A warm welcome to Toulouse!

I finally got to meet my host family today! Bernard and Christiane are so welcoming! They have a charming, historic house with plenty of room for Courtney and me. Our bedrooms are on the second floor, and we even have our own restroom, microwave, and TV! Bernard prepared a delicious meal of chicken and pasta for us with some red wine. It may have been one of my favorite meals of the week! We could not have asked for a kinder, more generous family!

Last night our group finally reunited in France and had dinner together at Cafe Baggio. It was a very nice restaurant, and after we were told the university was covering the bill, we all ordered three delicious courses. I tried foie gras, a delicacy here, which is actually baked liver I was told. I was feeling adventurous and tried some on crackers with salt, and loved it! We finished the evening with many french desserts, including profiteroles, pictured below! We had so much food that we were almost to the point of getting sick. Mallory ordered a pizza and salad, not realizing she had ordered 2 very large entrees. Mike challenged her to a "Mal vs Food" competition, and she downed the pizza is less than 10 minutes on a very full stomach! It was amazing! Our group dynamics are great so far, and everyone is enjoying hearing about each other's travels before Toulouse and getting to know more about each other!

Delicious dessert on Saturday in Toulouse!

After the group dinner, we all ventured out together and found a few small bars where we enjoyed a few European beers. Kronenberg was my favorite choice of the evening. The second bar we stopped into was actually playing THE BENGALS GAME! It was unreal to be half way across the world watching my hometown football team play in the playoffs. Our group stayed for most of the game, but then got frustrated in the fourth quarter and left. Colton and Alex got some greek food on our walk home, which turned into an adventure of asking for directions and navigating city maps again... reoccuring theme of my travels so far! But we arrived home at a decent hour and enjoyed some sound sleep in our luxurious hotel. I felt like I was living in a castle after hostel living for the 3 previous nights!

This morning I ran along the canal and La Garonne river, so at least I am still getting my runs in even if I am indulging in delicious food all day long! The city has a lot of runners (and dogs) unlike Italy. There are many running paths, so I am planning on running before classes each day with Courtney! We don't have a long walk to class, so that will also be nice excercise each day.

So far, I am loving France! It was a relief to be able to unpack my bags and know that I am in good hands with my host family for two weeks! I don't think I have ever spent more than a week in any city besides Cincinnati, so I am excited to get to know Toulouse well! Classes start bright and early at 8:30 tomorrow morning, which may change how much time I have for fun adventures each day, but I'm looking forward to the international business lectures!