[●upwardsparks●]

ROUND 2

The chapters were in the same order again, so here we go:

Jeans: They had a really good craft....we decorated canvas tote bags and loaded them up with paper/crayons/markers, etc to give to local school children in need. So heartwarming. It made me happy to know that what I was making was going to potentially make some kids day. I loved that and I wished so badly that the girls in this chapter and the ideals of the national org were a little more parallel. They weren't as stand-off-ish as they were in Round 1 but they were still not very interested in anything any of the PNMs were saying. Unfortunately, my #1 chapter let me down again.

Fleece: Another craft for children in need. This was took me by surprise because, apparently, they are affiliated with multiple philanthropies and I guess it hadn't occurred to me that one of them was a child-based group. This made me very happy to find out since I had just been turned off of Jeans and the reason I wanted them so badly was their philanthropy. I had a touch of hope again so while I made my craft, I chatted away with the girls in the chapter. At this point I didn't really have any strong feelings for this chapter either way. I didn't get that "YES, this is home" feel but I didn't dislike them or anything about them, either.

Shirt: This group shared a video with us, and AGAIN, we would be making a craft for children at a camp (similar to Fleece's project)! So that was great...because now I realized, that as much as I liked Jeans for their efforts towards the betterment of children's lives, this was far more widespread than just them :-) I didn't dislike the feel of the room nearly as much this round because the colors were toned down and the room was dark for the first part because of the video, and then I got so into my project and my conversation with the girls that I just kinda of stopped thinking about anything else. Again, a group with no strong feelings toward. I really liked the girls, still hated the colors. Either way I went as far as joining this chapter, I was okay with.

Sweater: I made eye contact with the girl I had the little mishap with (let's call her Tanner) the last round right when I walked in and we just kinda smiled at each other in a sort of awkward/embarrassed way and then I got paired with a totally different girl....a girl who was NOT like the stereotype at all. I am assuming now that this was intentional, but I'll never know. We're going to call this girl Zoey (cause I like that name and I haven't any idea what hers actually was). So Zoey and I sit together and we all watch this intensely emotional video about their philanthropy and almost all the girls in the room were in tears. To make it more emotional, one of their members...oh yes, TANNER, got up and spoke about how deeply their philanthropy has affected her personally and her family also. More crying. Finally we get to the project and Zoey repeatedly complimented my arts & crafts skills, and mostly she commented on how well I was drawing the symbols of Sweater. She was SOOO easy to be around and she was the first person so far that I felt like I just clicked with....Now I thought I had a chance in this group, but at the same time, I knew I wouldn't fit in with a majority of the girls.....they were high maintenance girls (the kind that get up hours before class starts to make sure their hair is great, makeup is perfect, and all accessories were well-matched). They liked that stuff and I just didn't. I'd rather sleep in and show up for class in jeans & a t-shirt with coffee in-hand. Such mixed feelings about this group.

Hoodie: LOOOOVEDDDD this room theme. It was another kids' camp project but this room was set up to look like a campground. It was adorable. I don't remember anything about the actual craft we did, and I remember the conversation going okay but I can't recall any of the details.


After we left that room, we were escorted to a computer lab and we ranked our groups....We had to cut 2.
My order was:
1. Hoodie. Something about them was pulling me in. I knew they were strong nationally, they all seemed to really care about each other and their sorority, their colors were aesthetically pleasing, and all the girls I met were great.
2. Fleece. New girls or not, I liked them. They were laid back & easy to talk to, plus they didn't fit the "cookie cutter" feel that a few of the other chapters had. Every girl was different and I appreciated that.
3. Shirt. Fabulous girls, good on-campus alumna support, older chapter. Okay feelings about them.
4. Sweater. I had to go with my gut feelings. I liked these girls a lot, and it was definitely a good group...just for someone else.
5. Jeans. Funny how the ONE I looked so forward to at the beginning became my number five, just because of their poor attitudes.