[MyPNMStory]

Finally it was time to move into residence and begin my University experience! After moving into my room, I wandered over to meet my Rho Gammas (who I will call A, B, and C) and my RG group. I was a little nervous meeting everyone, after all, these girls were my competition!, but they were all very friendly. We were told what to expect and what was/was not appropriate forrecrutiment, before being told to meet back at Castle Leoch in the morning to find out which houses we would be visiting that day (Our Open House day actually took place over two days).

Back in the residence hall, I took a couple of hours to get to know some of the other girls staying on my floor. One of them was in my RG group, but none of the others were. Since we had an early start, I soon headed off to bed.

Before I go any further, I feel I should mention that Greek Life is a big deal in my family. My mother was a Frank, her two sisters were each a Jenny and an Ian, and my older sister was a Roger (she was a Junior at another school). I also had at least one recommendation for each of the groups on my campus.*

The next morning I went over to Castle Leoch with the girl from my floor and RG group, who will be known from now on as Lizzie. We met up with the rest of our group, and found out where we would be headed that day. Our group would be headed to nine houses that day! *Our schedule looked kind of like this:

Jamie
Claire
Brianna
Geilie
Laoghaire
Roger
BREAK
Ian
Hamish
Brian

We were told that we would be spending 20minutes at each house and that this was just an opportunity to get to meet all of the different houses on campus. Coming from out of state, I knew of many of the sororities' reputations at the National level (I'd done my research!) but I was looking forward to figuring out what each group was like on the local level.*

First stop was Jamie. This house was gorgeous! As we lined up outside, I remember being soo nervous, especially when the banging started inside. This is it, I thought. The girls burst through the door shouting a cheer, and they all looked so well-put together and polished. We went inside and I started off talking to this girl who was really sweet. All we really chatted about was what I had done over the summer, what I had been involved with through high school, what I thought of residence, etc. But she totally put me at ease and made me feel comfortable. Before I knew it, the 20 minutes were up!*
As I walked outside, I remember being worried that's had only spoken with the one girl - would that hurt me? I'd liked the chapter and really felt comfortable there.

We arrived at Claire a couple of minutes later. This time I was expecting the banging and cheering, so I wasn't so shocked. We went inside, and again, the house was gorgeous! This house must have been a little smaller, because we were assigned two PNMs per active here. I quickly decided that I was *not* a fan of this .. I didn't really care what this other PNM had done with her summer (I was selfish, I know..) But then I decided to make the most of it - I tried tie in things that she said to bring the conversation back around to me, but then the active would ask her another question. I felt that chances of me returning here were pretty slim, when we were "bumped" to another girl. This girl was really nice, and she did an awesome job of making both of us feel welcome without either of us feeling left out of the conversation. I left this house feeling so-so.*

Next we moved on to Brianna. I felt a little out of place at this house - all the girls were really tall, and I was constantly looking up to everyone I was talking to. I talked with three girls here, and although the conversations really seemed to flow, I still didn't like this house quite as much as Jamie.*

At this point, I was already starting to get tired, only three houses in. My feet were sore from walking, my cheeks hurt from smiling, and I was getting tired of the same questions with every single girl. We arrived at Geilie. Based on my research on the websites, I expected this house to be one of my favorites, and I was not disappointed. I spoke to only two girls here, but there were no awkward pauses in the conversation, it really seemed to flow. The second girl I spoke to even asked if I had any questions, so I asked a bit about their local philanthropy and their sisterhood events, and she was practically glowing while she was talking about it, which was really good to see. before I knew it, it was time to move on again.*

Laoghaire was next. I had mixed feelings going in - based on their National website, their philanthropy was to one I felt as strongly about as some of the others, but they seemed to have a really strong emphasis on sisterhood. I was eager to learn more about this group, and was a little disappointed that none of the three girls I spoke to gave me a chance to ask any questions of my own. I wanted to have the chance to come back and find out more about this group, but knew I would not be heartbroken if it wasn't in the cards.*

Last up before lunch was Roger, the first of my legacy houses. My sister was a Roger at her school, so I was very excited to see how this chapter compared to what she had told me of her experience. The first girl I spoke to asked me about what I knew about Roger through my sister. It was really nice to talk about something other than my summer and my grades at this point! A second girl came over and introduced herself, asked me a few generic questions, and then explained that she was the Recruitment Chair, and took me over to meet the President. I was surprised to see how "ordinary" the President looked next to the other girls I had met, but glad to see that their criteria didn't seem to be as "fit the mold" as some of the others. I couldn't wait to come back here.*

Finally, it was lunch time! Time to take off my shoes, sit down, eat, and touch up my hair and makeup! I was already exhausted., and not looking forward to trekking around to three more houses. I took some time to "rank" the houses I had been to so far, with notes to help me remember which house was which - and I was already getting confused after only six houses! How was I ever going to choose just one?!

After a (not long enough!) lunch break, we made our way over to Ian. My aunt had been an Ian,so I was looking forward to seeing how the chapter stacked up compared to my research and what my aunt had told me about her chapter. I was impressed with what I saw, but not blown away. The first girl I talked to seemed to be really tired (at this point so was I, it had been a long day for everyone) so I tried not to take it personally. The second girl was really bubbly, but it was hard to get a word in edgewise! I felt like this was a great chapter, but maybe not the one for me..

Next was Hamish. Based on my research, this was one of the smaller sororities, so I was concerned that in terms of networking post-graduation that this house wouldn't have as much to offer. Then I went inside and felt instantly at home. All of the girls seemed so genuine, and all of my conversations seemed to flow. I felt like these girls really wanted to get to know me. I fell in love with this house.*

Last stop of the day (finally!) was Brian. The house itself, and all of the actives, were drop dead gorgeous. I spoke to four girls here, all but one of whom were super-friendly, and I remember thinking "this is exactly the kind of girl I want to be!" I don't really remember much else from this visit, except that I was ready to just go home and sleep!

After Brian, I headed back to my room, and took some time to finish my rankings from the day (even though we didn't rank until we were done all the tours) to help me figure out some kind of order, thinking I would just "slot in" the other houses the next day after visiting them. After day one, my order of preferred houses was:

Hamish
Roger
Jamie
Brian
Brianna
Geilie
Claire
Laoghaire
Ian