The Glory Days Have Begun

Well hello there Future Paladins!

Now that I have moved in and gotten settled, it is time to tell you all about the beauty of moving in and adjusting to dorm life at Furman. I know that I told you guys that I would talk about O-week (Furman's version of Fall Orientation), but I realized that half of the fun of it was not knowing what was coming next. So, that being said, I do not want to be the one to spoil it for you. All I am going to say is that I met so many amazing people during it, had an absolute blast for every second of it, and Furman knows how to have a good time.

First roommate picture! I am on the left,
 Sam Davis is on the right.

So, as we talked about, I moved in early for a POP trip (see the last post by me), which means that I got to sit back and relax as all of my hall mates moved in. Seeing 700 classmates move in was crazy. Can you even imagine how many cars there were? A lot. There were a lot of cars. But as the day came to a close, I really got the chance to meet some of my hallmates, spend time with my roommates, and start developing some really close relationships.

My friends have been here just shy of two weeks and we have already bonded immensely. Furman has a potluck style of matching people together as roommates. At first, I was terrified of getting a nightmare of a roommate. Luckily, I was matched with a guy that I had met over the summer. Coincidentally, he is also named Sam. He hails from Birmingham, AL. The beauty of having Sam as a roommate is that 1) his name is easy to remember and 2) our personalities work so well together that we are able to be friends beyond being roommates. Furman is excellent about putting people together that work well together.

The crew getting ready to chow down
on some BBQ

The SQUAD saying hello from the bridge in
Downtown Greenville

The other thing that I am so thankful for is the people that I have met and gotten to know. While I have met and continue to meet so many interesting and amazing people, I have also developed a very close relationship with the guys who also live on Geer 300 (G3 for those who know how cool we are haha) as well as a few others that we have adopted to our hall. In just shy of thirteen days, we have dedicated Tuesday nights as "Sushi Tuesday" where we go to the Pala-Den (on campus food court), we have explored downtown Greenville, they introduced me to Southern Style BBQ and we have hosted a number of successful movie nights that had about 15 people in one dorm room, which I almost did not think was possible.

Geer 300/McGlothlin100
Brother-Sister Hall Picture

The beauty of living on campus is that there is always so much going on. I can really only speak for South Housing, because I do not live in Lakeside Housing, when I say that it is a hub of activity. There is always something going on, whether it is walking into a dorm room to say hello and introduce yourself to playing intramural sand volleyball on the courts by Blackwell Hall- which Geer 300 and our sister hall, McGlothlin 100, are beasts at considering we just beat some seniors 42-27 the other day.

It has been an adjustment going from my own room to sharing one and being within steps of living with 32 other guys. The fun of college is jumping straight into all of these responsibilities  that you didn't even know you would encounter-- so thank your parents now! (Thanks, Mom and Dad!). I have been to Walmart more times than I would like to admit, for everything from a futon to dish soap and ramen noodles. And I think I will be returning to get a Duck Dynasty pillow, but that is for a later time.

All in all, I love it here, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Please feel free to contact me with any questions that you may have, and if you decide to visit campus and want to talk to a student, I'd love to talk to you!

Until next time, Y'all (I like to think I'm Southern now)
Sam
sam.mccoy@furman.edu