Your typical exam day.

Today we had our final exam presentations. I got up super early to work on my presentation and get to the market to purchase some cheese. I got right on line at the cheese distributor, who had both Salers and Cantal cheeses which I was looking to purchase. Salers and Cantal are cheeses produced by the exact same method, but Salers differs because it can only be produced from the milk of cows that graze on mountain pasture in the summer. So, Salers is very yellow in color, whereas Cantal is closer to ivory. 

Left: Cantal
Right: Salers

And, yes, there was already a dozen people on line at 9:30am to purchase cheese from this man, who shakes the hand of and greets each of his customers. I purchased “un petit morceau” of each. Before going back to Cluny Sejour, I did a bit of souvenir shopping around the market.

Around noon, the rest of the student began to flock to the classroom and we setup for the presentations of each of our individually selected wines and cheeses. In total we had 8 presentations, 12 cheeses, and 5.5 bottles of wine.  The cheeses were Beauxfort, Cantal, Salers, Munster (2 types), brie di meaux, morbier, 3 ages of goat cheeses, emmental, and Roquefort (which this time was much better with bread, walnuts, and a very sweet wine). Five hours later, we finished. It was a long, *difficult* afternoon.

We purchased every bottle of this wine that
Le Cellier del Abbaye had!

After tasting so many wines, we all took a trip over to Le Cellier del Abbaye to purchase a few bottles of our favorites as souvenirs. 

We then had our final dinner at Le Cloitre as a group. 

Our last escargot!

My last dinner in Cluny: seafood and
potato in tomato broth. Mmmm...

As we ate, there was torrential downpours outside--I'd like to think of this as a sign that we're not supposed to leave.

This past week has flown by and I can’t believe that tomorrow we’re going to be leaving this place. Will I ever return here, to Cluny? Perhaps I should make that a goal. And now I have to pack up all my clothes, all my souvenirs for my friends and family, all the memories, and bring them home. It hasn’t hit me yet, that we’re actually going. This was honestly one of the greatest experiences ever. Nothing can compare. I’ve learned so much about myself, about cheese and wine, about the history of this little gem of a town and its region, and I’ve made several friends: all in two weeks time. Alright, 7:00am is going to be here before I know it. It’s time to pack.