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Time for Philanthropy Round!
Our roll call must have been early that morning too because I think I woke up before our schedules got emailed to us. Once I got out of the shower that morning, I knew what would be waiting for me, and I nervously opened my email to see…
Frank
Danny
Wait a second. What had just happened? Where were all the other houses? Why hadn’t I been invited back to so many of them? Had I done something wrong?
I’m not really an emotional person, so at the time, I just kind of went with it. My choices had been very narrowed down for me. My mom called me, and she wasn’t very happy with what had happened. Though I didn’t know this at the time, she and my grandma (who was a Henry) were particularly upset that Henry hadn’t invited me back. Why didn’t my cousin pull for me? It wasn’t like I was a bad PNM, and I looked good on paper too. But that hadn’t mattered. Besides, I liked the two houses I had back, and I needed to make the best of it. I didn’t have my parties until a little later in the morning and afternoon, so after going to our morning group meeting, I hung out at my dorm.
A little later that morning, it was time for my first party at Frank. Today was philanthropy day. The house was decorated beautifully, and the member that I talked to was levelheaded. We talked, watched a presentation, and then talked some more. I had a good conversation, but the whole time, I wanted to beg the member to please invite me back for preference round. By this time in the day, I had had time to realize that I could get released from recruitment if I didn’t get invited back to either of my houses from today. I was worried sick about it by the time I got to Frank.
After Frank, I had a lunch break before going to Danny. I had an ok time at Danny, but by the time I got there, I was so exhausted from the whole week that I just wanted to be done with my parties that day. Unfortunately, that would not be happening any time soon, and I’ll explain what I mean by that in a moment. The member I talked to at Danny was nice, but nothing really stood out about our conversation. I was doing my best to talk up their philanthropy and ask questions, but she didn’t seem to be matching my energy. Then, in the middle of our conversation, the electricity went out for a few moments. It turns out that a storm had just started, but we were about to be done with the party, so hopefully we would miss it. Just as we were all walking out the door, standing in a semicircle while being sung the door song as the party was ending, it began to rain. And by rain, I mean monsoon. In mere seconds, everything was soaked. All of us PNMs were quickly rushed back into Danny’s house because the storm was that bad. The Gamma Chis moved everything inside, but we weren’t allowed to have our phones, which was unfortunate because I had planned to meet one of my friends at the student center after my party was over, and I wasn’t able to tell her that I would be delayed. The Gamma Chis had us all sitting in Danny’s foyer, so all the PNMs from that party were crammed into a pretty small space. Eventually, Panhellenic gave us the go ahead to spread out into some more of Danny’s rooms, so it was a little more comfortable, but we were delayed about 30-45 minutes. I remember thinking, “This is my last party. I just want to go pref so I can be done with today. Why did this have to happen during my LAST PARTY?!” Finally, after sitting in silence for a long time, we were allowed to leave. It was still raining when I left, my shoes were totally soaked, and I was trying to seek shelter under trees (which was not a good idea because of lightning). I texted my friend and told her I was on my way to her. I quickly made my preferences for the day, inviting back both Danny and Frank since we could have a max of 2 houses for the final round. I prayed that at least one of them invited me back.
After seeing my friend and eating dinner, I went back to my dorm for our nightly group meeting. At this point, I was so worried about getting fully released from recruitment. I remember walking around campus that night and seeing advertisements for Continuous Open Bidding (informal recruitment), and thinking, “All right, that’s what I’ll have to do.” After our meeting, I talked to one of my Gamma Chis about my fear, but she gave me a hug and told me not to worry and to go get some rest. It was just what I needed to hear. However, at the time, I had no idea how they would tell me if I didn’t get any invitations. Would I just get a blank schedule in my email? Would I get no email at all? Would one of my Gamma Chis come tell me in the wee hours of the morning? It turns out that the 3rd option was what would’ve happened, but I didn’t know that at the time.
At this point, I was just hoping for the best. Stay tuned...
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