Tonight we had orientation at the Union theater. We divided up into our Rho Chi groups (yes, Wisconsin is still calling them Rho Chis) and had to fill out twelve copies of the same card with all our information on it -- it took forever! Every group has three Rho Chis, and our groups are all super-friendly and nice. The Rho Chis told us that about 400 girls had pre-registered, and usually 300-400 register the night of orientation, so they were pleasantly surprised at the number of people going through recruitment.
Then all the Rho Chis did a skit for us, where they sang, in tune to the Brady Bunch theme song, about a girl who goes off to college and joins a sorority. After that, all the Panhel execs gave little speeches about philanthropy, hazing, etc.. The recruitment chair gave a little speech about how national sororities aren't like Sigma on "Sorority Life," and then we broke up into our Rho Chi groups.
As an icebreaker, our Rho Chis had us introduce ourselves and tell the story behind our favorite scar, which seemed kind of weird at first but actually turned out to be really fun because you weren't all trying to impress each other with how cool and perfect you were; instead we got to hear stories about how so-and-so scraped her knees falling off her bunk bed or from tripping down the stairs.
Thanks for the advice on clothing. I ended up wearing a black top and a knee-length denim skirt, which I think worked well -- a lot of girls were dressed similarly. I thought that rush itself would be dressier than it appears it will be; I planned on skirts for the first round, sundresses for the second and a semi-formal dress for the third, and for each of the clothing suggestions those are the dressiest options, while I assumed they'd be somewhere in the middle. That's not a problem though. It'll make a good impression.
As for the recruitment schedule, we start out with an ice cream social on Sunday. I'm not sure if we'll be meeting the sorority girls or just getting to know the people in our Rho Chi groups, and the other groups, better. Then on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday we have first round parties, and on Thursday we rank the eleven sororities. Then second round parties aren't until Tuesday and Wednesday of the next week (we can go to up to 7 houses) and then for Pref, which is on Friday, we can visit up to 3. Then Bid Day isn't until SUNDAY -- I can't believe we'll have to wait over 24 hours to find out our bids. That gives me TWO nights that I won't be able to sleep!
Personally, I think the schedule is more spread out than it needs to be. I'm pretty sure it's that way at least in part due to the fact that we've got two home football games, both on Saturdays, and they don't want to interfere with that, but still. I'm going to have to learn how to be patient over the next few weeks!