Yet another retro recruitment!

[AlwaysSAI]

I'm changing my vote to Marseille!!

GO Marseille!!! GO!

[mystikchick]

France! Yay!

Hmm...Lyon, the classy, fancy, cuisine to die for second city of France. Lovely Bordeaux, with it's small town feel but rolling vineyards and beaches nearby. Giverny, beautiful gardens immortalized by Monet. Still, I'm going with Marseille, often looked down upon, but if you take the time to explore beneath the rough exterior (as I did), you may just fall in love....

Allez Marseille!

[kelcaopi]

The next day we could attend up to 4 houses again. I got my invitations and was happy to see that I was invited back to all of them. But so was everyone else in my Rho Chi group so that didn’t over excite me too much. Generally the only people that were cut after the first round were the ones that didn’t have the gpa or had done something really bad! I wore a blue sundress, espadrilles, and pearls

First we visited Giverny. I don’t really remember much about the girls I met other than we made the usual small talk and they seemed friendly but we didn’t really connect. Still feeling a little apprehensive about the house in general I asked as many questions about social events as possible. In hindsight they might have thought I was a little too interested in the party scene but I didn’t really think about that at the time. They showed a slideshow and it looked like they had fun but I wasn’t 100% convinced. They said that they had parties with every fraternity on campus and I was impressed with that. Their skit was fun to watch but looking around I thought the actives just didn’t seem very into the skit. The looked slightly embarrassed which made me uncomfortable for them. I was pretty confused about this house in general. These girls were just sweet and down to earth, which was who I was also, but I didn't want "nice" I wanted "stunning."

Next was Bordeaux. Again I had an amazing time here. Sally picked me up and introduced me to a lot of other girls. They were so easy to talk to and again they seemed to hang on my every word. The president and rush chair also came over and talked for a while. I started to feel like maybe they were too interested and I felt like they were being kind of fake. I was really nervous that I was say the wrong thing and be shunned. Still they had a ton of energy and I really enjoyed myself here. Their skit was funny but one thing that weirded me out a little was that they had a few lines joking about how they had the lowest gpa on the row. I didn’t know how to react to that but I still left thinking that they were so much fun and I’d love to go back. I was really self-conscious though and I had a feeling they would cut me because they just seemed so perfect and they would realize I wasn’t good enough for them. They were the girls I was completely envious of in high school and seemed to have nothing in common with but unlike Giverny these were definitely the girls I wanted to be. I just hoped that I had made a good enough impression to get invited back.

Next we went to Marseille. The girl that picked me up was wearing a toga and I didn’t know how to react to that. I wasn’t sure if I should say something or just act like it was completely normal. All of the others girls in the house were wearing cute cocktail dresses and I was just so confused! But then she explained that she was dressed up in one of their theme party costumes. I looked around and noticed maybe 15 other girls also wearing bizarre costumes so at that point I thought it was pretty funny. They talked a lot about their social events and had a slideshow that looked like they were having a lot of fun. Their skit was very catchy and I had their song stuck in my head for the rest of the week. I thought these seemed like really fun and laidback girls and I enjoyed my conversations with everyone today. By this day I had completely forgotten about their reputation.

Last was Lyon. I was not comfortable here. The girl talking to me seemed completely disinterested and like she was mad that she had to talk to me. I tried to ask as many questions as possible but she pretty much answered all of them in one word and didn’t initiate any conversation. Finally after many awkward silences she took me over to another group of PNMs and rushees. The conversation there wasn’t much better but at least there were more of us. Finally it was time for their skit and I was relieved because I knew after that the party would be over and I could leave.

We didn’t rank the chapters and instead would wait and see who invited us back then accept or decline our invitations. We knew that we could only go back to three parties for the 3rd round so all anyone could talk about all week was who they were going to drop assuming they got invited back to all of them. I had a feeling I would be cut from at least Lyon and I was still convinced that I was going to get cut from all the houses. All my quad mates were dropping Giverny but I hadn’t decided if I would cut them or Lyon. I had liked Giverny much more than Lyon but Lyon was just so much more elite than Giverny and I was definitely concerned with prestige. So what’s an insecure freshman trying to make a name for herself supposed to do?

[tld221]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

I'm changing my vote to Marseille!!

GO Marseille!!! GO!

traitor!!!!

it's ok. But now im torn between Giverny and Marseille!

umm, update please!

[Ocalagirl]

I am rooting for either Bordeaux or Marseille.

[LegallyBrunette]

Originally Posted by kelcaopi

I had liked Giverny much more than Lyon but Lyon was just so much more elite than Giverny and I was definitely concerned with prestige. So what’s an insecure freshman trying to make a name for herself supposed to do?

Ohhh, do I see a lesson for PNMs on the horizon?



I'm pulling for Marseille.

Tld, I'm totally verklempt that my quote is in your signature. Special

[tld221]

Originally Posted by LegallyBrunette

Tld, I'm totally verklempt that my quote is in your signature. Special

awww :: blushes through cocoa-brown skin ::

[kelcaopi]

The next day our rho chis said they would call us between 8-9 if we didn’t get an invitation and if we did we could pick them up at 10. I slept in so when my roommate woke me up to go get our invitations I flipped out because I wasn’t sure if someone had tried to call. She said she had been up since 6am (she was a runner) and neither our dorm phone nor my cell had rung. I thought maybe they came by and knocked but she said she was sure they hadn’t. Still I wondered if I would get there and they would say “well we tried to tell you not to come but…”

So I jumped out of bed, threw on a tshirt and shorts, and sprinted over to meet our Rho Chis. They handed me my invitation and I had been invited to

Marseille
Giverny

No Bordeaux. Despite feeling so insecure at their party they were still my first choice and I wanted to be in their house so badly. Even though I wasn’t like them, I desperately wanted to be like them! I thought it was so unfair that they wouldn’t even give me a chance. I saw my social future in college slipping away. It was all too overwhelming to think about. My Rho Chi saw that I was upset and asked if I wanted to talk but I was angry at her because at the time I was convinced she was a Bordeaux and thought the Rho Chis were passing information back and forth between their sororities. Even though in my heart I knew that I wouldn’t fit in with the Bordeauxs I wasn’t prepared to be cut like I had been with Lyon. Bordeaux’s rejection just confirmed my insecurities that I wasn’t fun enough, I wasn’t pretty enough, and would just never be the girl I wanted to be.

I was excited that at least I had a chance at Marseille but that feeling was completely drowned by the disappointment of not getting Bordeaux. I accepted both my invitations and tried to get out of there as fast as possible because I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back my tears if I saw tons of happy PNMs around me. My roommate caught up with me and asked if I was ok since I had booked it out of there pretty fast and I told her I had been cut by Bordeaux. She tried to comfort me but I felt like she couldn’t understand what I was feeling. She seemed perfect in every way and had everything I wanted. She was never cut once during rush and would be attending pref at her top two choices from day one, Lyon and Bordeaux.

I wanted to be in a sorority so badly that dropping out never even crossed my mind. I just hoped I would get Marseille. All of my quad mates and friends from my hall had dropped Giverny and I didn’t want to be the only one who ended up there. Although Marseille’s reputation was a bit shady I still thought it was better than being called a nerd by the fraternity guys.

That night I wore a coppery brown cocktail dress. When we went to the row I was so insanely jealous of the girls lined up in front of Bordeaux that I almost started crying again. My heart really wasn’t in it that night so both parties I attended were a blur.

First was Marseille. They were all wearing black dresses and the house was very elegant. I was paired with one of the riders from the first night but this conversation didn't come as easily since we weren't talking about horses. She talked about what she had gotten out of the sorority and why she thought I would be a good fit. I was flattered and even though I was still heartbroken over Bordeaux I felt like this would be the next best thing. I don’t remember much about the ceremony other than just hoping they would give me a bid.

Next was Giverny. The house was beautifully decorated in tulle, flowers, and twinkling lights all over the walls and ceiling. I had never met the girl I was paired with so we made the usual small talk. We didn’t have much in common so the conversation was a little forced. I remember looking around at the other PNMs and thinking they all looked like they were having a great time and like they really wanted to be there. I tried to psych myself up by looking around at all my potential pledge sisters having a great time at the party but I just couldn’t get into it. Again I don’t remember much about the ceremony other than being given a candle to hold and thinking “I hope I can blow this out soon because the hot wax is going to burn me.” At one point I got something in my eye, and when I went to rub it I got something else in my eye and it was burning and watering like crazy. My rusher thought that I was crying because I was so moved by the ceremony and said “don’t worry, I cried during this party when I rushed also!” Awkward…

I left the row feeling underwhelmed and signed my bid card. I ranked them
Marseille
Giverny

[tinydancer16]

eep! I'm on pins and needles and am very unsure about where you end up...

[kelcaopi]

Everyone said you would get the feeling in the house where you belonged but I didn’t really get that feeling in either house. My quad mates were so excited about their #1 houses but I knew better than to get my hopes up. I had enjoyed Marseille but hadn’t really connected with anyone. I felt like they would be fine since Bordeaux was out of the running but I was disappointed that I hadn’t been the one to make that call. And with Giverny, there was no doubt that they were nice girls but I wasn't sure if it was for me. Of all the girls I met that week Caroline stood out more than anyone else but I was hesitant to join a sorority because I liked one girl in it. The more I thought about pref the more turned off I got, I started to feel like the girl had been pretty rude to me. And why hadn't Caroline or even the girl from the first day with the southern accent picked me up? I was pretty dissapointed that I hadn’t had the kind of rush where I got to be the one to drop houses. To me it seemed like I was being shoved in a house that might be right for me or it might not be but I didn’t have any say in the matter.

Our Rho Chis said they would call between 10-11 if we didn’t get a bid. When nobody in my quad got the call we all breathed a huge sigh of relief.

I went to eat lunch with my roommate in the student unition that day. Of course the topic of discussion was bid day. We were eating with a couple of fraternity guys that we had befriended earlier in the week and they were trying to guess which house we would be in. I still remember them saying to my roommate “you’re definitely a Lyon” and she was so excited because that had been her first choice. When I asked about me they thought for a minute then said “probably Giverny.” I asked why they thought that and they said “You just have that personality." What did they know anyway?

At 2:00 we went to get our bids. They did a little ceremony and we all took the panhellenic oath but nobody was listening because we just wanted to know where we were going. The entire time our Rho Chis were hanging out the window of a building waving the invitations. Finally they opened the doors to the building and we all went stampeding in to find our Rho Chis. They gave us our envelopes and I tore mine open. It said:

The sisters of Giverny cordially invite you to become a member.

I was heartbroken and the tears started flowing up so fast that I didn’t even have time to hide them…

[LOVEinZTA]

UPDATE AGAIN!

We're so needy, haha.

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by LegallyBrunette

Tld, I'm totally verklempt that my quote is in your signature. Special

Oh, Whatevs. Tld changes her siggy like every 5 secs.

hehe

I <3 you, really I do.

[kelcaopi]

Originally Posted by LegallyBrunette

Ohhh, do I see a lesson for PNMs on the horizon?

I think you might!

I'll keep this thread moving because I'm impatient and hate waiting for updates! So as you remember all anyone could talk about was how much they loved Bordeaux and Lyon. I had convinced myself that all I wanted was Bordeaux also. Some people on my hall had Marseille as their top choice but most saw them as a fall back if they didn't get into Bordeaux. They were very similar houses but like I said there had been some things that had happened with Marseille the year before that us freshman were not really filled in on. Nobody seemed to want Giverny. On Tuesday of that week we got to see who invited us back.

I got my invitations and was invited back to:
Bordeaux
Marseille
Giverny

I was so happy! I pretty much knew I would get cut by Lyon so I really wasn’t surprised. It stung a little since that was my first taste of getting cut but I had assumed I'd be cut from them before rush even started. Plus it made my decision for the 3 houses I would go back to a lot easier and deep down I was relieved that I would get to go back to Giverny because I did like them and I didn’t have to force conversation with Lyon.

Today was philanthropy day. We were given tshirts to wear and I paired it with a skirt and sandals.

First we went to Marseille. Their craft was picture frames and I’m a very crafty person so I really enjoyed it! The other actives and PNMs at my table were talking about how silly it was to be making a craft and how it was like being in preschool, so even though I was thoroughly impressed with my picture frame I acted nonchalant about itand made a few comments about how it wasn't very good, which was a total lie because it was amazing. We sat at a large round table with a bunch of other PNMs and actives. The girl I was paired with was pleasant and we had a good conversation but didn’t really hit it off. We were at a table with several other actives and PNMs so the conversation flowed between everyone well. I heard from a PNM whose sister had rushed at our school that at Marseille they would give us drinks and the color straw we got signified how much they liked us. For example they would give blue straws to all the girls they really wanted, and red straws to the girls they were lukewarm about. They brought me my drink and it had a yellow straw. I wondered what the meant so I looked around my table and noticed that all but one PNM at my table had a yellow straw. The one girl with a green straw was gorgeous and I suddenly got really nervous that it meant that the yellow straws were bad. But then when I looked at another table I noticed that none of them had yellow, some had green, but then others had red. I didn’t know there were three categories of straws! Finally I told myself that the straws probably didn’t mean anything although I wasn’t totally convinced that yellow was the cut group.

Next was Giverny. We made flowers out of lollipops by cutting out construction paper in the shape of petals and gluing them on the wrapped lollies. There wasn’t too much skill involved with this, especially because some of the other actives at the table were helping with the cutting so that took all of 2 minutes. So after I got my petals cut out and glued on I was kind of confused about what else I was supposed to do. I noticed some other girls had crayons but I didn’t have any and felt stupid asking them to pass them over so I awkwardly gave my pitiful looking lolly-flower to an active collecting the craft and hoped they weren’t judging me on my art skills. I was paired with one of the girls that I met before rush started, Caroline, and felt like we had been friends forever. We had a great conversation which made up for the lame craft. I really enjoyed her because she was the first person I met in Giverny that fit the idea in my head of who I wanted to be. She was beautiful with platinum blonde hair and just very well put together. She was dating a guy who was in one of the best fraternities on campus and she was just very outgoing but not in an overwhelming way. But she was also brilliant and did several activities that were way out of the norm for what I expected of a sorority girl. I was just so intrigued by her and thought that if she chose to be in Giverny then clearly they weren't a bad house at all. Even though I liked most of the girls I met at the other houses, this was the one house where I didn’t feel like I was being judged and since I was so nervous and insecure I really appreciated the relaxed atmosphere.

Last was Bordeaux. We made placemats. Again I loved all the girls that I talked to but I was still super self-conscious at this party. I felt like I had to turn on the charm to impress them and I realized that almost all of the PNMs loved them so I had major competition. Other than the fact that I was blonde I didn’t have much else in common with them. I enjoyed going out but wasn’t a crazy partier and I felt like I couldn’t really relate to them when they talked about boys and crazy things they had done. I loved the idea of being a Bordeaux and being surrounded by gorgeous people and always being the life of the party, but as much as I refused to admit it I knew deep down that I wouldn’t fit in here.

So after this party I was more confused than ever. I was convinced that I had come off incredibly awkward at every house and I went back to my room practically in tears. I had pretty much taken Giverny for granted but after meeting Caroline I started to think that maybe they were out of my league also. My quad mates asked what was the matter and I said I just knew I was going to be cut. None of them understood what I was talking about since I had gotten invited back to three houses that day but I knew that the jig was up and all the sororities had realized how awkward I really was. I asked them if I could go to parties with them and their sorority sisters after they got bids and I didn’t. Trying to make me feel better they all said they would. They decided to cheer me up and take my mind off of sororities so we stuffed ourselves with Taco Bell and watched chick flicks all night.

[Ocalagirl]

I think I am still stuck between the two, but I think Marsielle is edging up a little bit.

[AlwaysSAI]

tld, I'm back with you at Giverny.

GO GIVERNY! GO!!