The Accent

Americans are fairly rare in Birmingham, but of the 200 employees at Newman College there is another one. She introduced herself to me yesterday. Noelle is from California and came here six years ago to do her PhD at the University of Birmingham, now she’s a History professor at Newman. It was quite interesting to talk with her because she commented on how cold it is here (she’s from LA) and I told her I thought it was quite mild :)

Because people in Birmingham don’t come in contact with Americans very often, it always seems to catch them by surprise. I can tell when I’ve lost someone because they get a glazed over look in their eyes and I know they’re completely focusing on the accent and not what I’m saying. It’s quite annoying when I’m trying to answer students’ questions because I often end up having to repeat myself. A common question I get after someone hears me talk is…”you’re not from Birmingham, are you?” For example, I got this question while standing in the line for taxis on Saturday night and the man who asked me thought it quite hilarious to tell my taxi driver that I wanted to be driven to Wisconsin.