Fancy dinner?

Our matriculation formal dinner was held last night in the dining hall, the place that plops lumps of mash and a river of gravy onto the plates of students too poor to eat anywhere better. In other words, on a normal evening, the dining hall of Wolfson is not the place to come for a classy culinary experience.

Last night was a bit of an exception, though. We were served a tomato basil soup, herb encrusted trout, and the British version of cheesecake that was, well, better than Japan's but not nearly as good as New York's. We also sampled the college's champagne, dinner wine, dessert wine, and port. The English do know how to drink!

I sat across from the Dean of the college and struggled to find the correct fork among the many and gracefully peel my kiwi and eat it using only a knife. I was not trained in fruit etiquette and was cursing myself for choosing a KIWI of all things from the fruit bowl (why not grapes?!).

The dinner itself lacked most of the elements that made a fun dinner in Tokyo-- namely funny wigs, funny people, and the ability to call "sumimasen" and get what you want. We could only pass the port and wine around the table, which seemed 100 meters long, so for a second glass, you'd have to wait 15 minutes for it to come 'round again. But, instead of the funny wigs we were wearing funny gowns (think Harry Potter at his Griffyndor welcome dinner), instead of funny people, we had the President of the college deliver a warm and promising speech, and I learned to lean left when they were clearing plates and right when they were serving.

The result? EngRish GiRL is becoming skinnier but more refined...