[SC2013]

Convo Day 1: We saw 5 houses. 1000 or so girls went through rush this year, meaning pledge classes would be in the 60-70s! This year the RC's said that cuts after each round would be MASSIVE, which was different from what I remembered last year, when RC's said that almost all girls going through rush would get a bid (although it's the same that this year that if you go to pref, you will get a bid).

Peggy Olson: This was my first house and I had a good time here. The girls I talked to were very laid back and genuine. Unfortunately how it works with this house is since there aren't enough girls in the chapter they usually bring in other Peggy Olson's from nearby colleges to help out with rush. Difficulty is, I think most of the girls I talked to and enjoyed talking to were from a different school. I don't remember what we talked about too much but it was very laid back and I made the girls I was talking to laugh a lot.

Joan Holloway: I got along with the girls I talked to very well. There was no "OH MY GOD, me too!" kind of sudden revelation, but the conversations flowed very naturally and comfortably. We also talked about similar sports and everything. I didn't have to try to be much of anything talking to these girls. Leaving the house I didn't have a "wow, they love me and will ask me back" feeling, but I think that's because the girls are very mellow in general (like me) and won't fake overexcitement during rush.

Rachel Menken: I remember really liking this house last year, but I didn't have as much of a good time here this year. I was talking to a girl who just had this permanent expression of dislike on her face. It all depends on the girl you talk to though. Although, the next girl I talked to I remembered casting in a student film the year before and I was glad to see her, so as I went to shake her hand and was like, "Hey! It's soo good--" she said, "Nice to meet you, my name is ______." A little awkward, but I figured maybe during rush, girls are supposed to pretend they don't know you? (Although while walking out another girl I'm friends with tapped me on the shoulder and said hi.) And while walking out to the door it got to the point where we had nothing to say. She said, "so...what classes have you not gone to yet?" Now, I remember her from last year and she's a very, VERY sweet girl. But as a rush experience I can tell this house was not for me.

Bobbie Barrett: I was a little anxious for this house, because a formerly REALLY good friend (to the point where she desperately wanted me to rush, and put my name on a "girls to look out for next year" list last spring) is now my not-so-good friend. Thankfully another PNM is a friend of mine and her roommate last year was in this house, and her excitement turned my anxiety into also excitement to see all these girls I knew last year. The conversation flowed perfectly to another girl who looked familiar, and we had fun trying to figure out where we'd seen each other but we also had lots of things in common. The last girl ALSO looked really familiar, and it turned out we have the same major. I got to talk about how passionate I am about my major and she shared my sensibilities about it, and besides that she was an absolute sweetheart. My conversations felt very natural and flowed like with Joan Holloway BUT I also couldn't help but feel so excited to talk with these girls. I'm not someone who can fake being SO EXCITED, but in this case I floated out of the house.

Trudy Campbell: Last house of the day! My current roommates are all really good friends with a girl in this house who is super active with leadership and everything in this house. I don't know her AS well as my roommates (who also rushed), but she is very sweet and we get along. I didn't see her today though. In any case, it was pretty late by this time, and as one of the first girls to walk through the door, I was led towards the back of the house to a kind of mirrored alcove. Since I was one of the first in, at first it was pretty quiet and I managed to talk to this girl with probably the usual rush topics (I can't remember at this point). However, once more PNMs filed in, the sound of all the chatter literally reverberated off the walls. I hate to say it, but it seriously made the conversation painful. That being said, I was exhausted and I have a fairly quiet voice so straining myself over the din really drained me and left me physically weary after this house, which gave me a bad impression of the house overall.