[TweedleDee199]

ROUND 1, DAY 2

I started off the evening getting ready with the help of Louie across the hall and it was great to have someone to get opinions from. The fact that it had been freezing the last few days made everyone rethink their choice of wardrobe. My group and the other group that had been walking with us started with a presentation from the only local on campus. They talk to everyone first round and then those who want to pursue membership with them drop out of formal and go through their process. Obviously most girls are there looking to join a big national with high membership instead of a small local but you never know where you might find your home. So we all sat and listened. The girls all seemed nice and I recognized one from her involvement in the honors program. I thought about it, but I knew this wasn’t what I wanted. As might be expected most girls felt the same way I did but…not so sweet. As we walked outside I heard one girl behind me say, “I think I’m going to drop out and join them.” The voice had sounded sincere but when I turned around I found a girl smiling snidely and the aforementioned Chuck Norris PNM laughing with her. Having gone to high school in a Glinda-like pink sparkly bubble of love and cupcakes, I’d forgotten how mean girls can be in the real world. I didn’t particularly enjoy the wake up call. I thought about it as we walked to our next house.

UNCLE HENRY: Even though I was trying my hardest to approach recruitment with an open mind, this was the house I had been dying to visit. After learning all that I could about chapters at Oregon I’d imagined myself here time and time again. That was why haphazardly stumbling upon a rec to this house the week before school started had meant so much to me. The woman who wrote it was the mother of a girl I used to dance with. I’d always thought she hated my mother and I, so I was blown away when she offered. But there you go. Life is ironic like that. As we stood outside in line she-of-the-many-recs adjusted her hair and remarked that she wasn’t sure how they’d find anyone to rush her since she knew like half the girls in the house. She was gunning for here. Hell, EVERYONE I’d met wanted this house. It was the chocolate cake of chapters. I prayed and prayed and PRAYED not to be double rushed with her again. Getting called in solo was like getting a big weight taken off my chest; I was so relieved. We went into a dining room and again I felt like I was shouting. I really liked the girl rushing me, and she was the first person so far to ask me about community service, something that had really attracted me to Greek life. I told her about my involvement in high school and when I was bumped she told me that the new girl was the person to talk to if I had any interest in taking on leadership roles. I absolutely loved this girl. We talked about the phenomenon of being more productive when you’re involved with a million things than with a few, leaving home, our parents, and lots of other things. I was actually sad for the party to end and to leave, but I was mildly certain that between two great conversations and a recommendation I would be coming back [*, I’ll come back to this statement in a later post.] I was a little surprised, there is a girl or two from my school here and I had assumed that one would pick me up since that had happened at Auntie Em.

SCARECROW: This was another hugely popular house. A lot of girls were practically peeing themselves as we waited to go inside. I was a little skeptical and unsure if I would fit in here but really hoping to have my preconceptions disproved. Ms. Norris [haha. A Chuck Norris reference turned into a Harry Potter reference. Oh simple pleasures…] began questioning me about my favorite houses. I tried to shake her off. I was really really trying to steer away from tent talk. In retrospect I should have told her to go to hell it was personal, but I grudgingly answered Uncle Henry and Auntie Em. She apparently was also having a love affair with Uncle Henry. Great I thought, just freaking great… I started getting REALLY frustrated as we waited outside. You know how after the one minute knock it’s supposed to be quiet? The girls behind me didn’t quite get that. It didn’t matter that the rho gams told us again and again, they ran their mouths the whole time and made it hard to hear the actives in the doorway. It had gotten progressively worse through every house. One of the rho gams from the other group shushed them up. I decided I liked her. Though she wasn’t technically my rho gam our groups had moved together the whole time and I felt like I related to her better than Darkwing and our other rho gam. I got picked up solo again and was absolutely not expecting to enjoy my conversation as much as I did. My rusher asked me about music and I felt on the spot. I listen to EVERYTHING, and what constitutes my favorites are usually not things other people know. I answered a lot of pop stuff thinking we’d have something to talk about and it turned out I completely misread her. She apparently LOVED the Dave Matthews Band. I was shocked but remarked that I liked them too. She asked what my favorite song by them was. And I just blanked. You and me, crash into me….Nope. Everything went out of my head. I’m by no means a die hard Dave Matthews fan, but my mother more or less is and I’d grown up hearing them in the car. When I couldn’t come up with a name I felt like a fraud. Oh well. I really did like the girl and up until I looked like an idiot I didn’t think she hated me at all. The next girl I wasn’t sure about. We went through some generic stuff then I asked her why she had chosen this house. She said that she had come in really wanting to be a Lion, but the conversations at Glenda had just been the realest. We then had a really good conversation about authenticity and such during rush. I liked the girl but I felt a silent understanding that this was probably not the place for me between us. I left knowing I’d love to come back if I could, but that I probably wouldn’t.

TOTO: Once again, noise outside was a huge issue. I figured clocking another PNM would probably look bad. So I did my best to tune them out. As it was they were discussing the house rankings we would submit at the end of the night. I was appalled at how little people knew. I understood that people weren’t like me and hadn’t spent all summer creeping on GC and soaking up knowledge of all things Greek but seriously, you should know a little something about the water before you plunge headfirst [My biggest and really only criticism about the recruitment process at Oregon is that PNMS could have been given better explanations of how the process worked]. I kept quiet, not wanting to sound condescending, but I felt a GC instinct kick in when they talked about “dropping chapters.” I turned around and explained as patiently as I could that we didn’t get to “drop” anyone, just to rank them and that we could still go back to the houses we put on bottom if one of our tops didn’t call us back. I also commented that with 800 girls going through there was a good chance that most of us would return to less than 7 houses. Most people seemed to agree with this statement. I was thankful to be picked up solo once again. The girl was sweet, although our conversation was pretty much limited to the generic stuff. I could tell she was trying really hard though and I appreciated that. The next girl was similar although I didn’t like her as much. I began to see a pattern in our conversation. “What dorm are you in…that’s awesome! What classes are you taking…that’s awesome! Why are interested in Greek Life…awesome!” I admit I fall victim to such repetitiveness from time to time and I knew the girl was nervous but I was fairly certain this was just not the place for me. As it stood, this house was in line to get a 2 in the rankings though I wouldn’t be upset at all if I got invited back.

DOROTHY: Last but not least. I got to this house hoping that I wouldn’t hate it since I was fairly confident that I knew what my rankings would be right now. Again, there was a girl from my school here and I wondered if she would pick me up. Lightning struck twice: I got picked up with the girl in front of me again. Neither of us had talked about what had happened at Lion, though I felt like there was an unspoken understanding that she had won that battle. We went into a living room which was thankfully a little quieter than most other houses. The girl rushing us seemed like she had done this before and was a lot better at handling two PNMs at a time than the girls at Lion had been. We went through the usual conversation starters, and it was almost laughable since at this point Chuck Norris and I knew each other’s answers. I marveled at her once again. She found a way to spin even the smallest side remarks into an involved conversation. The girl terrified me but I had to respect her: she was a real conversationalist and when it came down to it, that was the name of the game. I was better this time, more assertive and less afraid of cutting her off. What the hell I figured, if I let her dominate the conversation again they’d never get to know me. She seemed surprised by this, but get up with me gamely. This house also took time to introduce their house mother which I thought again was a great touch. We got bumped and went through the “Where are you from, majors, interests” song and dance again. I didn’t like this girl as much as the first and I was a little turned off when the conversation landed on study files and she mentioned how great it was having access to old tests for her classes since the answers hardly ever changed from year to year. I didn’t want to seem like a prude, I was perfectly aware of the existence of study files but I didn’t think what was pretty much cheating was something that should be brought up in rush. I chalked it up to the fact that the girl was a sophomore and it was her first time out on rushing. She really was sweet though, but again, the greater interest was definitely in Chuck Norris. We bumped one last time but barely got a few words in before the party was over.

We all walked back to a big lecture hall to fill out our cards. We could visit up to 7 houses the next round, so we have 7 1s and 2 2s. It wasn’t a hard decision at all. I gave 2s to Lion and Toto, feeling a little bad since the girls had Toto really had been sweet and clearly loved their house. But I knew it was the right decision. I left with anticipation already building for tomorrow…