[lemony]

Warning: OBSCENELY long post...sorry about that!

Alright, so here goes. I rushed fall 2009 as a sophomore for the first time. The sororities at my school are as follows:

Kenneth
Jack
Tracy
Cerie
Jenna
Pete
Toofer
Frank

Day 1: Spoke to all 8 sororities, and was NOT prepared. I didn’t think that we would actually be talking to the girls on this day (stupid, STUPID me). I didn’t know that this was the most difficult day with the heaviest cuts (IMHO). Anyways, I took the advice of my freshman year RA (a Tracy) to to chill out and not take it very seriously. She told me just to dress as I normally do, and not worry about anything. Having heard that (and with my roommate as a fellow PNM who hates dressing up for anything but has a personality sparkling enough to make any sorority pref her even if she wore a potato sack), I wore ripped denim shorts and a striped top. I wore a cute necklace as a small piece of ‘flair’, but little did I know that our nametags would cover up any necklace. Also, I feel like this top was stained....oops. hahahaha. I thought that dressing uber-uber-uber casual wouldn’t really be a huge deal, since I saw the girls that my Tracy friend had referred to—the ones with tons of makeup, totally done hair, and looking like they were trying way too hard. I thought that it would turn out as was necessary and that the girls in the sororities would see me for ME, and would want me for just as I am.


This turned out differently. I can’t say that I don’t know what I did wrong, since I can definitely name a few things that I could've done better to let sororities know that I was actually interested in them. When asked on why I was rushing, I told them that my friend convinced me to and that I was initially hesitant, but that I had eventually realized it was a great decision (bad idea). They probably only listened to the first half of that sentence. Other than that, the conversations went like this.
I felt that I clicked the best with the girls at Jenna and Cerie. I even had a Cerie friend who lived in my dorm floor who came over and hugged me and asked how I was doing, and the girl I was talking to seemed impressed that I knew her. The conversations I had at other houses were okay—nothing too special. I know I definitely felt exhausted at the end of the day from talking too much.
I don’t remember my rankings specifically, but I remember that I definitely ranked Jenna first, Cerie second, and other houses afterwards.



Day 2: Open House Day. Much to my dismay, I only got invited back to three of the eight houses—Toofer, Frank, and Tracy. I was pretty shocked, since I felt my conversation definitely fell flat and was extremely boring at those houses. However, my Pi Chi reassured me that these houses were perfectly good houses, and so I decided to try to go in with an open mind and see what was in store.

I went to Tracy first, and had nice conversations with the girls. One of my best friends (as well as my former RA) is a Tracy, so it was pleasant to see them and say hello. I had a long conversation with this one girl about Thai food or sushi or something food-related? Haha. Then there was a lunch break followed by Toofer. The girls there were nice as well, but I didn’t feel anything specifically pulling me towards them.
I had a break, and then I went to Frank. I didn't click very well with this house. The girls seemed a little desperate. One girl flat-out told me that they had a lot of graduating seniors this year, so they really needed new members. It didn't really appeal to me since I felt like they were trying to take anyone and everyone just to make quota and not being selective at all.


Later, I told my Rho Chi how I was definitely feeling really unmotivated and didn’t feel a particular connection for any of the houses. She encouraged me to stick it out and to wait and see how the week goes, and I followed her advice. My rankings were: Toofer, Tracy, and Frank
.
At the end of the day, I was even more tired. I was even feeling a little sick. Later that day I got a mild fever, so I came home and passed out on my bed to catch up on sleep.


Day 3: Philanthropy. I definitely did NOT feel good this day—sore throat, runny nose, the whole shebang. I brought a small pack of Kleenex tissues with me, since I assumed that the girls I’d be meeting would prefer that I have tissues in my hand as opposed to coughing and sneezing all over them. I wore a white sundress that was kind of unflattering and tried to overcome my miserable condition (and I had allergies on top of that! Not fun at all).



We received our schedules, and I was invited back to Tracy, Toofer, and Frank again. I was relieved to have Tracy and Toofer as options, and felt indifferent about having Frank.



Went to Frank, and didn’t really mesh any better with the girls. They had us with two PNMs per active, so the girl next to me seemed really talkative and didn’t let me speak up too much—not that I really minded since all the talking made me really exhausted
.
Went to Tracy, and I guess my allergies started acting up again since we were sitting under pollenating trees. Yes, this was in addition to my cold. Haha. Most of the girls I spoke to were nice, except the last girl. I’d never met this girl before, but I had heard of her because I remember she was running for student office. I kind of expected her to be really outgoing and interested in politics (like me), but she seemed really unenthusiastic, dry, and just unhappy to be there. She was the last girl I talked to, and left me with a pretty bad taste in my mouth about Tracy.


I went to Toofer last. For this one, they had us speak to one or two girls the whole time. The second girl I spoke to definitely impacted my decision strongly at the end of the day. We totally clicked and the story how is pretty amusing—we were talking about internships and she was telling me about a politician she interned for. I mentioned a guy I knew who interned for that same politician, and she said yes, but kind of winced—and told me that he was her ex and that he was abusive. I immediately felt like an IDIOT. I apologized over and over and she seemed pretty ok about it—strangely enough, it was almost like we forgot we were in recruitment and were just talking like two girls getting to know each other. She then asked about my love life (I know, a HUGE no-no, but the boys rule had already been broken? haha) and I told her about my boyfriend, with whom I’m in a long distance relationship, and she found it totally cute. She then talked about her little sis and how close they are, which definitely changed my opinion of the sorority. It was probably at that moment I could see myself being sisters with these girls and loving it. She and I then discovered that we even have the same birthday (!) and that we had the same initials, and the list just went on. When I left Toofer that day, I was in LOVE with the sorority.


Later that day when I was ranking the houses, I was definitely grateful for my Rho Chi for encouraging me to stick it out. I ranked the houses accordingly: Toofer, Tracy, Frank
.
That night, my sickness got a hold of me—I had a 105+ degree fever, and I was definitely delirious (I distinctly remember the songs and names of sororities floating around in my feverish mind). My roommates kept offering to take me to the emergency room, especially with mild fears of swine flu still circling the student population (I think that the school had sent us a public health warning via emails at the time), but I didn’t want to have to deal with waiting rooms and other sick people. My fever eventually went down and I just stayed in bed and hydrated. I didn’t know what to do, since the next day was the first day of classes.



I discussed it with my parents, and decided that I wouldn’t go to class the next day but that I’d definitely go to the doctor at the student health center. As for rush, I still wasn’t sure.


Day 4 (no rush events): I went to the doctor the next day. I still had a fever, but it was definitely better than the night before. She couldn’t diagnose me for swine flu or not since budget cuts forced them to stop administering the test that determines it, but she gave me a little kit with Purell, Kleenex, and disposable thermometers. She also gave me lots of surgical masks because apparently people with supposed swine flu were supposed to wear them in public? Haha. She informed me that I was supposed to stay in ‘quarantine’ until my fever has been gone for 24 hours. Anyways, she gave me a doctor’s note, which I then sent to all my professors—they were fine with me staying home from class since the major public health warning said for professors to allow infected students to stay home. I called my Rho Chi, and explained the situation to her. She called the Director of Panhellenic, and then called me back explaining that it was up to me. She definitely emphasized that my health was the most important thing, and that my absence from Pref Night would definitely be excused if I wasn’t feeling well enough to go. I told her that for now I wasn’t sure, but that I would definitely keep her posted on how I was feeling, since Pref would be later on Friday evening.




Day 4 (Pref Night): So I didn’t go to class on Friday either. I just stayed home from Thursday noon to Friday noon, and made sure to rest up, hydrate, and eat well. I definitely felt a LOT better by Friday afternoon—my fever was barely there and OTC meds were doing well and keeping my symptoms at bay. I called my Rho Chi to let her know that I would still be attending Pref, and she was happy for me. Kind of got ready in a hurry since I was in a quandary about going until at least 4pm (Pref was at like 6 I think), and got my schedule—I was called back to Toofer and Frank. I wasn’t too happy about getting invited back to Frank, but I was pretty happy about getting called back to Toofer.




I had an okay time at Frank's pref. One of the girls who spoke to me before was trying really hard to recruit me, and was definitely pressing me hard on whether or not I wanted to be in Frank which made me a little uncomfortable since I was trying hard to be a gracious and polite guest. Their candle ceremony was pretty intimate, and I felt bad because I just wasn't feeling the connection with these girls.


At Toofer's pref, I got paired with a girl I'd never spoken to before. The night seemed to go well--I didn't feel TOO sick and Toofer's preference night had a beautiful ceremony which also involved candles. I didn't feel as swayed towards Toofer by the girl who I spoke to at pref as I did by the girl on Day 3, but I still knew that I wanted Toofer a lot more than Frank.


When I ranked them on my pref card, I decided to ISP for Toofer. Unfortunately, I received a phone call the next morning (Bid Day) that I didn't receive a bid to Toofer. I was definitely disappointed and frustrated. A lot of my friends had rushed with me and 3-4 of them received bids to Toofer. I felt sad looking at their pictures, and felt that I could have almost been a Toofer. But I also knew in a little part of me that a large part of why I liked Toofer so much was because of the one girl I spoke to who I had a lot in common with, and looking back, I'm almost glad I didn't receive a bid to Toofer. I know a lot of girls in Toofer and other sororities, and I love them to death (some are my best friends), but I can look back now and realize that I wouldn't have been happy there.



Stay tuned for a post on my fall 2010 recruitment story, which went a LOT differently!