[elle1776]

After a quick break for a football game, it was finally the day everyone was waiting for: Preference Morning and Bid Night. I was honestly the most nervous this day. Going from 5 houses down to 2 could be either really great or really bad depending on what order you got back. I was a nervous wreck as I got ready that morning. It was so hot, I was exhausted after such a long week, and nothing with my hair and makeup seemed to be working. I honestly just wanted to sleep, but the excitement of Bid Night later that night and being with all my new sisters was keeping me going. I put on my dress, grabbed my heels, and headed across campus to the row. I found my Rho Gamma and my group and talked with some of the girls as I waited for her to find my schedule. She finally found it and it said

TURQUOISE
PURPLE

Wait. Where was PINK? I didn’t understand. They had introduced me to so many of their “top” actives, I had a letter of rec (not too common at this school), they followed me on Instagram! How could they not invite me back!? To be honest, I was super upset about not being able to go back to PINK for their preference round. At first I felt a bit played. I thought that with how they treated me all week that I was going to be on their steps at Bid Night. But now I realize that they are an excellent recruiting chapter that makes everyone who walks into their house feel like how I did. That’s why they are so popular and have high return rates. I was just so upset that I wouldn’t be able to be a part of their large transfer classes and have the experience that I had conjured up in my mind over the summer when they had followed me. However, I still had TURQUOISE and that house had also been one of my favorites the entire week. I called my mom, held back a few tears over the loss of PINK (something about my mom’s voice can make me cry the second she asks me what’s wrong) and headed over to TURQUOISE. I was determined to have the best Preference party there was and have this house know that they 100% wanted to give me a bid.

TURQUOISE: We all stood outside and nervously waiting for the party to begin. When it was finally time, a group of actives walked out in all white and started singing a beautiful song about their sorority. Actives who would then be preffing would step out of the group, say a little bit about the PNM coming in, and would lead us inside. My active stepped forward and I immediately recognized her as one of my friends from pageants that had grabbed me on the first day. She said how much she had loved getting to know me better on day one, some of my accomplishments, and how she couldn’t wait to talk to me some more. I was led in and the house was decorated so beautifully. The President and Recruitment Chair were there again and gave me the biggest hugs. Even without a name tag they knew my name and said how happy they were to have me back. My active took me upstairs to a balcony that was set up with roses and beautiful centerpieces. The balcony was super crowded and loud however and didn’t really give me an intimate preference vibe. She told me that the letter on the plate was for me and that I could read it real quick while she went to grab our refreshments. The letter was from a girl I had talked to the day before and it was so sweet and I teared up a bit before I was brought back some orange juice and a donut. I wasn’t really hungry because of how nervous and hot it was outside, but I took a couple nibbles while we talked. We discussed a little bit about how recruitment was such a long week and how tired we both were before I mentioned that the exhaustion of the week had really made me miss home and my family. This is where the conversation, while it had been going good before, suddenly became a bit awkward. I was trying to connect to this girl on a little bit more of a deeper level, I didn’t bring up my family in a sad way but figured (since it was true, I was pretty homesick) that instead of talking about surface level things like how we had, we could chat about some other stuff. I didn’t get crazy awkward, but after that point she changed the subject and I felt like I had done something wrong after I brought it up. It’s hard to describe. She then led me down to their living room where the president gave a really tear-jerking speech about how someone close to her had passed away recently and how her sisters had been there for her. Everyone was crying and it was a really moving speech. I decided that I was just being dramatic about what had happened earlier, one little conversation blip wouldn’t change an anyone’s opinion after such an amazing week. She was probably just tired and it had been SO hot where we were sitting. She was also a sophomore, so I could’ve been the first person she had ever preffed. They began singing a farewell song and we took the “gift/token” that was given to us at the beginning of the party, made a wish, and placed it onto a sculpture that they had. I walked out knowing that I wanted this house

I headed over to PURPLE even more nervous than I had been when the morning started. I just felt like I hadn’t “done enough” to win over the girls at TURQUOISE. Even though technically they were supposed to be trying to impress me, the girl that preffed me seemed like she didn’t care too much.

PURPLE: This house took every PNM in together and led us over to their patio. They gave a short speech before actives stepped forward and said our name and a little something about us (pretty much the same as the last party) and led us to where we would be preffed. I was paired up with a girl that I had talked to on the first day. I didn’t remember much about her and was nervous that we wouldn’t connect. She took me to a table with cake pops and sparkling apple cider and guided me upstairs to a private room with A.C. (I was so thankful for some A.C.). I sat on the bed and she sat on a chair and we started talking about more surface level stuff. She was really sweet though and I could definitely feel that she was happy I was there. She read a letter about how her sisters had been there for her after she came to this school from out of state and it was nice. We talked some more about family but the convo still stayed surface level. She never asked me anything deeper. Soon it was time to head back downstairs to hear some speeches. The actives stood around us in a circle as we stood in front of them. A girl gave a speech about how a family member had been abusive to her her entire life and how this chapter gave her the strength to stand up to what was going on. It was an extremely sad speech and so many girls around me were crying, but I just felt a little uncomfortable. I looked around the courtyard and barely recognized any faces like I had in TURQUOISE and in previous houses throughout the week. I just wasn’t feeling it and as I tried to picture myself standing in their position the next year, I couldn’t see it. It was soon time to go and we once again took our “gift/token” to their centerpiece they had and made a wish. I wished that I could be given the chance to be a TURQUOISE.

I walked to rankings and easily put in my choices

TURQUOISE
PURPLE

I began the walk back to my dorm and called my mom to tell her how it had gone and I just started sobbing. The exhaustion and stress of the week had caught up to me and I just really deep down in my heart knew that I wanted to be a TURQUOISE. PURPLE had only thrilled me with one girl the entire week. And while I knew that there were probably a ton more girls exactly like that one girl in PURPLE that I would like as well, everything I had experienced just hadn’t won me over like the other houses that week had. This was also the time I wish I hadn’t listened to the rankings and had put down BLUE for Pref morning. Those girls and I had gotten along way better and I liked their parties more than I had with PURPLE but I couldn't get over their rank. My mom calmed me down from my episode. She told me to just relax and that the girls at TURQUOISE had really seemed to like me all week. It was up to fate now to decide where I would end up.