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Day Three-House Tours
We did not get to rank the houses, we were simply given a list of invites, and we could attend a maximum of 8. I really had no idea what to expect, but I was starting to lose my notion that if it didn’t work out it was OK; I was a nervous as everyone else.
I opened my invites to find……
I was cut by July and August. July was no surprise, but August was a disappointment.
I had to cut two and decided to cut April and May.
One thing that my sister’s friends had said was find the place you’d really be comfortable just being yourself, and so I tried to keep that in mind as I went about the day.
December: I started off where I had ended the previous day. And I was ready to see what the houses looked like beyond the living room. December was old, but absolutely charming inside. It was there that I learned of the existence of sleeping dorms. I didn’t think I could ever get used to that. The party started off great, and then the first rusher asked what I was doing over Labor Day weekend. I mentioned that I was going to a Garth Brooks concert. At the time he was hugely popular. I wasn’t even a country music fan, but my brother had free tickets. All the rusher could then talk about was Garth. I think she had decided I was her rush crush right then because I had Garth tickets. I was so relieved when the next rusher came, only rusher #1 immediately told her about my tickets, and then it was Garth all over again with rusher #2. I wrote two words in my notes afterward: Garth Brooks.
November: They had an adorable Disney theme; they were all in polka dots like Minnie. Once again I was impressed with how easy going and natural the Novembers were. The house was even more gorgeous as I got to see more. I learned that sleeping dorms were apparently the norm. OSF#2 stopped to talk to me, and ask me how I was doing, and it was so nice to see a friendly face. I was having such a good time, I was sad when the party was over.
October: Once again, the Octobers’ combination of beauty and sweetness just blew me away. I was in awe of them. Joanie’s sister picked me up from outside, and I did most of my tour with her. She was great. I could see why Joanie wanted to follow in her sister’s footsteps. The house itself was physically smaller than many of the others, but I thought that added to its coziness. I really liked October.
September: As with the day before, the Septembers were sweet. Each one I talked to seemed kinder than the one before. The house itself was nice, if a bit of a confusing layout. But I realized that I felt like I was at my grandmother’s house. I had the feeling that if I told a dirty joke, it would not go over well. I didn’t think I could be that sweet for four whole years.
June: Back to June, and I was picked up by a girl I had a great conversation with, and then when the bump came, it was Karen, the president and girl I knew from home. She said she was happy to see me back and how because her parents moved around so much when she was growing up, that June was truly home to her. I knew that’s what I was looking for at college, a true home, so June was high on my list.
January: January’s tours were like no other, you walked around with your rusher, but you also had a tour guide that lead the group around. It was nice to get to interact with several rushers and rushees as well. I was happy to see they did not have sleeping dorms. But they also did not have phones in their rooms, but rather phones throughout the house and an intercom system (this was before the days of cell phones!). I wasn’t too thrilled about that. During the tour, I made some sarcastic remark about something, and my rusher laughed and the tour guide laughed. I really felt like January was a place I could be myself.
February: I had had a lot of fun at February the day before and once again, the Februaries looked like they just really enjoyed each other’s company a great deal. I was surprised to see the older sister of a high school classmate of mine among the actives, and she came and talked for a bit. I wrote three words in my notes after February: Fun, fun, fun.
March: It had been a long day when I arrived at March. They too had a Disney theme, and this drew direct comparisons to November’s party. It was easy to see what a difference having smaller numbers really made. The girls I talked to were nice, the house was beautiful, and due to the small numbers, you even only had 2 girls to a bedroom. I felt bad for the Marches, but I just felt I wanted a place where it wouldn’t be a struggle to keep up with the other houses.
We would receive our invites in the morning, but in my head I had formed a triage of sorts:
Houses I loved: January, November, October
Houses I liked: June, February, September
Houses I liked the least: December, March
After arriving back at the dorm, I went to check on my friend Erin from home, and found out that she had only been invited two houses that day, September and March. She was devastated, but decided to wait until morning to see what to do.
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