[altheafl]

Day 3, Sisterhood:
When Saturday came around, I was a bundle of nerves. As this weekend was talking place in Greek Village, I headed over there, my knees shaking and my heart thumping. What if I was dropped from the process altogether?

When I got to Greek Village, I was told that I had at least one house (Yes!) and that we would be given our schedules out in alphabetical order.
Our group’s meeting space in Greek Village was right in front of BROWNIE’s house and I remember that my worst fear was of being dropped from BROWNIE right in front of their house.

We could go to a maximum of five events today, and in the breaks between events, we would be waiting in one of the fraternity chapter rooms.
After what felt like forever, I was called up and given my schedule. I had gotten back CHEESECAKE, WAFFLES and BROWNIE. I wasn’t too devastated about being dropped from PANCAKE, as I felt as if it wasn’t the greatest fit for me, but it was still a wonderful house, and it sucked that they didn’t want me back. I also knew that one of my group leaders was a disaffiliated PANCAKE, as she had accidentally let it slip during the week.

My first chapter of the day was BROWNIE, and I lined up outside of the house in the heat. At the five minute knock, we did a cute little chant that went ‘HEY, WE WANT OUR XYZs. HEY, WE WANT OUR XYZs. HEY, WE WANT OUR XYZs.’ To which the girls inside the house would respond ‘HEY, WE WANT OUR PNMs. HEY, WE WANT OUR PNMs. HEY, WE WANT OUR PNMs.’ It was a cute way to get everyone’s minds off the intense heat. I remember the disaffiliated sorority members lining us up outside the chapter noting that one of the alumnae members who was helping out BROWNIES had been incredibly sweet, giving out hugs and cold water to these girls who were missing their sororities. There’s something about this intense alumni support that just gives me the warm fuzzies.

The doors flew open and the door chant began, and we were picked up at the door one by one. I was lead into their chapter room where they had round tables set up and I sat down with my rusher. After making small talk, she asked what exactly I wanted from a sorority. Honestly, I was taken aback by that question, and it took me a couple seconds to answer. I’d thought about it a lot, but I’d never had to verbalise my thoughts. I talked about how I’d love to have a support system of girls, who I could not only be supported by, but also be their to support in times of need. I talked about how I had an older sister who’s now quite far away, and how I missed her, as well as talking about my passion for volunteering, and interest in a leadership position.

When I had finished, I suddenly felt worried that I would be perceived as inarticulate, or that she would feel that I was rambling on too much, and cut me. Fun fact? I worry a LOT about the most ridiculous scenarios.

When we were sitting and talking, one of the sisters came round and handed us all chocolate milkshakes. To call them heavenly would be an understatement. After standing out in the heat, these creamy delights were an extremely welcomed addition.

We were ushered into the living room to watch a sisterhood video. Mostly consisting of clips of the girls laughing and hugging each other, it didn’t really tell me much about their sisterhood that I didn’t already know, except that they all looked super cute in flower crowns. Y’all know that’s very important to me in the choosing of a lifelong organization.

At the conclusion of the video, three of the sisters performed, with one playing the guitar and two harmonizing in song. They sang a song that I’d heard a couple of times before, but I’m assuming was chosen due to the line ‘Know you’re not alone, we’re going to make this place your home.’ Tears welled up in my eyes as I was struck by this sweet sentiment. I WASN’T alone, because these sweet ladies had chosen to invite me back twice, and so hopefully would want me in their sisterhood.

I didn’t drink the wonderful milkshake during the video out of a fear of looking rude, so when I left the house with only having drank about half of the milkshake, I was more than a little disappointed in myself.

Once the doors had closed after they finished clapping and singing, my heart sunk. I loved these girls so much, but what if they didn’t like me? Or what if they just liked other girls better? I reassured myself that I had three wonderful houses, and I’d be lucky to join any one of them.

I then had a three hour break in my schedule. If our breaks were three hours or longer, we could ‘Check Out’ of recruitment, hand in our nametag and booklet as long as we came back at a certain time.

I opted to ‘Check Out’ because as much fun as a farternity chapter room is, one’s dorm is just so much more fun.
After walking 15 minutes to my dorm in a pair of awfully uncomfortable shoes, I changed into a tshirt and shorts, set my alarm, and fell asleep.

Waking up two hours later, I headed back to Greek Village for my next event.

Checking in, I was notified that because my next event was quite far away, I could take the golf cart to get there and was I interested in doing that? Was I interested in doing that? Heck yes I was! Sitting in the golf cart with the wind whipping through my hair and laughing with two other girls, I surmised that THIS was the best moment of recruitment so far, milkshake be damned.

After thanking the girl for dropping us off in the gold cart, I went to go line up. After checking my breath, minty fresh, thanks to a POLO, and my hair, slightly flat, but doable, I saw two girls who I knew from other days going to WAFFLES too. I LOVED these girls, and I’d absolutely love to have them as sisters.

After a sweet conversation except for an awkward moment in which the response to my question ‘Do you have any stories which exemplify your sisterhood? (Which, come on, it’s sisterhood day!) was ‘Uhh, like, we go and get lunch together sometimes.’ I was lead into an adjacent room where we watched a video. As we were filing into our chairs to watch the video, the words to the song which they were singing about their values really touched me. While the other sororities largely sang about how ‘our sorority is the best’ or how they hoped we’d have a great time in the house, this chapter was singing about their treasured values.

Speaking of their video, that was great too. While chapters often film perfect videos of them blowing glitter or ‘throwing what they know’ while in a human pyramid, the video had ‘behind the scenes clips’ interspersed throughout the video of sisters getting glitter up their nose or struggling to get into the pyramid. This self awareness really made me like them that little bit more.

While most girls who I had been with at WAFFLES went off to rank, I had my last house of the day, CHEESECAKE in the last party of the day. Despite not being able to see this day’s video, it honestly didn’t matter. I had a meaningful conversations with all four of the girls which I talked to, and I was genuinely convinced me that I would fit in perfectly as a CHEESECAKE. I also loved the fact that they had weekly chapter wide nights in which the whole chapter would watch a movie or go on an outing, as this seemed like a great way to bond with my future sisters. As I left the house, I told the girl who I was talking to ‘I really hope I see you again tomorrow.’ And I meant it, with all of my heart.
The one big problem when you have a great time at all of the houses is that it then becomes awfully hard to pick your top two. The next day was preference day, and I could honestly see myself in any of the three houses, but I could only pick one.


I spent about 45 minutes sitting on a bench, trying to decide rankings. By this point, it was near 11pm, and I was tired, bitten up, and confused.

I ranked:

1. BROWNIES
1. CHEESECAKE
2. WAFFLES

Honestly, to this day I couldn't tell you why I ranked Waffles third, or Brownies and Cheesecake first, but something about it just felt so right.