[beebee21]

I think I'll go ahead and write about Day 1 while I have some free time. Somehow, I managed to get a cold in the middle of the summer, so I've got lots of time today!

I had arrived back at my dorm the night before around 10 PM. I was too nervous to even consider going to sleep, even though I knew I had to be up at 6 AM to meet my group by 8 (public transportation was involved, so I needed to give myself plenty of time to get there.) I unpacked my outfits first and laid each day's one on my roommate's bed (she wasn't doing recruitment, so the extra space worked to my advantage.) When I woke up in the morning, the sun was just starting to rise and I looked out the window to see everything covered in even more snow. I was pretty nervous about the weather. It hadn't snowed first semester, so this was the first time I was experiencing snow like this. A girl I had met at orientation back in July was in my group for recruitment, so we decided to brave the cold together, get some starbucks, and head to the hotel to meet our group. Outside, gaggles of girls in coats and boots were rushing nervously and giddily down the street, avoiding patches of ice.

When we finally arrived at the hotel, each group was assigned a section and a specific seat. This would be where we spent our down time between parties. It felt like hours before we finally lined up for our first party. My heart was pounding. The sisters in every chapter were wearing jeans and t-shirts with the name of the sorority on the front and their crest on the back. Each shirt was the sorority's color.

The first party I attended was Kiwi. The girl from my high school with whom I had shared a cab the night before had been talking about how much she liked this chapter. She admitted they were sort of dirty rushing her, but it seemed to be working. When they started their door chant, I jumped back. They were the loudest of the day, and whatever party I attended, I could always hear their cheer. I was greeted by a really beautiful, petite girl. I never heard what she said her name was, but we seemed to click right away. I looked around at the decor and really loved their mascot, for it was my favorite animal. We joked about that and talked about our breaks and majors. No one bumped in this party since it was so short. The 15 minutes flew by and I left with a good feeling and a lot of confidence. This wasn't going to be so hard! I had thought I would be stumped for conversation, but that hadn't been a problem at all.

Next was Tangerine. These girls had a reputation that I knew very well, but it sort of intrigued me. I had met one sister at a party and she seemed to love me, so I felt good about this party. There was one other girl I knew in the chapter, but she was a different story. My kind of boyfriend's ex. I already knew she knew it was me, but I tried to keep a smile on my face and resisted searching the room for her. The girls weren't as loud as the last party, and didn't seem as enthusiastic. They were, however, the most beautiful group of girls I had ever seen. I had never felt so plain in my life. I tried not to let my insecurities get to me, but the girl who greeted me was sickeningly gorgeous. And when two more sisters bumped her, they were equally as stunning. The first two girls I talked to seemed mildly interested in what I had to say, but kept glancing around the room, looking for the ex I figured. The last girl I talked to was the nicest and made me feel like I might just fit in here after all. When the 15 minutes were up, we walked out and the last girl (one of the only other brunettes in the room) told me she was looking forward to seeing me again. My confidence continued to grow, but I wasn't sure I was comfortable in the group. Knowing there was at least one sister who already hated me made me extremely uneasy, and I knew her sisters would have her back. I tried to be positive, though.

The next stop on our list was Lime. I was already starting to feel a bit fatigued from being on my feet and traveling up and down the hotel. Their room was the smallest so far, but the walls of windows made it bright. They didn't really decorate at all which was kind of disappointing. I barely remember the girl who greeted me. She was sort of awkward and while we managed to find things to talk about until she was bumped, I was definitely not feeling any sort of connection. The next two girls that came along were really sweet, but again, I just wasn't feeling it. I could tell I didn't have a lot in common with this group. They had a reputation for being kind of standoffish, and it turned out to be spot on. None of them made me feel particularly comfortable, and I left a little bit dejected. I really wanted to like everyone.

The next party required us to travel all the way to the bottom floor for the Watermelon party. Two of my best friends at different schools were in Watermelon, but I already had a feeling going in that they weren't for me. They were definitely not known for being social, and many people didn't even know they were on the campus because of their lack of letter wearing. They also didn't have big philanthropy events, so their presence on campus was very small. This is one of those houses that is really excellent in some parts of the country, but at my school, was not. They were nice, though, and seemed very genuine. This was the first party to have tables, so we all sat, talking to sisters. I told them about my friends who were in Watermelon and they seemed mildly interested. All of the girls I talked to seemed very nervous. The majority seemed to be in the art school, and they talked a lot about it. While I found that interesting, I'm not any kind of artist, so I found it hard to make connections. They were all sweet girls, though, and seemed eager to have me back, which I thought was nice.

LUNCH TIME! We ventured into the mall that was connected to the hotel to get lunch at the food court. While we knew we weren't supposed to talk about the different sororities, we really couldn't help it. What else was there to talk about? We exchanged gossip and talked about the houses we were really liking so far. At that point, I wasn't in love with any of them, but I ranked them like this at the time. Though to be honest, the only one I could remotely see myself in at that point was Tangerine, and that was REMOTE.

Tangerine
Kiwi
Watermelon
Lime

After lunch came the long stretch. Five parties to go. But because there were about 600 girls going through recruitment, there was a lot of waiting around between parties. Up to an hour at some points!

Our first stop after lunch was Banana. I didn't really know anything about this group, so I was nervous and excited. They didn't really do a door chant, but they sang quietly and briefly. I could tell of the bat that they were mellow and very classy girls, many wearing pearls. They didn't come off as snobby at all and seemed genuinely interested in what we talked about. I talked to quite a few girls and each one was a complete doll! Most of them were very pretty in a classic way, and I quickly learned it was a chapter full of dancers like myself. We talked a lot about dance and the team at our school and the classes we took in high school. I really enjoyed myself and was starting to think I could see these girls as my sisters. I left feeling great about them and very comfortable.

Next Stop: Blackberry. This was a brand new chapter on campus! They had just colonized in the fall, and for such a new chapter, their sisterhood seemed strong. They gushed about how excited they were to have a Beta class, and while I wanted something with more history and tradition, I found myself intrigued by the idea of helping shape them. The girl I talked to, however, was a total dud. She was boring and a little bit geeky and talked a lot about her boyfriend, which I found odd since I knew that topic was off limits. Her twin (since they only had one class they did twins instead of big/littles) bumped in and I could see why they were twins. They were equally as boring. I did really like the way the room was decorated, and it looked like there were a lot of really cool girls in the chapter, I just wasn't talking to them. I left feeling somewhat certain they were at the bottom of my list. I was always polite, though, never wanting anyone to think I was rude or uninterested. I kept things like this to myself.

Knowing where I was going next made me very nervous. Raspberry was the house everyone was talking about between parties. They were a very large and very visible chapter on the campus, and everyone seemed to adore them and the idea of being one of their sisters. They had won sorority of the year in 2010 and I often saw the sisters wearing their sorority of the year shirts. I had heard a lot about them during the fall semester, and always hoped to meet a sister at a party, but I never did. I went in knowing no one, and that made me very nervous, because I really wanted to impress them. Well it turned out, that wasn't so hard! The girl who was matched up with me was the nicest and most interesting girl I had met all day. We gabbed and gabbed and never were short on conversation topics. It just flowed completely naturally. What I really loved about the way they organized themselves, was that the girl that greeted the PNM stayed with her for the entire party while other, older sisters rotated in and out. I was able to keep that solid connection with the girl who greeted me, which helped me get along really well with all of her sisters. They were all so bubbly and giggly and I wanted so badly to be a part of it. I found out that pretty much every girl I talked to had the same major as me or was at least in the same program as me. I felt really close to them knowing that. Their decorations were adorable, and so were they! They were all so pretty and put together. I started to understand what rush was really supposed to be like, and I felt completely energized after such a great party! When my greeter walked me out, she gave me the sweetest smile and told me how great it had been to meet me. I felt good about getting asked back, but didn't want to get too cocky. I knew I wasn't the only one hoping to come back.

Next was Blueberry. I was impressed by them because they had the highest GPA requirement, and as someone who takes school very seriously, I appreciated that. I liked the idea of being surrounded by other girls who also were studious but knew how to have a good time. And that was definitely Blueberry. The girls were very bubbly and friendly. The first girl I talked to was super cute and interesting. She started asking me about where I lived on campus and when I told her the dorm she asked what floor. When I told her the floor her eyes widened with excitement. WHAT ROOM?! When I told her she looked like she was about to faint. It had been her old room, and we both had had the bed on the right. This was too crazy and we gushed about how it had to be fate that we would end up talking to each other! Every girl that came over to bump heard the story about our dorm room, and everyone seemed to love it! There was lots of giggling and I felt really comfortable, like these girls had been my friends forever! I absolutely loved them, and as I walked out, smiling ear to ear, the first girl winked at me and smiled.

We had finally reached the last house of the day,Apple. I had once heard that they were kind of an up and comer. They were pretty middle tier, but the word on greek row was that they were on their way to the top. This intrigued me. When I arrived, though, I didn't see it. The girls were nice and friendly, but they didn't strike me as anything special. They seemed friendly with each other, but didn't seem as much like sisters as some of the other chapters had. The president came over and introduced herself, which was really nice. We talked about school and what we were studying and the semester they had all spent abroad. I tried not to let my eyes glaze over when I realized there was nothing in common. We joked about what a long day it had been, and I felt very comfortable with them, but I didn't feel that same jolt I had felt earlier that day.

When it came time to rank on the computer we had to choose our top 7 (they were unranked) and our bottom 2 that would be ranked.

In my head, I already knew how I was feeling, but since it didn't matter to the computer who I liked the best, I'll try to let you guys figure that one out!

For my bottom two, I ranked
1.Watermelon
2. Lime

I was fairly certain I didn't want to go back to either of those. I knew there just wouldn't be anything to talk about for 30 minutes the next day. I went home, called my family to tell them about my day, and tried to relax, eagerly awaiting the next morning. Day 2 would be philanthropy day, and the maximum number of chapters we could go back to was 7.