Okay, now for the update...
Phase A was split up into 2 days. We went to 8 chapters on Friday afternoon/evening, then 8 more chapters on Saturday morning/afternoon. Parties were 25 minutes each. What a long 2 days, and it was a
lot of walking. There is no sorority row at MSU - houses are spread from one end of campus to the other, though there is a cluster of 9 houses in relatively close proximity. Thank god for that!
For the first half of Phase A on Friday, my party schedule was as follows:
Carl Carlson
Mayor Quimby
Moe Szyslak
Waylon Smithers
Ned Flanders
Groundskeeper Willie
Clancy Wiggum
Lenny Leonard
Comments in blue italics are statements made by present day me, everything else comes from the recruitment journal I made as a young, naive freshman
Carl Carlson Nice house with a well-decorated interior (especially liked the big painting in the living room). Members were very friendly. The roommate of Suzy from my rush group is a member of this house, although I don't know which one she was. We all lived in the same dorm, but I hadn't seen her yet - I'm guessing that she was spending most of her time at the house preparing for recruitment.
Mayor Quimby I talked with a girl who's boyfriend is from Petersburg (a small town near my small hometown). Turns out that she and I were both at the same 4th of July carnival over the summer. This party flew by, because she and I never ran out of things to talk about! All of the members were very nice, and I really liked this house - it felt very "homey." Their skit featured the chapter throughout the different decades 50s/60s/70s, etc, and was very entertaining.
Moe Szyslak Their rush party took place in a fraternity house. I think the sorority's house is next door to the fraternity, but it wasn't big enough to hold everyone. Girls were friendly, and they did a "hippie" skit.
Waylon Smithers This was kind of a weird party. The first question the girl asked me was what my father did for a living. Then she had me sign a piece of paper with my name and zip code. Suzy told me later that its because they check your zip code to see how wealthy of an area you're from - only rich girls end up in this house. The girls were nice enough, but seemed kind of fake in general.
In retrospect, perhaps they had you write your name and zip code to try to obtain hometown recs for you. However, as a naive freshman, it seemed weird that they were the only house who made you sign something at the Phase A party.
Ned Flanders Beautiful house. They also had an awesome grand piano in the main room. I talked with 2 girls from Monroe - that was so cool. More people who were from my area and recognized the name of my tiny little hometown - yay! They asked very creative questions, which was a welcome break from the same old, same old conversations.
Groundskeeper Willie The girls in this house were nice - one of them even knew a girl I went to high school with...she had been in at a cheerleading competition with her back in HS! They had a good skit, and the girl I talked with earlier in the party remembered my name at the end while we were on our way out. I've never seen so many tall, tan, leggy blondes in one room. Felt a little conspicuous as a pale redhead, but I still liked this house. They had a piano too.
Clancy Wiggum The girls in this house seemed fun. They had a circus theme for their party. Talked with 2 girls, and they both commented positively on my hair color.
(I have hair that's a distinctive deep reddish auburn shade...when I was a little kid ladies in my aunt's hair salon would ask for clippings so they could try to get their hair dyed a similar color. 
)
Lenny Leonard 2 of the girls in this house know Bill and Brian from my high school (they graduated HS 2 years ahead of me and also attended Michigan State). Their skit was Saturday Night Live, and I was happy to see that they had a piano also. Definitely seemed like a fun house. I bumped into the girl I talked with later on at Taco Bell - she remembered my name and said hello.
One day of rush under my belt, and I'm having a lot of fun so far. I was a little nervous, because I just signed up for rush last night on a whim. Didn't have a lot of time to figure out what to wear or prepare myself for how it was going to go...guess I'm just along for the ride. But I like the experience so far, and it has been great meeting a lot of different people. We'll see how the rest of Phase A goes on Saturday.
You'll notice that I comment here and there about houses that have pianos. House tours weren't until Phase B, so I didn't realize that every house had a piano - I only happened to spot one in a few houses during Phase A! 
I play piano and taught lessons as a part time job in HS, so I thought it was a positive when I noticed that a house had a piano.
Hybrid Mode
