Excited for Recruitment!

[zetatheta]

Okay, I have some down time...so I think that I will write a little more.

Class on tuesday seemed to take forever! Julie and I hadn't really had a great time at the informational meeting, and Julie was thinking of not coming to the next night--but I convinced her to come (for the food at least!).
We were probably a little overdressed for the second night. I had heard that recruitment was dressy. My Triangle friend told me that some sisters looked down on girls who weren't dressed nicely, so I wanted to look perfect. I wore dress pants and a nice black top with a string of pearls. When Julie and I got to the meeting place, all of the other PNMs were wearing jeans and t-shirts. Remembering what my friend had said, I wasn't really uncomfortable, but Julie seemed nervous and kept commenting on it. The Panhel president spoke for a minute and gave us all forms to fill out. She wished us all good luck, and I remember thinking that she was really pretty. She had shoulder length blonde hair and blue eyes. The sixty or seventy PNMs were all split up into four groups. Each group went to a different house and then was led by a girl in a Panhel t-shirt to the next house. I was, luckily, in the same party as Julie.

The first house that I went to visit was the Stripe house. I had only ever seen the regular dorms---and so did not know that the sororities were allowed to decorate their assigned floors as they saw fit. The floor was adorable, The walls were a pretty blue and the bathrooms had been decorated with glitter and feather boas. We waited in the hallway...I was first in line. I tried to make small talk with the Stripe Sister who was standing outside of a door that had been painted with the Stripe letters. The sister ignored me, barely acknowledging my comments with a small smile. In retrospect, she probably didn't know if she were allowed to speak with me before the start of the party. At exactly 9pm, the door behind the sister opened and the party began.

I barely had a chance to look around the room because I was immediately grabbed by the wrists and pulled over to a sofa. The sister who had pulled me inside was someone that I knew from some of my classes. She immediately complimented my pearls and then made some small talk about class. I am a very social person, and so while the room was filled with laughter and boisterous conversation, I was able to change the conversation from class to talking about vacation hot spots, travel, and foreign countries. It was a nice conversation, albeit I felt as though I were doing a little bit of acting. While I was talking with this sister, I was able to notice a few things about the lounge where we were all seated. It was really nice, the same blue color of the hallways, with composite pictures of different generations of sisters. I remember there was very warm lighting, and I liked the lounge a lot. The girls themselves all looked sort of similar. They were all wearing different colored letter t-shirts with skinny jeans and spike healed boots. Everyone wore their hair straightened with a small poof, although some girls sported pony tails and others wore their hair down. At one point, the conversation became a little forced and the girl from my class (lets call her Maggie) asked rather loudly if I would like a drink. Instantly another Stripe came over and handed me a cup of punch. She knelt down in front of my couch with Maggie and we proceeded to have the same conversation about travel, although Maggie also told her sister my major, class and all the general information. I left the Stripes thinking they seemed a little nicer than I imagined, although I felt as though I hadn't met enough of them to make a better judgment.

The next party that we were led to was held with the Circles. Their floor was also painted. It felt more like a greek floor because the colors were bolder--I know that that is silly, but that was how I felt. Composites hung in the hallways and The walls had what looked like names written on them. We waited outside in the hallway once more and Julie stood behind me. She was really excited because this is the house she wanted. I was very relaxed because as awful as it sounds, I felt like I didn't need to try to impress the Circles, probably because I had heard that the Circles were a sorority of "wanna be Triangles." The door to the lounge was in the same place as the Stripe's lounge. Outside the door there was a small table with a pretty candle beside a sign in book. We wrote down our names and gpa's and then at exactly 930pm The door opened and We were welcomed into a brightly lit lounge. The lounge was white with a tan carpet. Almost every inch of wall was decorated with various pictures and memorabilia. The sisters were sitting down on the couches in the lounge. As the group moved inside, sisters got up and we were rather loosely directed to sit where we pleased. I sat down on a comfortable L-shaped sofa in between two Circle sisters. The girls introduced themselves and we went over basics (major, year, etc). They both seemed nice enough--although the conversation was very forced and I was glad when we were interrupted by a pretty brunette. She introduced herself and gave us some details about the sorority and dues and things of that sort. I remember leaving feeling like the two girls that I met were nice, but quiet and shy.

The third party was the Star party. Neither Julie nor I was very excited. I felt the same as I had at the Circle party, almost as though I were too good for these girls, as stupid and petty as that seems. The Star floor was painted very nicely. I remember thinking that it was my favorite so far. It was painted with bright red and off-white. My favorite part were pretty quotes that were written on the walls. The party started at exactly 10pm. We were half-led into the room by different Star sisters. I remember thinking that it was a nice enough party...The sisters went around the room and talked about what made their sorority unique. One sister spoke about how accepting the Stars are of one another...and how she liked that they didn't pressure her to party or drink. Another sister rebutted by saying that "when they did party, they partied pretty f***ing proud." I thought it was hysterical, although the sisters seemed a little embarrassed. At the end of the party I felt as though I had been able to actually meet the sisters, even if it was partly because of the slip up--they seemed more like real people than the Stripes.

The last party of the night was the Triangles. I was very excited. Their floor was cute, although I still liked the Star's floor better. It was painted with pictures and flowers and other nice things. We were led into the lounge at exactly 1030 and I remember being absolutely stunned. The lounge was gorgeous! It was draped in dramatic curtains and fabric, and had a chandelier. The girls were all dressed up and looking really classy. After a brief introduction, the girls left us to mingle, and that we did. I felt like I met every sister. Some of the girls showed me photos from their formal and others introduced me to their bigs and littles. Julie and I left glowing, as did all of the other girls in our party.

The night had been really exciting, and as Julie and I were talking, we told stories about our different encounters. Julie still really liked the Circles, although she said that she was falling in love with the Triangles. I told her about a Triangle family that I met, to whom I felt like I was specifically introduced. The girls smiled at me and then told me that their family was really cool because they all had the same exact shade of rare hair color and wasn't it such a coincidence that I had the same hair?
We both gushed and laughed and tried to decide what we wanted to wear for the next night---