Blondie's Retro Rush Story at Southern Private University

[ComradesTrue]

So, I wore some atrocious floral dress that also had shoulder pads. Bleg. However, that isn't near as bad as one rushee, who was in a full length velvet dress. Umm… it’s friggin 102 degrees! What are you thinking? Most people wore nice dresses, but no one except velvet girl was in semi-formal.

Tootie- The girl that had picked me up on the first day picked me up again. I really, really liked her, and she had made a point to greet me at every party. We both really opened up with each other and she told me what Tootie had meant to her. After about 30 minutes of talking, they started the ceremony part. We stood in a circle, each Rushee had a lit candle, and we were asked to make a wish as we blew it out. Following this, the Tooties did something that if I shared, it would give away what group it is, so I won’t. It was meant to be a serious, moving experience, but I noticed that the Rushee next to me was stifling a giggle. Yeah, come to think of it, this was a bit cheesy, and it kind of made me smile too as she and I made eye contact. Following this, we paired back up with our active for a few last words. I was kind of sad to be leaving Tootie, and I remember hugging the girl that preffed me.

Next up was Mallory. I was paired with an active that I had not met before. They too had a very moving ceremony, but at this one we stayed in our seats. The actives presented us with gifts (that we weren’t allowed to keep… confusing!) and with personal letters. I distinctly remember being moved by her words and tearing up. I am still perplexed as to how I keep getting invited back, but am really starting to believe that they see something in me that maybe I don’t even see in myself. The Mallories have such a tight bond, and everyone that I have met has been so impressive. Everyone wanted to be a Mallory and I did too.

Last party: Carol Seaver. Again, I was paired up with someone that I had not met before, but I saw this a as a positive since I had really only started truly meeting people here yesterday. She was a sophomore, so this was her first rush on the other side. The first thing she said to me was “it’s been a long week hasn’t it? I bet you are pretty wiped out… I know that I am, and honestly I am kinda tired of all this.” Huh? I didn’t know whether to be appalled or to hug her! All night people had just wanted to talk about how great their chapter is, while we had to sit there and be "on." But... this girl admittedly just wants to chill with me. Although I was taken aback at first, this actually proved to be just what I needed for the last party of the night. We ended up just having a real conversation, occasionally she interjected something about Carol Seaver, but mostly we just kind of laughed (quietly) together. It was great, and I decided that I really liked her. The Carol Seavers also had a brief ceremony… more lit candles involved… and seniors shared why they liked Carol so much.

So we were required to walk back to the Student Center in silence. Once there, we were asked to rank the houses that we had preffed. Some people quickly marked their sheets and left. The girl whose name was right after mine in the alphabet (and thus, we had been next to each other all week) was in tears. I mean serious all-out crying. She had not been cut by a single house all week and was now distraught. I remember how she just kept saying “this is a lifetime choice.” “Tonight I have to decide my entire life.” I remember thinking that wow- that is pretty heavy. I was honestly just thinking about the next few years.

Turns out, out of the 50ish folks in our Rush group, she and I were the last to leave. I loved each house that I went to, but for such very different reasons. Even my reaction in each house tonight had been different … warm fuzzies at Tootie, tears at Mallory, and laughter at Carol Seaver. I made pro and con lists, and I still couldn’t get things straight. I loved every single person at Tootie, but should I be concerned about a possible negative reputation? I felt that Mallory really saw something in me, but would I spend the rest of college feeling like I didn’t measure up? Or was I really good enough for them, but was just insecure at the moment? The Carols were certainly fun and I liked that they were laid back. It was also impressive that so many campus leaders were a part of this group. But why did I never get warm tinglies there?

I changed my order at least 5 times before I turned the paper in.

Bid Day was tomorrow at 4. We were told to be in our dorm rooms between 9-11am so that the Rho Chis could find us in case there was no match. (remember… no cell phones back in the day…. We used these cumbersome things called “land lines” and they even had cords!!)

So, what do you think? What order should the houses be in?