If I don't update now...

...I never will. So I'm gonna do it now. =)

Ok...On the ninth of August, I packed up my car and headed back to Athens. I met with all the Rho Chis and the Panhellinic Exec in Memorial Hall (where the Greek Life Office is Located) and we talked about Rush-formally known as Recruitment, were assigned rooms and roommates, and did yet another ice breaker. This time what we did was tell tell our names, where we are from, something interesting about ourselves and answer a "would you rather" question. (Meghan Patton, Covington, I volunteered at Noah's Ark- an animal rescue center-this summer, and the question "Would you rather be able to fly or be able to read people's minds?" My answer: fly- that would be so cool. And I don't think I want to know what people are thinking a lot of the time- especially about me. haha). Then I got to know my roommates- Jess (Sigma Kappa) and Meredith (Delta Zeta). We were supposed to have 4 girls per room at the Holiday Inn, but Karen- our 4th, is a SK also, and we cannot room with girls in the same sorority, so she moved out- freeing up shower time, so that was convenient. I really am sooooo fortunate to have gotten to know those two roommates of mine so well. They are sweet and funny and fun to be with.

Being a Rho Chi (Formal name= Recruitment Counselor) is hard hard hard work, but well worth it. I LOVED this rush experience more than any other that I have had previously other than maybe when I found out I received a bid from Gamma Phi and when I found out that my lil sis- my rush crush- had taken our bid and was joining our sisterhood. I would recommend trying out for this position to anyone and am seriously considering trying again this year. I met so many girls that were fellow rho chis and consider them to be true friends. By the end of the two weeks we were together, we were hugging goodbye, though we would see each other the next day- bid day. And on Bid Day, when we saw each other, it was hugs again- and we felt like it had been forever. I was suprised at how close to my heart these girls became in a matter of weeks, and I really do miss them already.

So, what did we do? Well.....

The day before rush started, We all spilt into various locations to sign in the girls and answer any questions they or their mothers might have. That night we had an orientation session for them to give them a general idea of safety, of recruitment rules, and of who we are. The Rho Chis did a lil skit to make fun of rush- the 12 Days of Recruitment (rather than Christmas-ha).
12-Cups of water
11-Frat boys Drooling
10-Speeding Buses
9-Notecards missing
8-Packs of Breath Mints
7-Red Vests Strutting
6-Same Questions
5-Maxi Pads
4-Hours of Sleep
3-Ringing Bells
2-Comfy Shoes
And Don't forget your nametag!

If you have ever experienced Sorority recruitment at UGA, you will understand that song. =)

Then we all broke up to the locations we will meet in our small groups throughout the week and waited for the girls to be dismissed to that location. We each had about 18 girls in our group, and it was to these 18 girls that we were more personally Rho Chis. Throughout the week, any girl can approach a Rho Chi for help or advice, but when it is time to meet at the end of the day, withdraw, rank sororities, or have a heart to heart, our girls have us- the ones they meet with twice a day (in the morning and in the afternoon) to talk to. My group was awesome. I loved them all and I wish them all the best. They were so beautiful, smart and talented that I felt like a proud mama hen. By the end of the week, 8 of my 18 decided that they would like to withdraw from the process, but there is nothing I could do about that. I couldn't do anything about what houses invited them back, and 6 out of 8 times, that is why they withdrew. The other 2 decided that they weren't ready to be Greek at all in that point in time. It was too overwhelming for them. No matter what the reason, I wanted the girls to be happy, so I tried to be there for them, convince them to do all they could so they would look back on withdrawing with no regrets, then showed them where to withdraw if they were certain. The other 10 went through the whole way, and were happy to receive a wonderful array of bids on bid day. I'm proud to say that two of my own girls went into Gamma Phi!!

Ok...So: The first day of rush I was stationed at Alpha Gamma Delta. That means that I never left that post (except for lunch) and I was there to make sure that they were timing according to our rules on how long they could talk to the girls, have their doors open, and f0llowed all the other rules on rush. There are SO many rules...for example: no singing or cheering may take place outside of the doors of any sorority house, all pictures of Rho Chis and Exec members must be covered- and the coverings may not have "rho chi" or "exec" or any other such title on them, only water may be served in the first round, etc. They are allowed an exact amount of time for each round, and if they do not close their door by the time that the stationary Rho Chi has it on her stop-watch, then they are fined. The first time is a warning, but after that they can be fined up to $100 each time and a social. ...intense, huh? Your sorority could lose an entire social calendar in the first round or rush. UGA has the second most detailed and intense recruitment process in the nation...I think Alabama is the only one ahead of us. AGD didn't get a single violation while I was there. I did learn a lot of their songs though. "Oh How I love those Alpha Gams so deep deep so down down in my heart *clap* wooo!"

Day Two- Still Round one of Rush, but I was a GLO girl...Greek Life Office Girl. We do anything that is needed- filing, pencil sharpening (this sounds easy until you realize we sharpened over 1200 pencils), correcting ranking sheets (we had to mark through Delta Phi Epsilon on every sheet- again about 1200x4 because it was one sheet per girl per day she ranked) because DPhiE didn't do rush this year in order to strengthen Alumni ties. We also have to be avaliable to take later girls to houses they are supposed to be at via the vans, and to help out any Rho Chis or girls that need us to come to a house or whatever. But the best part is you are in Air Conditioning all day long, and if you get done with everything, you get to relax- maybe even sleep. That is a pretty big deal because sleep is not a luxury we got much of. Often we would get in bed around 12 am, and we had to be back ready to go for role call by 5:30 am. And that means we had to get up around 4:30. Wooo-hoo. I was exhausted by the end of the week. I was exhausted by the first day. But anyway....

Day three- Round Two of rush- House Tours/12 parties. I was a rotating Rho Chi, and there were 12 houses. That meant a LOOOOONG day. I traveled from house to house and had to call out the roll at each house of all the girls that were invited back to the party of the house I was at. Then the stationary Rho Chi and I would go inside and make sure that all the rules were being adhered to during the house tours. That was probably the worst day for "dirty rushing." Girls were alone with Sorority members in house or doors weren't opened all the way to some rooms with girls inside....it just had to be reported, so we didn't have to confront the sorority- the Exec did.

Day Four- Round Three- Skits/6 Parties. This round all the sororities perform skits for the girls that they invite back. I was stationed at AGD again this day, and they didn't have any viloations again. It was awesome- they never broke rules, so it made my job so easy!! Their skit was cute, and they teased the Rho Chi's with it, which caught me off guard the first time. They had been saying in one part "Yeah I thought that would be cool, but it turns out that was as cool as a Georgia Tech party!" But the third time they surprised me with "That was about as cool as those Wal-Mart vests that the Rho Chis are wearing all the time." And the other girl repiled, "Yeah, rolling down Milledge, Rolloing back prices." I gotta hand it to them, they totally deserved props for that one. You see, Milledge is the Road that most of the Greek houses are located on, and the Rho Chis are always wearing blue vests so that people know who we are in case they need us and so that we can do our job more effectively. We really did look like Wal-Mart workers, and the exec members had the same vests in red, hence number 7 in the 12 Days of Recruitment song.

Day Five-Pref Round/3 Parties. This is the last day of Rush, and the one that the sororities use to really try to seal the deal with the pnms (Potential New Members) so that they will put them number one on their bid list when they rank at the end of the day. That day, I was on bus duty, and I was on bus nine- the Gamma Phi Beta bus. That means that I was the girl who was on the loud speaker (haha, Tom) over the bus, and told the girls where all the stops were and how to get to each house. Because I was on the GPB bus, we stopped outside of Gamma Phi everytime that the partys were ending, and I would load girls from there and nearby houses on the bus and take them to their next party or back to Tate or the Greek Life Office. It about killed me to have that job, because as a Rho Chi, I had to disaffiliate from my sorority on August 1st, and I hadn't seen or spoken to my sisters since then. Seeing them standing right there and pretending not to even know them was SOOO hard. These girls are some of my best friends, and I missed them so much. But I did get to know the bus driver lady- Mrs. Elizabeth, and she was sweet and easy to talk to. I also got some free time in between rounds to chill on the bus- we waited at the Varsity in the parking lot between shifts, and while I was looking around at the adds on the bus, I noticed that I am in the top corner of a picture on an add! It is an add for all the choral groups at UGA, and I was in the UGA Women's Glee Club my Spring semester my freshman year- it was a picture from one of our concerts. That was a pretty exciting discovery.

So the next day, Thursday, was the first day of class as well as bid day. After classes, we had to be back at the GLO by 4:30. We practiced doing our last skit, and then saw the bids we were to hand out to our girls. I was pretty excited to hand them out- none of my girls mismatched, and all but one got their first choice- and she got her second, so that's not too shabby. We went downstairs in Tate to do our last skit, and it was to reveal what sorority we were in to the girls- they didn't know what sorority we were in the entire time, and my girls were sooo surprised- all but maybe one, and even she wasn't sure. What we did was mix up all over the stage with our vests on covering out t-shirts, which had our letters on them. We would all sing "If I weren't a Rho Chi, I tell you what I'd be. If I weren't a Rho Chi, an XYZ I would be!" and then the girls in XYZ sorority would run to the front of the stage and rip off their vests to reveal the letters, and do one of their sorority's cheers. We did that from Alpha Chi Omega to Zeta Tau Alpha, and then we all went to our spots we had been meeting our girls at all week. They dismissed the girls a minute later so they could come meet us, and we handed out their bids. I was so excited for these girls. Anyone who can go through the hell that is UGA sorority rush deserves to get a bid.

The bad parts of being a Rho Chi is being the bearer of bad news when you have to hand out a schedule that is mostly empty to a girl, and she comes to you with tears in her eyes and tells you she just doesn't understand. Or when you have to help someone withdraw. Or when a girl cries to you for hours because she is so torn on sororities- on of which is yours, and you have to be completely unbiased. Or when a girl drops out of rush because a certain sorority cut her....and it was your sorority. That is so tough to stomach, and it made me get misty-eyed more than once. Some of the other rho chis flat out cried once they were in private. It's not easy to see someone get hurt, or to know that the piece of paper you have to hand them in a minute is enough to make or break their day. I am so grateful that when I went through rush, God made it where I wasn't hurt by being cut from sororities. I was surprised sometimes, but not enough that I was hurt.

But anyway, so we had a bid day party that night, and Gamma Phi's theme was Cinderella. "The perfect fit" We had three horse drawn carriages that made rounds picking up our new pledge class (we met quota by the way!) and we gave them crown shaped name tags to pin to their dresses and tiaras to wear in their hair, and rode them to the house, where they were awaited by cheers and screams from the sorority. There were also tons of cheers from the boys who spent the entire night cruising by the sorority houses screaming like they hadn't seen females in years. Typical of rush in Athens though...

One of the best things about bid day for me was being reunited with my sisters. I couldn't help but cry by the 10th hug and "I missed you- rush wasn't the same without you." Even now thinking about it makes me misty... I really love those girls. A homecoming like that is something I will always treasure.

Classes went well enough- I still have some homework to get to before tomorrow. Also, I came up to see Tom this weekend. I am so proud of him because he went to a couple of rush events at Theta Xi, and is now an associate (pledge, but given more respect) of that fraternity. I can honestly say that that fraternity has earned my respect above and beyond any other fraternity I have ever seen. They are a great group of Christian guys, and I pray that they have great things in store for Tom. I have had a great time hanging out with everyone up here this weekend and am impressed with how well they have pulled the house together.

Ok, well I have to run do some other stuff. If you have actually read all that I typed- it took me almost two hours to get it all out- I am impressed, and you now have a good bit more knowledge of Rho Chi stuff and how my life has been the last few weeks. I hope all is well with your life, and leave me a message to let me know how you are!
Love,
Megs