President Barack Obama visited Boise State University today, to further discuss the topics he brought up in his State of the Union address yesterday. Boise mayor Dave Bieter, who is half-Basque, had a chance to talk with the president during his visit.

It was Obama’s first visit to Boise since he became president. His visit was extremely well received, according to an article from the Idaho Press.

Another story from U.S. News highlighted several comments from his speech, given to a capacity crowd at the university.

The White House posted Obama’s speech at Boise State, in which he refers to the story he heard about Bieter’s grandfather.

“A couple other people I want to mention.  Your Mayor, Mayor Bieter, is here.  (Applause.)  Where is he?  Where is he?  There he is.  Flew back with me on Air Force One.  (Applause.)  And he didn’t break anything.  (Laughter.)  It was amazing, though.  When we were coming back he was telling me the story about his grandfather, an immigrant from the Basque Region, coming here and how he would herd sheep.  And for five years, he would be up in the mountains and the hills, and then come down to town for like two months a year, and the rest of the time he was up there.  And I figured his dad was a pretty tough guy, because I’ll bet it gets kind of cold up in the hills.  (Laughter.) ”

Click here for the full speech.