[AZ-AlphaXi]

Ahhh .. .those things I can answer ..

grace is sung before each meal ...
seating for the first night's dinner is usually done by chapter, seating for the Rose Banquet is usually done by a process of getting a table of people together and chooseing a table. We'll get instructions on that early on.

Yes, Rose Banquet is semi-formal and alot of fun and really good food.

Don't know anything about the outings yet .. the outings are usually tour/tourist type of group outings.

Don't stress out out convention .. its a really really fun time nothing like having several hundred of your sisters in the same place.