Kiss Me I'm Irish (?)

So, I have finished yet another awesome week in Exeter. It's still really hard to believe how fast the time is going, before I know it exams will be over and then I'll only have a couple weeks left before I return to the US.

Among the fun things I did this week was an expedition out to High Street on Monday with Maddy, Charlotte (one of Maddy's flatmates) and Charlotte's brother. We had a later lunch at an Asian buffet, called Buffet City (very creative I know), which strangely included crepes among its dessert options.

I also had a performance for Take Note on Wednesday. We visited an elderly care home called Eaton House in the afternoon to perform our repertoire of five songs (Blackbird, Downtown, Lean On Me, Yesterday, and a mash-up of What Makes You Beautiful and Just The Way You Are). We got a wonderful response and ended up singing almost every song a second time. Interestingly, one of the residents asked us to repeat "that lovely song that talks about the little things that matter that you don't always notice" in reference to the song he like, but didn't recognize. After some confusion, we realized he was talking about our One Direction/Bruno Mars mash-up, I will admit lovely is not the first word that comes to mind when describing One Direction's music (fun maybe, sometimes irritating, almost always catchy). Afterwards we stayed for small talk, tea, and biscuits (cookies for those of us from the US). I learned, from one women originally from Wales, that I apparently sound Irish to some. Immediately after I spoke she asked which part of Ireland I was from, I chose to take it as a compliment, although I do not think American and Irish accents sound even remotely similar. Later Kathy, who is actually Irish (from Northern Ireland, but in this case Ireland is the operative word), told me that people have also mistaken her accent for American, so I guess the accents must be more easily confused than I would have thought.

On Friday I finally trekked out to Maddy's flat, which is about a half and hour to forty minute walk away,
to socialize and pregame a bit before going out. We braved Arena, for the second time in my case, and while we had an okay time dancing, we didn't stay for long. The dancing is definitely different in the UK, I didn't notice when we went out on Valentine's Day because we were all international students, but apparently girls here dance as if they don't actually have hips because apparently that type of dancing is considered overly sexy. It was a bit disappointing, because no one wants to feel uncomfortable with themselves on the dance floor. The best part of dancing, in my opinion, is feeling confident in yourself, even if you are not actually an amazing dancer.

Anyway, a few of us left and grabbed burgers and chips at a food truck outside Arena. The burger was definitely different from what I might expect to find at home, I would describe the texture of the burger itself as more like meatloaf. All in all it was a bit strange, but at least I have already found a restaurant that makes burgers that are more to my taste (Hub Box, where I have already eaten twice!).

In more exciting news, I'll be in Dublin this coming weekend and I can't wait!