Grandad comes to London!

Last week my Grandaddy came to visit me in London, all the way from Liverpool. He is pretty bad at making decisions and adamantly stood by his suggestion, 'Whatever you want to do Em' regardless of my objection that, seeing as I live in London, I can do whatever I want whenever I want, so it'd probably be best for him to choose and eventually we came to a bit of a stalemate and decided to just wing it a bit, which makes for a nice post full of advice for those tourists who are a little more disorganised.

We started off with a  lunch of scrummy fish and chips at the Shakespeare's Head, a Wetherspoon pub on Kingsway near Holborn station, which I often frequent with the German lot from uni and would highly recommend. Next, we decided to wander down to Aldwych to visit my uni, walk along Waterloo Bridge (which in my opinion, is the best view of London you can get, day or night) and over to South Bank, as my Grandad loves his shows and it's always a safe bet for street performers. Sure enough we came across a group of Jamaican dancers/acrobats/contortionists who were really quite good. Seriously, the ways in which they could twist their bodies were pretty crazy! It also made a nice change from street magicians, not that they aren't talented, it's just that they are everywhere in London and as a resident it's nice to see something a little different from time to time.

This little girl was the cutest.

Sometimes it's easy to forget how certain times of year are super busy in this city, making a wander down the Thames a little more difficult than I originally anticipated, so we took a bit of a breather for a few touristy pictures.

A sneaky Grandad-being-pensive-in-the-sunshine pic

This looks like I was trying to be arty but in actual fact I literally couldn't fit any more of it in the frame...

Em and Grandad selfie, with a cheeky Big Ben photobomb.

On our eventual escape from the utter madness of South Bank, we hopped on the 453* bus to Oxford Circus. As I was after a game for a birthday party, we decided to have a gander in Hamley's toy store. As far as I can remember, it was my first visit and both Grandad and I got a little too excited by everything that was going on. My broody levels literally sky-rocketed. Of all the cool toys to buy however, I ended up buying ID twister (please don't judge me). They literally put those boys faces on EVERYTHING these days.

Clearly I love my friends very much to go through with buying this.

The rest of the afternoon was spent bumbling around Oxford Street for various things before heading back home for some home cooked sausage and mash. However, not before stopping off at Paul to grab some scrummy cream cakes for desert (FYI, their chocolate éclair is to die for). By 6.30pm we were all done and dusted and ready to accompany Grandad back to the train station; it just goes to show how much you can fit into a day when visiting London and still successfully have a lovely time. I even had time in the evening to head to The Barbican Cinema (which is always £5 on tuesdays for students, worth checking out!) with Gordon and Joe to watch Noah. 

*When travelling around London, though the tube seems the obvious choice, I can't recommend buses enough. They literally go everywhere and most of them are 24 hour AND they're much cheaper than the tube. It's honestly no more difficult then getting a grasp of the tube system.*

Brief visit to Manchester

Although I've visited Manchester just about a bazillion times, I've never actually written anything about it. So despite last weeks trip not being too eventful, I thought it might be good to start somewhere.

Manchester and Liverpool are the two biggest cities near to where I live and considering Preston is so teeny tiny, they're also the most popular shopping destinations for all of us who are from there. Last week I headed home for a few days to visit the fam, enjoy some homely northern cuisine and celebrate my little brother's birthday. However with most of my friends living away from home now and my family having lives that don't solely revolve around me visiting (an outrage, I know), I decided to go do the friend-seeing tour of the north.

I started in Manchester, visiting these wonderful human beings who have put up with me for longer than anyone should have to. 

Richard, me, Dan and Will, high school/youth group friends.

I've known this lot from my early teen years and they now all study various complicated sciencey- technological things that I don't understand (smarty pantses). Anyway, I don't see them half as much as I would like any more so it was lovely to have a couple of hours catch up and wander round the more studenty bit of Manc.

As we are all massive nerds, it seemed only right to visit the newly refurbished Manchester Central Library, which had just had it's grand re-opening. I just love love LOVE books and history and the like. Whilst on the outside it looked like your classic oldly worldy Roman style pillars and fancy looking arches, inside they've managed to successfully blend in the modern in a pretty seamless fashion. Although the cinema booths and countless interactive exhibits they've installed clearly contrast from it's almost 100 year old exterior, somehow is doesn't feel disjointed or out of place. We didn't get to stay too long but I'd highly recommend a visit if you're looking for something free to do on a day out in the area.

For lunch Dan took us to a pub called the Garratt, hidden away down a road leading off from the old BBC Studio car park and across the road from 5th Avenue (a nightclub which I would also recommend for a night out!). If you're after somewhere cheap and cheerful to eat when visiting Manchester, I literally cannot recommend this place enough. Perhaps this is some of my londonisation shining through, but when a menu says £2.50 a meal with student discount on top of that, I feel you'd have to be completely stupid to turn it down. And the food wasn't half bad! Nothing special, but what more do you want than a sizeable helping of your classic English Breakfast of Sausage, Egg, Bacon, Toast, Tomato and Beans? The price is genuinely as good as it seems.

Apart from lots of catching up and general banter, we didn't really get around much more of Manchester. There are lots of places that I have previously visited, which I will supply linkage for at the bottom of this post. However, I know for a fact it won't be long until my next visit anyway, so I can share a lot more info with you then.

My Manchester Highlights:

Afflecks Palace (Alternative/Indie Shopping)

Canal Street (LGBT Clubbing)

Christmas Markets (Seasonal)

Manchester Academy (Small gigs)

Museum of Science and Industry (Interactive Museum)

Palace Theatre (Musicals and Plays)

Trafford Centre (High Street Shopping)

Banana Pinching and Prayer

This weekend I spent my time on my church's 'Student Weekend Away' or 'Church Camp' as I like to call it, because I'm super cool and it winds people up. We stayed at a place called Ashburnham, about a 15 minute drive from BATTLE STATION (it's just a train station really but I couldn't resist) and had a fun filled weekend full of teaching, laughs and lots of tasty food. As it was a Jesusy trip, we didn't do too much exploring, except for a lovely afternoon walk in the grounds, which consists of lots of beautiful woodland and a pretty church.

Some of the beauts I had the privilege of spending the weekend with.

Who'd have thought we'd find a church at a Christian retreat centre?! Clearly not Joe and Gordon...

Ashburnham is so removed the the madness of London and creates so much space for relaxing and soul-searching. Plus there was no signal and the WiFi didn't really work so we literally had no distractions from reality, which in itself was pretty liberating. It was everything I usually love about camping, with slightly more warmth (as we were inside) and properly cooked food (rather than my specialty of cold beans from a can). This also lead to us having to provide our own forms of entertainment that didn't involve the internet.

These consisted of but were not limited to...

• The most epic game of Chinese Snap that has ever been played. I kid you not, it was so epic that we all had to lie on the floor on our stomachs, shoulder to shoulder and lunge towards the pile of cards in the middle as they were at least an arms width away. And with all those people playing, guess what? I was STILL losing. *Not recommended for those with sharp finger nails or claustrophobia*

• Learning how to pinch a banana open. Sounds trivial but is actually one of my proudest achievements. Apparently it's how the monkey's do it AND you don't end up with a mushy end-of-banana. 

• And this, which for some reason was hilarious at the time. I think it might be a 'had to be there' moment but it'll make a few people giggle so I'll post it anyway.

Oh and I also learned that the key to making new friends is making an abundance of cookies and cakes to share.

Silliness aside, the weekend was a bit of a self discovery one for me. I mean, the past year and a bit has been that, but for some reason this weekend in particular really got some things straight for me. Whatever ever you believe - call it the Holy Spirit, call it simply gaining perspective - the overriding message on my heart the entire time was, 'no more hiding'. Which funnily enough ties into the Identity Thief series Josie and I have been writing recently. For me, the experiment taught me a lot about how I shouldn't be so obsessed with hiding my body from the world and this weekend I got to reflect on the aspects of myself, aside from my appearance, that I was insecure about or felt I should conceal.

Because really, why shouldn't your attitude to your personality be the same as to your body? You are who you are, warts and all, and no matter what people may lead you to believe nobody is all shiny and perfect. The only reason we are ashamed and compare ourselves to other people is because, like us, they are hiding all the stuff that makes them seem less perfect. There is no shame in being who you are, whether that be alcoholic, anorexic, believer, atheist, depressed, insecure and whatever else you can think of. Sometimes it can be really hard in today's 'liberal' society to be yourself, when there are so many expectations for everyone to be a certain way and act a certain way and dress a certain way. But why should we hide the negative aspects or those that others may deem negative, when it may be an inherent part of our being? Whether your secret makes who you are or hinders who you want to be, hiding it stops any use you may gain from it or help you may need to overcome it.

So I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't hide certain parts of my being any longer. And surprisingly, as soon as I opened up about things to people... absolutely nothing changed. Or at least not in the way I expected them to. Things that I had been terrified to admit because I assumed I would be looked down upon or treated like a crazy person for, were accepted and I felt an overwhelming peace and relief. It even seemed to have a kind of domino effect, in that because I'd opened up about things, others did too and I discovered that I am not so different to everyone else. 'It's not the emotions that you have, but the secrecy that will kill you', is a message that one of our student leaders felt that God had said to him, which holds so much truth because keeping something bottled up for so long causes you to create catastrophes in your head out of things that really aren't so bad.

Of course, you don't have to shout about your deepest darkest secrets to every Tom, Dick and Harry that will listen, but when you share things with those you trust, the hold they previously had on your soul just melts away. I realise I'm kinda reiterating the old, 'A problem shared is a problem halved' saying, but it really is true. I feel so much more free now I know I don't have to hide part of myself from those I love. For those who aren't so keen on the Bible, 'honesty is the best policy', or as it says in John 8:32, 'The truth will set you free'.

A Pyjama Party and Muddy Shoes

A week and a half later and I am finally getting around to sharing my weekend in Exeter with you guys... Sorry about that! I think I've mentioned in another post how I'm kind of moving house at the moment and therefore living in a limbo between various places, meaning I haven't had access to my laptop :( But it's slowly getting sorted, so hopefully I can get back on track with my posts in the near future!

I had a LOVELY weekend in Exeter with my amazing friend Louis, who is quite literally me in male form. Except I move at a much speedier pace and he doesn't like chocolate dessert?! -  I know, I questioned the friendship at that point too, it was difficult for me to take in. We did lots of exciting things and I spent almost the entire timing laughing myself a six pack and teaching him how to be a country boy.

As I arrived before he finished uni I spent most of my afternoon exploring the town and failing to resist book shopping. The cathedral is gorgeous however I refuse to ever pay any money to go inside a religious building, so I didn't get to see the interior. £4 seems a little steep to chat to God when you can just do it wherever you like anyway. I'm not sure of my stance on whether putting God in a 'house' is the right thing to do in the first place as the Bible says it's a no-no, but then people do need somewhere to gather and feel safe. Which is why it really ticks me off as churches are supposed to be a place of refuge for those in need and if those with little or no money can't go in then that totally defies the point of even having a church building in the first place. I don't care if you need money for the up-keep of the church, if the church isn't being used for the proper purpose what on earth does it matter if it looks all pretty inside anyway? I could go on, but I think you get the point.

ANYWAY I met Louis for a drink in a pub called 'The Old Firehouse' which apparently is the place that J. K. Rowling based the Leaky Cauldron on in the Harry Potter series, which as a Potterhead I was rather excited about. It was a lovely place too, with a proper inviting and warm English pub feel, which counts for a lot on rainy English autumn days. Seeing as we're super classy we then decided to get a Tesco take-away curry for two for dinner, before settling down for the night by playing drinking games with his flat mates, which eventually turned into a bit of a pyjama party with choreographed dance routines and some drinking a little more than their stomachs could handle. All in all, a great night with some awesome people! Just goes to show that you can still meet great people even if you don't go off and stay in a hostel and do the traditional travelling thing.

On the Saturday Louis and I decided to become wilderness explorers and venture out into the Exeter countryside, with no plan of where to go, no map and no provisions, because we are super smart and organised. Within about 30 minutes we'd wandered off into some field (public footpath my arse) and begun a bit of an adventure I'd like to entitle 'How the hell do we get out of here?'. Luckily I'm used to this sort of thing as where I grew up there are loads of fields and farm land so I'm not stranger to being chased by sheep or accidentally trespassing on private land. Louis however, is a massive city boy and began to panic a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit, when we managed to get stuck in some private field. And then when we eventually found the road, there was no footpath. Which Louis didn't like so he began reminiscing about his beloved 'safe' underground in London... *SIGH* ;)

Louis LOVES the outdoors. It's funny coz he actually does. He just doesn't like the prospect of getting his shoes muddy...

Beautiful view of the Devon countryside. I always think that the beauty of the English landscape is understated. I mean this is beautiful and the picture doesn't even do the real thing justice.

This is the field we were 'lost' in and tried to find an escape route from, only to discover it was surrounded by a barbed wire fence.

So after our ridiculous adventure (after which we found out if we'd stuck to the road we could have covered the distance we walked in two hours in just 20 minutes...) we were cold and wet and tired, so we went to grab some comfort food at the student bar, which is AMAZING. Seriously, Exeter student union is incredible, I've never seen anything like it! I do sometimes wish I'd chosen to go to a campus uni or one that isn't based in the middle of a busy city. It was really nice to be surrounded by nature and not feel the pressure to rush anywhere or to have to do a million things at once. City life kind of sets you up with that mentality. Though if I was in the country I'd probably be complaining that I was bored and had nothing to do, so really I can't say London is all bad.

In the evening we joined the rest of the gang and went to watch his flat mate Laura in a short play put on by, I assume, the drama society. It was actually really nice to see original plays performed by students (and I think written by students), as I don't know if we have something like that at my university or not. I think there's something beautiful about seeing a brand new character portrayed by the first time by an actor who has made it their own, rather than basing it on a previous portrayal of a character we've seen 100s of times before. The performances as a consequence were raw and oozed sincerity, something that creates an undeniable connection with the audience. Needless to say, I really enjoyed it and would love to see more of that kind of thing on my home turf.

And that pretty much sums up my short but sweet stay in Exeter. I met some amazing people and as always had some brand new experiences. I'd recommend to anyone to visit the city not only because the surroundings are breath-taking but the city itself is really something; quaint but with a lot to offer. I next get to see Louis at Christmas, hopefully with the rest of the Croatia gang, so I've got that to look forward to! I haven't yet planned my next UK trip but it's only 90p on the bus to Coventry so that looking like a likely candidate. If you have any suggestions on places to visit or things you'd like me to write about please let me know :)

En route to Exeter

I've just got on the bus to Exeter, where I'm heading for my second UK trip and visiting one of my super awesome travel friends, Louis. We met briefly in Zagreb this summer and have been in touch ever since. And last weekend I got to spend the entire time with the wonderful Mani who I met in Peru, again rather briefly. That's TWO of my favourites in one week, I am one lucky girly. It just goes to show you that making friends should be effortless if you really click with a person.

I think Exeter is possibly the most South I've ever been in England and if not, at least the furtherest way from my home town, which is pretty exciting. I'm not really sure what to expect from the weekend; I've heard it's a really beautiful city, so I'm going to use the couple of hours before Louis gets out of uni to do the touristy things. Apparently there's the standard castle and cathedral combo, so at least I'll have some sights to take pretty pictures of on my trusty disposables.

For now though, I'm going to sit back and enjoy the four hour stretch on the bus, with Taylor Swift for company. Don't judge, I'm not even ashamed.

More from Housedean Farm

Been a little rubbish posting these up because I haven't had a computer and I'm not a big fan of blogging from my phone.

19/10/2013, 5.37pm

It's been a busy day and my first day in my new walking boots so I can feel the blisters forming on my toes. It's been really nice to wander aimlessly in and out of charity shops, second hand book stores and antiques shops, with nothing for company accept my own thoughts.

After my rather damp walk on the pier and scrummy dinner of fish and chips, I went to find that building I'd spotted on my way into town, which turned out to be Brighton Pavalion and Museum, so I decided to explore all the free bits (obviously). There was an exhibition on Ancient Egypt, which is always a win for me and one on Brighton, which proved pretty interesting, though the fact that it was freezing outside probably aided my slightly too lengthy stay admiring Mr Henry Willett's extensive pottery collection, which he had generously donated to the gallery, being it's founded and all. OH and I almost forgot, I also walked around the main shopping part of town, somehow resisting my incredibly strong urges to buy everything. Pat on the back for Em.

Once back in Lewes I walked right the way down the main high street, accidentally snook into the Lewes Museum without paying - in my defence I simply strolled in past the ladies on the desk who didn't check if I had a ticket until I was leaving - explored the castle, learned about the Battle of Lewes, had a lovely walk around some really fancy gardens, took a peak inside the church and bought a head torch so I can actually write in my tent! Yay!

I'm not sure what to do with my evening, I don't yet feel tired but I feel it would be sensible to go back to my tent to check that it's all in one piece before setting out again...


Around 7pm (I don't have a watch and my phone has died, just know it's very dark and cold.)

So I'm back in my tent now, sporting my ultra trendy head torch and wondering why southern gravy tastes so weird. I went for tea (that's dinner to those who don't speak northern) at a carvery called Newmarket Inn on my way back from town and although the food was good, it cost twice the price it would be in Preston and was no better quality... But at least it was warm inside and I got to have a little chat with the manager who's from Hull.

Whilst waiting for the bus I walked past an antiques store where an old lady was playing with a cat, who decided to be terribly mischievous and clamber all over the antiques (the cat, not the lady), in turn knocking off some rather fancy looking crockery. It turns out the cat belonged to the shop owner, who got very mad at the old lady for 'provoking' the cat and tried to make her pay, but fortunately the old lady was having none of it and turned and ran off down the road, whilst I and various other bystanders stood around giggling. Much to our further amusement, the shop owner attempted to run after the old dear, failing miserably and on giving up stalked haughtily back inside her shop, slamming the door behind her. I think the two lessons to be learned here are 1) Don't bring your pet to work, especially when you own an antiques shop and 2) Don't underestimate the elderly, they can be speedier than they look.

I'm currently snuggling down under all my clothes and listening to the sound of the group who are camping at the bottom of the field, with a lovely, warm fire which I would kill to be beside right now. It's like 7.30 or something and I'm already ready for sleeping. What is life? It's taken a weekend away to remind me how much I miss my friends. I need to try harder to remind myself how lucky I am in that respect, in the madness of the city it's sometimes all too easy to forget.

Rainy Brighton

19/10/2013

I'm currently sat in a cafe called 'Bella' near Brighton pier. It's raining like CRAZY but I've had a lovely morning pottering around and taking photos on my brand spanking new disposable cameras. I plan on heading back into Lewes in a bit as there seems to be a fair few sights for me to explore. First however, I'm going to have a stroll down to a nearby fancy looking building coz it looks kinda important so I want to find out what it is.

I think this trip is exactly what I needed, I already feel a lot more de-stressed and surprisingly fresh for having survived my first night in my new home. I slept pretty well considering I didn't have a ground sheet which made for a pretty chilly night, but as a proud Brit, it was nothing I couldn't handle. There's also a family than have now joined me in the field, who must have arrived rather late last night. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who is mad enough to camp at this time of year. It's just I love camping in the rain and although it's England, you can't always guarantee it in summer.

Fish and chips might just be the ultimate comfort food. I feel so sleepy now. Though I'm currently in that awkward limbo where you don't know if you have to go up and pay or whether they bring the bill to you... Every time I try and catch the waiter's eye he just looks at me funny... I hope he doesn't think I'm just hopelessly trying to flirt. On the plus side there's an old Take That video on the TV which is HILARIOUS... so of course, I'll share the fun with you all.

Responses and Recommendations

I've received a few more related videos and articles in response to recent posts and I figure you lot may find them as interesting as I do, so I thought I'd share them with you... enjoy :)

Dierks Bentley - Lot Of Leaving Left To Do

'These old boots still got a lot of ground

They ain't covered yet

There's at least another million miles

Under these old bus treads

So if you think I'm gonnna settle down

I've got news for you

I still got a lot of leavin' left to do'

A friend sent me this song when I was feeling down about not having been able to leave the UK in so long. Very country/bluegrass and I love it. Music and travel really do seem to go hand in hand. Ooo I feel an idea for a future post coming on...

Lonely Planet - Germany Do's and Don'ts

I was sent this since I seem 'to have a slight obsession with the place'. Well observed. This article made me giggle though, pretty accurate from what I've observed. Also additional information on the Prost thing; NOT making eye contact is believed to result in seven years bad sex. Not gonna make that mistake again are you?

16 words we don't have in English



This is another response I received on twitter from the lovely @imogenchristina to my post Awesomely Untranslatable. I think the amount of words in these various videos and articles demonstrates the serious limitations the English language has. We need to get inventing more words guys!

It's still new and exciting for me to get responses to posts, so thanks to everyone who keeps sending me things!

And a few blog recommendations...

Antics Down Under

My friend Katy is currently travelling around the North and South Island of New Zealand to and from Auckland, then heading to Cairns and Sydney, Australia. So far she's become a Hobbit and taken part in a 15,000ft sky dive. Serious wanderlust related envy going on here.

Feels Like Freedom

This blog belongs to Ann-Sophie who I met on an exchange to Germany a few years back. It's all about her travels around the USA and Thailand with lots of pretty pictures to accompany it, which makes it just as accessible to all those who can't speak German.

NY to London: Chronicles of a Traveling Sista

This is my flatmate Shay's tumblr page about her time as an exchange student in London and travels around Europe. An interesting read for those both in- and outside of the UK, as it's kinda cool to see your country from a traveller's perspective :)

Dutch Man Walking

I met Pieter when in Atlanta last year, at the start of his Appalachian Trial adventures. It's now over a year since he started so I think it's a appropriate to share this again. He finished the hike in September so there's no new updates, but I don't believe this man will be without future travelling exploits. (Oh, and it's in English too, which is very considerate of him)

Hi, Hallo, Hej, Hola, Bonjour...

First of all, I'm not going to apologise for my mini hiatus, I've just been crazy busy and a little unwell recently. Which also meant I couldn't go to Madrid/Salamanca, my first trip abroad of the year. BOOOOOO :( I may have to cancel my trip to Dublin in a couple of weeks too, which would really suck, but if I don't I'll be sure to keep you all updated, don't you worry!

This week I fancy talking about language. I don't know if I've made obsession with language clear on here yet, so I think it's about time I shared. Something that I am accumulating a large collection of is phrase books. I buy one everywhere I go and then try out at least a few basic phrases with the locals. I think it's something I've picked up from my parents, as when we were younger they'd always try and learn a bit of the destination language before we'd head off abroad. I recommend Lonely Planet ones, they always have dead helpful 'how to pronounce things' bits and have all the silly chat up lines in too, for bants with your friends ;)

Click here for some killer foreign pick up lines.

I suppose I do this for two main reasons; politeness and curiosity. Maybe politeness isn't quite the right word but you get the general idea. Basically, I think that if you are visiting/working in/moving to another country you should at least give the local language a go. I understand that some people just aren't language learners and can't make it stick, but it's not difficult to stumble through a few basics - the worst they will do is laugh at you and reply in English or help you through as best they can (this happens to me a lot). I mean, in the UK, we're just so LAZY when it comes to foreign languages. That age old excuse 'It's fine, everyone speaks English' is becoming rather tiresome. Especially because, well, it's not true. Around 1 billion people speak English, which yes is a lot, however that leaves 6 BILLION who don't, who you can never talk to if you don't make the effort. Now that's a fair number. Plus you'd be surprised at how flattered/surprised/grateful people can be if you give their language a go, especially if it's not a particularly well known one.

Curiosity probably doesn't apply to everyone, but to a language geek like myself travel provides a massive opportunity for me to explore other languages and types of languages and generally just geek-out. I've learned way more about other languages from travelling and meeting native speakers than I ever have in a classroom. It just seems a golden opportunity to ask questions and learn from an expert source, who in turn probably wants to learn from you too. It's not only a source of simple conversation, but something that everyone can connect with. From travelling I've gained a fascination for Scandinavian and Slavic languages, especially Danish (honestly, I just think it's beautiful) after spending a fair amount of time walking through the Peruvian Jungle trying to master the soft 'd' sound and repeating 'skide, skede, skøde' over and over again - I won't translate it on here as it's a little rude, but feel free to do so yourself and know it sounds hilarious to a Dane. These are languages I'd never even have considered interesting had I not given them a try. It was also nice to be able to make a Danish lady, who came into the shop I work in a few weeks ago, leave with a smile on here face, as I had taken the time to learn 'Hi, my name is Emily, how are you?' in her language. It's the kind of compliment we Brits will never understand as we're so used to hearing foreigners speak English.



Learning Danish walking to Machu Picchu (day 3). Just look at how much fun we're having.

I guess my point is that whilst adventuring around the world and discovering new and exciting cultures, the opportunity to explore language shouldn't be wasted. After all, it is one of the most important parts of culture. There are many cultural differences in language itself, from humour to ways of relating to one another, which are evident even from British to American to Australian English. It's an easy way to spark a conversation and make someone laugh, especially if you're rubbish. So no excuses. Give it a go. I dare you ;)