[Storytime!]

Day 1 (25 minute parties)

I was at the pool bright an early for warm up, and if you’ve never been to a swim meet, as a sprinter there is a lot of sitting around with some warm up and cool down and then 25-60 seconds of competing, so there was a lot of tent talk going on. We thought we were so smart, even in the absence of actual experiences or information. PNM lesson: You will see how these perceptions may have affected my invites.

Phoebe was the sweet but quirky girls, they had a decent number of strong members (my orientation leader was on homecoming court), but they also had some more random socially awkward members. They were known for having a good sisterhood and a fun philanthropy event, and had their own house rather than being in a dorm.

Monica was one of the most desired chapters along the pretty/sweet/bubbly side. They had a lot of athletes and campus leaders and put a lot of effort into winning things like homecoming and greek week. Had the highest GPA on campus and had their own house, but didn’t have a well-known philanthropy event.

Joey was the other most desired chapter along the hot/partying/social side. They had the outgoing fun reputation, were involved in a lot around campus, and had the hands down most popular philanthropy event that got a lot of greek and non-greek participation. Had a lot of nursing majors at the time, and had their own house though it was further from campus.

Rachel was the newest chapter on campus, having just colonized in the fall. The upperclassmen they initiated as their first class were really sweet girls, and I liked my RA a lot. We weren’t really sure what to think about them, but because they were colonizing they would be taking a large pledge class so it felt like a safety net with us missing two days. They were going to be in a dorm and it wasn’t known how many sisters could live there.

Chandler was the local chapter, and they were seen as really genuine and down to earth, but quieter and not super social. I saw someone describe them as everyone's future favorite eccentric professor and though we didn’t describe them that way at the time it fits. They had a couple of very outgoing members (I had dated a Sigma Chi at the time and their sweetheart was an awesome Chandler), but a lot of their members were quieter. They lived in a dorm space.

Ross was a national engineering sorority. Even though my campus had a lot of engineers, they had very small numbers and an academic and intense reputation. Only one on the team rushing was an engineer, so we didn’t spend much time talking about them. They had a small house on campus.

I don’t remember if we won the meet, but I was soooooooooooo antsy to get to Day 2!