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I remember so clearly exactly what I wore to “First Round”. I wore khaki colored jeans, a cream top, and this really pretty blazer. I remember that blazer…it had some sort of Aztec-y print.(remember, this was the early 90's) It was different, but not too different. I thought it was a good choice. I also had the unfortunate pleasure of having a hard-to-pronounce last name that no one could get right. I had a cute little saying made up to help people remember how to say it. At least I thought it was cute. Maybe I really was a huge dork though.
Our first party that night was at Winter. This time the groups each held their parties in different rooms on campus. This one was in a multi-purpose type room in one of the upper-class dorms. I remember being extremely nervous and looking around seeing what everyone was wearing. Beth was wearing a SUIT—a suit with a skirt and heels. She looked like she was going to a job interview. Careen was wearing a cute dress. Others were dressed more like me—casual with a dressier touch. Anyway, there we stood at Winter and we could hear them chanting and singing outside the doors and then our Rho Chi’s banged on the door and in we went. I was completely overwhelmed. A Winter grabbed me and took me over to chat. Her first question was “Did you make that jacket?” and I answered no, and then I realized she had been making fun of me. My heart sank a little bit as Winter had been my favorite from the first night. After that, I got asked a lot of “what did you do this summer” questions, and one girl turned her nose up when I said that I had worked. But the I mentioned that I had travelled to Hawaii and LA, and suddenly she was interested again. I still was very interested in Winter and hoped that they liked me enough to invite me back. Careen looked like she fit in perfectly among the Winters. I remember thinking, “She’ll be a winter for sure”.
The next party was at Fall. They screamed and chanted and sang at us as we came in. I still remember one of those songs! I had learned my lesson about talking about work, I thought, so I didn’t mention it there, but I did mention my trip to Hawaii and LA. Somehow it came around to why I had gone to LA (which was for a national speech contest), and they introduced me to someone who had done the same thing. I thought that was a pretty good thing, they had found someone who shared a common interest with me. But then they asked me about my last name and I said my cute little saying and they looked at me like I had 3 heads. I guessed I had screwed things up here, but I hoped that my connection with that one Fall would be good. Beth seemed to be really having a good time at Fall, talking to all the people she knew from her home town. She had a huge grin on her face and really looked like she belonged. I was happy that she was finally getting to talk to all of her friends, but I was a little jealous that she and Careen seemed to be doing so well and I seemed to really be screwing up.
Next we went to Spring. Their chanting was not as loud and they kept singing the same song over and over and over again. I remember not being impressed with the room they were in, but later found out that the room wasn’t their fault…it had been assigned by Pan-Hellenic. I was really surprised when I went into the room and found Tara. She and I had gone to middle school together and had gone to church together as teenagers. I was so excited to see her. I squealed and she squealed and we hugged and then she blew off her “rotation” and showed me all around the room introducing me to everyone. It was so good to actually KNOW someone and not have to teach anyone how to say my last name. Tara was happy to see me too, she said that she had heard I was rushing and wanted to talk to me but couldn’t and was so glad I was there. I left Spring feeling pretty good, even if my first impression hadn’t been so great.
Finally it was on to Summer. I was pretty tired by this time having been chanted and sung at and talked to for a while. But, I knew that I’d see Jill’s roommate Marie there, so I was pretty excited. We walked into their room and it was covered in their color and their mascot. They were singing and chanting and smiling and even though we were their last party of the night, they seemed pretty glad we were there. Marie was the first to grab me and she and I talked a lot. She re-introduced me to the president and then to some other girls. When they found out that I had worked at McDonalds over the summer they introduced me to two other girls who were McDonald’s managers. When someone asked my about my last name, I hesitantly told them my cute little way of remembering it and they all thought it was great. They called me by that version of my name for the rest of the night. I left Summer on a high. I had such a good time there!
Again our Rho Chi’s encouraged us to write down our impressions before talking to each other and then told us we needed to rank our choices, and that we’d only be able to return to 3 Sororities in the next round of parties. My rankings at the end of the night were:
1. Summer
2. Winter
3. Spring
4. Fall
Then it was time to wait until my next appointment with my Rho Chi to find out if I had made any of the cuts. I was pretty much convinced I’d be let go from recruitment after First Round parties, but was hoping that things would go well. In the meantime, I found out that the girls next door to me on the hall were the younger sisters of the presidents of Winter and Fall. I couldn’t believe they were roommates! A lot of girls on my hall started really kissing up to those two after that, but I didn’t. I did go talk to them once or twice. I also chatted with my RA a bit. She was pretty nice, but I knew she was in one of the groups so I was careful about telling her too much. My crazy roommate continued to be crazy, and classes kind of got going.
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