Meditation with the sea.

Meditation with the sea ...

… while taking Peak Performance Buoyancy course for my Advanced Open Water Diver certification.

Oenology is the science and study of wine and wine-making (actually we study how to make all types of alcoholic drinks) - this was what I chose for my undergraduate study. College of Oenology at Northwest A&F University is no doubt the best choice of this study in China - this was where I spent four memorable years.

My college rocks

I like practical and experimental studies, so I enjoyed learning courses through experiments about nature there (e.g., Microbiology, Plant Science, Entomology, etc.). I also like the broad scope and specialized topics that my school can offer, which include fancy subjects like Wine-making, Wine-tasting, French language, etc. Besides, our curriculum follows a rigorous engineering training principle.

The degree appears very good under standard evaluations: lots of career-oriented courses, most of them very interesting, and excellent employment prospects. So there is nothing to complain - at least I spent four wonderful and fulfilling years. But, why didn’t I choose wine related career after graduate?

The best thing to combat fear, despair, and fatalism is knowledge.

Well, people with proper professional training about wine-making know the following facts:

  • The quality of wine mostly depends on the quality of grapes, which further depends on many unchangeable parameters: the breed, geographic location, the climate of that year, etc.
  • The other major factor that can determine wine quality is how those grapes are treated: only master winemakers know the secret of preserving primary aromas, while fake masters use essential oil.
  • The price of wine is not a real image its value: only the smartest merchants know the secret of marketing.

This kind of fact that “some grapes are born to be great” or “some wine is made to be great” sounds very depressing to me. In the end, I decided to change my career direction and only focus on the knowledge itself, in the hope of that the chance of achieving a more meaningful life is better - of course, with personal creativeness and efforts.

道不行，浮于海。 – Worried about your goal is out of reach? Go to the sea and learn Peak Performance Buoyancy. :smirk: