So I wrote up the following rant on the plane. I've been meaning to type it up but obviously haven't gotten around to it until just now.

I am sitting aboard an Asiana Air flight to, well, home and I'm constantly impressed by the insane difference one class upgrade makes in the level of service, comfort and let's not forget, food. (I suppose it makes quite an impact on your wallet, too... or your dad's or your dad's corporate account.) I'm not currently able to sleep due to the disturbing staring by some kids in the seat in front so some current musing instead:

Being old enough in most countries to drink, I've availed myself of this right before shortly losing it in the next 9 hours upon passing through immigration into the US. However, upon arrival on campus, I suppose my drinking can recommence uninhibited (well, as long as I don't pass out... and I don't intend to). -- Not that I drink much at all... (honest!). So anyway, after a (small) glass of wine with dinner, I've become rather verbose in a non-verbal, pencil-paper sort of way. Hence this rant. (As an aside, my handwriting is quite awful at this point, not sure if it's the alcohol or the fact that I was writing really fast... I suspect the latter... and general untidyness on my part anyway.)

As I was just served a multi-course dinner, I decided to see how far I could get on pure formal western upperclassness. While I know (thanks largely to my dad) which forks and knives to use, and how to hold them (prongs down, fork always in left hand) -- I was baffled by the many other choices I had to make. I was offered wine with dinner (a choice of five) and having decided previously to partake, I couldn't decide which would go (formally) with the steak I'd ordered. I did remember the old rule, red with red meat and white with fish and poultry but there were three red wines to chose from. In the end, I opted to hold off on the alcohol until the fruit et fromage course.

But come that course, the options for alcohol had expanded to include, port, scotch, rum and some cocktails. It was agonizing trying to make a decision and still look like I knew what I was doing. I'm sure there are books on stuff like this... I guess I need to do some background reading.

And the cheese course in itself was a whole other (pronounced, "nother") adventure. Having expended the Edam to go with the apple slices and the other hard cheese (I'm not sure what it was) on a couple of a rather interesting cracker, I was left with with a slice of pumpernickel and a generous serving of Brie. Now it felt wrong on so many levels to combine the dark German bread with the light French cheese but the alternative was dry bread or some leftover German butter that came with a toasty roll a few courses ago. So, in the end an ironic recreation of the last few hundred years of European history won out. All downed with a glass of American wine to complete the metaphor.

--C.