Europeans do it better

Europeans really know how to live. We are not just talking about the French here, but Europeans in general. On a quick weekend trip to Holland I was given a sneak-peak at what Europeans consider normal, but which seems fantastic by American standards.
Let’s start with the most basic, the airplane. Sure the seats have gotten closer together, the planes packed as full as possible, just as you might find on an American airline but there is a certain amount of service that is given that is nearly unheard of these days. The flight attendants are perfectly dressed, coiffed and even beautifully choreographed with their “in the case of an emergency” demonstration to the point where it practically becomes a dance. The announcements are given in two and sometimes three languages to accommodate all the different nationalities. Despite the fact that the flight between Bordeaux and Amsterdam is only an hour and a half, the passengers are not thrown a tiny packet of pretzels or peanuts as the flight attendants run down the length of the plane looking flustered and pressed for time. Instead, you are served neatly wrapped sandwiches, nothing fancy, but much more substantial and much more appetizing than stale pretzels. This is done calmly, and followed by the cart with the drinks, which they manage to have pass twice during the short flight, since they have the timing down to perfection and thus have no need to rush. Personally, I found this incredibly civilized and was extremely delighted on my flight home to even be given a delicious biscuit-cookie upon the second passing of the cart to go with the tea and coffee that was offered. Too often on a short flight in our good old U.S of A. you have to beg for anything to eat.
Once on the ground the civility of European culture is continued. I had the good fortune to experience an event which in the US warrants only a brief letter in the mail but which is celebrated in Europe with all the pomp and circumstance that it deserves: an achievement of a full professorship at a university. In general, Europeans give professors and teachers in general much more respect than we give ours. I don’t know if they are paid any better than our professors but at least they are given the respect that they deserve for years and years of work and learning. Unfortunately this means there is a certain amount of social distance between the pupil and the prof., as is immediately explained to us American students, the professor is NOT your friend. Yet this is not the point I am trying to make. My Dad’s friend had the fortune to achieve his full professorship and thus we went to attend the inauguration ceremony and the conference which was to follow celebrating the event.
At least in Holland, the inauguration ceremony for a professor involves dressing up nicely, in other words, there was not a pair of jeans in the room (take note fellow Californians: flip flops are not appropriate for all occasions, as much as we would like them to be so). The women wore dresses and heels and the men were in their suits and ties. The representatives of the university were in full scholarly regalia, velvet robes with colored bands and fringe around the sleeves, strange velvet caps with four corners and those who were still students (I assume) had black suits and those triangular necklace things in fabric with a medallion around their shoulders (I apologize I have no idea what the term is and don’t even know what to search for on the internet.). They all looked extremely official as they paraded down the hall, somewhat like what you might see in a wedding ceremony. Us Americans grouped in the corner were whispering to each other about how amazing this is, how special, and why don’t we do this? The man of the hour gave a lovely speech, in perfect English no less (the Dutch are universally bilingual and speak English as well if not better than we do) then he and his fellow scholars took another ceremonial walk down the aisle, exuding importance.
The ceremony was followed by a reception in the professor’s hall where they pass their thesis exam under the watchful painted eye of the Queen. We however spent our time chatting, looking at the paintings of professors gone by, congratulating the new prof and plowing through the large assortment of wines, beers, juices and hors d’oeuvres. Those of us considered special enough (or like me, accompanying someone special enough) were treated to an elegant dinner afterward. The dinner involved an amuse-bouche (a tiny serving of split pea soup and corned beef and cabbage, in honor of the regional cuisine I suppose), a delicate entrée of scallops and tempura shrimp, un plat de poisson (a white-fleshed fish crusted with poppy seeds and accompanied by artistic swirls of sauce), un plat de viande (a meat dish, in our case duck), dessert (a lovely mango tarte tatin) and to finish, various sugary bon-bons accompanying a petit café. The dishes were beautifully presented a served. My favorite touch was the sauce for the duck being served out of the copper pot in which it was cooked, which I felt gave an air of authenticity to the chic restaurant. By the time the café with its bon-bons arrived I felt ready to pop, but I did my duty as self-appointed culinary correspondent and tried them all, finding them to all be too sweet after the previous indulgences. The meal was accompanied by three different wines: a white which remained from the amuse-bouche until the duck arrived, then a red and then a dessert wine in a lovely amber color. Contrary to my usual preference for reds, I found the white to be the stand out. The dessert wine was far too syrupy for my taste, but I seem to find that I do not enjoy dessert wines. Yet in true European restraint and logic, the portions were not so large that I couldn’t properly walk to the taxi after the meal had ended and I did not feel the next day as if I could never eat again.
Now I cannot claim that I go to many conferences, but from what I have been told, this degree of quality is quite common in Europe but is quite rare in the United States. Perhaps this is a result of the strong hospitality industry in Europe which has many, many schools and involves quite a lot of training. Perhaps this is the result of thousands of years of tradition which we lack in the US and thus we choose a more business-like, efficient and less ceremonial path. Yet a little bit of the Old World charm and ceremony could really class up the country. Personally I would love to have more opportunities to break out my new LBD (little black dress) and les talons (heels). Sure I love my California casual life, the ability to wear flip flops every day, but sometimes it is nice to feel special, to have an event that makes someone else feel unique and celebrated. It is not necessarily that the Europeans do things better than we do, but they know how and when to add that extra something, remembering the little touches that so often get pushed to the side in favor of economy or efficiency. Personally I believe this is why they live longer than we do.