My not-so-perfect rush story

[LOVEinZTA]

Close to 900 girls then went back to their dorms and proceeded to gossip about all of the houses they had seen. Lisa said she has really liked Mocha and Latte while Ellie had completely fallen in love with Espresso. She couldn't stop talking about how down-to-earth the Espresso girls were and was very upset when I told her the girl I had met was spacey! Then in came Lola. She said she had visited French Press and knew this was the house she would join. She also talked about how she had visited Cafe au Lait and couldn't stand them, they were just so weird and annoying. I told her I'd had a good time at Cafe au Lait and thought they were very sweet. This sparked some intense criticism and name calling that I will not repeat, but I stood my ground and told the girls they needed to chill out. I really don't know why they were all feeling the need to pick on Cafe au Lait but I was getting sick of it and decided to go to bed for the night. I went to my room (which was next door in a building with very thin walls) and listened to some catty girls say that maybe I "was weird enough to be a Cafe au Lait anyway." I drifted off to sleep and woke up about 4 hours later to go see my last 4 houses.

Day 2 of Open Houses

I met my Rho Chis in the same place as the day before. Today we'd be visiting a few houses that were supposedly "big" on campus and Mindy in front of me seemed very excited as we got in line.

Macchiato - Oh. My. Lord. Let me start by saying that I had 3 recs/letters for this house and wasn't sure what I was going to think. I walked in to this house and all I could think about was how orange all the girls looked from fake baking (Note: this is just what I saw, not necessarily how it is, read the disclaimer in the first post). The girl who picked me up at the door spent the first 5 minutes we had talking about some girl who was supposed to be at the party who had a really unique name and had been nominated for Homecoming Queen or something.

French Press - I walked in to this party thinking if I heard their name out of Lola and Ashley's mouths one more time I might just strangle someone. I was met at the door by a girl who was very polite and conservative in the questions she asked. I looked around and these girls all seemed very put together. I met a few more sisters - I remember I was one of the last girls to leave the room because I was talking about something with one of the members but I really don't remember what it was.

Mocha - I looked back at Sally before we went in to this party and she seemed very excited. She said she had met several members of Mocha and loved them. We went in with lots of cheering and I was picked up by a girl very much down to earth who wasn't faking it like some of the other girls I had met. I ran into Sally afterwards who simply replied "those are my girls" but by this point all of the chapters were looking pretty much the same to me!

After this party we had a break and I think most of us went to grab lunch or a snack or something and we were told not to be late because if we missed the party we'd be dropped from recruitment. I made it there just fine (I'm a little OCD about being early to things) but there was one girl who had known our Rho Chi Amanda beforehand (I found out later that Amanda had previously dated the girl's brother) who didn't show up. I didn't really feel bad for her because she knew the consequences, but oddly enough she was back for recruitment in the spring...hmm.

Cappuccino - Last chapter of opens! This was the other house that my friend had helped me find a rec for initially. I met a girl who was very sweet. I couldn't really get a particular vibe from this house - I looked around and saw girls who were artsy, pretty, smart, just about everything. And I hadn't really heard or seen much of them around campus before. There wasn't really anything that stood out or pulled me in to the chapter.

I went to dinner with my greek-life-clueless boyfriend that night and was talking through everything swirling around in my head. He said something so simple (and knowing him I know that he didn't mean it to be profound) but it did actually hit me - "Just go where you're happy."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

And now just like I had to wait 2 and a half months, so will you.


Just kidding.

[Ocalagirl]

Originally Posted by LOVEinZTA

2 Rho Chi groups at a time went in to each party and it just so happened that the other group in this party with me had who everyone referred to as "The Oprah Twins" so called because the year before they had appeared on Oprah Grants Your Wildest Wishes or something and was paying for both of them to attend UWacko, join organizations on campus, and whatever else they needed in college. They were campus mini-celebrities and while I could have pointed them out, I never met either of them. The girl who picked me up at the door spent the first 5 minutes we had talking about some girl who was supposed to be at the party who had a really unique name and had been nominated for Homecoming Queen or something. Then we sat down for songs which were mildly entertaining. Then the same girl picked me back up and realized the Oprah Twins were in the party. She spent the rest of the time carting me around, hand on my lower back, looking for the Oprah Twins. We never found them and then I left.



And now just like I had to wait 2 and a half months, so will you.


Just kidding.

I remember that episode!! ok this makes sense now for some of it and the atmosphere of rush.
-------
haha you better be!!

[tld221]

Originally Posted by LOVEinZTA

Then Jenny picked me back up and we continued to discuss Wicked, Chicago, and how much we were looking forward to Rent coming out in a few weeks.

haha, nice... thx 4 making me feel REALLY young...

ETA: i thought you meant the Bway show, but perhaps you and I are the same age-ish and are talking about the movie?

Originally Posted by LOVEinZTA

And now just like I had to wait 2 and a half months, so will you.


Just kidding.

you bet not! we want more!

[LOVEinZTA]

Haha, no I definitely was referring to the movie. I'm attempting to update from work so we'll see how this goes!

[LOVEinZTA]

So we ended the fall semester with the following impressions:

Lola - Still loved French Press and Latte, though Macchiato was alright too
Ashley - Still thought she'd only be a French Press or Macchiato
Lisa - Really like Latte and Mocha, thought Cappuccino was nice as well
Kate - Kind of liked Espresso and Americano, wasn't sure about the rest
Ellie - Loved Espresso, liked French Press, Mocha, and Latte as well
Cici, Lindsey, Kelsi, and Cathy - Still all loved Americano, Espresso was okay too (yes, they really did all think as a group)
And I was still clueless. French press was fun to talk to, Cappuccino was sweet, I just didn't know. They all sort of blended together for me - I tried not to think about it too much.

Spring semester finally arrives

We were to come back in January for our meeting to find out who had invited us back for the first invitationals or "slide show round." I got to my room and called Ellie to see when she would be there but she didn't answer her phone. I waited and waited until about 3:40 when our meeting started at 4. I finally left and walked over to the building where our meeting was. Ellie sent me a text about 15 minutes later saying she was still home and had decided she didn't want to rush after all. I was sad that I wouldn't have her around to talk things over with but at the same time I had our room all to myself! I sat through what seemed like a 5 hour long meeting waiting to get my list of chapters that had invited me back. Finally we walked over to the computers. For 1st invitationals we could go back to a max of 7 chapters. They had us line up in our group in alphabetical order again so I not-so-patiently waited and waited and waited. I was absolutely positive at this point that they were going to sit me down and find out I hadn't been invited back anywhere. My stomach started to twist in to knots. Finally I sat down at the computer and typed in my name. Up on the screen popped:

Ristresso
Macchiato
Espresso
Cafe Au Lait
Americano
Mocha
Cappuccino

I had been cut by Latte (no surprise to me) and French Press. I was a little surprised by French Press because I thought the girl I met and I had gotten along so well but it was okay, French Presses are too difficult to work with just to get a stupid cup of coffee. I was thrilled that I'd been invited back to so many places - I had a full schedule for first round and didn't have to cut anyone! Which was great, because I had no clue what I would have done!

I skipped back to my dorm room to meet up with the girls. When I came off the elevator I saw Kate giving Lisa a hug by her room. Apparently Lisa hadn't done so well in her classes fall semester and had barely made the minimum GPA requirement of a 2.75. She had been invited back to Ristresso, Mocha, and Cafe au Lait. I reminded her of how much she had liked Mocha in the fall and she said she was happy they had asked her back, but was sure they would cut her before the end of the week. I told her not to worry about it and to figure out what shoes she was going to wear in the morning. Kate had been invited back to Cafe au Lait, Ristresso, Latte, Cappuccino, Americano, and Mocha. She seemed happy with her schedule so I started to head back to my room.

Then Lola popped out of her room and asked me where I was going tomorrow. I told her and her reply was a very sarcastic "How funny, the two who cut you were my two favorites!" She said she had been cut by Mocha and Americano but she didn't like them anyway. I told her I was going to take a nap and again on the way to me room was interrupted, this time by Ashley. She was ecstatic because they only chapter who had released her was Espresso. She said she had also cut Cafe au Lait and asked me about my schedule. She replied with "I'm sorry, well you could still be a Macchiato! They're great!" I'm sorry? What? I had a full schedule. Crazy girls.



I'm going to type up the parties in a separate post because this one's so long!

[AlwaysSAI]

And, it's finally under way!

ESPRESSO!!!!!!!!!!!

[LOVEinZTA]

You won't get a lot of details on what I wore to each round because frankly, I don't really remember! I don't think I mentioned, but the number of girls who came back for formal recruitment was much less than the number who went to open houses - I think it was more around 550. People didn't make grades or didn't want to (or couldn't) go back early from Christmas break or decided that it wasn't for them. My recruitment group only lost about 6 girls but some lost quite a few more.

First Invitational

The first party started at 8:30, which meant meeting the Rho Chis at 8, which meant waking up at 6 AM to make sure you could get a shower along with the 300 other girls.

Mocha - You'd think after open houses I'd have gotten used to the screaming and yelling but I wasn't ready 2 months later. I met a girl who I chatted with about the group's philanthropy some. Then we sat down to watch the chapter's presentation. My rusher kept pointing different people and events during the show. All the girls seemed like they truly got along with one another - I didn't think it was really possible! After the show she introduced me to a few more sisters before I had to leave. I got a good vibe from this chapter today.

Cafe Au Lait - Honestly, I don't really remember this party at all. There was a presentation, and someone talked to me about the philanthropy a little, but nothing really stuck out to me.

Cappuccino - This party was a bit of a blur as well, but I do remember that it was REALLY loud and I was practically having to scream to be heard. The girl who had rushed me in the fall stopped back by and said hi to me. Then we sat down to watch the presentation. I saw a familiar face up on the screen. It was Gina, my Rho Chi! They had a video clip and there she was in full Cappuccino gear. I turned to the girl who was rushing me and said something. She looked really embarrassed but I just laughed.

Ristresso - At this point the screaming from the last party was starting to get to me and my throat started to feel sore. This party was a little quieter which was nice and the recruitment chair for the chapter had picked me and another girl up at the door. Their presentation looked like it had been done by a professional! It was very nice, but I just didn't feel myself clicking with the chapter at all. I left knowing that the girls were very sweet, but they seemed a little shy, and that's one thing I'm definitely not!

As I walked to the next party, I ran in to Rho Chi Amanda and told her about Cappuccino's slide show with Gina in it. Or I tried to rather - I had started to lose my voice. Wonderful, now I wouldn't even be able to talk to the chapters. I was for sure going to get dropped from recruitment.

Espresso - I was picked up by a girl at the door who was so talkative and outgoing. At one point there were like 4 sisters around myself and another rushee and somehow we got on the topic of cooking. I said, "Well I don't cook much but my boyfriend loves too," and one of them said we'd all have to get together and have him cook for us one night. I definitely started to feel at home with this bunch even though I'm sure they could barely hear what I was saying. They had an adorable presentation and the girls all loved talking about everything they did for their philanthropy.

Americano - A girl picked me up at the door and started talking with me about the usual stuff when she "suddenly realized" where I was from and that I had gone to school with her cousin when I was younger. Amazing, right? We sat down and watched their video and my rusher was cheering and singing along with all of the sisters. Afterwards she introduced me to a few more girls before I left. This chapter was nice, nothing really stuck out to me too much, but they seemed like a good group of girls.

Macchiato - My rusher this time was nicer this round perhaps, but absolutely clueless. We watched their presentation which was cute but didn't show anything about philanthropy. When I asked her what the chapter's national philanthropy was she said she had no idea . (To this day I actually don't think I know what this group's philanthropy is, and I knew what every other chapter's was pre-rush!) Conversation just headed downhill from there.

Once the parties were over around 4:00 we headed to the computers with our Rho Chi groups to rank. We were to list our top 4 as #1 and then rank 5, 6, and 7. I thought about everything for a few minutes and the things that all the girls had said during the fall got in to my head (bad plan). I ranked like this:

1 - Espresso
1 - Mocha
1 - Americano
1 - Macchiato
5 - Cappucino
6 - Cafe Au Lait
7 - Ristresso

On my walk back to my room I immediately regretted what I had done. I hadn't liked Macchiato, I had liked Cappuccino. And really, I had liked Cafe Au Lait more than Macchiato too. Why did I do that? I spent all night pouting to myself in my room and avoiding all of the girls on my hall.

[OtterXO]

Your story reminds me of my own experience for some reason. I'm predicting Espresso or Mocha! (on a side note your thread has reminded me of this girl I sort of knew in college who called espresso "expresso" ALL THE TIME and actually corrected people who said "espresso". Finally I was like "No, unless you're talking about a really fast coffee drink, it's espresso". I got a death stare and we never really spoke again. haha)

[howtheSunrose]

This is such a great story! I'm craving Starbucks now...

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by OtterXO

Your story reminds me of my own experience for some reason. I'm predicting Espresso or Mocha! (on a side note your thread has reminded me of this girl I sort of knew in college who called espresso "expresso" ALL THE TIME and actually corrected people who said "espresso". Finally I was like "No, unless you're talking about a really fast coffee drink, it's espresso". I got a death stare and we never really spoke again. haha)

In maybe the weirdest greekchat highjack:

You know that people saying expresso for espresso was one of the Columbine guys hangups?

http://www.slate.com/id/2099203/

I probably accidentally say expresso, I'm not sure why. I know it's wrong if I think about , but it seems right when I say it.

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by LOVEinZTA

Macchiato (To this day I actually don't think I know what this group's philanthropy is, and I knew what every other chapter's was pre-rush!)

Kappa didn't have a recognized organizational philanthropy until a few years ago. There was an emphasis on women's and children's rehabilitation, but each chapter could really do its own thing. Even now I don't think all the chapters/alumnae associations understand our connection with Reading Is Fundamental

[LOVEinZTA]

Originally Posted by ISUKappa

Kappa didn't have a recognized organizational philanthropy until a few years ago. There was an emphasis on women's and children's rehabilitation, but each chapter could really do its own thing. Even now I don't think all the chapters/alumnae associations understand our connection with Reading Is Fundamental

THANK YOU!

[SexySuperstar]

Originally Posted by LOVEinZTA

Then we sat down for songs and I was on the front row again. Holy crap, I thought there was a train coming through the room it was so loud. And they were talking so fast, I didn't know how they could do it!

I actually really laughed out loud to this statement...I'm really enjoying this thread!!!!!

[ZTA72]

Absolutely great story! I'ved lived in Wichita Falls and San Antonio and I love a good Texas story! Some of my daughters' friends are at Baylor and UT.

Zeta love,

ZTA72

[LOVEinZTA]

Oh wow, I didn't think people would actually be interested in that, but I bet I can make a few long posts out of it. Let's see what I can do.