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Day 1: Meet the chapters
I found it almost impossible to pay attention in class on the first day of recruitment, even during my dance classes, which was my major at the time (I switched to a different major sophomore year when I realized I wouldn’t be able to do much with a dance major. I still got the minor though). After my ballet class, I rode my bike back to my dorm as fast as I could so that I could get ready. Unfortunately, when I got back to my room, my roommate’s boyfriend was in our suit’s shower. Grrrr…
After what seemed like forever, I finally got the chance to take a quick shower and blow-dry my hair before heading across the hall to help one the girls in my Rho Gamma group, Audrey, do her make-up before we would meet our group.
Today we had to wear the recruitment tee-shirt they gave us and jeans or shorts with comfortable shoes. I remember wanting to wear flip-flops but my Pointe shoes had done a number on my feet in the past few weeks so I wore these cute silver slip-ons instead. My roommate wore five inch heels and I have no idea how she did it.
The first group we went to was Candy Land. Except for the sophomore who was rushing for the second time, my entire group was really freaked-out by the loud door chant. We were lead into the room, which was decorated with balloons and streamers in Candy Land’s colors. I know its mean, but I remember thinking the colors didn’t go together very well. I talked to three girls and they were all really nice. No awkward moments, but we didn’t get far beyond the major/hometown/how’s school going so far questions. I wouldn’t mind coming back, but I wasn’t totally sold.
Next room was Pretty, Pretty, Princess. Their door chant was really cute and didn’t freak me out like Candy Land’s had. The first girl I met, Ingrid, was AWESOME! She was like my long lost twin! When someone came to bump me, Ingrid told me she didn’t want to leave but she hoped to see me again. The second girl was nice but we didn’t have too much in common. When she heard I was a dance major, she made sure to let me know that Pretty, Pretty, Princess won the homecoming lip-sync competition every year. I left loving Pretty, Pretty, Princess.
I was excited to see the next group, Scrabble, because a friend of mine from home had already began gone through recruitment and accepted a bid to Scrabble at another school and loved it. There was a lot of tent talk about this organization, and it wasn’t the good kind. I still kept an open mind because I thought it would be cool to be sisters with my friend. After we were let in the room, I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach. My conversations were awkward and time moved by very slowly. I left knowing I did not want to return.
Finally we were half way through. The next room was Twister. I could tell immediately that I would not fit in. I was double rushed and didn’t have much in common with the first two members I talked to, but I was from the same town as the last girl I talked to (though we went to different high schools). I don’t think it help that the girl I was partnered with was the complete opposite of me. I left Twister not wanting to come back.
The next room was Clue. I had also heard some negative tent talk about them, but I had never seen any of them on campus so I didn’t know if any of it was true or not. I walked into the room and there were a lot of Clue decorations; it almost felt like they were trying a little too hard. The girls were really nice and I had a lot more fun than I expected to have. While we didn’t have too much in common, I felt relaxed, like I could totally just hang-out with them in my sweats (which, I’ll admit, I basically wore sweats over my leotard all day freshman and most of sophomore year) and talk about anything, even if we didn’t agree on it. But I was still worried about the negative things I heard about them, which I had a feeling some of it might be true after my first meeting with these girls. I was the complete opposite of the rumors. I left feeling confused about Clue.
Finally I got to the last room, Trouble (I have no idea how girls go through days of recruitment with a million and one houses. Six felt super long for me). Instantly, I liked these girls. I loved seeing all the Trouble decorations and the first girl I talked to was so sweet! Then the second girl, Elizabeth, turned out to also be a Trouble legacy and showed me a scrapbook that had many pictures of her with her mother and grandmother together in Trouble shirts, wearing their pins, etc. I remember thinking it would be cool to be able to have similar pictures and moments with my own mother. I left loving Trouble.
Then it was time to fill out our ranking cards with our Rho Gammas. I knew that I definitely wanted to put Pretty, Pretty Princess and Trouble at the top of my list. I also listed Candy Land because I had liked them, just not as much as the other two. I put Scrabble as my number 3 (or the one that I least wanted to return to) but then I was torn on how to rank Clue and Twister. I thought it over in my head and after a while finally put Twister on my list of houses I would like to return to and placed Clue as my number 2. I chose Twister because it had a better reputation even though I didn’t feel a connection. Also, I knew Twister had a house and Clue did not. And while I knew a house really shouldn’t be a deciding factor, but I felt bad deciding on which organizations to “drop” solely on reputation.
So the card I turned in to my Rho Gamma looked like this:1. Pretty, Pretty Princess
1. Trouble
1. Candy Land
1. Twister
2. Clue
3. Scrabble
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