Finishing school for divinity students

I've been taking my first etiquette classes!  At least, the first since the days when my grandmother would instruct me and my siblings over Sunday lunch, invariably beginning with, "When you dine at the palace ...".  I have yet to dine at Buckingham Palace (or any palace, for that matter), but in any case Granny's instructions have always served me well.*

However, I felt that my skills could do with some improving, particularly since I'm a visitor in a different country.  I was also intrigued to find out how everyone here seems to be gracious, confident, articulate and socially adept; I wanted to know whether this is something acquired at birth or something that can be learnt.

The cultural differences are small but significant.  Here the knife and fork are used differently (the polite thing is to cut up your food on your plate, put the knife down, switch your fork to your right hand and use this to eat with.  No hanging on to your knife), and it is never polite to leave your napkin on your chair when you get up from the table.  The salad is served after the soup and before the main course (confusingly called an entree).

The fact that the careers service hosts this class shows how important etiquette is seen to be in the business, academic, social and ecclesiastical realms.  The class included lunch at a restaurant, hosted by our tutors.  Then the following week we were invited to a formal reception with faculty members, in order to practise our new-found skills.  

There is a different code of introducing oneself to more important people, which I found rather terrifying.  Happily, since I was there more as an observer and less as a person who would be making use of these skills to win myself a job in a church or academy, I was able to play the "foreign visitor" and allow my fellow students to practice introducing me to the various faculty dignitaries:  "Professor so-and-so, may I introduce ..."   Several of the faculty members had asked the host if they were allowed to play tricks on us by asking awkward questions or making social gaffes.  I was impressed to see that my friends coped admirably!  

* I did once go to an ambassador's reception in Vienna but, sadly, there was not a Ferrero Rocher in sight.

Election night fun!

We went out for pizza, followed it by a trip to the ice cream parlour, then headed back to campus to watch the election results come in (what else would one do on election night?)  

First stop: main centre for election night viewing on campus, equipped with huge screen, multiple laptops (for the most up-to-date restults), chocolate, fizzy drinks, blank maps of the USA with crayons for colouring-in the different states when the results came in, and Hebrew homework.

Second stop: corridor party at one of the campus residences (the building where Dawn, Paul and Rebekah live).  Complete with beer, corn chips, a fuzzy television, only one laptop, music and lots of laughter.

A walk through the campus car park reminds me what a diverse community we are geographically.  The license plates on the cars and occasional pickup truck include: New Jersey, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, California (who on earth drove here all the way from California?), Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.  I have friends here at YDS who voted in all of these last three states (and many others), which meant that there was a personal element to the election results as they rolled in.  As you can imagine, there is a wide range of political stances represented here, but the overwhelming response to Obama's win was of massive celebration.