Ok so Sundays are kind of a bummer at Furman, as Sundays at any university. After church there is not much to do on campus since close to everything is closed. In addition, mostly everyone leaves for the weekends so if you’re planning to stay on campus during the weekends, it might be kind of boring. Keyword: might. After spending a couple of boring Sundays, I have found ways to keep myself entertained.

This Sunday, Elliott and I went down to Sharkey’s. Sharkey’s is a pretty cool bar downtown. Although a bar, you are not obligated to drink alcohol. In fact, if you are under 21, you can’t; however, you can still order lots of food and watch some good old Sunday Football. There are plenty of TV’s there with a different game on each TV. Therefore, I am sure you will be able to catch the game you want to watch at Sharkey’s while you stuff your face with a bunch of good food. (Go Redskins/Giants/Cowboys!!!)

Of course, Sunday nights are also my catch-up days for homework and studying. There are many restaurants around Furman that are open late for your convenience. I would definitely recommend Steak and Shake or Waffle House. Those restaurants provide a peaceful atmosphere where you could sit and study all night without being chased out. Furthermore, you get free refills on drinks, which is always a plus. As you can see, Sundays aren’t always so bad in a big city like Greenville.

Furman is a university with many organizations; however, more organizations are added each year. This year, a guy on our hall, Vince, decided to hold a religious gathering each Thursday for the guys on our hall. Most importantly, you do not have to be a Christian to attend these gatherings. This week was our first week doing this and we had a decent turnout so we hope more and more guys will join our group.

This week, we basically just talked about what was on our mind. Some guys had relationship problems while others just wanted to talk about random stuff. We decided that there is no such thing as a coincidence. God has a reason for everything that happens. He controls all, and everything turns out how He wishes. Whenever we get too full of ourselves, misfortunes face us in order to place us back in line. For example, one guy talked about how he thanked God for this girl he dated, and felt that he could take control of the relationship after God hooked them up. Soon, misfortunes faced him, and he knew what God was communicating to him: No you do not have it, I have it. Yes, confusing I know…but it makes more sense if you are actually at these conversations.

Besides religion, we talked about random things. These included how we all wound up at Furman. Through this, we kind of got to know each other a bit better. All of these “how I would up at Furman” stories were pretty hilarious. We also talked about how school was going for each of us, which included sports, extracurricular activities, ect. Furthermore, we also played some pretty cool games. In my opinion, it is definitely worth checking out. So, if you are reading this and you wish to participate, it is on the G3 main balcony at 10 on Thursday nights. Come and join!

 Finding the Birthday girlOk, so apparently I am not as good as I thought I was at Madden. I got shut out 17-0 and 24-0. Playing as the Packers, I thought I would have a decent game going against the Vikings, but apparently not. The controls are rather confusing since I am used to playing the Playstation version and not the X box 360 version. Whatever the reason, my game definitely needs to step up. So, if you have any tips on the 360 version, please feel free to let me know.

Anyway, today a girl on our sister hall is celebrating her birthday. At Furman, there is a pretty cool tradition of throwing the birthday girl/boy in the Furman lake. Luckily, I got to escape this tradition, but it definitely took some skills. On the other hand, this tradition is pretty entertaining when you are not on the receiving end. I will definitely post pictures of this process later today.

Taking the birthday girl to the lake...

Another cool update is that our hall, G3, started a bible study on Thursday nights. This is definitely a good tradition to uphold. Everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of his/her religion. Furthermore, Furman held homecoming on Friday and Saturday. This was awesome considering all the rides and entertainment, as well as socializing time. I got to meet plenty of new faces. Time to get ready for the Furman birthday celebration…

Happy Birthday!

 (Sorry I am having a lot of trouble formatting these pictures withing the text)

So, now that campus life sounds like something that’s worthwhile, local attractions are also pretty cool. There are many stores locally. In fact, I can’t even come up with a store that I have seen in a different city that is not also located in Greenville (trust me; I have traveled to many places). While there are many individual stores, the best place to shop is definitely Haywood Mall. The two-story mall has everything from basic stores like Payless Shoes to more name brand stores like Eddie Bauer. In addition, there is an excellent food court and a Ruby Tuesdays inside the mall. So, basically my shopping revolves around Haywood Mall. As far as snacks go, there is a Publix within a two minute drive of the campus.

Besides shopping, there are also a number of different attractions. For example, if you are in for a bit of old-style fun, there is a Frankie’s Fun Park in Greenville. This place has many entertaining things such as arcade machines, go-cart racing, and mini golf. Although I am not much of a golfer, mini golf definitely gets competitive and intense based on personal experience. There is also a pretty cool movie theatre called near the Greenville Mall. It definitely has the best selections and times as far as movies go, although the snacks there can get pretty expensive. My advice; eat before you go. On the flip side, you do get a discount if you show your Furman ID, so that’s definitely an advantage.

Downtown Greenville is probably the best place to go if you are just looking to spend some time with friends. There are many restaurants, stores, and a great park. In addition, just walking through downtown can be pretty entertaining as there are often a number of live concerts going on. Falls Park, located in Downtown Greenville, is really nice. It is basically a nature wonderland surrounded by the city life. I’m a nature person, so I often go down there whenever I am in Downtown Greenville. If you are a history fan, heading to Falls Park can be cool too since it is very close to the old Furman campus location. So anyway, I will try to put some pictures up pretty soon. I finally got a camera and now I am waiting to get a memory stick.

Aside from intramural sports, the Furman freshman halls partake in many various activities throughout the year. For example, this week, Gambrell 300 is hosting a Madden 2009 tournament. Each person on the hall chooses their top five choices for teams from the video game, and a team is then randomly chosen from those five for each of the players. Then, a schedule is drawn up that follows this year’s NFL schedule. Each of the players play each other one on one and the dynasty is saved to one X box 360, which is located in the FRAD room. At the end, we will host our own super bowl party.

Another recent activity was a game called Spies. Each person in the Gambrell building received a picture of someone they did not necessarily know. The game rules were rather simple. Based on the picture you receive, you had to tag that person with a spoon and get the picture they were holding. After that, you looked to tag that person and so on and so on. The person with the most pictures won a cash prize; however, you also had to watch your back in the game, as someone was looking to tag you the whole time also. Personally, I really enjoyed the game. Roaming through the halls with ski masks and spoons at midnight was rather entertaining. Plus, the suspense of watching your back the whole time was also challenging.

Another activity that we soon hope to pursue is to play for the world cup in soccer of X Box 360. This will definitely be fun, especially for a hardcore international soccer fan like me. In addition to all these activities, our hall usually plays dodge ball at eleven on Thursday nights. This does not count for anything; it is just a game we play for fun. But it is definitely worth staying up for.