[sherrybaby]

Day 1– Open Houses Part 1

After being so pleasantly surprised by George, I was starting to realize that I (obviously) didn’t know everything there was to know about the sororities on campus. I still had some of the things I specifically knew to be true in the back of my mind (e.g. girl from this sorority came back drunk from bid night – she was in the suite where I most hung out freshman year, girl from this other sorority and I didn’t really get along) but I recognized that perhaps they didn’t represent the sorority as a whole. I vowed to be more open-minded (although I’ll admit I wasn’t exactly expecting that many other surprises, just recognizing they were possible).

I found out that several girls on my floor, as well as my RA, were all rushing, which definitely made me feel better about rushing as a sophomore (considering that my RA was a junior). I met up with my RA where we were all meeting before getting our Rho Chi groups and nervously but excitedly began chatting with some fellow PNMs, wondering all the while if they’d become my new sisters.

We were given short speeches by the Panhellenic president and the presidents of all the sororities, and then our Rho Chi groups (by alphabetical order) were announced. I followed the Rho Chi carrying our sign to our designated area, happily noting that my RA was in my group.

Our Rho Chis introduced themselves, and I’ll call them by Harry Potter names as well. They informed us they were each in different sororities, and we’d get the opportunity to guess where they belonged at the end of the week.

My first impression of Luna was that she was a little offbeat and so excited for us. She kept reassuring us that she never thought of herself as a typical sorority girl but loved where she had ended up.

I was excited to note that I already knew Lily. She was a member of Fred, which I knew because I had gone to church with her a few times the first semester of freshman year. I knew she was a really sweet girl (I feel like I have overused/will continue to overuse the words “sweet” and “nice” in this story, but when you only have a little bit of interaction time with a person, it’s hard to come to many conclusions except whether or not you thought they were nice/genuine) but didn’t know much else.

I really didn’t get any strong impressions from Cho. She seemed sweet as well but a bit quieter than the others…the word “poised” came to mind.

Hermione was wearing an adorable necklace that was exactly my style, and had her hair cut in a sort of daring, trendy style with stark bangs. I liked her style, but didn’t get any other huge vibes from her. I’ll admit she intimidated me a little, but more like I was impressed than scared. (I’m only mentioning how she looked because it stood out to me; the others probably also looked really nice in whatever they paired their rho chi shirts with, I just don’t remember).

Of course, I immediately started trying to guess where the three I didn’t know were from; I love that sort of guessing game. I thought maybe Luna was in Percy, since she really kept stressing how untypical of a sorority girl she was, but I knew I could very likely be wrong since it was early in the game. Since Lily was in Fred, I knew none of the others were. I thought maybe Cho was in Charlie or maybe George, but I really was unsure about her since I wasn’t getting a distinct impression from her. Hermione, I couldn’t even begin to guess. I wanted her necklace, though! :P

For the first day, I found out our group was going to Fred, Ginny, Ron, and George. I was excited to be going to my (so far) “forerunners” all in one day, but kept trying to quash those kinds of prejudiced thoughts every time they came up. Easier said than done!

Fred was first. I was nervous, I’ll admit, because I wondered if it would actually hurt me knowing some of them. Since I’m shy but willing to talk to people (I just find it hard to take things to the next level), people sometimes assume that I’m a snob or I don’t like them. I worried since I knew and liked the Freds I knew but wasn’t superclose with them, they might think of me as standoffish. I prayed this wasn’t the case. The minute I stepped into the party, though, all my fears melted away. Their song was adorable, their beaming smiles seemed genuine, and my conversations went so easily. We mostly talked about what I was passionate about and my hobbies and I was happy to find that a lot of the girls rushing me shared at least one of them, so we had something real to talk about as opposed to merely the pleasantries. I was sad to leave but beaming on my way out of this party.

Next came Ginny. The girl I talked to at the pre-recruitment event seemed indicative of the whole party that night in that their song consisted of a lot of clapping and they were very loud and enthusiastic. I had a sort of mixed bag of rushers here. One or two of them I liked but didn’t really click with, but I also talked with my TA from chem lab last semester, who I liked a lot, as well as some other girls I clicked with better. Although the party was a little overwhelming and there were some girls I was unsure I would fit in with, I left thinking I definitely wanted to know more about these girls.

After Ginny, I had Ron, who I had wanted to learn more about since pre-recruitment. I enjoyed my time here although I didn’t have as deep of connections as I had felt in Fred and with some of Ginny. I thought they’d probably make it in my top 5 (that was the first set of cuts we had to make) but I wasn’t 100% sold on seeing myself as one of them.

Finally came George, who I had been excited about seeing all night. They went as well as I had hoped; I had great conversations and they all seemed to share at least one of my interests. I was a little worried that I didn’t get bounced around more though, since I had been hearing that it was arguably better to get bumped more so that more girls could be able to vote on you. I loved their table set-up and looking at all the fun they seemed to have at their events. I couldn’t wait to learn more about George!

A few other notes about that night – first of all, none of us really realized that tent talk was a no-no. We were all told we should avoid saying anything negative about other sororities to avoid influencing other PNMs, but most of us figured as long as we didn’t badmouth any of them, it would be good to bounce our impressions off one another. Plus, since it was obviously the main thing on our minds at the time, it’s where conversation naturally drifted. I of course now realize this was an awful idea, but that’s how you learn I suppose. I started to get to know the girls around me in line, especially one I’ll call Lavender. Lavender enjoyed George and Fred as much as I did (although maybe George more), but seemed to like Ron more than Ginny. She told me she could really see me as a Fred, which I took as a compliment since I could as well. (Perfect example of why tent talk is a bad idea - talk about influencing one another!)

I walked home that night with my RA, chatting about our impressions. She seemed to be set against Ginny, but open to the others we visited. When I asked about her aversion to Ginny she said that while she liked all the Ginnys she knew, they seemed to be trying to define themselves as a sorority, and as a junior she didn’t want to be caught up in that. I saw her point in that they did seem to be going through a transition period as far as not having a single defining characteristic, but I didn’t see it as as much of a minus as she did.

Overall, Day 1 was a great experience for me and I went to bed vibrating with excitement for what was to come.

Next up – Open Houses Part 2