Sorry y'all! I could have sworn that I posted the rest of my story in the evening last Wednesday but I see that it didn't go through. So here it is:
Pref Day: We can be invited back to 3 chapters with the parties thankfully in the late afternoon-evening. By this point we all had blisters on our feet and sweat stains everywhere but everyone left knew that we had only one day left and we were all super excited for Bid Day!
We got our lists back and I got back
Cioppino,
Ginger Snaps, and
Cioppino! I was really excited to see those houses again, especially because I know in each of those houses there was always a girl to greet me by name who had made an effort to stop and talk to me a few minutes every day. I do know a few girls in my hall who decided to drop out after they got their lists back, but knowing more about them now, I see that they were definitely the types to be rushing "for" a certain sorority and they wouldn't have been happy with the houses on their list. Honestly, I think that if the options are to 1) drop out or 2) be a total witch and constantly complain at a house, then it's probably better for everyone to drop out. Which is fine, because A&M has a ton of different activities and prestigious organizations to join and Greek Life here is only a tiny percentage of the campus but feels a lot larger just because the campus is so large.
I remember standing in line for each of the parties and I was surprised by the mix a lot of us had when it came to the other two parties. I don't know how common it is to have the same 2 or 3 houses for other PNMs, but I don't think anyone had my same 3. I remember about 75% of the other girls standing in line for
Cioppino had one other house on their list , and like 40% of the other girls waiting in line for
Ginger Snaps had another house in particular. For all you in-the-know people, is this very common for pref party invites?
Cioppino was first, and like before, I kind of knew what to expect because some of the girls that I talked to at skit were kind of hinting about what they were planning on doing, but seeing the entire "production" put together was such a wow moment for me. Everything was just so polished looking, and I was so struck by the power of their sorority. They had like a mini-ceremony, and it was the first time that I kind of understood what made these girls tick and why they did the things they did. I was really touched and spent the rest of the evening talking to the first girl who ever picked me up who had the same course of study as I did. She gave me some great advice at the beginning of rush that I followed all throughout the week, and I definitely felt as if she was someone who could protect me and guide me throughout the 4 years of college.
At
Clafoutis I was greeted by the same girl on Philanthropy day who shared a lot of the same passions as I did on food, travel, and the arts. We chatted away, laughing like old friends. At Cioppino I felt as if I was talking to a mentor, but at Clafoutis I felt as if I was talking to a friend and sister. Whereas I would feel sad if I disappointed a mentor, I would feel comfortable taking all of my flaws and my fears to a sister and not feel judged or a burden. At the ceremony, I was struck by how the girl who picked me up talked about how lost she felt on times at a big campus like A&M but found a family in a home away from home for her. I know for a lot of freshmen, they're away from home for the first time, but I'd had experience living away from my parents for months at a time, so I never expected to feel
that discomforted living away from home. But still, a lot of what she said struck me because she had the same kind of upbringing that I did, so it felt nice to bond with her over that.
Lastly, I went to
Ginger Snaps, and at this point it was already late evening, and the sun was setting and oh my gosh, everyone and everything looks so much more magical at twilight. Walking into this house, the first thing I noted was that everything seemed so cozy, even though it felt like 100 degrees outside. I know I've said that a lot of the houses seem like they had a tight and loving sisterhood, but I think this house took the cake hands down. Ginger Snaps had started out the week kind of neutral in my opinion, but the more that I saw from this house, the more I realized just how great they were. It definitely was more of a slow burn and less of a lightbulb moment for me. The girls were really goofy and funny, but more than any of the other houses, I felt that they were the nicest and the most genuine. I got the feeling that the girls in this house liked each other and pushed each other to be greater and do greater things not to bring "prestige" to the house, but because they knew each others strengths and weaknesses. I also know not to listen to tent-talk, but there was absolutely no one who disliked this house at all. I did think that that says a lot about them that none of the other PNMs had a bad moment there.
When it came time to rank, I actually ranked pretty quickly. I went with the house I liked the most all week long, which was:
1.
Clafoutis
2.
Ginger Snaps
3.
Cioppino
It wasn't until I was on my way home when I began to feel A LOT of doubt. I don't know how many other people go through the feeling that they'd made a huge mistake, but I began to feel it as I walked home. I had just ranked with my gut in an almost knee-jerk way without thinking it over at all. When I stopped to actually
think about it, I began to think that maybe I would have been happier at Ginger Snaps. Clafoutis definitely was the louder, more high-energy option, and I worried that maybe my quick fondness for them clouded my judgment.
I was actually really really worried far into the night, but a lot of girls in my hall were equally nervous about their choices, so we all (like 40 PNMs) decided to have a giant sleepover and paint our nails and watch bid day videos (again, for like the 15th time). All 3 of the sororities that I had for pref have blue as one of their colors, so I knew I'd try to pick a color to match