Let me start by apologizing. I have been remiss in my posting duties. Do forgive.

On to better things!

I know all of you are frantically filling out applications, researching colleges, etc. etc. If you are the kind of people I think you are, you have a long list of pro’s and con’s for every college in the United States. I’m also sure that things such as quality of education, class size, and majors offered are at the top of said lists. Let me add one more: food.

Now, I know that you are thinking, “Please! Food? Surely there are more important things to consider than food!” You’d be right. But let me just tell you, college cafeterias can be truly awful. Dreadful. Ghastly. Odious. Appalling. 

You get my drift? Now imagine having to eat in that cafeteria for 411 meals. Not so trivial anymore, now is it Mr. Know-it-All?

Lucky for you (and me), Furman has a wonderful cafeteria. Shall I tell you of Daniel Dining Hall? I think I shall.

the DH.

First, all three meals are served so you never have to worry about fending for yourself. Breakfast is a wonderland of eggs, biscuits, gravy, muffins, a yogurt bar, fresh waffles, and various other things that make getting up at the crack of dawn to get to your 8:30 class not as bad as it could be. And cereal is available all day so you can finally live your dream of eating cereal for dinner. Congratulations. 

For those of you who like your meals sans meat, the salad bar is replete with every imaginable accoutrement. Plus, there is always a hot vegetarian meal served at lunch and dinner. 

My personal favorite meal: dessert. And despite what your mother taught you, it is its own meal. Please imagine, if you will, leaving the cafeteria to go to your 12:30 class and being stopped by the tantalizing smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. You turn, your nose acting like a homing device, inexorably leading you to trays upon trays of hot-from-the-oven, melt-in-your-mouth, warm-‘n’-gooey chocolate chip, M&M, oatmeal raisin, and sugar cookies. So you grab a couple (or twenty…Don’t judge.) and head off to class, at peace with the world.  If you have a little extra time, may I suggest topping said cookies with any flavor of ice cream or frozen yogurt? My personal favorite combination is chocolate chip cookies with wild-strawberry frozen yogurt. ‘Scuse me whilst I wipe the drool off of my keyboard.

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Sorry about that.

If the DH is getting a little old, you can always walk right upstairs to Einstein’s Bagels and grab yourself some bagel and schmear. Still not quite what you had in mind? (Good grief. You are so picky!) You can always head over to the PalaDen (clever, no?) and get yourself some sushi, Chick-fil-A, or made-to-order grill items or deli sandwiches.

So next time you go on a college tour, ask how the food is or eat in their cafeteria, if you can. It may just turn out that a bad cafeteria is your deal-breaker.

And you can thank me for saving you.
You’re welcome. 

Orientation has come to an end.

For real this time.

The last of the O-week traditions have been completed. What are these traditions, you ask? I’m getting to it!

The first: My Tie.

Essentially this is university condoned stealing. And no, I’m not kidding. Here’s how it works: a girl tells her roommate who she would like to steal a nice tie from, and the roommate goes to the guy’s roommate to solicit his help in this accessories caper. Invariably, the male roommate succumbs to the wiles of the female roommate and purloins one of his roommate’s ties. Sounds convoluted? It is.

So naturally the roommate whose tie was stolen is slightly peeved that one of his nice silk ties has gone missing. But never fear! On the appointed night (last Friday, actually) the guys get all dressed up to try and sniff out the thief. However, the girls make it really easy by wearing the tie that they had stolen. All is forgiven and the guy decides to take the girl downtown for a nice dinner and then head back to Furman to dance until 1 o’clock in the morning.

On to the second! President’s Picnic.

Now this lovely activity was originally scheduled during O-week proper, but the skies decided that it would be a good time to loose their fury. So on Sunday, we were treated to dessert and drinks at President Shi’s house, White Oaks.

And what a house. The place is gorgeous, filled to the brim with a lot of expensive furniture, paintings, and artwork. I was scared to touch anything.

O-staff took us on a tour of the house and told us some stories about the history of the property (I’m pretty sure that most of it was a load of baloney, but they were entertaining, anyway). Later we stood out on the lawn with sweat rolling down our backs and chatted with Dr. Shi, who is really one of the nicest people I have ever met.

And thus ended orientation.

The gentlemen and the criminals...I mean ladies.

Now the real work starts.

So I guess an introduction is in order.

Hi! I’m Grayson.  

And that officially makes it …yep. 2000 times that I have said that.

This week.

Fine. I’m exaggerating a little.

But really, it seems like I’ve spent the majority of my first week of college introducing myself to people. The problem is that, for every time I introduce myself, someone introduces themselves to me.   So I’ve been told easily 150 different names, of which I remember maybe 20.   Oh well.

But I certainly have met people quickly. O-week (well really O-four days. But that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, now does it?) is specially designed to mix people up so that you can meet people easily. The wonderful people that designed said festivities (O-Staff) are some of the most unflaggingly energetic and enthusiastic people I have ever met.

First on their schedule? Speed-dating.

That’s right folks.   Speed-dating.

Each residence hall is paired with another hall to form brother/sister halls. The brother hall travels from room to room spending an excruciatingly awkward five minutes trying to learn about the people you will be living with for the next year.  

But you really get comfortable with each other during Field Fest.

Imagine, if you will, eight hundred some odd eighteen year olds. Next, add games like four-legged races, oiled watermelon races, and lifesaver relays. (You get the picture, right?)

You can imagine the situation can’t you? To win the orange relay, which yours truly participated in, it became necessary to passionately hug people I had barely met. Awkard? You bet. Hilarious? Absolutely.

And then came the rain. So several traditional O-week activities had to be changed or cancelled. Unfortunately, we had to miss out on the Carnival and a tour of White Oaks, Dr. Shi’s house.

But, President’s Picnic was not a total loss. To attend President’s Picnic, you must have a date. And no, you cannot simply ask someone to go with you. Instead the sister hall sends a basket of shoes to the brother hall, who then proceed to choose their date by picking a shoe.

May I just say, it is hard to tell a girl by her shoe. Really.

So then, we traversed the sister hall, looking for the shoe whose mate we were carrying. Finally finding our date, we headed out in the pouring rain to the Watkins Room.   Delicious food and wonderful entertainment from The Bell Tower Boys, FUTones, and The Furman Madrigals made us not miss the real President’s Picnic all too much.

Wednesday came signaling the end of O-Week and the beginning of classes.

But more on that later…

PS. Excusez moi for the lack of pictures. I will mend my ways. I promise.