Here we go! It’s now time for the biggest night of formal recruitment, Pref Night! The whole day leading up to the ceremonies later that night was very relaxing and much needed. We were able to sleep in and roll out of bed and go to breakfast together in our sweats! It was so much fun! But, who cares about that! I am sure that you are all dying to know how the night went!
My recruitment group met around 3:00 all dressed up and we all looked gorgeous and so confident. Our Rho Gamma talked to us for a little bit about how tonight would work with the whole strict silence our campus does, and I am sure along with many other campuses. The walking between houses would be silent and so would line up at the houses. The only talking that would be done today was in the houses. After explaining all of this, our Rho Gamma led us in our own candle passing ceremony. We all went around the circle talking about what recruitment meant to us and how it affected the way we felt. Wow, this was very emotional for all of us, and you could really see that we were so comfortable around each other that we could really open ourselves up to each other. Very powerful and it got us in the mood for the night and how special this night is to all the girls in the house too.
Anywhooo, schedule time! I nervously took my schedule from my Rho Gamma and flipped it over not knowing what to expect!
Teddy
Meredith
Christina
I wave of relief came over me! Despite having a small schedule yesterday, I had a full schedule today! Also, they were all my first choices from the day before. There were no negative feelings going into my first house, I know by the end of the night I would really find the house I fit into, and it was definitely one of these. No doubt about it!
Teddy- the atmosphere at this house was completely different then the previous days, and this goes for all the houses. There was no chanting but instead we were called into the house one by one by our names. This was nice because it felt more personal instead of being herded into the house. It was calm and peaceful once you got inside. They had the house decorated so elegantly and beautiful. The same girl that gave me the tour of the house yesterday hosted me, and I was so excited to see her again! We had some amazing conversations, and the small talk was nowhere to be found. I loved it; it was like we were best friends! We watched a slide show that showed pictures of their sisterhood and had tasty chocolate covered strawberries. The song in the slide show made me tear up a little bit, it was very touching! I was really blown away during the ceremonies at this house and it felt so comfortable and natural to me.
Meredith- I have had mixed feelings about this house all week, it had its ups and downs. I was ready to see how I felt about it for the last time. I can honestly say that I really felt no connection during my conversations and during the ceremony for that matter. The house looked gorgeous and so did the girls, but something just wasn’t clicking with me. The conversation that I had with my gal was very forced and I noticed myself picking at my cake a lot because I was…bored. I am really not trying to be disrespectful to these girls and I know that I really could learn to love them, but I didn’t want to have to learn to love them. I wanted to know right then and there if I could see myself there tomorrow. You could really see that the girls cared about each other, especially the seniors, their letters were touching. I left the house feeling like my heart was really beginning to see where it wanted to go and it was drifting away from Meredith.
Christina- Where to start with this house? I will start with the fact that the girls at this house looked gorgeous and so was their home décor. Once we were all inside we were escorted to the basement where we were served H’orderevs that were delicious! It was good to get some real food in my stomach. The girl I talked to was so down to earth and I absolutely loved talking to her. She was even comfortable enough to tell me how Christina was actually not first on her pref night list and when she found that she was a Christina on bid day, she couldn’t have been any happier. She said that she really couldn’t imagine it any other way. This was nice to hear that it’s going to work out in the end. The system works and I would need to let it work it’s magic! After the awesome I had with the girl, another girl that I was pretty good friends with in high school traded spots with her. I was ecstatic! We could never run out of things to talk about and I could really see how much Christina meant to her. It was now time for the ceremony. It was a beautifully candle lit gathering with singing and memory sharing. We all held on to candles that we lit and were invited to recite some lines with the girls, which was really cool that we could be apart of. I was starting to get kind of teary eyed and by the end, I was full on tears. I am not really sure what happened but this wave of emotions just came over me and I couldn’t hold it back. I felt like the biggest sap. I was crying but laughing at the same time because I was dropping hot candle wax on my legs because I was shaking my candle all over the place. I walked out of that house experiencing all the emotions that I had read on GC about pref night.
Whew, here comes the hard part.
A huge group of silent girls made there way to the location where we were making our final decisions. Our vice presidents of recruitment said a few things and then we were left to make our own decisions. I noticed that some girls left, meaning they chose not to pref any of the houses, and others knew exactly what they wanted and headed over to the computers. I needed a few minutes to gather my thoughts and really think thru each of the houses. I knew that I wanted to maximize all my options and would pref all 3 houses, the question was in what order. After a few more moments, I realized it was clear what my choices were……….
These are ranked from favorite to least favorite
Christina
Teddy
Meredith
After I made my final decisions and made it official I came to the conclusion that I will truly be happy at any of those houses and I will have the 4 best years of my life with them.
Next stop…..BID DAY!!!!!!!
