Boldly going where no 19-year-old has gone before...

Today is Sunday.

Yesterday was the annual end-of-year RMS Gala.

Suffice it to say that writing a blog post right now is extremely difficult.

I have only 3 days of class left, 1 essay to write, and then I am off to Caen to begin my last vacation before finally heading home on the 29th of June. The next 4 weeks will prove interesting, I am sure.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I mentioned this "Gala". Let's explore this further.

The RMS Gala is not unlike high school prom. The guys are all in suits, some with ties, and the girls are all dressed to impress (and believe me, many of them do). The main advantages that RMS has over your high school are a multi-million-Euro budget, and ties to the Champagne industry. The bars were serving Taittinger in a reception hall fit for aristocracy, right in the centre of Paris. There were red carpets, bouncers, buses, limos, a DJ, the whole nine yards.

The interesting thing about champagne is that it is designed to get into your system quickly. Another interesting point about galas is that many people drink beforehand. The official start time was 10 pm. I arrived by bus at 10:30. By 11:30, the 200-some people that were there were mostly drunk. By 12:30, there were at least 400 people in the hall, 75% of whom were well on their way to a severe hangover.

That said, the night was a lot of fun. Most people that were there were just acquaintances to me, but there were also many close friends (some practically family by now) that made this night wonderful.

I will actually be posting pictures this time. Credit goes to Laura, Steve and Veronica for the great pics. Also, I hear there is a YouTube video of me introducing the Gala before most people arrived. You guys might want to find that. (by the way, thanks for that, Veronica ;)

Hope you all have a good week. I will report back when class is officially over.

6 days off in 7 - brought to you by Kempinski

Hey everyone,

After a near 2-week absence (again) I bring you good news!
I have finished Wine Marketing and Wine Management, and await the results of my hard work in setting up a winery in New Zealand.

I have now started my final class on Luxury Hotel Management, in partnership with Kempinski, one of Europe's luxury hotel groups. Cool!

Also, Laszlo is back! Much fun to be had in these last few weeks.

Most importantly though was my trip to England last weekend. It was AWESOME!
I got to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge, Tower of London, The Monument, the London Eye, the Royal Albert Hall, and a bunch of other cool stuff. The coolest of these being Dad! Though he was working there, we did get the chance to share a few meals, a few beer, and go touring for a full Saturday. Also, the sun was shining the entire time, so that was good. All in all, a pretty great trip.

I've got class tomorrow but then a three-day weekend, no plans but I'm sure something will happen.

Hope you all the enjoy the last few days of the week!

De Castelnau, Philipponnat, Deutz, Dom Pérignon, Bollinger

The 8th of May.
The day before Mother's Day.
A special holiday in France.
2 weeks since I last had something to report.

When you're studying wine during the week and sleeping / watching Gossip Girl on weekends, there really isn't much to say.

This last week has been somewhat interesting, with a visit to a champagne co-operative on Tuesday, a day with Stephen Charters on Wednesday, a Thursday morning I can't remember, a Thursday night I'll never forget, and skipping Menival's class Friday on account of Thursday night (and to do some homework, of course).

Actually, a special note on Thursday: since Sup de Co has Thursday afternoon off, there was a huge Barbecue from 11 to 4, put on by a school Sports Association. There was free food, free chocolate, cotton candy, games, music... basically people all gathered here and spent the day. That is average life here in Reims. The partying never stops. But I think you already knew that.

After the sports event, I went downtown to buy some Champagne. The last three in the post title. I've never left a store feeling so awesome before.

Last night was a fairly calm night out, where I managed to have one beer at Gin Pamp, listen to some awful live French indie rock / techno music, and sit at LBee until taking a bus home before midnight.

Of course, by the time I took the bus, all my energy was built up. So I finished season 2 of Gossip Girl and then stayed up on Skype until 5:30 am. Why not?

Now, I have a project to work on. I'm opening up a winery in New Zealand, and need to plan the planting / maintenance and harvest of the vines. It's pretty cool actually.

Hope you have a great weekend! I'm going to Parc Astérix tomorrow :D

Cheers.