Poet and masochist Lord Byron proclaimed that lobster salad and champagne were the only things a woman should ever be seen eating. Madame de Pompadour, mistress to the king of France, said of champagne: It is “is the only wine that leaves a woman more beautiful after drinking it”. We know it as the glamorous bubbly drink of celebrations, romance and New Year’s kisses.

I learned this stuff over Winter Break, reading the book by Tilar J. Mazzeo, The Widow Clicquot. Although I didn’t finish it, it was pretty interesting stuff - how a woman reinvented the champange empire. Reading over vacation? Yeah, my break was pretty lame. Besides little gets and meet-ups with assorted friends, it was totally eventless. Utterly boring. I spent Christmas Eve freezing my little fingers off wandering Christmas in the Park with the family and Christmas Day playing Rock Band 2! NYE was equally unexciting: drove the long commute to Union City and sipped mojito wine coolers with my cousins and their two friends. Knocked back bad Hennessy that tasted like fire water and sat lonely on the couch next to my cousin and her boyfriend for the countdown. Can someone tell the Economy to cheer up?

Back at school,  I was glad to be back in my cozy little room. After putting on my satin pillowcase with my new comforter and matching black sheets, I realized how much I was dreading classes and that I was ready to go home already. Good thing K and C are coming down to hang out with me and J! With me living on campus and J living off, I didn’t get to see much of them, but it was still fun. Finally got to hang with K more, talked to J about how “it doesn’t even take a type sometimes”, had lots but-still-not-enough jolly laughs with C and all four of us sipped margeritas on the rocks during Sin City which I always find heart-wrenching. They showed me all the pictures they took on the drive down and hanging out together, and I found myself wishing I had another margerita to wash away the sad feelings welling up in my stomach.

For the New Year, friends and I talked about the tradition of resolutions. Some confessed to haven’t had made any for the past few years, some declared personal goals, some conjured joke resolutions for each other and I just wished I could diligently attend all my classes - which will prove to be a difficult task since economics classes decided to all take place after dark this quarter. I know there will be bad habits I won’t kick but also good ones to be adopted.

So here’s to the New Year: to being a good student and a good friend; to meeting new people and making new friends; to finding something that makes me earnestly happy.