If you could have any pet, what would it be and what would you name it?  Which political issue is most important to you during this election season? If you could be any famous couple together, what would your combined name be?

Apparently those are questions people ask these days during speed dating sessions.  Not to worry, however,  as I've not fully resorted to that for my love life.  (I don't think my boyfriend would appreciate it if I did anyway.)  This speed dating was actually more just for fun to get to know each other during a First-Year Scholars Retreat that I served as retreat team member on yesterday.  The activity was called 'paper plate dates.'  For those of you who have never played this ridiculously fun icebreaker (because way too many others are just super awkward), everyone gets a paper plate and then writes the number 1 through 12 to make a face of the clock.  Everyone gets about 5 minutes or so to get their dates scheduled by walking around the room and getting 12 different people to write their names next to the numbers.  Once everyone gets their dates scheduled, the announcer calls out what time it is and which date their supposed to be meeting.  It kind of takes a little bit of time to meet up with your date since you haven't formally met yet at that point, so this part was kind of fun with people yelling out names when they were being "stood up."  But eventually, once everyone finds each other and dates get paired up, the announcer throws out a question that you two are supposed to talk about.  It's pretty fun and interesting if good questions are prepared for the game.

But yeah, the First-Years Scholar Retreat was yesterday, and it was quite the long day because we had to meet up at 7:30 in the morning for the bus.  Basically, First-Years Scholars, or FYS for short, is a program for incoming freshmen who have been awarded the Carolina or McNairs Scholarship.  As I'm an upperclassman with the Carolina Scholarship, I have been on the retreat team now for 2 years running.  We just really take a day out of the first week that the scholars get to campus and try to give them a retreat where they can start to really get to know each other, work together, and also for some of the upperclassmen and staff to give them valuable information about campus life whether it'd be academic-related or just Columbia life in general.

Really, being a scholar here at USC, you are well taken care of.  You might be overwhelmed at first as a freshman coming on to such a large campus, but the staff and upperclassmen try to be as welcoming and helpful as possible.  I love that so much about USC.  I've never ever felt lost here because there is always someone that I know I could turn to who could help me figure things out or at least point me to the person or direction that could resolve issues further.  I'm not sure about other colleges and universities, but for Carolina being the huge university that it is, it never ceases to amaze me how close the personal attention given can be.  Isn't that a refreshing thought?

Well, as it is 11:23PM and I have an 8:00AM class tomorrow morning (can't y'all tell that I just love Mondays!), I should probably get going.  But before I do, let me share with you guys my ideal pet.  Everyone that I've talked to about it have said that it's virtually impossible for me to find such a pet to fit my preferred qualities, but maybe y'all can help me out.  My ideal pet would be a medium-sized dog that doesn't shed but is very fuzzy and hairy so that I can call it Chewbacca, or Chewy for short.  Right now, my family has a huge black lab that just will not quit shedding.  It's soooo ridiculous!  Hahaha!  I love him to death, but the hairballs just really get kind of gross.

And, well, on that note...I won't continue on a rant of nasty hairballs.  I'll just bid y'all adieu.  First game of the season is this Thursday...GET PUMPED!!!

Catch y'all later on the flipside, Gamecocks!