-I need to explode for a second:
COLDPLAY PLAYED A GIG AT THE UEA LCR BACK IN 2000. I've often wished I was about 10 years older so I could have seen them back when they were young and arguably at their musical prime, but this takes the cake: Coldplay, intimate concert, MY UNIVERSITY, £10 ticket. Of course, it's not that strange that they played here, since it's quite common for UEA to have pretty good bands play here when they're small, and there aren't that many universities in England, so when most small bands tour England, they do the uni circuit as well. But knowing for sure that Coldplay played at UEA makes me completely jealous. This link, complete with setlist, makes me want to scream and find a time machine.

On a similar topic, I only noticed a few weeks ago that in the paper shop on campus, right above the magazine stand, there's one of those light-up ad boxes. One day when I was paying for something, I thought one of the guys in the picture on the ad (which is permanent, it doesn't change every week like ones at bus stops or whatever) looked quite a bit like Jonny Buckland. Looking closer, I realized it was Jonny Buckland, along with the other three in a picture of them when they were quite young. The ad says "Blue because you missed 'Yellow' in Norwich?" and then it's an ad for finding out what's going on in Norwich or something like that. But I squeed at the time, and that's what made me Google "Coldplay Norwich" and find out that not only did they just play in my city, they played my ACTUAL university.

-Speaking of setlists, this is what I can expect from Snow Patrol on Tuesday. It's actually a very odd setlist...I guess I'll judge when I see it.

-The English call shelled peanuts "monkey nuts." Sometimes I find it very hard not to worry about the sanity of this nation.

-I realized today that I've stopped noticing that I'm in England, and I haven't noticed it in a while. Of course, I still notice Englishisms and English things, like the monkey nuts observation above, but I've stopped noticing accents, and I've stopped feeling like an outsider. The first few weeks, I was very aware that everyone around me had an accent, and I was even more aware of the fact that I sounded different. My accent sounded so different to me that it sounded twangy, as jarring as a deep Southern accent would be to people from CT. I don't notice any of that anymore, especially the fact that I sound different. When people ask me where I'm from, I say "America," like they couldn't tell or something, and then I have to go back and answer their implied question, which was where in America I'm from. In my brain now, everyone around me just talks normally, not English, and it's actually jarring when I hear an unexpected American accent, like in a commercial or something. I stop and say "wow, that guy has a weird accent," and then I realize that's my accent. It doesn't happen when I'm listening to my Dickinson friends, or when I'm watching my regular shows, because I expect those people to sound American and I already know what they sound like, if that makes any sense. But when I'm unexpectedly ambushed with the sound of an American voice, like when I'm walking across campus and hear one or when there's one in an advert at the movies, I'm so disoriented by it that it's actually funny.

I also am a bit surprised by how well I've kept my accent. I think I've mentioned this before, but it still continues to surprise me. It probably has to do with the fact that I'm often surrounded by a group of American friends and watch a lot of American TV. I occasionally do notice my intonation changing, specifically when I'm out with Rosie or talking with my flatmates, but that's fewer and farther between than I anticipated four months in. Interestingly enough, I've noticed two of my friends becoming occasionally more American in their pronunciation. I don't think I expected to have that effect.