[delusions]

All right, let's move on to round 2!

We had an early roll call the next morning. I think it was probably 7:00, with parties starting at 8, but I can’t remember for sure. I did not have any trouble falling asleep that night, which was a small miracle to be honest. When I woke up the next morning, my heart was in my throat as I checked my email to see my schedule:

Renzulli
Jamie
Danny
Maria
Abigail
Garrett
Henry
Jackie
Frank

Wow! I almost had a full schedule back. I remember being excited that I had 9 houses initially. However, I knew that when I saw Maria and Jackie on my list that I had not gotten back my top 10. I wished that Nikki, Erin, and Eddie had given me another chance, but I didn’t take it personally. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Jamie back on my list. I wasn’t sure that I would get invited back there because of the competitiveness, but I was excited to be back for another round. Overall, I was excited for House Tour round because I wanted to see the interior of all these beautiful houses!

My first house of the morning was Renzulli. The inside of this house, as I said earlier, was very open. They also had window seats, which I really liked. The girl taking me on the tour was very nice, and I don’t remember much about the conversation, but I did like her.

Next up was Jamie. The first girl I talked to here was pretty quiet, and we talked about tennis. I had played in high school (I was really bad and just played for fun). Our conversation didn’t last very long because then I went on a tour. I enjoyed seeing the house, and after the tour was over, I think I talked to 3 more girls. They bumped a lot again this round. I remember thinking that I hardly got enough time to talk to anyone to really get a feel for the house, but that everyone I talked to was nice.

After that, I went to Danny. I was really looking forward to going back here because I’d loved the girls I’d talked to here during the first round. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have the same experience this round. The girl I talked to had a lot of energy, whereas I was feeling more low-key. Also, when I asked about the how long the requirement was for them to live in-house, she said, “Well, we don’t really see it as a requirement, it’s something that we get to do!” Living in-house was a major perk of being in a sorority in my eyes, so I wasn’t asking because I saw it as a necessary evil. I was just curious, and I had wished she wouldn’t have assumed that I’d meant it that way. I left feeling not as wowed as I had been during the first round.

My last house before lunch was Maria. I liked both of the girls that I talked to at Maria that day. However, I felt really bad because I kept yawning during our conversations. It truly wasn’t because I was disinterested; I was just very tired from the past few days. I hoped that they wouldn’t hold it against me. Their house was very cute, and I enjoyed getting to see it. I was able to talk to both of them about living in house and what they liked about it.

I had a pretty short lunch break where I think I just sat and stared out the window after I was done eating. Thankfully, my first party after lunch was at Abigail, which was close to the student center.

I don’t remember much about the party at Abigail. I remember that it smelled good in the house, and that I liked the girl I talked to. She told me she was losing her voice, which was very relatable. Their house was cute, and I remember enjoying the camaraderie between the two girls giving the house tour.

After Abigail was Garrett. The Garrett house was kind of far away from Abigail, and I had 15 minutes to get there, which by recruitment standards is barely any time at all. There was a really aggressive Gamma Chi yelling at us that we needed to hurry up and line up for the next round, which annoyed me because she had to know that we were already stressed enough with everything going on, and we didn’t need someone yelling at us when we were trying to run around in the heat and heels! Anyway, I absolutely loved Garrett today. I really connected with the girl I was talking to; we were both “old souls,” and she was so easy to talk to. The house tour was nice as well. I really wanted to come back tomorrow, but I was worried that the fact that I was a legacy was the only reason I got invited back to that round. Garrett had a competitive recruitment, and I didn’t think my chances for coming back the next round were that high since I didn’t know anyone there. So, I tried not to feel too attached.

Jackie was next. I remember the first girl I talked to at Jackie complained about the weather. The conversation wasn’t all that great. After my house tour, I was bumped, and I legitimately could not hear the girl I was talking to at all. I do not remember one thing about that conversation because it was so loud in the room we were in that it hurt my ears. I was not very impressed when I left.

My second to last house of the day was Henry. Oh Henry…where to begin. As a reminder, this was the house my cousin was in. They had a competitive recruitment as well, but I’ll talk about that more later. Once again, I did not talk to my cousin, which in retrospect was weird. I mean, don’t they want to pair up actives who know PNMs with said PNM? Anyway, my experience at Henry today was, in a word, awkward. The first girl I talked to before going on my house tour asked me what I was passionate about. Throughout the week when I had gotten that question in the past, I had said that what I was passionate about was doing the right thing regardless of the situation. I know it’s not a typical answer, but it really was true. So I said that, and then the girl asked about an example of a time when I had done that. The only story that immediately came to mind is one that, looking back on it, probably was not a great answer. I told her about this time when we had a break at my school, so my friends and I went to Walmart because why not. Well, while we were there, a few of my friends had decided that they wanted to try to get kicked out of Walmart. I was honestly horrified that they wanted to do that. I had a job in high school as many do, and the thought of intentionally causing trouble for the staff was repulsive to me. Naturally, I staunchly refused to participate in this, partially because I didn’t want to bother the staff and partly because I knew my mom would kill me if I pulled a stunt like that. So, I told my friends absolutely not, and I started to walk away. They thankfully didn’t end up doing anything. It was kind of hard for me to do that because of peer pressure, but I did it anyway. When I told the active rushing me, her reaction was kind of like …ok then. After that, I had my house tour, and then I talked to another girl. I did not like this conversation at all. The active was asking me really deep, personal questions, but she wasn’t even paying attention to my answers when I was talking. When I told her things, she would just move right on to another question while staring off into the distance. I left Henry not feeling great, but I knew that I would be inviting them back because of my silly plan.

My last house of the day was Frank. It was getting to be the evening by the time I got there, and I was ready for the day to be done. I felt much more relaxed at Frank, and their house was very beautiful on the tour. The active I talked to was really laid back and nice, and I didn’t feel like I had to pretend to be super outgoing around her. It was a good way to end the day.

Immediately after I got done at Frank, I had to hurry to the campus building so I could pref and then go eat dinner. We could attend up to 6 parties the next day, so I was able to release 3. These were my rankings:

1. Renzulli
1. Jamie
1. Abigail
1. Henry
1. Frank
1. Garrett

7. Danny
8. Jackie
9. Maria

On my “release” list, I remember it being a toss-up between Danny and Abigail, but I ended up wanting to keep Abigail because I had had 2 decent days at Abigail versus one good day and one not so great day at Danny. After preffing, I hurried to the student center and ate dinner, and I made it back to my dorm just in time for our nightly meeting. I don’t fully remember what we talked about; truthfully, I was just anxious to get my schedule back for the next morning.

That's it for house tour! Stay tuned for round 3.