Not at all the Americans I thought they would be

We arrived in Cincinnati on Saturday and a few hours later, we were expected at the dunnhumby USA Holiday party, the equivalent of the English and French X-mas parties.

I admit that I had a picture in mind of how that party would be. I wasn't sure if people would drink alcohol, if there would be a lot of dancing going on, if the food would be nice...

As soon as we walked through the door, it dawned on me that I would get rid of my prejudices very soon. The venue was amazing, and with 'dunnhumby value' specially made cocktails the tone was set. Yes, there was alcohol, and not a little bit. I hardly saw anyone not drinking to be honest! This was going to be like any other dunnhumby party :-) I admit I felt a bit relieved, although I wasn't in for a big night due to the jetlag.

The food was special, first walking dinner with sushi, then a sit down meal with different courses of tapas. People don't agree on whether or not the food was good, but I was definitely impressed!

By the time the dessert was on, the dance floor was filled up. Huge plastic flashy rings were given to the ladies and I just loved that small detail!

So, my first dunnhumby USA party really showed me that any of the prejudices I had were just not true.

And now, after 2 days at work, I realise that my American colleagues are VERY sporty (at least 2 of my female colleagues have run 5 marathons each, and that's in a team of 9 women...), so I'll have to start trying harder... I started with a great Zumba class today!

The cliches that turned out to be true so far are:
- you do need a car in Cincinnati or you miss out on great restaurants, shows, French talking groups, grocery shopping...
- Americans are really friendly. One colleague invited us to several of her X-mas evenings + New Year's Eve. Can you believe that? So on the 22nd of December we're going to a big family party of hers. Very curious and still a bit astonished that we actually got invited.

That's all for now - I'm pretty sure this will be my first and last blog post on American cliches as not a lot of them still hold true in my point of view.