Recipe for Success

Ok, so I've been meaning to write about this for almost a week now but I keep forgetting.
Last Friday, Kristin and I went to a party hosted by the School of Public Health. It was quite an interesting experience.
It was pouring rain (we got the very last bit of Ernesto last Friday and Saturday) when we left and it only managed to get worse as the night went on. The party was supposed to start at 530 and we, like any good midwesterners, thought it would be good to show up around 600 or 630 so we would not be the first ones there, standing arounding looking akwardly at anyone who came through the door (at this point I should also add that there was going to be free food). Well, we got there and it looked like the entire school of public health was already there and had devoured about 50 boxes of pizza--all that was left were a few cold, greasy, nasty chicken wings. This, of course, made me cranky because I was hungry and had been very much looking forward to pizza all day (luckily, more came later). First lesson: if there is a party and someone is offering free food to grad students, get there when the party starts because it will be gone in a matter of minutes.
What made this party different (other than the 2 man band playing a range of cover songs from Dave Matthews to Radio Head) was that the college provided beer and wine (WHAT!! Alcohol provided by a school!! We were shocked!) Of course, it wasn't like drinking a 1957 vintage Bordeaux and Sam Adams, but people will drink almost anything if they don't have to pay for it. I think that this was a good thing for the University to do; how else are you going to get a bunch of under-fed, under-paid, socially akward, nerdy graduate students to talk to each other? A little "liquid courage," of course. It was actually really funny. A couple of beers and some of them were dancing their butts off. That leads me to my second point: most grad students cannot dance; they are in public health, not the performing arts, for a reason...unless of course you consider being able to sway like a grove of cedars dancing....

Nick