Formal Dinner

Last night we had our first formal dinner of the term. Every Friday the Middle Common Room (which is the association for graduate students) has dinner in the dining hall at a separate table. The dining hall has these long tables, with a high table at the front for the masters. The formal dinner is more expensive, but we get much better food, and don't have to eat as fast as the undergrads. I've gone to the normal, non-Friday dinners a couple times this week, and it's seriously like pigs at a trough. If you put your fork down for a second the servers grab your plate, and suddenly before you know it you're on dessert.

The dinners itself are a bit of a spectacle. You have to make it by 7:15 or they lock you out. Then the masters come in through a separate door, and everyone stands while they get to the high table. Then the head master says a little phrase in latin and smacks the table, and everyone can eat.

For the formal dinner (this one was supposed to be black tie), we got dressed up, took our time and actually had a good meal - I think I was eating venison, but you never know... the meat here all seems to look the same.