I am so excited for this class! Admittedly, I registered because I thought it would be a fun way to end my final semester of college, but I know it is going to be a lot of work (which hopefully will pay off and I can become the token "wine snob" amongst my friends and family).

My experiences with wine thus far have been very limited. If my memory serves me right, I believe my first encounter with wine was when my family lived in England (I was five or six at the time). We took a family vacation to Italy and following a tour of some ancient castle, there was a wine sampling in the gift shop. Unbeknownst to me, the tiny dixie cup of reddish liquid I somehow picked up was not apple juice but rather some mysterious substance that made my throat tingle. After a stern scolding from my mother, I came to the realization that what I had just consumed was something my dad referred to as "vino." My next encounter with wine came a few years later when I received my First Holy Communion. I tried futilely to avoid the woman standing at the alter shakily handing me a glass of watered down red wine, but my sponsor would not allow me to skip this part of the ceremony.

Of course, coming into college meant I had to try all of the available options to become sufficiently inebriated. Over the course of my freshman year, I consumed more bottles of $7 wine than I can count on one hand. I wasn't picky either--whatever the cheapest bottle my purchaser could obtain from 7/11 downtown was fine with me, even if I had to plug my nose and chug it. Sophomore year, I graduated to the slightly more expensive boxed wine and participated in multiple "Tour de Franzias" (college students are SO not creative...). Two years later and *finally* of age, I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit the status of my bank account and, consequently, my tastes in wine have not improved. Every time I stroll down the wine aisle at Kroger, I find myself unable to pick up anything other than Barefoot Moscato or Pink Zinfandel Franzia.

I suppose this brings us to now and one of the main reasons I am in this class. I need to see what else is out there. I am limiting myself to some of the worst stuff to ever grace my (somewhat refined) palette. I know there are thousands of types of wine out there waiting for me to try. That being said, however, I need a starting point. I know I strongly dislike bitter and sour tasting things, so (as far as my knowledge goes) I will probably be staying far away from darker wines. I think I would prefer light, sweet, and tangy wines that I can enjoy slowly with an appetizer or sit-down meal rather than racing with my friends in a scramble to get out the door and to the bars.

Following my graduation in May, I have a unique opportunity to work at the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. While I am in Honduras, I will likely have the chance to travel throughout Central and South America. I know wine is an extremely popular beverage enjoyed in these countries, and I am hoping this course will enable me to learn a little more about which wines are popular where, the manufacturing process, economic impacts, and cultural connections. Ideally, I would love to be able to travel anywhere in the world and have at least a basic knowledge of regional wines so as not to seem like a typical, uneducated American tourist.