Everyone say cheese!
So I’ve already discussed once about Faculty in Residence hosting a meal, but the regular MVP of student activities is Tom Mannion, whose official title is “Senior Director, Student Activities and Programs” but is more colloquially recognized as the “chair of student happiness.” Why he is so called comes as no surprise to any Techer, who has almost certainly regularly attended Mannion events. This particular instance was a cheese tasting hosted by the great man, and I’m here to tell you exactly how it started and how it went down.
Tom was even kind enough to give us takeout boxes, since he knew the cheese wouldn’t get eaten in its entirety and figured we would enjoy taking home some of the cheese, not to mention the almost untouched sides since everybody was so full.
We sampled a gamut of cheeses, from all continents and of all tastes, ranging from light to aromatic (a.k.a. stinky) to very “bite” cheese (Roquefort namely). Mannion gave a short 10-second blurb before each cheese and then we were off, all four tables of us, each slicing off the smallest morsel to save space then scrambling to get a piece into the takeout box. It was quite a two hours, and certainly one of my most enjoyable since coming back from Europe (a throwback to the numerous French cheeses I had, which we certainly touched on during the tasting!).
Another notable incident was when Tom brought out one of his last wheels of cheese, prefaced with “This comes from a wheel of cheese I got from a friend, an 80 pound wheel that retails for a couple thousand dollars.” Needless to say everybody made room for that one, and it certainly rewarded! Though, not being a particular connoisseurmyself, I couldn’t quite understand all the fuss.
This weekend I will be heading out for Chicago for my concert, as I’d posted about earlier. I’m very excited to be able to leave campus, even though it means I will have to do a lot of extra homework early and do a lot of catching up after the fact, because making time for these things is always so worthwhile. I can’t wait to listen to the orchestra; I’ve even downloaded the scores of the concert pieces so I can study them alongside the recordings on the plane. It will be a good respite from all the classes I’m taking right now.
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