[crosscaravan]

About an hour and a half had given me more than enough time to get ready the day before, so since I was supposed to meet Mandy at 10:30 Sunday morning, I set my alarm for 9:00. Alison was, once again, gone. Dress code that day was "still relaxed and casual, but dressier than day one," so I chose a navy-blue dress that was similar in style to this, with a white ribbon belt and white stitching on the hem. I had white sandals that sort of criss-crossed over my feet that I loved, so I wore those. I left my hair down again, but this time used a little eyeliner and a very light mascara instead of just using foundation and a light blush.

10:15 rolled around and I went to meet Mandy for my schedule. Her expression seemed strangely sympathetic as she handed me my envelope, but I didn't think anything of it until I realized that there were more breaks on the list than there were chapters. I'd been dropped by all of the chapters but two. My schedule, minus the breaks, was as follows:

Andorra
Sri Lanka

I wasn't really sure what to think. Being dropped by Hong Kong wasn't much of a surprise, but I'd thought things had gone well at New Zealand, Seychelles, and Malta. Was it normal to be dropped by two-thirds of the chapters on the first day? I didn't know. So I asked. Mandy explained that it was more uncommon to have a full schedule than it was to be dropped - and she wasn't sure how many chapters each girl would be visiting, but that it only takes one and that I should give the two chapters I'd be seeing that day a chance. I intended to - no way was I going to just quit - but despite her reassurances, I was still a little worried, especially as I heard other girls discussing where they'd be going with their friends...

Because I was only visiting two chapters that day, I was going to be starting later and leaving earlier than the other PNMs. That was manageable. "I can do this," I told myself when it was time for me to head to my first party. "I can do this."

God, I hoped I could do it.

Andorra - I'd enjoyed myself at this chapter the day before, so I was really hoping I'd like it as much today! According to the scribbles in my recruitment booklet, I had very high hopes. And they certainly were not dashed! This time we were paired up and seated so that the chapter president could give us a quick talk about Andorra's history as a whole and about their history on our campus. After that, we got to talk to our actives. This time, the first girl I talked to was named Jenna, a junior who had pledged Andorra at another campus and then affiliated with this chapter after moving here. She talked about how the sisters were very different from campus to campus but that the bonds of sisterhood were still strong no matter where she went. Honestly, that sounded amazing - being able to go anywhere without being really alone was something that I was really liking about sororities, and it was easy to see what had attracted these girls to it. After that, Jenna and I talked about the different fundraisers they did on campus, and as we were talking about one of their bigger events that a lot of other chapters participated in, her sister Brianna joined us. They were really patient and answered all of my questions, even the ones that seem pretty silly in hindsight. And I was full of questions - I'd never experienced anything like this in high school, and it was amazing to see what these chapters had to offer and what individual girl brought to the table. We talked a little bit about their philanthropy, since it had come up along with their chapter's events, and Brianna told a story about how she'd done some work for the cause even before joining Andorra, since one of her family members had been affected by the things their philanthropy was raising awareness for. Once Brianna finished her story, Jenna said she had to go, and Brianna and I ended up talking until the end of the party.

Sri Lanka - I wasn't really sure what to expect here. I felt bad for ranking them so low the night before; it seemed like these girls had seen more in me than I had in them, and I hoped this wasn't going to come back to bite me later. I made up my mind to do my best. When we were led in this time, we were taken into a side room where they had a video projector set up, and after a really brief talk they showed us a video about their history on our campus and their sisterhood. I had a bunch of questions I wanted to ask, but it seemed like it would be rude to talk in the middle of the video, so I waited until it was finished and we were taken around the house to ask them. My active, Rebecca, answered my questions enthusiastically and since I noticed there had been pictures of a group of them at the beach in the video, I asked about it - it had been a joint spring break trip they'd taken together, and from the sound of things it had been a ton of fun. I grew up around the beach, so it was nice to hear about something familiar! Rebecca and I talked a lot about the beach and things we liked to do outside of school - I loved skiing, but couldn't balance on skis very well, and she was an avid snowboarder. From there the conversation shifted to things we liked doing while in school - sports for both of us, and Rebecca mentioned that Sri Lanka had a team that competed in the volleyball intramurals, and that they did kickball as well, which sounded like a ton of fun. While we were talking about kickball, another sister, Taylor, bumped in and we continued the kickball discussion before talking about some of the events they did around campus that had appeared in their video. I was interested in these - their philanthropy centered around something that was very important to me, personally - and Taylor was really informative and seemed eager to answer my questions. We were still talking when we found out it was time to go.

My rankings for this round didn't matter so much, but Mandy made sure I filled out the card anyway and wished me luck. I was still liking Andorra a bit more than Sri Lanka, but I was enjoying what I'd learned about them that day and couldn't wait to go learn more about their philanthropy.

When I got back to my room, Alison asked me how I'd liked visiting Andorra and Sri Lanka. According to her she'd been off-campus all day, but I had no idea how she could have known my schedule! She warned me about getting too attached to any one chapter, brought up another movie to watch, and talked about an assignment she had due in class the next day while I wrote an email to my mom - I'd talked her ear off the night before and she'd asked that I email her about my first and second days so she could read it over when she wasn't busy with work. Whoopsie!

I wasn't really looking forward to having to wait 'til classes were over to see my next round's schedule, but I was looking forward to the next day of parties.