JFRC Prom Night

JFRC Prom Night

Well, I suppose the End of Semester Banquet wan’t exactly prom, but close enough. Getting dressed up, posing for pictures, eating a fancy meal, and spending a night out in Roma as one big JFRC community had it feeling just about like my senior prom. Well, besides the fact that my senior prom wasn’t in Italy.

Our “Night Among the Ruins” began with some pictures in the JFRC courtyard before we all hopped onto the coach buses that shuttled us to our dinner destination. We went all the way from the northside of Rome down through the south passed the neighborhood of Testaccio. Our bus ride was accompanied with some good music and a nice little sight-seeing tour of Roma. The restaurant that hosted our banquet had a really nice courtyard area where we had a “cocktail hour” before our meal.

One of the full year students opened up the final festivities with a welcome speech about just how incredible and transformative his experience at the John Felice Rome Center has been for him. Even though I had only a semester, rather than a full year, to enjoy the JFRC I definitely agree with him that this has been a time in my life where I have been “transformed” and will remember this experience for the rest of my life. Then after a few toasts and an opening prayer dinner was served.

Our first course was a pesto rice dish followed by a pasta dish with tomato sauce and bacon–both delicious. We took a break course number two to have an end of the semester awards ceremony. There were 6 students presented with academic awards chosen by their professors as having done outstanding work in those subject areas. The next round of awards were probably everyone’s favorites of the night. All the students nominated each other to win a variety of superlatives. We had categories like Best Roommates, Italy’s Next Top Model, Most Likely to Be an SLA, Best Italian Look, Most Likely to Walk into a Fountain While Texting, and Killin’ the #SelfieGame. I’d say we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well in the last 100 days because everyone definitely deserved their awards.

Students were also recognized for participating in extra-curricular activities and awards were given out to two students for their involvement in volunteer work throughout the semester. While the 2nd round of awards were being handed out we were served course number three–beef and potatoes. Before too long the administration was giving farewell speeches to the 4 Student Life Assistants who will not be returning next semester and we were enjoying one of my favorite Italian desserts, tiramissu. With a few closing toasts and speeches from the faculty another student closed the evening with a speech about her semester. She too talked about how the JFRC has changed her and made her apart of a whole new and awesome community.


 

We were only here for 100 days, but now Rome feels like home. We were only here for 100 days, but I built friendships that will last a lifetime. We were only here for 100 days, but we have learned more than we could have imagined and transformed in ways we haven’t realized yet. We were only here for 100 days, and these 100 days have been some of my favorite so far.

 

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