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Remember what I said about a faster pace? Now I'm up typing this and can't go to sleep. So much for holding out the suspense!
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Day Two of Round Two began and my outlook on things was getting a lot better. There was my serious adoration of chapter Ryan, plus my schedule for the day felt much more full with three parties to attend. I wrote: “The parties at Caitlyn, Caleb, and Taylor all went extremely well! I’m back to being happy. Everywhere felt...comfortable. I was able to stop dwelling on the places that cut me, and focused on how happy I was that some sisterhoods had invited me back.”
At Caleb, the girl who rushed me had done marching band and so we had a few good band dork inside jokes to share. You could tell the sisters love each other.
Then, at Caitlyn, I got some great recommendations about things to check out on campus and around town. I don’t know how or why, but we wound up discussing those tofu chicken nuggets that actually taste delicious and have become my dorm food staple. This, ultimately, was a very good thing, because I find totally random conversation to usually be the best!
Finally, there was Taylor, where my opinion totally turned around. I met that same social chair who had felt boring round one, and it was a thousand times better this time! Then, I was rushed by a recruitment committee member and she told me a hilarious, quirky story that is exactly the sort of story that would happen to me.
I was finally feeling good about all four chapters that had invited me back, which had really removed a lot of that initial sting that I felt upon being released eleven. Because Round Three involved a maximum of six parties, I was not able to rank any chapters as backups, but was happy and hopeful to return to any of the four houses where I’d gone for Round Two.
The next morning, I opened my party list...
...and all four chapters had invited me back! It was onward to Ryan, Taylor, Caitlyn and Caleb. The women I’d met at all four chapters really reflected a lot of great qualities and I found myself admiring them a great deal. While my Round Two invitations had hurt me badly, my Round Three invitations made me feel proud to have been invited back for a third round at four great houses.
At Round Three, parties are significantly longer and feature a sisterhood presentation video. I’m a sucker for a good soundtrack, so there was plenty of opportunity for my heartstrings to be tugged on...
First was Taylor. While my Round Two experience was so great, I was still apprehensive since I’d gotten such an unfortunate first impression of the house in Round One. For whatever reason, when I walked into the house, I just got a good feeling, like there was a reason I’d been made to give Taylor another shot. I was paired with a new sister, one on the executive board, and she showed me photo albums of her experiences and introduced me to her Little Sister. When I watched the video, I definitely got misty-eyed and found myself completely warmed up to this sisterhood. As I walked out the front door, I really hoped that it wouldn’t be my last time to cross through that doorway.
I visited both Caitlyn and Caleb next, though my journal actually includes surprisingly little about them except to say “I would be happy there, but what I was really waiting for was Ryan.”
And then there I was, at Ryan, my beloved first choice since round one, the chapter that had given me the hope to hang in there when those Round Two cuts felt so painful. I wrote: “I was one of the first names called, and the women who rushed me mentioned specific things that I had talked about with my rusher from Round Two. Talk about a smooth operation! I was completely flattered. And the video, oh the video! It had footage from the previous year’s Bid Day. I could see the women running to the house, just like I hopefully will be in two days. And the song? That “Perfect Day” song from Legally Blonde. It’s practically cruel! The sisters sang, and I just felt so convinced that I wanted to spend four years in this sisterhood. And I really did feel like they wanted me too.”
At the end of Round Three, I was feeling very optimistic. I’d look over at the tent by Sandy and start to slip back into feeling down, but would quickly pull it together. For preferentials, PNMs could attend up to three parties, so I elected to attend Ryan, Taylor, and Caitlyn if they’d have me, with Caleb as my backup.
With that, it was onward to preference night...
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