Hello From Over the Pond

Right now I am sitting in the Toulouse, France airport waiting on my flight to London.  I have had a couple of very productive days in Toulouse.  Although the work days were great the trip over wasn’t so great.  After 9 hours in coach from DFW to Frankfurt, Germany we missed our direct connect from Frankfurt to our destination, France.  After weaseling our way  to Toulouse (taking a couple of additional flight through Paris) I had been awake for about 30 hours.  When you travel to Europe you fly over night, and the goal is always to stay up as late as you can when you get there so you can try to adapt to their sleep patterns.  I was able to do just that.  Went to bed about 9 after a sleepless plane ride…….the problem with this is I was wide awake at 4 AM.  This gave me an additional chance to see the city.  It is very weird to be so far from home and so many hours away.  I try to call Lauren at 4 am my time, because it is in the evening her time…..or whenever I get a chance.  I am glad we have been able to talk!

Toulouse looks like many French cities you see on TV.  Brick roads, old (but very beautiful) buildings, narrow streets (there is no way my Suburban could get anywhere down there), bread and cheese everywhere, and great wine.  My second night I was able to explore a little different part of the city and see so many things.  It is a very weird feeling being the only one who doesn’t understand French.  Most people know English, but it is very difficult to understand.  So far I have walked a lot and eaten even more. 

My second night of sleep wasn’t any better.  My friend Jason met me over here and we tried to stay up until 1:30 AM our time so we could try to watch the Thursday night OSU football game (6:30 PM CST). I am pretty sure I was the only person in France sporting orange last night.   I was able to do it, but with a spotty connection I fell asleep for about twenty minutes after half time.  After that the end of the game was so exciting I didn’t go to sleep at all.  As I am sitting here now it is 11:30 CST (6:30 France Time) and I have only slept solidly from 9pm – 4am since leaving my apartment Tuesday morning.  I am also thankful for their wonderful and large quantities of espresso in France. 

After some of our meetings were over I was able to see the production lines for the new Air Bus 380 (new double decker that holds about 600 people).  It was amazing to experience. 

It is such a cool place and I can’t wait to experience London.