 My wonderful students after our last class! <3 |
Sometimes, only sometimes, we encounter young people that are extraordinary. These people give us old people hope for the future. In this case, my last group of wine students was so fantastic, smart and talented I wanted to cry when I said goodbye. As a group they were inquisitive about the overall culture of wine and its place in Italian culture in general. They studied, did awesome and creative projects and, in the end, I was the one learning from them. I’ve been a grumpy youth hater for far too long. I guess it is just disheartening that many college age students cannot put a sentence together, seem disinterested in the world around them, are plugged into their devices but tuned out of the world around them. Not so this group. They were articulate, funny, knowledgeable and open to new experiences. Their energy was infectious. These are the future wine lovers of America, and we as wine professionals need to embrace their curiosity, open ourselves to learning about innovative and new happenings in the wine world. They are coming out into the world with more wine knowledge than most 20-21 year olds; they’ve made the connection between wine and local culture, wine and health, wine and finance, and, their place in this world. My students met my colleagues and they were all impressed. As my friend Hande from Vino Roma said about one in particular, “That boy renowned my belief in the future – so good to know there are 21 yr. olds (well, at least one!) out there who are smart, athletic, artistically inclined & talented, well-behaved… and good looking 😉 The human kind shall persevere!” Indeed!
In Frascati
If you guys are reading this, bless you all. You ALL have rehabilitated my faith in the future.
Wonderful fruity aromas
Tastes like Puglia
Mr. Champagne with the ladies
You are an awesome professor!
Ruby, you are an awesome young lady.
Hi there, as Laura's Dad I'm thrilled that you found a group of young people who restored your faith in humanity! I know for a fact that Laura thoroughly enjoyed herself and came away having opened up another latent facet of her life interests. You are a true inspiration and mentor – thank you so much!!
Laura is an exceptional young lady and you should be very proud of her. She's got a good head on those shoulders and so focused! Thank you!
And now you know why I date young people 🙂
I don't agree with your opening line about "only sometimes". I find it to be more often than not young people can be extraordinary in their own way.
I get so used to teenagers and other young people just interested in text messaging and also how bombarded by terrible media they are, I think it would be hard to be yung these days with all the sensory overload they are exposed to. Its amazing they are not all zombies.
Also i stand by my only sometimes comment. That could be applied to most of the people in the world.
Oh! If you're talking about most of the people in the world, then no problem. I can show you plenty of people my age and older that are far less than extraordinary. 🙂