[CherrySonata]

Thanks FSUZeta and angels&angles. I truly don't believe any chapter was bad; I just made a TON of mistakes.


Set one began the next day, so we woke up pretty early and headed to the meeting place. This year, Lapis Lazuli House was the first house we went to. I had a good idea of what to expect because of last year, so I wasn't as shocked from the noise. I wasn't sure what I'd feel about Lapis Lazuli because I couldn't remember much from the previous year. But once I went in, I loved it. All I could think the whole time was about how cute everything was, from the house to the girls' outfits. All my conversations felt very surface-level and shallow to me, but that I never once felt awkward or uncomfortable. I really liked this house. I wished I had had a chance to have more meaningful conversations, but I guessed that'd come later in the week. Even so, I enjoyed myself here and tried to be positive. I really wanted to get a callback to this house.

Tanzanite House was next second, and I was really really really excited for this house because I loved it so much last year. Once again, I really enjoyed my time at this house. The one weird thing was that I had a normal conversation with the first girl for a normal length of time and then I talked to the second girl for about two minutes before being bumped... And then the third girl talked to me for two or three minutes before I got bumped again... And the same thing happened with every single girl after that. I talked to about 9 or 10 girls during this half hour period. It weirded me out a little but everybody was so nice, so I was mostly at ease. Overall, despite the weird bumping thing, I still left with a good and happy feeling about this house.

After a break, we headed to Peridot House. I knew one of the actives here, but she was studying abroad. I decided not to take into account how I felt about this house last year, and start with a clean slate. And once I got inside, I really honestly enjoyed myself. I had a nice conversation in particular with the last girl I talked to. That really stuck out in my mind, as I felt like it was the first substantial thing that happened at the houses all day. A part of me was just caught up in all the energy of recruitment. That is a nice feeling, but having a deep conversation was really special too. After I left this house I wasn't sure what to think. I only had a half-hour to get an impression of the whole house-- and I felt like it was ridiculously unfair of anyone to expect me to love or hate a house after such a short time. How could I rank anybody after just that small amount of interaction?

Tourmaline House was next, right after lunch. I wasn't sure how I felt about them, especially because some of the girls in the group started whispering about their "reputation" (I learned my lesson last year so I didn't listen in this time), but when I went in, none of that was on my mind because I was too busy enjoying myself. The girls I talked to were really intelligent and I could almost hear the literal 'click' as I talked with them. They were also really nice, and I was very impressed. I really enjoyed this house. Judging by the smiles in the rest of my group after we got out, I wasn't the only one. I have to say that I was really impressed by this house, and I enjoyed my visit there at any rate.

After another break, my group headed to Sapphire House. This was another house I was really looking forward to. I had an acquaintance in this house but I wasn't entirely sure if she'd remember me. I got picked up at the door and looked through the crowds and saw my acquaintance, then when I was in the middle of my first conversation, she came over to say Hi and that she was glad to see me. I really liked that because it made me feel recognizable and special. (And maybe it isn't a huge deal, but it felt nice to me.) I had decent conversations about a few different topics with one of the actives, and I felt very much at ease. I don't know if I connected as much with the other girls I talked to, but I definitely enjoyed this house and my conversations here. I really wanted to go back and get to know the sisters better.

Garnet House was the last house of the day. I still had no strong feelings about this house, going in. My conversations were all decent, if a bit shallow. At my last conversation, I made one of the biggest mistakes in the world, which I knew better than to do, ESPECIALLY since I had prepared so much. Without thinking, I accidentally mentioned a sensitive topic... I just stopped mid-sentence because I realized my mistake. I tried to cover it up and changed the topic quickly. The active didn't seem too put off by it since we moved on to something else quickly, but I felt really stupid after that. I left this house feeling a mixture of wanting to see them again, feeling uncomfortable about what had happened, and feeling vaguely like my conversations were too shallow to be meaningful to the sisters.

By this time I was exhausted. I went home, reflected on this and had some dinner, and went to bed early. The one thing I can say though is that I was much less stressed out about it than I thought I would be, and I really enjoyed it a lot. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it, but it is that simple... I really was having a good time. I was also so nervous at this point that I wouldn't get a lot of callbacks, nevermind the fact that ranking and callbacks wouldn't happen for another 26+ or so hours or something. I really liked all the houses today and would love to go back to all of them, if that was possible. But I felt also like the next day, I'd have a really really hard time ranking them-- as I'd only had a half hour and gotten to talk to only a handful of girls, and didn't think there was any way I'd be able to make educated decisions (especially since I was ignoring what I remembered of the houses from the year before).