"Family" in Nantes!

Today, I finally got to meet my "famille d'acceuille," who I can visit and who can invite me over for dinner or any other event they like. The family that I was placed with has a mom and dad, as well as 3 kids. The oldest one is 20 and studying in Paris, the middle girl is 17 and the youngest girl is 10. After being picked up at the tramway, I joined my family for lunch. We had a very typical french meal: fruit and white wine as an "aperatif" (like an appetizer), pork and some sort of vegetable purée, red wine, bread and cheese, and creme brulee flavoured ice cream (SO GOOD). It was a wonderful meal!
Oh yeah, and we spoke French. The whole time! I loved the practice.
We then sat in their living room and checked out some pictures of a trip of theirs to this huge dune in France that I really want to see! I also found out a very interesting tidbit of information that makes the world feel very small. My family, the Secher family, went to Canada on a vacation in 2008 and saw various parts of Quebec and Ontario. One of the places that they stopped was Kincardine, to swim in Lake Huron. Which is crazy, because my grandparents live there and I live 30 minutes away. What are the chances?
Afterwards, Christine and Michel took me on a walk through an old fishing village. It was like a maze, as the streets were super tiny and all winding through the village. Many of the houses were painted in really bright colours, so it was pretty incredible.
I also got to see their daughter, Julie, play in a high school basketball game. Now, normally in Canada, a girls' basketball game on a Saturday would not be that exciting. Well, think again! Some of the boys from the girls' school were there, and boy did they cheer! I have never heard such loud cheering at a school game before. It was pretty cool. I'm really looking forward to a soccer game now, if this is what the fans will be like! Oh yeah, and Julie's team won.
After sitting and chatting for a little bit longer, I took the tram back to my residence. All in all, it was a very good day and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the Secher family. They were very kind and welcoming, and patient with my French! They invited me to visit a winery next Saturday morning, so I think that I will take them up on the offer. They also told me that if I ever want to stay over for a weekend, I am more than welcome. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better, and I'm also looking forward to practicing my French with them.