Oh. My. Word. What a day! It was absolutely gorgeous and sunny outside, but it was below freezing (by the end of the night it was 29 degrees!) So I practically ran home and took a long hot shower and made some hot chocolate, which I am enjoying as I type this.
By 10:15 this morning, the campus looked like a scene from a movie: there were over a thousand girls on all the streets wearing jeans and black recruitment t-shirts and nametags. Each rho gamma made a felt nametag for their pnms and they're so cute! Here are some examples: Stewie from Family Guy, the Victoria's Secret PINK dog, the Chanel symbol, 3-d airplanes, tiaras with jewels, Elmo, sombreros, and even one in the shape of an Ugg boot!
We aren't paired with our normal rho gammas during house tours; instead, each group gets 3 or 4 rho gammas who take role and have their "mommy backpacks" with everything you could possibly need in them! All the rho gammas have white sweatshirts and the sorority members have red shirts that are the same as ours on the back, except they have the name of their sorority on the front.
Before I talk about individual houses, here's what happened generically at each house: we're put into two lines, pushed into the door, and scream our name into the ear of the girl at the door. She pairs us up with the member in line behind her and we immediately give our card and we’re taken on either a house tour or we sit down for our conversations. Because some of the houses have to double and triple rush, I’m going to just say multi-rush, because it’s pretty easy to tell which houses are ones that triple rushes if you went to IU. After we left each house, we all scribbled quick notes on little note cards attached to a big ring that our rho gamma made for us.
I am so glad how today went: every sorority acted as if the Panhellenic rules weren’t thrown out the window. They knelt down as we talked to them. When it came time to rotate, the member replacing the one we were talking to would say, “Hi ###, can I meet your guests?” Then the member would introduce us and give the other girl a quick update on what we were last talking about. Then she would say “Good luck with the rest of recruitment!” At the very end, our member would walk us out to the curb and say goodbye. It was very classy and organized, and I was very impressed.
So here’s what you really want to hear: the down and dirty about the houses! I wish I could describe the houses to you. So many of then are AMAZING! I’m talking take-your-breath-away beautiful.
At exactly 11:00 I was talking with some girls from my group when all of a sudden there was screaming and banging on the windows and doors!
The lights were going on and off and the curtains were opening and closing, too. Then the doors burst open and all the girls are at the front of the door screaming with their hands in the air. They do this for a good minute before breaking into their song and we're pushed into the door. It was the weirdest, funniest, and coolest thing, and they do this at every house!!!
My first house was
fuzzy wuzzy brown. This was a multi-rush and even though the girls are nice, I felt uncomfortable and awkward when I left. There were big silences that kept trying to get filled with “so any more questions?” I didn’t feel any flow there, it just felt forced.
Next was
Jazzberry jam. I already had preconceptions about this one that I left at the door. These girls were very enthusiastic when singing there song and cheering. This was a single rush and I had a good conversation with one girl, and two great conversations with two others. Their house is absolutely stunning! I really liked this house and was feeling much better about rush, since I was worried after the first house.
Laser lemon was another house I had heard about. It was also a single rush and I had good conversations with all the girls I talked too. This was a drink party, which was great because by now I was really thirsty! They also have a beautiful house. The girls here are very close. I left feeling pretty good about this one.
Purple mountain’s majesty was a pleasant surprise. I had a great talk with all the girls, especially one of them. We were supposed to be talking about the rooms during the tour but instead we were just talking about everything else! This was the first house where we were shocked when it came time to rotate members because we were having such a good convo! The girls love their philanthropy and are very sweet. I really liked this house a lot.
Mango tango had a gorgeous house and I talked to many, many girls, but I felt that they weren’t very sincere. I also had an awkward conversation where I felt like I was rushing the member because she just wouldn’t talk! I didn’t particularly care for this house, not nearly as much as the last house.
Ohhh
Granny smith apple! They are so happy and enthusiastic! This was a multi-rush where I talked to a ton of girls. Because we talked to more girls than normal, and because it was a multi-rush, there wasn’t a lot of time to talk about anything past the introductory name, age, major, hometown speech. But I still felt very comfortable here, and the house tour was great because they too have a gorgeous house. I really liked this house.
Then I was on to
mac-n-cheese. I just could not connect with any of the girls, and the house tour wasn’t nearly as nice as others. The members talked a lot about themselves instead of trying to get to me. This was also a multi-rush. It also felt much longer than the others and there were awkward breaks in the conversations, which wasn’t comfortable.
Burnt sienna was a huge surprise. I didn’t know anything about this house, which is so pretty! I talked with three girls and every single one we kept the conversation going until the very last second! We didn’t want to stop when the next girl came in to take the member’s place! Time flew by so fast here, and I didn’t want to leave at all! This was also a drink party and I was having such a good time that I only took one sip of my water! Then when I was leaving with the third girl, the other two girls saw me in the hall way and stopped their cheering to say good bye to me. This was my absolute favorite of the whole day!!!
The second to last house was
Banana mania. I had a single rush here like the last house. These girls are so tight and absolutely love their house, which is so great. I talked to two girls here and felt like the convos were good. I felt good about this house, but I must admit I was still in awe over Burnt Sienna when coming here.
Ironic that the last house of the night was
Bittersweet. That’s how we felt, glad that the day was over because it was so cold, but we still wanted to see more of the houses! I didn’t feel comfortable here at all. The girls are all very supportive of their sorority, but I just didn’t feel like I could be a part of this house. When I talked to the members it got awkward, and many of the girls would start talking about things like drinking by the third question!
Because we have barely any time tomorrow night to rank all 19 houses, we have to rank tonight’s houses, then fit in the others tomorrow before meeting with our rho gammas. Here’s my ranking:
Burnt sienna
Granny smith apple
Purple mountain’s majesty
Jazzberry jam
Laser lemon
Banana Mania
Mango tango
Fuzzy wuzzy brown
Mac-n-cheese
Bittersweet
I'm so glad how today went. Even though I didn't care for some houses, I really wouldn't mind going back to them for 12 party and giving them another chance. I can't believe I would like as many houses as I do, and this is only day one! Alrighty, I am going to go to sleep because I am so cold and exhausted and we have to get up bright and early tomorrow! Here’s my schedule:
10:00-10:30 Wild watermelon
10:50-11:20 Prussian blue
11:40-12:10 Atomic tangerine
12:30-1:00 Cerulean
12:20-1:50 Mauvelous
1:50 Lunch
4:00-4:30 Razzmatazz
4:50-5:20 Shamrock
5:40-6:10 Mulberry
6:30-7:00 Cerise
Thanks for helping me organize all my thoughts on here and cheering me on! Can’t wait to write about tomorrow!
Oh, and sorry this is the longest post in GC existance!
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Tonight all actives and PNMs went to a presentation by a speaker. It was fun and informative, and it's making everything start to become real! We get our cute little t-shirts on Friday, our schedules on Saturday (I think 
) and who knows when we get our 19 information cards to fill out before bright-n-early Saturday morning?!? YAY! 
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