A long but DIFFERENT kind of story (I promise!)

[VeteranPNM]

Well first off, let me say that I was already a member of GC before creating this name, but if I posted under that name it would give away my ending!

Second, I just wanted say that I PROMISE I will post my story about my story at least once a day. I have it almost completely written out and saved to Word, so it’s easy for me to copy and paste. In fact, I might even post 2 or 3 times a day… I’m just so excited to finally tell my story!

So ON WITH THE STORY!!!

I have a very unique recruitment story, and I would really like to share my story. I promise it is far from ordinary, and you will NOT see these twists coming! (Well maybe, but I think it’s still good…lol) I would like to warn you thought that it’s a bit lengthy. You see, I love to write, and I want to make sure you know all the little details involved so you can try to understand everything I felt.

A little about my school: I go to a large public school in the Midwest. Rush here is competitive (well competitive for the Midwest ), and Greek life is very popular here. I hope I’m not giving too much away but I am POSITIVE that there are going to be some of you who figure out the school (and probably right away too!) So if you know what school I’m from, please keep it to yourself! Since this is not a live thread I’m not tooooo concerned if people figure out the school, but I just want to keep it fun for others, so if you know, don’t say anything! J Anywho, my freshmen year there were 19 chapters on my campus, however one did not participate in formal recruitment. Now,I know I’ve seen these codenames from someone else, but I LOVE baseball so I really wanted to use MLB teams for my codenames. The names I’ll be using are…

Yankees
Mets
Red Sox
Angels
Astros
A’s
Rockies
Cubs
Tigers
Twins
Royals
Indians
Braves
Reds
Diamondbacks
Devil Rays
Nationals
Giants

And even thought chapter number #19 doesn’t make much of an appearance because they do not participate formal recruitment, I thought I would mention them anyways… they will be known as the Phillies.

A little bit about me: It was fall 2006, and I had just graduated from an all girls high school, so I really wasn’t considering rushing. Although I loved my school, I had enough of girls! lol! And like many clueless freshmen, I assumed you had to be a girly girl, something that I’m not, to be cut out for sorority life. Still my cousin had graduated from my college a year before I arrived there. She was in Mets at my school, and absolutely loved it! She told me that she was very skeptical about going through recruitment when she was a sophomore (she had transferred from another school), but was very glad she did. She really recommended that I at least try it out, that if I didn’t like it, I didn’t have to pledge or anything. Plus, even if I were to drop out, its still a great way to meet people. Still, I really wasn’t sure of what to do—you see, I’m a bit more anxiety prone than others, and I had a lot going on in my life. The transition into college life wasn’t going as smoothly as I would have hoped. I mean, I was liking school but there were other things going on. On top of getting used to being away from home and my family, I had just broken up with a boyfriend of three years, and worst of all, my dad was admitted to the hospital about 2 days after I moved in. Needless to say I had some other things I my mind, so because of this, I wasn’t sure if taking on recruitment would be a good idea. I didn’t want to get too overwhelmed, because I literally make myself sick when I worry too much. But after talking with girls I had met around school, I decided to go for it. Worst case scenario, if I was too overwhelmed I could drop out. But I figured I should try because I didn’t want to have any regrets. So a few nights before recruitment started, I signed up!

Day One
We had our little informational meeting about recruitment where we split into our Gamma Chi groups, met our Gamma Chi’s, and did some fun ice breaker games. The Gamma Chi’s told us all about what to expect, what not to do, and all that good stuff, and I have to say although I was hesitant at first, this meeting put my mind at ease and got me a bit excited about starting recruitment!

[WVU alpha phi]

This sounds like it's going to be a great story- I can't imagine rushing 19 chaptes! I can't wait to hear where you wind up.

[Leslie Anne]

I'm looking forward to hearing your story!

[AOII Angel]

No Orioles? I guess I'll root for the Nats! (even though they suck!)

[ssuadpi]

Go A's!

[agzg]

Yay Cubs!

[VeteranPNM]

And I'm too excited to wait til tomorrow to post...so here's some more!

Day Two
The first day was just your typical open house round where each chapter does a little song, dance, skit, etc, and you meet with a few members. The first day of open house we visited 8 chapters, and the following day we would be visiting the remaining 10. Now, I don’t remember the EXACT order I visited the houses in, but I guess that doesn’t matter…So there I stood in my recruitment tee, capris and flip flops, in front of the first house, excited, nervous and not knowing what to expect… but I was about to see what it was all about very soon!

Yankees – I definitely remember that Yankees was the first chapter I visited. From the outside I remember thinking they had a very cute house! Nothing to fancy, but very warm and welcoming looking, even from the outside! The doors opened and they began to sing—I remember walking in trying to keep a smile on my face, but I probably looked terrified! I know that you all know that no matter how much those Gamma Chi’s warn you, rush is NOTHING like anything you’ve ever experienced! J Anyways, the Yankees put on a really good dance. They were loud, energetic, and they seemed like they were a very fun bunch of girls. I had very easy conversation with two different sisters from everything to baseball (I told you I love it!), to majors, (I was undeclared, but one of the girls was in the major I was interested in, so it was great talking to her to see what that major was all about). Overall my experience here was great. The girls were friendly, easy to talk to and definitely put me at ease. I left thinking to myself, if this is how all these sororities are, I’m going to have a REALLY hard time making decisions.

Tigers – The Tigers were next. Waiting outside I couldn’t help but notice how different their house was compared to others. It was very pretty! I really liked the uniqueness of the house, and I was hoping I would like Tigers too. Unfortunately, I cannot say I really remember my experience at Tigers. They just didn’t stand out to me. They were nice, but there was just no “WOW” factor. I left thinking that this was a house I could probably pass on.

Braves – My experience at Braves was similar to my experience at Tigers. However, I do know that they did have a bit more energy and spirit for their little skit, which I liked to see. They were proud to be Braves and you could tell that the sisters were very genuine and close with one another. Again, I didn’t have a strong, memorable connection, but I did like the fact that they seemed so real. I thought that they weren’t my favorite, but I wouldn’t mind coming back to see more.

Astros – Astros were a chapter I had heard about before recruitment started. I had heard that they were a little on the “Barbie doll” side. But I tried to just keep as open of a mind as possible…I mean how can EVERY GIRL in a house be the same? I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Astros! (Definitely proof that you should NOT listed to tent talk!) I had great conversation with the first girl I talked to. The second girl, however, was nice, but I didn’t felt compatible with her. This left me a bit skeptical, so I left with a good, but not great feeling about Astros. But again, I thought it would be great to get invited back so I could get a better feel for the house!

So recruitment was going along just fine, and even thought I was having a nice time at these parties, in the back of my head I was still just not feeling my best. All my worries kept popping up, and it eventually started to take its toll…headaches, nausea, dizziness. I kept telling myself, ok, just a few more houses, then straight to bed to get some sleep. So I tried my best to stick out the rest of the night…

Rockies – Unfortunately I missed Rockies little song or dance, I had to pee SO BADLY, (Took too many drinks from the other houses lol). So after I ran from an open classroom building to the house, I was led to a little group of PNM’s and sisters, already mid conversation. I had a decent time at Rockies. Our conversation was very much restricted to small talk—I mean we didn’t have awkward pauses or anything, but it just didn’t feel natural. But they still seem liked nice girls who really liked to have fun. I know it sounds weird but I was hoping to get invited back just because I had missed their skit! But since I came late I thought the odds would be against me, and if that was the case, I wasn’t going to be too hurt.

Cubs – The Cubs had a cute, upbeat skit. You could tell that they were very bubbly, fun loving girls! I talked with two sisters who happened to be roommates. I definitely got a vibe that these girls really had fun with each other. One of the girls was VERY funny, but also just a bit loud, and tended to take over the conversation. It was almost intimidating. At the end, I had liked that the Cubs seemed like a fun group of girls, but I wasn’t sure if they were 100% for me. Still, I was interested.

Reds – The Reds had a very pretty house, and I liked the location! I was eager to get inside, but upon going I was pretty quickly disappointed. The Reds were not as impressive as some of the other houses. I just wasn’t drawn in by their skit. When we met with the sisters, they seemed like nice girls, but again, I wasn’t blown away. There was no connection. Again, this is another house where I barely can remember my time there. I left not wanting to revisit the Reds.

The night was almost over, and I was still feeling like crap. It was getting hard to concentrate, which was probably hurting my chances with the last house of the night, the Royals.

Royals – Such a pretty house they had! We were led in and they had the cutest set up! It was almost like a little café with iced coffee drinks and other sweets. They definitely won the award for cutest theme… well so far. Still I was very much out of it at this point. The girls were soooo sweet, and we had good conversation (well just about as good as I could have had given how I was feeling). I was hoping they would invite me back, but I was nervous because of how sluggish I was at their event.

So at the end of the night, I felt like I had liked how things were going. Granted I wasn’t in love with it, but I liked it more than I thought I would. But this anxious feeling was really hitting me hard. I was not feeling well at all. I went back to my dorm, talked with my roommate for a bit about my day (she was loving rush by the way) and tried to go to sleep. But I could just not fall asleep. I was too worried about my dad, missing my family and missing my ex-boyfriend. Not to mention I was worrying about how sick I was feeling, and how I was ever going to make it through the long day I had coming, especially since I was feeling the way I was. Finally, after a few hours, I was able to fall asleep.

[APhi4Ever]

Go Astros!

[Owlette]

Ooh, your story sounds so interesting!
Of course, go, Red Sox!!! <3

[piphiangel314]

Ooooh I love this thread already. And I am HUGE baseball fan as well. Even though it's my job in the summer, I still love it! But I am a little sad you don't have my men on there... no Cardinals?

I'm going to have to go with my 2nd team though... let's go Yankees!

[sceniczip]

Go Indians!

[tinydancer]

When I first started to read your code names, I said "Well, where are the PHILLIES???" Then I read the rest of it so now I'm ok.

Good story!

[kchaptergphib]

WOOO HOOOO! Large Midwest School = my favorite kind!

And since I've been saying it all week, GO TWINS!

[VeteranPNM]

Day Three
The next morning my alarm went off, and I didn’t want to move. My roommate quickly got up and jumped in the shower. When she came back I told her I was going to drop out. She was a little surprised and asked why. I told her I just felt like crap, which I really did. And since I felt so bad, I didn’t want to make myself sicker, I thought it would best to rest. I had liked rush, but my heart wasn’t 100% there, so at the time it was easy for me to give up. But thinking back on it, I was actually just making myself sick. I really didn’t have anything to worry about, well except about my dad being sick, but I let everything get to me and I was just so overwhelmed, so I quit.

So by now, I bet some of you thinking, “Well is that it? That’s a crappy ending…” Let me just say that this is far from the ending…

[VeteranPNM]

aww well my thread isn't as lively as i hoped it would be...i guess i'll give a few days worth of updates

Later my freshman year…
Soon after formal recruitment, the Phillies sent me invitations for informal recruitment. At that point, I was really not interested, so I declined all invites. My roommate finished formal recruitment and she accepted a bid from Nationals. All through the year, I could see just how much she loved her sorority, and how much fun he was having. This made me start to regret my decision to drop out so soon. Well, I thought, there’s nothing I can do about this now. I mean, it wasn’t the end of the world: I was loving the time I was having at my school, I made some good friends, my dad was making a full recovery, and I was WAY over the ex, especially thanks to a new boy But I still I had felt as though something was missing…

Fall 2007, Sophomore year
Sophomore year came quickly, and I was happy to be back at school. Over the summer, I had been toying with the idea of rushing again. I mean just because I would be a sophomore didn’t mean I couldn’t rush, right? I mean I knew that being a sophomore would hurt, (like I said, rush is competitive here!) and my GPA wasn’t fantastic, (that first stressed out semester of college left me with a 2.5 GPA after first semester and 2.9 after the first full year…so sophomore year I KNEW I had to bring it up!). But I thought to myself that if I didn’t try, I would always regret it, not knowing what could have been. I had to go for it, and a few days before rush, I signed up…

Day 1 (again…)
So there I was, at the orientation again. I felt a little out of place because I didn’t see any familiar faces. I could tell most of the girls near me were freshmen by their conversations. The little presentation at the orientation was basically the same… there was a slide show running about all of the chapters, and then someone from Panhellenic spoke, then we would split into our groups and meet our Gamma Chis… you know, that whole thing! However, one thing caught my attention during this years orientation. They announced that starting Fall ’08 there would be a new chapter, the White Sox, colonizing on campus. Wow, 20 chapters?! This made me really want to be a part of my school’s huge Greek system!

We split into our Gamma Chi groups once more, and I was so excited to see a girl I knew! She was a friend of a friend, who I had met once or twice, but she’s a really nice girl, so I was so happy to find out she was going to be in my group! I left the meeting super anxious to get started with recruitment! I told myself, that no matter what, this time just stick it out to the end.




maybe i'll post later again... i'm just really excited to tell my story!! lol

ps....i realize some of these details will very much give away the story... again i dont really mind TOO much if you figure it out, but just keep it to yourself til i'm done! gracias!