Senior Activities

So I've officially graduated college. Crazy, huh? I want to share with you the details and the emotions of the event, but first I have to write about senior week.

Last week, my final week at Fordham, was full of scheduled senior activities. These are all sponsored by the university, and it's a cool way for the class of 2008 to get together and party. Tuesday night featured the first of these events- the Luau under the bleachers.

The Luau was supposed to be Hawaiian themed, but it was difficult to get a sense of that in the concrete cavern under the football bleachers. There was plenty of cheap light beer to be had, so my friends and I capitalized on that. For me, he best part of the night was when we got together and 'rode the ram'; a rite of passage for any Fordham student. There is a life-size bronze ram statue on campus, and before you graduate you have to climb up on it and take a picture saddling up. I was wearing a skirt, so the bronze was rather rough on my bare legs, but we got some excellent pictures, as you can see here.

Wednesday was the senior ball, which was held in a colossal ballroom downtown at Chelsea Piers. I went with my friend Xavier; as I mentioned in an earlier post I needed a platonic dance partner, and he fit the bill. Needless to say, we looked sharp and tore up the dance floor. It was also very cool to see all the members of my class dressed to the nines.

The one glitch in the night came when my date unexpectedly disappeared. Remember when I wrote about my friend Mary, and how she was razzing me about asking Xavier to the ball? And remember my prediction that she would drunkenly steal him during the course of the evening? Well, ladies and gentlemen, Annie knows how to call it; this is exactly what happened.

Xavier left to go to the bathroom at about 11:45, and after about fifteen minutes had gone by, I began to grow restless. The ball was scheduled to end at 12:30; there was only a half hour left to dance, and my default dance partner was MIA. I managed to find his roommates, and they explained to me that they last saw Xavier being dragged out unto the dance floor by Mary. Needless to say, when I heard this news I was incensed. Keep in mind that at this point the bar was closed down, I was completely sober, and I had seen a number of ex-boyfriends lurking in the background. I wanted to be out on the dance floor with my date, not standing on the sidelines waiting for some ridiculous girl to return him.

"I'm going to rain Sicilian wrath down upon her head," I vowed aloud, literally shaking my fist to the ceiling, not caring who heard or saw me. At this point the deejay announced he was playing his final songs for the night, and more people flooded to the dance floor. My anger and discomfort deepened.

Fortunately I was rescued by perhaps my oldest guy friend, a boy named Mark. We've been so tight for years that people jokingly call us a married couple.

"Annie, where's Xavier?" he asked, on his way to the dance floor.

"He's been stolen," I replied, gritting my teeth.

"Come dance with me," he said, and he grabbed my hand and we moved into the crowd. We danced the last few songs together, my head on his shoulder. My anger began to dissolve and was replaced by a sense of bittersweet sadness. My classmates were moving around me; Frank Sinatra filled the air.

"We started it out together, and we're ending it together, Wray," Mark told me and we moved in slow circles.

I didn't know what to say to that; I was quickly becoming overwhelmed with emotion. I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The last song ended, and me and Mark hugged tightly. I belatedly realized that he had ditched his own date to be with me. Oh well.

And then Xavier materialized, drunken Mary trailing behind him.

"Heeeeyyyyyy!" Mary slurred, but I ignored her. Lucky for her the Sicilian wrath remained dormant.

"I'm sorry," Xavier said to me. "She jumped me. And my phone gets no reception in here."

"Whatever, let's just go get some Guinness," I replied. Xavier and I spent the rest of the night downtown at our favorite bar, Ulysses, where we reminiscenced about the last four years and knocked back some pints, still in our formal wear. Needless to say, his disappearance was forgiven.

Friday night, the night before graduation, was the Baccalaureate Mass and the Parent Appreciation Dinner. As a member of the University Choir, we sang for the Baccalaureate mass, which was attended by over 1,000 people and held in the Rose Hill gym. My parents and brothers came for the Mass; when I saw them before the service was to start the reality of my impending graduation sank in. My entire family had never all been assembled at Fordham before.

There was little time to think about that though, because I had some serious singing to do. The mass went very well. We sang some pieces as selected by the seniors; for my part I picked "Cantique de Jean Racine" by Faure, and "I Was Glad" by Perry. Look them up on Itunes- it's good stuff.

Immediately after the Mass we all went to a huge tent on Martyr's Lawn for the Parent Appreciation Dinner Dance. It was very nice event, with delicious food and great music. I enjoyed hanging out with my entire family; in particular, my younger brother Jack and I had a good time on the dance floor.

And on Saturday came my graduation, but I will save that discussion for my next post...