I went through a slight internal debate about whether or not to post what school I was at and decided to just go for it!
I was so excited that the day was FINALLY here! I had waited for the better part of my summer to go through Recruitment and find my sisters. I stalked the Pan website as well as all of the sororities websites and drove by Greek Park (I live 15 minutes away from UCF) more times than I am willing to admit. The day was hot like only Florida can get. They said to dress casual, but everyone was saying that sorority casual isn't shorts and a shirt. So I decided to don a skirt, some pearls, and my biggest smile. I checked in with my Rho Gamma and sat in the tent for what felt like FOREVER! Especially since it was 9:00 in the morning and it was so humid that even my always straight hair looked like it was about to curl! Finally they told us we could go to the door of
Very Berry Paisley. This was the only sorority that didn't line us up in alpha order.
Before we entered each house, the Rho Gammas stationed at that house would teach us the chant for the particular sorority. This being the first house, I had no idea what was going to happen. A Rho Gamma knocked on the door to give the sorority their time warning. After that we learned the chant and the Rho Gammas had us chant it and all of a sudden - trough the closed doors- comes
Very Berry Paisley's chant at full volume. I'm sure my eyes were as wide as saucers and my smile looked like the Cheshire cat's. I'm the kind of girl who likes loud, exciting things and this was exactly that. We do this exchange a few more times and then the doors open to a ton of screaming girls jumping up and down and clapping. We all filed in through the door and soon enough one of the jumping girls is motioning for me to follow her to the great room. The music, jumping and clapping continues for a few more minutes until everyone is inside. Once they closed the doors, there was screaming and jumping until the President and VP of Recruitment introduced themselves. After that everyone turned to each other and started talking.
Very Berry Paisley was one of the sororities that I really liked going in to Recruitment and they did not disappoint. The first girl I talked to was really sweet and chill. I mentioned that I loved Vera Bradley and she then introduced me to her sister that worked in the Vera outlet! I just could not get the perma smile off of my face and I walked out very happy with this sorority.
We gathered our stuff and made our way over to
Peacock. They walked us around to their backyard area where they put us in alpha order and led us around front because we were apparently running late. (My rho gamma group was in the back for the rest of the parties because of the way it was grouped so I really couldn't hear/learn any of the other chants or door songs for the rest of the sororities except three.) A Rho Gamma gave a warning knock and we waited to get inside. This was, again, one of the sororities that I really liked going in. I don't really remember anything spectacular about walking in. They were obviously smiling, but compared to
Very Berry Paisley, this house was quiet. A girl led me to a front room area and when the music stopped we started talking. It turned out she was from the area as well and actually knew one of my cousins! Looking back, I probably should have tried to talk more about myself and less about the people I knew. Overall, I liked the chill atmosphere of the girls and their house was GORGEOUS to top it off. I left really liking these girls as well.
We grabbed our stuff from under the tent and made our way over to
Paprika. They lined us up in order, taught the front of the line the chant and gave the warning knock. All of a sudden I see people pointing up at the second floor windows. Low and behold there were fraternity guys checking out all of us PNMs (
Paprika doesn't have a house so they rent one out from a fraternity). It wasn't that big of a deal, it was actually kind of funny. Then the Panhellenic President comes up on a golf cart and tells us to ignore them. So fine, whatever, interesting start to a party.
Paprika was probably my number 2 sorority going in, so I had VERY high expectations and they fell short. They were fun and energetic, but the conversation was so awkward (partially my fault because in retrospect I was definitely trying to be someone I thought they would want me to be and not myself at all.) So I left a little disheartened that I didn't like them as much as I thought I would.
Ok, I've written SO MUCH for just three houses, I'm going to take a little break and come back
