Meeting New People

Today after classes and lunch we had the opportunity to meet a few french students! I met a lovely girl, who actually spoke English as well. It is not uncommon that most people in Pau do not speak English. Thus far in my trip I have yet to find a rude southern French person. Many are willing to help regardless of the twisted french that may come out. This program has proved to be very good at what they do.
After the "French Mixer Get-together" I headed into the Centre Ville with a few people from the program. ( a few I could have done with out, talk about emphasizing the "Americans are loud" sterotype!) Anyhow I had a great time, but unfortunately decided not to bring my. I will of course be back another day. The weather was partly cloudy and in the high 60's. Fab weather in any Texan's eyes, right? We eventually found a restaurant that was serving at 6pm and had a lovely little meal. Most cafe's will only serve lunch and then only serve drinks later on. Some restaurants will also close after lunch until about 7pm. Dinner is the second most important meal of the day and is usually eaten at 7pm or later. Lunch is VERY important and most jobs give a 2hr break! Can you believe that?!
I had an interesting and tasty salad composed of a whole avocado with some  sort of tapenade on top along with smoked salmon and lettuce. They also served wonderful fresh french bread. The french seem to eat bread with every meal but still remain pretty slim, maybe I'll figure out their secret. They also believe that a meal with out cheese is not a meal. The cheese isle is amazing in the grocery stores and you can purchase really good cheeses for a lot cheaper than the US. Unfortunately I don't think I can bring cheese back.
Tomorrow I meet the other students and program at 8:30 to leave for Biarritz. A very trendy place on the Basque Coast. I'm super excited and should be posting some excellent pictures later on. This Sunday is also the French Mother's Day and I was invited to go to Madame Alcoz's daughter's house for breakfast. Should be interesting. Wishing everyone well.