"Do Alpha Chi Omega!"

Perhaps against my better judgement (and certainly my bank balance) I signed up for sorority Rush (Recruitment) week. I was compelled to do so by a mixture of Anthropological curiosity for the very American stereotypical oddity, an idea that there are religious sororities that I could join to do my dissertation on and boredom. So I signed up and paid the $50 which I thought might at least get me a reasonable amount of food (but oh no, all I got was a very small BBQ burger and a tote bag - the money really goes on hotel rooms for the over 50 girls who've disaffiliated themselves from their sororities so they can help us find the right sorority for us, apparently this means they can't go home - bloody ridiculous). As you can tell I'm now having second thoughts but the thrifty side of me wants to get as much use out of that $50 as possible.

The week started at 10am with a "Meet and Greek" (yes the puns are that bad) where big groups of girls who presumably went to high school together chatted whilst those who knew no one walked around uncomfortably looking for others in the same situation to chat with. Eventually we made it into a big lecture theatre where we were informed of the rules for this week (the more ridiculous ones included not taking anything from sorority house - including napkins -, no alcohol to be consumed for the entire week, and no talking to any fraternity boys) and shown a crap video highlighting all these ("America's next top potential new member" - they copied America's Next Top Model). I have already broken these rules, but I'll leave you to decide which of the heinous crimes it was.

After this we went to have a BBQ that somehow lacked an actual BBQ - the food had been delivered in metal trays. There were some guys DJing (were they frat boys - did someone already break their own ridiculous rules?) and little burgers bun about half the size they should be with pieces of pork instead of actual burgers. Two Aussie girls that I apparently know (I met far too many people last week and my memory is crap) came up and said hi to me and an American girl I was hanging around with, and so we passed a little time before quickly disappearing.

That was not enough for one day as far as the sororities were concerned - they wanted to take up our evening as well. We met up again at 6.30 and were given our tote bags (which are quite cute - if only they didn't say "Be you. Be Greek." on them. We were put into groups of about 10 and given a recruitment counsellor to guide us through the week. We went to 4 sorority houses yesterday night and they were all very scary. To intimidate us they made us stand outside for a good 15 minutes prior to letting us in and it was a cold night with some of the potential new members (such a long winded name) wearing only shorts and a top. After our recruitment counsellors showed us the house's "burst" which is a little song and dance telling us how wonderful the sorority is (one of the lines was really "Do Alpha Chi Omega!" - which to me sounds rude) that really just scared me. Some of our contingent (mainly the ex-cheerleaders) loved it though.

Worse was to come. When the doors finally opened we were greeted with a highly choreographed greeting routine that would not have looked out of place in the Sound of Music. All the girls had big false grins and were stood on the steps of the stairs in matching outfits (either a bright white miniskirt or hotpants and white shoes with their sororities coloured t-shirt). It was sick making, particularly when the president and recruitment chair greeted us by finishing off each others sentence. They shook our hands as we walked in in two lines and were introduced to someone who was basically interviewed us. They led us off into a room (I was taken to the date room - yes that's right, they have a whole room dedicated to keeping their dates comfortable when they keep them waiting) and we sat down had had a nice chat with someone wearing far too much makeup. After a while one of the people who had been walking around like a teacher on a power trip (standing straight up, hand behind back) touched the person I was chatting to, kneeled down next to us and took over from the original interrogator. After a few switch arounds about 20 minutes after we had come in a little bell was tinkled and the interrogators led us out. This happened in a very similar fashion in almost every house. We had to write our name on little bits of paper and give them interrogator number 1 who was bound to mark on them whether we'd be allowed in or not.

Thankfully as I didn't give two hoots about whether I'd get in or not the whole thing was a lot less nerve wracking for me than in was for others, they were getting really quite scared. I tried talking to the other recruits in my group, but didn't really get anywhere and soon enough they were all paired up except me, which is another reason that I'm really unsure about going back.

One of the major reasons why I'm 99% sure that I won't be joining is the cost, make sure you're sitting down when you read this because it is ridiculous - the lowest cost sorority per quarter (term) for a new member is $700 and the highest is $1220. What do they spend the money on I hear you cry - well from the looks of it interior decoration (all the rooms that I saw looked v.expensive - marble floors for instance) and hired help - Gardner's (they have the best grass in the whole of the area), cleaners and last but by no means least chefs (yes some sororities have their own personal chefs)! I didn't see a Butler, but one wouldn't be surprised.

I am meant to be seeing the six remaining houses today but don't know if I can stomach it or not, but this is my only opportunity to really find out what goes on is sororities. It starts in 45 minutes time - will I be there? Who knows...?