Tag: Off Campus

Adjustments

Adjustments

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I’m back from a semester abroad, I’ve moved off campus, and I’m an upperclassman. Fall 2015 has been a period of adjusting to say the least.

Last spring I had probably the best semester of my college career studying at the John Felice Rome Center. So being back in Chicago has been a little more challenging than I anticipated. I absolutely love going to school in Chicago, but not being able to explore a new country every weekend is a bit of a bummer. I’m also back to taking classes for my major rather than taking courses about Italian language, literature, and culture. But I’m adjusting.

This year I signed my first apartment lease and get to live off-campus with two of my best friends. We decorated our apartment perfectly and it makes Chicago feel that much more like home. But off-campus living isn’t all bliss, now I have to begin the adjustment to adulthood as we pay bills, deal with our landlord, and leave on-campus living luxuries behind (i.e. wi-fi and dining halls).  But I’m adjusting.

I’ve finally made it to upperclassman status, which has been absolutely surreal. It feels like I was a junior in high school about two minutes ago, so how on earth did I make it to my junior year of college? Now that I’ve finally adjusted to being in college, I’m nearly finished. Which really freaks me out. I’ve finally made it through most of my CORE classes (LUC’s fancy way to structure “gen eds”) and nearly all my classes pertain to my major (and I’m still adjusting to even having a major). I’m at a point in my life where I thought I’d have things pretty well figured out. As it turns out I’m not quite there yet. But I’m adjusting.

We’re already halfway through the semester, but I’m still working on adjusting to doing college in the US again, living in a real Chicago apartment, and being half way through my college career.

I’ll let you know if I ever actually adjust.

SAC’s Got Your Back

SAC’s Got Your Back

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The Student Activities Committee is the JFRC’s version of ((dop)). But I’d like to think that even without a Jason Derulo concert on our agenda we’ll have just as much fun.

Monday nights the SAC meets for about hour. Really our meetings could be done in about 40 minutes, but we get off on planning tangents pretty easily, which aren’t always productive–but they make for a good meeting. I’ve got to say that this hour of slightly hectic planning with 20 or 30 other JFoRCers is my favorite way to start the week.

This semester we have elected to run without a president so that we can all have a hand at leading the group. Each week, different students lead us through the meetings–with the occasional words of wisdom from Student Life Assistant’s Jessica and Steven, who sponsor SAC. Usually they let us have free reign on how our meetings go, but they’re quick to let us know if what we scheme up is a little bit too far out there.

In just 3 weeks of working together we’ve already pulled off 4 events–a Student Forum, a weekly movie night, a Carnavale themed masquerade dance, and going to a Roma calcio game. We’ve got quite a few other events in the works, our next being a campus wide game of Assassins. Most of our events go on throughout the school week since the majority of students are traveling on the weekends.

SAC’s Carnavale dance ended up being quite a hit–the free food probably boosted our attendance. We transformed our dining hall into the best dance floor we could manage, complete with streamers, loud music, and some impromptu flashing dance lights on the TV screens. As is typical of a Carnavale party we encouraged both masks and costumes. We also enjoyed a few different fried pastries that remind me of “fair food” back home, just a little bit more Italian.

SAC “scored” with a successful trip to the Roma calcio game this week with about 30 JFRC students–we had quite the experience, which you can read about in my other post.

After we cross our Assassins Game off the SAC agenda it’s hard to say what we’ll plan next–maybe Jason Derulo! Or maybe not.