I have made it! Yes, I have made it! It is the final day of formal recruitment at Oklahoma State University! I have battled through the rain, rallied against massive blisters all over my feet, mastered the art of waking up at 6:30 am and getting completely ready (including breakfast!) by 7:15 am, and most impressively… I, the girl who wore her jeans tucked into her boots on the first day, have made it successfully to the final day of recruitment.
The day of lasts. The last time I would have to read my fate on a slip of paper. The last time I would drag myself across the Greek neighborhood in heels (or so I thought). The last time I would have to pref my favorite houses on the computer. The VERY last time I had to stand in line, walk into a eccentric house, and talk to a complete stranger.
The same three houses I had the day before showed up on my slip of paper. I was JAZZED! This was the first time since day one that I had had the full amount of houses to visit. I did a secret happy dance in my head because this means I was wanted. Thank goodness.
Today was all out formality. The potential new members and sorority members all looked like they were going out for cocktail hour. I actually didn’t stick out too much. I was in my gradation dress—
a black number with a white waist band, peep toe black heels, and some kind of awkward western jewelry. I thought it would add some pizzazz. I distinctly remember thinking that I should do something different with my hair. My hair doesn’t curl well unless you put about a pound of product in it… And then you get something like Shirley Temple on crack—please refer to my prom pictures from senior year— so I decided that I should do a SUPER part in my hair. I envisioned it being mysterious and dramatic. Turns out, it really just looks like I forgot where my natural part was… Whoops!
A weird part about pref day is the seriousness of it all. The big rule was everyone had to be silent. When you lined up, when you walked to your houses, when you were just hanging around. The Gamma Chis were insistent that you stay reverent and think about your decision. Personally, I thought that was the biggest joke of my life. These past 4 days everyone has been acting like we drank 6 Red Bulls and ate a giant pixie stick…. Now you want me to somber and quiet like Old Yeller died? This crap is so weird…. Looking back now that I am almost a senior, I guess it is important that the women coming through Recruitment think seriously about their decision; however, I still believe that enforcing a vow of silence really doesn’t secure that reflection time.
Pref Day is the final day. It is where I believe the sorority becomes most like a cult… This is only because, as an outsider, I could not truly understand what the big deal was with sisterhood and all this lovey dovey stuff they spoke of. Each house had their own pref day ceremony. Each house wore the same color of dresses, either black or white. (Thus the culty-ness of it all). There was singing, speeches, and even musical entertainment at each house. All with the same goal. Get your bid. They each wanted some kind of commitment from me. They wanted one final attempt to show why this sisterhood was for me.
I pretty much knew going into this day the house I wanted, but it was still hard to decide at the end of the day. When you think back on the week, you wonder if you are making the right gut decision. That’s really what it is. A gut decision. At each house you have talked to about 10 girls. Those 10 girls represent the house you want to affiliate with for life. Til death do you part. After all the parties you sit in a room reviewing the book you know you should have wrote more in. Some girls had an easy decision while some needed mini counseling sessions in the hall with the Gamma Chi’s. As I put the last pref into the computer, I said a little prayer and let the anxiety fade away until tomorrow.
The next day would be the day I was going to officially wear the letters of a sorority. Whoa… I will have 150 new friends. (Good for my facebook). Lots of new t-shirts. (Lord knows I don’t have enough t-shirts yet). A home to live in for a couple years. (I thought this was great, but I thought a little differently later on…) Tomorrow was going to be a BIG day.
My mom was all up in my grill that night trying to figure out who I had chosen, and if I was happy. I kept my lips sealed though, and told her it would all be fine! And it would be… The next 24 hours would be a turning point in my future college career. Without joining a sorority, I can confidently say I would not be where I am today and who I am today.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Show me the skits
Okay, so I should be studying for my 4 finals… BUT I feel like posting another chapter in my blog is the number one priority right now... Extra bonus: It is short… Well short in comparison to my previous entries!
The 4th day in Recruitment is Skit Day. There are three things you should know and love about this day.
1. You are able to sit and watch ridiculously talented sisters perform for about 20 minutes… This is AWESOME because it means no talking. Just relaxing, watching, and listening. AND- You get to sit and watch a mini Broadway production.
2. There is food on this day! Every other party you get little treats to munch on while you watch the skits. Don’t drop ice cream on your pretty dress though!! That could be tragic… (Funny side note: My two desserts at the houses were ice cream and chocolate dipped strawberries. Um, I am lactose intolerant. Oh, and extremely allergic to strawberries. Like anaphylactic-shock—stick-an-epi-pen-in-me-before-I-choke-on-my-own-tongue allergic… So I can only assume they were delicious, but cannot guarantee it)
3. The final reason why you should love this day… It means you are over half way through recruitment! You have survived some of the worst scenarios, and hopefully you are happy with the few houses you still visit.
Dress code for today… Look better than the day before…? Obviously! Shoot for classy…. But don’t pull out the big guns just yet— Keep that sophisticated dress for tomorrow (Pref Day). Everyone seems to love my wardrobe break downs in the blog, so just know that, personally, I felt like skit day was my best dressed day. I did a very elegant cotton, polyester blend (I like clothes that stretch) black dress with red accent jewelry. A cherry red, chucky, plastic mess of a headband from the Claires store… An atrocious deep red necklace- you know, those ones that have really large spherical beads? Yeah… ANDDDDD don’t worry, I took the style all the way down to my shoes ladies and gents. I wore black and white, polka dot, peep toe shoes, with—wait for it—a bright red stripper platform and heel!!! Um, Stacy and Clinton would have shipped me to New York in a heart beat. But, please, let me assure you that this was my MOST fabulous day, and I do not apologize for one piece of it.
Break out Story Time— One house actually wore black dresses with red accessories. Yeah, what are the odds? This might be one of the reasons why I was feeling A-OK with my outfit. Not only did I fit in, but I could of sworn some of those girls double took as if to say, “When did that sister join our house?!” HA! Fashionable enough to make ‘em double take!
So I mentioned earlier that these days start SUPER early; you have to be ready to go by like 7:30 am. Apparently I wanted to make sure I was extra pretty for skit day and accidently set my alarm for 4 am. When I woke up, I groggily shut off the alarm and jumped in the shower. PS-There is the same amount of darkness at 4:00 am as there is at 6:15 am. Anyways… After I showered and brushed my teeth, I glanced at the clock… 4:22 am?! What the French, toast?! Crappppp…. I hate recruitment. I decided to keep the towel in my hair and climb back in bed. When I woke up at 6:30 am, I looked in the mirror and realized my hair was in a frizz, kind of dry, still semi-damp mess. Never fear though, it was raining that morning thus giving me the perfect excuse to “crunch my hair.” Not curl it. Crunch it. This was a great life choice though, because there is a curious mystery about crunchy hair…. When it is in humidity, it flourishes and ends up looking 100 times better than when you left the house.
When we met up as a group, the Gamma Chi’s told us that there could be a possibility of 5 houses on the slip of paper. After the disclaimer, they started to pass them out. The girl beside me started crying instantly after she looked at the paper. Whoa… Do I even want to look at mine? Before I unfolded it, I went ahead and got up… because standing is so much better than sitting? I don’t know. I thought it would help. Looking at the paper was like preparing to rip off a band aid… It might hurt, but you have to do it… So do it fast!
WHEW!!!!! I had houses. Thank the Lord. Three houses wanted me back. I could hang with that. So off I went to the first skit… -Side note: There is always a house that continually shows up on your schedule. You have been releasing them since day 1 but some how they just keep crawling back onto your paper. This is normal, and I am sure 99.9999% of the women that go through rush can vouch for me on this fact.
The three skits I saw were in leagues of their own. They were not comparable. One actually scared the life out of me, and sealed the deal that, that house was not my future home. Remember there are three reasons why you should love this day… Well, ironically, there is a counter list to that. There are also three reasons why you should hate skit day.
1. You get dropped off at tables with other girls going through recruitment. You have anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes of awkward chit-chat before the skit actually starts. It is rare that you will have a conversation of substance, so stick to your food, if available, or revert to ‘day 1’ conversation topics like your major, where you are from, or what you have loved most about recruitment. From experience, asking them what houses they have been to can be a little dangerous, so try at your own risk.
2. The members who talk to you today are a little more serious about the whole recruitment thing. I mean you are half-way through, so they start to feel you out and get inside your head. Determine if you are REALLY worthy of coming back tomorrow…. Um… This is intimidating! You need some great thoughtful answers in your back pocket. You want to look like you are more than just a pretty face with a clean resume…Oh and they will ask you how their skit made you feel… BE POLITE! Even if the whole time you were questioning the validity of the main character…
3. Sometimes you are really emotional for whatever reason. While crying is completely acceptable, be very careful! Remember those 2 hours you spent putting on make up this morning? Yeah… You have two more houses to go to, so try to keep it together! And don’t be alarmed if your member cries. It is just as stressful on their side of recruitment as it is on the potential new members. You never know, it might be a senior who is now just realizing this is their last skit day, they only have one more year in college, they are not sure of their major, they are dreading the reality of “living in the real world,” and the one thing they are sure of is this… They love every woman in this room, and cannot imagine a life without them. Psh yah, they can totally cry if they want.
Overall skit is a good day, but arguably one of the most emotional days. Not necessarily because you cry at every house, but more because each skit hits you in a different way. Some skits will cause you to smile and laugh. Some will make you feel awkward, and you will pray for it to end. And some won’t make any impact on you at all because they were simply boring to you. But... Be open to the one or two skits that send a chill down your spine. Take notice of the skit that makes you love the girls and causes you to not want to leave the house. Those.. Those just might be your new best friends and your sisters for life.
---To college kids: Good luck on finals, congrats if you are graduating, and most importantly… Please have a relaxing, enjoyable and safe summer. If you are not in college… Well you are living in the real world and there isn’t much about summer that changes for you sooooo… Enjoy the sun? Haha, just kidding. Have a b-b-q, go to the lake, and relax some as well!
Keep your eyes open for new posts this summer! Hopefully I can be more regular with posting, AND I will start talking about funny sorority stories! Thanks for reading my blog =)
Cam
The 4th day in Recruitment is Skit Day. There are three things you should know and love about this day.
1. You are able to sit and watch ridiculously talented sisters perform for about 20 minutes… This is AWESOME because it means no talking. Just relaxing, watching, and listening. AND- You get to sit and watch a mini Broadway production.
2. There is food on this day! Every other party you get little treats to munch on while you watch the skits. Don’t drop ice cream on your pretty dress though!! That could be tragic… (Funny side note: My two desserts at the houses were ice cream and chocolate dipped strawberries. Um, I am lactose intolerant. Oh, and extremely allergic to strawberries. Like anaphylactic-shock—stick-an-epi-pen-in-me-before-I-choke-on-my-own-tongue allergic… So I can only assume they were delicious, but cannot guarantee it)
3. The final reason why you should love this day… It means you are over half way through recruitment! You have survived some of the worst scenarios, and hopefully you are happy with the few houses you still visit.
Dress code for today… Look better than the day before…? Obviously! Shoot for classy…. But don’t pull out the big guns just yet— Keep that sophisticated dress for tomorrow (Pref Day). Everyone seems to love my wardrobe break downs in the blog, so just know that, personally, I felt like skit day was my best dressed day. I did a very elegant cotton, polyester blend (I like clothes that stretch) black dress with red accent jewelry. A cherry red, chucky, plastic mess of a headband from the Claires store… An atrocious deep red necklace- you know, those ones that have really large spherical beads? Yeah… ANDDDDD don’t worry, I took the style all the way down to my shoes ladies and gents. I wore black and white, polka dot, peep toe shoes, with—wait for it—a bright red stripper platform and heel!!! Um, Stacy and Clinton would have shipped me to New York in a heart beat. But, please, let me assure you that this was my MOST fabulous day, and I do not apologize for one piece of it.
Break out Story Time— One house actually wore black dresses with red accessories. Yeah, what are the odds? This might be one of the reasons why I was feeling A-OK with my outfit. Not only did I fit in, but I could of sworn some of those girls double took as if to say, “When did that sister join our house?!” HA! Fashionable enough to make ‘em double take!
So I mentioned earlier that these days start SUPER early; you have to be ready to go by like 7:30 am. Apparently I wanted to make sure I was extra pretty for skit day and accidently set my alarm for 4 am. When I woke up, I groggily shut off the alarm and jumped in the shower. PS-There is the same amount of darkness at 4:00 am as there is at 6:15 am. Anyways… After I showered and brushed my teeth, I glanced at the clock… 4:22 am?! What the French, toast?! Crappppp…. I hate recruitment. I decided to keep the towel in my hair and climb back in bed. When I woke up at 6:30 am, I looked in the mirror and realized my hair was in a frizz, kind of dry, still semi-damp mess. Never fear though, it was raining that morning thus giving me the perfect excuse to “crunch my hair.” Not curl it. Crunch it. This was a great life choice though, because there is a curious mystery about crunchy hair…. When it is in humidity, it flourishes and ends up looking 100 times better than when you left the house.
When we met up as a group, the Gamma Chi’s told us that there could be a possibility of 5 houses on the slip of paper. After the disclaimer, they started to pass them out. The girl beside me started crying instantly after she looked at the paper. Whoa… Do I even want to look at mine? Before I unfolded it, I went ahead and got up… because standing is so much better than sitting? I don’t know. I thought it would help. Looking at the paper was like preparing to rip off a band aid… It might hurt, but you have to do it… So do it fast!
WHEW!!!!! I had houses. Thank the Lord. Three houses wanted me back. I could hang with that. So off I went to the first skit… -Side note: There is always a house that continually shows up on your schedule. You have been releasing them since day 1 but some how they just keep crawling back onto your paper. This is normal, and I am sure 99.9999% of the women that go through rush can vouch for me on this fact.
The three skits I saw were in leagues of their own. They were not comparable. One actually scared the life out of me, and sealed the deal that, that house was not my future home. Remember there are three reasons why you should love this day… Well, ironically, there is a counter list to that. There are also three reasons why you should hate skit day.
1. You get dropped off at tables with other girls going through recruitment. You have anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes of awkward chit-chat before the skit actually starts. It is rare that you will have a conversation of substance, so stick to your food, if available, or revert to ‘day 1’ conversation topics like your major, where you are from, or what you have loved most about recruitment. From experience, asking them what houses they have been to can be a little dangerous, so try at your own risk.
2. The members who talk to you today are a little more serious about the whole recruitment thing. I mean you are half-way through, so they start to feel you out and get inside your head. Determine if you are REALLY worthy of coming back tomorrow…. Um… This is intimidating! You need some great thoughtful answers in your back pocket. You want to look like you are more than just a pretty face with a clean resume…Oh and they will ask you how their skit made you feel… BE POLITE! Even if the whole time you were questioning the validity of the main character…
3. Sometimes you are really emotional for whatever reason. While crying is completely acceptable, be very careful! Remember those 2 hours you spent putting on make up this morning? Yeah… You have two more houses to go to, so try to keep it together! And don’t be alarmed if your member cries. It is just as stressful on their side of recruitment as it is on the potential new members. You never know, it might be a senior who is now just realizing this is their last skit day, they only have one more year in college, they are not sure of their major, they are dreading the reality of “living in the real world,” and the one thing they are sure of is this… They love every woman in this room, and cannot imagine a life without them. Psh yah, they can totally cry if they want.
Overall skit is a good day, but arguably one of the most emotional days. Not necessarily because you cry at every house, but more because each skit hits you in a different way. Some skits will cause you to smile and laugh. Some will make you feel awkward, and you will pray for it to end. And some won’t make any impact on you at all because they were simply boring to you. But... Be open to the one or two skits that send a chill down your spine. Take notice of the skit that makes you love the girls and causes you to not want to leave the house. Those.. Those just might be your new best friends and your sisters for life.
---To college kids: Good luck on finals, congrats if you are graduating, and most importantly… Please have a relaxing, enjoyable and safe summer. If you are not in college… Well you are living in the real world and there isn’t much about summer that changes for you sooooo… Enjoy the sun? Haha, just kidding. Have a b-b-q, go to the lake, and relax some as well!
Keep your eyes open for new posts this summer! Hopefully I can be more regular with posting, AND I will start talking about funny sorority stories! Thanks for reading my blog =)
Cam
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