that I had been invited back to Fez and had had a good time. But I also began to doubt that they could know what they are doing if they cut such great girls right away and whether I would belong in a house that would cut my friends. I am also feeling very guilty. I can’t help but think that if I hadn’t rushed, maybe my friends would still be in the running there. Since the parties don’t start until the early evening tomorrow, we have a longer time to marinate and worry than before. It feels like Set Three will never come!
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