Day 2 - Philanthropy Day
I woke up bright and early today for the second round of events. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and was happy to be back - one of the things that I love best about my school is that the students genuinely really, really, REALLY like being here. There seriously may be something in the water, but I’ll keep drinking it.
We walked over to the academic building where our recruitment groups met each day (helpful, because this would end up being the building where I would have 95% of my college classes, and it was good to know from the get-go that the stairs to the third floor are seriously murderous on a pair of thighs) to receive our schedules. There was one other girl who lived in my hallway in my recruitment group, and it was nice to have a buddy to help me find stuff and give me advice about which shower flooded and the like. We each went out into the hallway to receive our schedules for the day. Mine read:
Cha Cha Cha
Salsa
Merengue
Mambo
Plena
Tango
Rumba had dropped me, which was totally fine after the whole repetitive conversation and aggressive rushing the day before. No harm, no foul. I was thrilled to have six houses, since I wasn’t sure how being a transfer student going through second semester would affect my chances. My school is less than half in-state, but does tend to pull a lot from a shortlist of high schools and I was worried that not meeting people first semester would prevent anyone from “pulling for me”, so six out of a possible six felt great.
I was off to
Cha Cha Cha first thing. It was pretty consistent with the day prior - really nice girls who seemed very genuine about their interest in their philanthropy, a little on the quieter side. I don’t really remember anything about the girls that I talked to today, but they did leave me with a positive impression of their involvement, sisterhood, and chapter as a whole. It was a lower-energy party, but that could have also just been due to the early start time. Seriously, at School #1, we had the most freakin leisurely start times and recruitment groups were done by hall, so our counselor came to us while we were in pajamas, so leaving the dorm at 7:20, dressed, fed, and made up for a 7:30 meeting and an 8:30 first event was killllllllllling me, especially since I was still behind a time zone in my head.
Salsa was up next. We did a fun craft project and chatted about their philanthropy. They also seemed extremely passionate about their chosen cause. One of the girls that I talked to today was one that presented at an admissions session I had attended during my fall break from School #1 just to make sure that I was still interested in transferring to School #2. She had also transferred at semester and gone right through recruitment, so that was reassuring. She asked me about why I transferred and got to know a little more about my interests. I definitely wanted to come back and learn more about
Salsa!
Merengue was a really fun party today. I met three very different girls again - one had competed abroad on a national sports team, one was sarcastic and studious (both in a good way), and one was a relaxed girl who seemed like a surfer-type but was from a big city. They asked me about transferring, what I wanted to get involved in, and what I had done in high school, and they told me a lot about their philanthropy events which sounded super exciting! I was hoping for another day at
Merengue.
Mambo was pretty much the same as the day before. I talked to two girls here who both had the same first name as me. With the first, we watched another video from their headquarters about their philanthropy and worked on a craft. With the second, we chatted in one of the bedrooms (they had cold dorms) about involvement and interests. I felt like this day didn’t really progress and that I didn’t learn much about their house or feel much of a spark.
Plena was up next. I was paired with a girl who had been in the same group of PNMs and sisters with me the day before. She was very fun and friendly and we had quite a few shared interests. I then talked to a senior who told me more about their sisterhood and philanthropy events. I loved her style and makeup and she just seemed super cool. Unfortunately, as she was giving me my coat on the way out, I definitely called her the wrong name. Wasn’t even close to her name. Oops!!
My last house was
Tango. I could tell that they matched girls, because I got three girls who all had very odd similarities to me and they were all related to things that I had talked about the day before at Tango. Whoever trained these girls to take notes did a darn good job! They were upbeat and peppy again, and most girls had spray tans and bright makeup that contrasted with the dull January sky outside. Their membership chair clearly came prepared. One thing that I found odd was that as a sister would escort me around the house, they would all keep their hand on the small of my back and kind of rub it a little. All of my friends said the same about their experiences at Tango and there were plenty of rumors about the girls holding up numbers behind our backs as we walked or other silly things like that. Ah, how a group of eighteen-year-olds loves to jump to conclusions.
We were allowed to have four houses for the following day, so I ranked mine accordingly:
1s:
Salsa,
Merengue,
Plena, and
Tango
2:
Cha Cha Cha
3:
Mambo