Formal dinner

Tonight we went to a formal dinner at Peterhouse (a really old Cambridge college). We have some new friends that are members there, and they invited us to come along for a fancy three-course meal in the Great Hall, which was built in 1290 or something really crazy like that.

The hall was dimly lit, and all the students are required to wear robes (very Harry Potter-esque). The gong goes off, and that’s your cue to stand up and be very quiet so that the fellows can enter from the parlour and take their seats at the high table… it’s quite the hoity-toity affair. Once they say grace in Latin, then everyone sits and it’s time for the first course.

The first course was a bit strange: cold shrimp and iceberg lettuce with what looked like half a bottle of thousand island salad dressing poured over the top. Candice didn’t partake, so I ate hers :).

We had a great time chatting and eating, and about the time dessert was being served, the hall started to get louder and louder… and I’m pretty sure the amount of loudness in the hall was directly proportional to the amount of wine all the undergrad students were consuming. This made it very hard to have any further conversation, but it made for excellent people watching :).

All in all, it was a pleasant night at Peterhouse.