Tuesdays here at Cromwell College during the semester, they have formal dinner. Here at Cromwell, formal dinner is a two-course meal - a main meal and dessert - with bread as well. In the colleges of Cambridge University, formal dinners were a three-course meal. Also similar to England is the attire that they wear; the students have to wear a gown though they do not have to dress up formally. Since I did not have a gown, I dressed up formally in dress pants, a nice dress shirt and a red tie. Yes, I was looking good.
Last week, I wasn't allowed to attend the formal dinner. It was the first of the semester and they wanted it open to only students. No Guests Allowed. Rather than enjoy the fine dining of Australian university food, I had to grab a half-disgusting frozen dinner from a fridge. This Tuesday, I was invited to not only come to formal dinner, but also to enjoy a drinks and nibble session (apple juice, water, crackers and cheese) with the principal, some administrators and some select students prior to the dinner. Then, I learned that it gets better. All the people in that room were going to be on high-table at dinner. It was almost a story of biblical proportions: the guest they rejected would now be seated on the high tables. High table was fun and the dinner was good. Overall, Australian cuisine is better than British cuisine. Most cultures' cuisine probably are.
Usually, Cromwell has guest speakers for its formal dinners. Today's guest speaker talked about the importance of being aware of environment issues and getting involved in making sure that we respond now. His speech struck a chord with me because he discussed our response to environmental concerns in a new way. He talked about how 200 years ago and as of 1975 in Switzerland, women could not vote and there was a lack of equality. 200 years ago, slavery was still accepted. Today, we now look back at those people and wondering how they could be such idiots. 200 years from now, our descendants will look at us and condemn us for the idiotic decisions we made that contributed to the environment problems of their day. Wow!
