If getting the opportunity to taste 90-year-old wine for free while wearing sweatpants isn't a metaphor for my college experience, then I don't know what is. For anyone in Geography of Wine this semester, you probably have gone to at least one wine tasting at the Vintage Cellar. My roommates and I choose to go every week, and last week something different happened.

We went to the tasting at 11 a.m. (yes, we tasted wine in the morning) and I rolled up in my workout pants and oversized t-shirt. I expected a quick tasting and nothing special, so I didn't even think twice about my outfit attire, lack of makeup or ponytail. When we approached the tasting table, everyone else we were tasting with really sped through the process. But I had a hard time moving quickly because I am not very good at identifying flavors. So by the end of it, it was my roommates and me slowly enjoying the last wine, when we suddenly started a conversation with the man serving our tastings.

He must have been pretty high up in the store, and he began explaining dessert wines to us. Then, completely out of the blue, he offered for us to taste a 90-year-old wine from the South of Spain. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences of my semester thus far. I could go on and on for days about my love affair with wine, but all you need to know is that it tasted like a yummy caramel, toffee flavor and was very high in alcohol content. It really opened my eyes to what wine means; there is such a history lesson in every bottle.

Then I started thinking — almost everything great in college happened as a surprise and when I least expected it. My first home football game win, last minute rushing, random drives around town were all when my best memories happened that were completely unplanned. Maybe I am getting too philosophical when I am comparing wine to my life, but in all seriousness, keep your eyes open in college because the best things in life happen so unexpectedly; we just have to be open. What if I hadn't gone to taste wine at 11 a.m.? What if I hadn't of chosen to get ice cream at two in the morning? What if I hadn't sang karaoke at Tots? What if I hadn't gone on that spring break trip?

Sometimes the best things just fall into your lap, and in those moments, you have just got to be thankful and enjoy the moment.