Interested in Islam

Hello!

As the title says, I'm greatly interested in Islam. I recently downloaded a Quran and have been reading it, just finishing the 4th chapter (are they called chapters?)

While I will continue to read it, I wanted to ask some questions first.

I come from a religious family but I don't identify with any religion. I do believe there's a God out there, something at the center of everything. Christianity never gave me much, it was just kind of thrust on me like here this is the local religion have a good time. I mean that I enjoyed the teachings of Jesus, and I do try to live a 'Christian' life, but I never found myself placing much faith in Christianity itself. Unlike what I'm doing with the Quran, I never actually front to back read the Bible.

I just have a few questions about Islam.

1) How does one convert, if this is right for me? Are there steps, or is it one big event like a baptism?

2) I know (I think) that the 5 daily prayers must be done in Arabic, so I assume learning Arabic itself is helpful. But if I were ever in distress, needing to pray outside the 5 times, can I use my mother tongue to actually talk to God?

3) Non-Muslim friends? I live in a dorm room at college and, while none of my friends would be bothered by me converting, I want to know if its frowned upon to be close with non Muslims? Not to sound rude by asking this.

4) Life-Style: What is halal? Would eating cafeteria food be an issue? Giving up pork would not be (personally never had a taste for the animal).

5) Dating. I read that Muslims don't date. Not that I'm looking to marry any time soon, but how do relationships start up, especially when dealing with someone who doesn't have Muslim family members?

6) Can I do the 5 daily prayers before i convert? I just want to try to see how they feel. I desire to, I really do, but I don't know if that's prohibited or frowned upon or anything.

Until I think of more questions, thanks for your answers!