Thanks for the positive feedback everyone! Here is part three of four...
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So my sophomore year of college began this fall, and I decided to rush again. Throughout freshman year, I had made friends with girls in almost every sorority on campus; in fact my closest friends were Aquamarines. I had seen how EVERY sorority was filled with amazing women, and that most people (at least, the people I wanted to be around) did not care about the "rankings" or stereotypes of the sororities. I was going into recruitment with a MUCH better outlook, because I knew I would be lucky to be a part of any sisterhood on my campus.
Going through recruitment a second time was a little less scary this time around, since I knew what to expect now. Of course, I was still EXTREMELY nervous, and I knew that nothing was guaranteed for me just because I was friends with some girls in certain houses. However, what I think I had going for me this year was not caring so much about superficial things like my clothes, hair, and nails (I mean, I still looked put-together, I just knew that how I looked wasn't the biggest factor) and instead focusing on having great conversations with the girls, being genuine, and making connections.
Day one started off visiting all seven houses. I'll summarize my experience at each one.
EMERALD: I don't remember much about this party since it was my first one of the day, but none of the conversations really stood out to me.
AQUAMARINE: Loved, loved, loved the girl I talked to here. It turned out we had a bunch in common, and she was friends with one of my good friends in this house. Talking to her felt like I was talking to an old friend, and we had plenty to talk about for the whole party.
PEARL: I really wanted to like this house. I felt like I SHOULD like it. It's a favorite for most PNMs, and my best friend is a Pearl at another school. But I was extremely disappointed. This was another house where we only talked to one girl the whole time, and I know I can't judge a whole house off one girl, but it was just a painful conversation. She seemed pretty disinterested, and when I asked how she was involved in the house, she told me, "I'm not really involved, I didn't actually do that much freshman year."
AMETHYST: This was a weird experience. I knew it would be a little awkward because of last year, and one of the girls I talked to even made reference to last year, so I knew they remembered me. I had polite conversations with everyone I talked to, but I knew the whole situation was awkward.
RUBY: I was blown away at this house. The so-called "bottom" house I had written off the year before. I was rushed by two really great girls, and our conversation felt totally natural, like I was just talking to friends in a casual setting. I was super impressed by Ruby.
TOPAZ: I had a so-so time here, but I wasn't really connecting that well with my rusher, and the conversation felt superficial.
DIAMOND: Loved this house a lot. My rusher was a sophomore, and when she found out I was too, she said, "Oh thank God, we can skip all that boring freshman intro stuff." We had a great conversation about traveling and the study abroad program we both wanted to do, and bonded over the fact that we both lived in what's considered to be the worst sophomore apartments on campus.
By the time they day was over, I was exhausted but felt pretty happy. Again, like last year, we put down the six houses we would like to return to the next day. The house I "dropped" was Amethyst, because I knew it was unlikely they would invite me back.
I was super nervous the next morning before opening my schedule. I closed my eyes as I opened it. When I looked down, I was elated. I had five houses! Diamond, Aquamarine, Ruby, Topaz, and Emerald had all called me back. Pearl and Amethyst hadn't, but I didn't care at all because I was so happy with the ones that did.
I'll summarize all my day two (Philanthropy) parties.
DIAMOND: The girl I was paired with here was, incredibly, a girl from my Pi Chi group the previous year, who I had remained friends with. It was nice talking to someone I knew, but then for the second half of the party, I was put with a different rusher and two other PNMs, which was a situation I hadn't encountered before and didn't really like.
AQUAMARINE: By far my favorite house I went to. I got to talk to another girl who I had lots of mutual friends with, which just took so much of the pressure off. Aquamarine has a philanthropy I just LOVE and was super involved with in high school, so I got a chance to share that.
RUBY: Another great day at this house. My conversations weren't quite as amazing as the day before, but I still really liked this house and knew I wanted to be back the next day.
TOPAZ: Okay, so I know I mentioned I wasn't super enthusiastic about their philanthropy before, and I guess I should clarify that what I mean is: I definitely support their cause, just not the charity they are partnered with due to the charity's stance and how they use their funds. It's a real sticking point for me, but obviously I wouldn't say anything like that out loud during my rush party. It didn't help that the girl rushing me didn't seem to want to talk at all while we were making our craft, and wouldn't look AT me when she was talking to me. So I left this party with a mediocre feeling.
EMERALD: I had a good time here, but like the day before, nothing stood out to me too much. One thing I disliked was that one girl I talked to belittled Aquamarine's philanthropy (which is something I've always been very involved with) while talking up Emerald's. I don't think she meant it to be spiteful, but it still bothered me. Another thing she said was how great Emerald looks on her resume. I got the feel from these girls that their sorority was just one of many activities for them, and while I admire them for being super involved and leaders on campus, I'm not exactly that type of person.
At the end of this day, we put down which four houses we would like to visit the next day. The house I "dropped" was Topaz, due to the reasons I mentioned above.
I'll stop here in the story. At this point, I was feeling so much better than I had last year, even though I was still super nervous. I loved most of the houses I had visited, but I was scared because I knew that a lot could change before Skit Day tomorrow...
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To be continued...