Learning to Love Coffee in Yale's Students' Dining Hall

   The Independence Day of the USA is Tomorrow.
   To celebrate the day, Yale University has arranged a barbecue in the curtyard of Morse college for us summer students, for free.
The food and fruits offered are really varied and well-cooked.
   Various soft drinks and milk and tea are offered. Even Ice creams are offered.
   We entered the courtyard with the help of a young boy, who requested us to show our identity card to make sure we are Yale students, before he allowed us to enter the courtyard.(Our student ID cards were of no use in opening the iron gate.the students living on campus have been given a white HD card for the electronically controlled gate.)
    We four off-campus students went inside and had all the kichen utensils and food and vegetables put away in a fellow colleague's bedroom, and I had the opportunity to hve a look at the bedroom of the colleague, which is quite comfortable.
    We soon got into the dining hall and was asked to have our SID card swiped. The woman sitting in front of the computer told me and the white man standing just nearby that my SID card was not effective.
    The white man, who was supposed to be in his fifties, kindly asked me to write my name on a piece of paper and, when I did not write on the place he had expected, he took over the job, and then asked me to go in.
    I was told by my fellow colleague to pick up a paper plate and choose whater I liked in the dining hall.

    In the dining hall, I had several first experiences of mine with the suggestion and help of two collegues of mine.
    I had my first taste of coffee mixed with fresh milk and sugar.
    I had my first taste of the strawberries of the US.
    I had my first taste of a kind of ice cream called Agendas.
    What's more, I got to know better about the kind-heartedness of the collegue byy the name of Wang Yun.
 
    Back in my own country I hardly drink coffee. But the smell of hot coffee while we travelled in the USA was really nice and luring. My fear of bitterness made me hostile to it, in spite of the smell.
    But as soon as my colleague suggested my drinking it once, I took just a small amount of the coffee with a paper cup, maybe less than 1/10 of the cup's capacity.
    After taking the first mouthful of it, I had no more desire to have a second. But the colleague sitting oppositeme had warned me not to take more than I could eat, as the US cooks and waiters and waitressed hate waste  of food on the part of students, even before we started to choose food. I had a second taste of the bitter coffee, with a strong desire to spit it back into the cup.
    The colleague in light Purple, with curly hair down to her shoulders, her complexion quite fair, her whole bearings giving us an impression that she was a Korean, soon came to join us. I told my trouble with the coffee.
    She immediately suggested adding milk and sugar. I explained that I couldn't find the milk and sugar. She put down her plastic fork and plastic knife and volunteered to take me there.
    When we did reach the milk machine, she helped getting the cup filled with fresh but cold fat-free milk. Then, she was patient enough to take me to the other side of the room, and get two small bags of sugar for the coffee, and while picking the sugar, she told me to choose the natural one.
    The coffee tasted very nice and I began to love this kind of drink, thanks to her ready help.
 

    The first American strawberry I tasted was offered by the colleague sitting on the opposite side of me. She had abouttwo or three strawberries in her plate, in addition to the watermelon slice and other fruits.
    She gave me one and I immediately found out the difference in taste between Chinese strawberries and American strawberries. The former are softer and less sour.
    Wang Yun suggsted I get some Agendas. "It tasted much better than that in our own country."
    Her remark aroused my interest and curiosity. I did not know what Agendas was, but I was eager to taste it, so I urged her to take me to the place where Agendas was put. She stood up again and took me there. It was contained in a cylindar-shaped container, a shape familiar to me many years ago. My son had asked me to buy this kind of ice cream for him.
    I took off the paper covering and saw pink ice cream under it.
    I saw her take out the Agendas and knew it was icy cold. It had been 10 years since I took ice cream. I have been afraid of cold and old food.
    So i just took a tiny of it and it was gorgeous.
    It was not too fatty nor cheesy nor much too sweet, just the right natural flavor.
    Thanks to the two collegues of mine and especially, thanks to Yale University for the arrangement.