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So the next day I went to meet with my Rho Chi group – for Round 1 we could attend up to 7 parties.
My invitations were from:
Pluto
Mercury
Neptune
Venus
Mars
Jupiter
I was disappointed that I only had 6 invitations for Round 1, but my rho chi was great and said that many groups don’t take juniors but not to worry to keep an open mind and have a good time at the parties. The great news was that I was going back to Jupiter and Mars and was very happy that I was going back to Venus and Pluto. I was interested in learning more about Neptune, but I knew that I did not want to be a Mercury. I think my biggest disappointment was not getting an invitation back to Saturn. However, I remembered my experience the day before and also that there were other groups I was really excited about potentially joining. Plus, I was really excited to go back and see Pluto and Venus as going into rush I did not expect that I would be a fit with either of those groups.
I don’t remember the order of these parties with the exception of the first two. Since we didn’t have houses and the rush parties were held in campus rooms they had to spread the Round 1 and Round 2 parties over two days. The first day of Round 1, I wore a dressy red dress with hose and back heels.
At that time, there were skits at both Round 1 and Round 2 so I was interested to see what they were all about. My first party was Pluto and I wasn’t really sure what to expect in terms of conversation. The party was ok, but the skit reinforced the negative stereotype I had about Pluto and so I was disappointed after having met a great girl the day before. During the conversation, we began talking about classes and there was a Pluto who had the same weirdo teacher that I did for Government. While talking about this kooky guy and what he did during class one day, I knocked my drink out of my hand and spilled coke all over myself. How embarrassing. I was mortified. Needless to say, I was not going to be surprised if I didn’t get invited back to Pluto.
After that party was over, I had a break which was good since my dress needed to dry off. I was ready to drop out after one party that day. I think the only thing that kept me from going and finding my rho chi to drop out was that I had Jupiter next and Jupiter was the group I was super excited about going to. I also knew I needed to press on and not drop out because I had one bad party. So I went to Jupiter and had the best time EVER! The theme was a 50’s/60’s party and the girls wore letter sweaters with the Jupiter letters on them. They had skirts and had their hair pulled up and wore keds shoes. It was really cute and their skit was a lot of fun. I told the girl rushing me after the skit that I enjoyed it so much I was ready to get up and start dancing myself! I didn’t realize it at the time, but telling them how happy I was to be there and how much I enjoyed their skit was a really good thing. It was honest, but I later learned how important it was to convey those things. So I left there with even more conviction that Jupiter was a leading group that I wanted.
I remember the Venus Round 1 party as well. The girls wore ballroom dresses in pretty pastel colors and the skit was a play on Cinderella with the fairy godmother granting the wish that the rushee could be a Venus too. The girl that rushed me was so pretty and polished and my high school friend also stopped by to say hello which I really appreciated. I didn’t know that I was really the ‘Venus type’, but had a good time at their party and enjoyed meeting more girls there.
I don’t remember the details about the Mars party except that I met a great girl, Stacy, and learned that the chapter president for Mars, Leigh, was a girl that I knew from Elementary school and her mother taught school with my mother. There was also another Mars that I had been to second and third grade with before my family moved. Nancy had mismatched the year before (back before you were guaranteed a bid if you got invited to Pref) and had become a charter member of Mars. So I still had Jupiter as my number 1, but Mars was right behind as I had some built in connections and had also met other great girls I really liked.
I did go to Neptune and I met super girls and could certainly see myself there. However, I wasn’t ‘in love’ with this group like I was Jupiter and Mars.
I went to Mercury as well to finish Round 1. I did not like any of the girls I talked to and their skit was not on par with any of the other groups I visited. They seemed to be off on their own path which was fine, but when you are comparing to other groups you have to compete and they were not competing with similar skits/dress etc.
So after Round 1 was over on Wednesday, we started class on Thursday and had no rush. Round 2 would be over 2 days (Friday/Saturday), so I had to wait until Friday to get my invitations back for Round 2.
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