Thanks for the welcome, Brighid. I consider Northern Ireland exotic but definitely not strange. Astronomers from Queen's University helped discover about 10 new planets back in 2008, so that was way cool. I really want to go to Armagh Planetarium someday. What brings you to the States?
The public transit system here is pretty good. I don't think you'd even need a car, but I guess it depends on how often you travel.