[LAblondeGPhi]

Chicago – I had heard some of the sorority stereotypes over the summer. I couldn’t remember any of the chapter names associated with anything, but I did remember that there was “a popular blonde house”. When I walked into Chicago, I was struck by just how BLONDE this chapter was. I was seated in a very sunny, warm location that distracted me nearly the whole party. The first sister I spoke with seemed a bit nervous, overly excitable, and ditzy. I remember discussing that we were both in the honors program. The second sister (thankfully) moved us to a shady area when she noticed how bright it was in our location. All I recall from this conversation was discussing how I was from Orange County. Her response was that there were so many people at UCLA from Orange County, and that before she came to college, she thought Orange County was a city rather than a whole county. I was exceedingly unimpressed.


Seattle – We immediately launched into house tours at Seattle, and for the first time, I was in a group with a couple of other PNMs. Our rusher was blonde and pretty, and about half way through the tour we found out that she was president of the chapter. I really enjoyed seeing the house, and the president pointed out fun activities they did throughout the year, which I really enjoyed. After the tour, we were handed off to individual sisters for a traditional chat. I was somewhat entertaining the idea of getting back into cheer and dancing in college (which didn’t ever happen), and I really enjoyed my conversation with the sister who discussed how many sisters they had in cheer and dance.


San Diego – To this day, I remember almost nothing of this visit. But again, neutral is better than a negative impression.


San Francisco – It was getting late in the day, so it was already getting darker by this point. This house used a stand-up cocktail party type of rotation, so there was a house tour and no sitting. I was paired with a pretty blonde, and we later were joined by another sister. I didn’t particularly enjoy the conversation – it felt kind of blah and superficial.


Atlanta – the chapter that I already had an “eh” impression of from the Welcome BBQ. The first girl I was paired with was just ok, but I recall having to use some of my “backup PNM questions” that we were given at orientation, so I asked her why she chose Atlanta. To my shock, she replied that she had really wanted New York City on pref night, but didn’t get them on Bid Day, so she stuck it out with Atlanta. The second sister was much better – she had actually been my tour guide the previous spring at my honors department welcome day, and I had a really wonderful impression of her. This conversation went much better, and I remember leaving kind of confused by this whole chapter.


At the end of this round, we picked our top 8, and ranked then next three. My selections:

Favorites: Denver, Seattle, Dallas

Rounding out the Top: Houston, Washington DC, Atlanta, San Francisco, San Diego

#2: New York City
#3: Los Angeles
#4: Chicago