Guess what guys, I'm a sorority girl now!!

So I know I haven't posted recently, but with valid reason. I wanted to document this entire experience of the past 4 days in one go, especially since I didn't know what the final outcome would be.

This weekend was the beginning of what is known as sorority "rush", or in other words, recruitment. CSU has 7 sororities: Pi Beta Phi, Chi Omega, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Delta Delta, Zeta Tau Alpha and Kappa Delta.
In a very spur of the moment decision, Caragh and I decided to sign up since we knew it would be an experience we'd never get the chance to take part in again. On Saturday about 500 of us potential pledges were split into groups of around 20 and given a Rho Gamma (a sorority girl who leaves her house temporarily to help us find ours).
From 9:00am until 8:00pm that day we visited each sorority, spending 30 minutes in a whirlwind of conversations with the girls, most of mine involving "oh my god you have such a cute accent" or "wow you're from England". I embraced this, but after a while the combination of slowing my speech, refraining from using slang and shouting above the general natter in the houses took it out of me. I even got to the point where I just went along with the fact they assumed I was from London because explaining there's more to England just wasn't worth it. All in all it was a very surreal day, especially since I hadn't quite expected 40+ girls singing at me when we knocked on the front door.

Saturday night ended with us ranking all seven sororities in order of preference and waiting to see which ones we got called back to the next day. I was called back to Kappa Delta, Chi Omega and Delta Delta Delta, and this day was more relaxed in the sense we could actually discuss the values of the sorority and what their main charities and fundraising events were. I was also given the wonderful opportunity of hearing American girl logic at its best, and I quote "I wanted to wear wedges but I've just had knee surgery. What if they don't want me because I'm wearing sandals?".
We also got to have house tours, which we all know is great when you want a good nose. They were really beautiful houses and definitely gave you an insight into what each different sorority was like. That night we ranked the sororities again and awaited Monday, or what was known as preference night. This was a more formal occasion than the others, so everyone was dressed up as I went to Chi Omega and Kappa Delta. Preference night is the one time sororities share some things they do at chapter meetings, and is one of the only times you'll see this without being an actual member.

First I went to Chi Omega and already the atmosphere was different. Instead of walking in alphabetically and pairing up with the first member we saw, each member called for us personally at the front door, holding a white carnation which is symbolic for Chi-O. I spoke to the three members I had on the first day of rush, which was nice since I got to have more deep and meaningful conversations, especially about their involvement with their chosen charity, the Make-A-Wish foundation.
The night was similar when I visited Kappa Delta, but there was just something about Chi Omega that clicked with me more, and hence when we had to chose our ranking for the night, I did what is known as a suicide. Even though it dramatically reduces your chances of joining a sorority, I'd already decided that if Chi-O didn't bid for me, then I wasn't going to join another that I didn't like nearly as much.

Then came today, bid day. Everyone met on the IM fields (including frat boys that think it's hilarious to watch) as all the sororities came together and we were given our envelopes stating our bid. Once they were opened girls began running like maniacs to where they were meant to be, with lots of screaming, hugging, tears and excited jumping. Forever feeling odd in situations like this that are so alien to me, I was dodging these girls with a backpack filled with textbooks from my day of classes. Yes, couldn't get any cooler I know.
As I headed towards Chi Omega, I could see Sarah (who I later found out is my 'owl pal', Chi-O's mascot is an owl, which is perfect since I love owls) holding a paper sunflower decorated with my name. That is currently drying out on my floor as the weather was wonderfully British today in Colorado and rained on cue when we were all outdoors with no shelter. Next thing I knew I was being taken in a car to the Chi-Omega house, given my first t-shirt and being hugged and welcomed by hundreds of smiling girls who I'd barely seen before. Any girls I had met before were even more excited to see me again and were so happy to have me as "part of the family", a phrase I heard a lot this evening.

After some food we did brief introductions, which I got told afterwards the fact I was English (the only one I might add, we're taking Greek Life internationally now) and my fun fact of I'm learning Japanese "blew everyone else's introductions "out of the water". Then we went outside to carry out the tradition of all the new members standing around holding a circle of ribbon, and taking a piece as it is cut which was then pinned on us by our owl pals.
We couldn't take anything inside the houses during recruitment, but now I've infiltrated I'll be snapping away. I have my initiation this Thursday so I'll take some then and keep you all in the loop in my few months as a Hootie!