"Ilvermorny is in America. Massachusetts. It's where the new Headmistress came from," Jacob answered Etta. "She was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor there." She was also his aunt, actually, but he wasn't sure he should bring that up yet. He didn't know if they liked her or not, and that might make or break these potential friendships. Not that the Headmistress showed him any kind of favoritism just because he was her nephew. Still, Etta and Olivia couldn't be expected to know that. They might think he was some sort of tattletale or teacher's pet or something... And limited though his social skills were, he knew that being seen that way was generally not regarded as desirable. Yet another blush -- curse this transparent skin -- crept onto his face as he wondered for a split second if they might be Legilimens reading his mind... No, that was ridiculous. Although Etta had stopped looking at him, and Olivia's expression had changed after he had thought about how strangely they were both looking at him... Okay, nope, not gonna think about that anymore. It was making him paranoid, and besides, he did know that Legilimency was considered hard to learn (and typically not done by teenagers). Okay. Moving on...

"Hmm. I haven't met him. I wonder if I will," he said, talking about the Ilvermorny transfer Olivia had met. "I'm in -- was in -- Thunderbird." He held up the badge he'd been playing with, finally realizing he was holding it. "Home of adventurers... So maybe I should have been in Gryffindor, but the Sorting Hat disagreed." He shrugged, not particularly upset that he was in a less rowdy House. Not that he had anything against Gryffindors. The one in this little circle seemed pleasant enough, and he had to admit that their table in the Great Hall always seemed like it was having fun.

"So. You're," he nodded toward Olivia, "originally from Australia but come to Hogwarts by way of Beauxbatons? And you," he gestured toward Etta, "were homeschooled before coming here, and you're originally from New Zealand?" These questions were meant more rhetorically -- he already heard the girls talking about these facts.

He smiled a bit, genuinely glad to not be the only foreigner here. In fact, none of them were from Britain originally, and he felt much better about being newish when realizing that both of them were in the same boat.

"Seems like both of you moved around a bit before settling here. What was that like?" He was curious because he'd only ever lived in the cottage in Albany -- and, of course, at Ilvermorny when school was in session. "Moving to London was the first time I'd ever moved at all before. It was kind of scary. Everything is so different here. Everyone spells things with extra letters, especially throwing in a 'u' where it doesn't really need to be. And driving on the other side of the road... Not that I have much experience driving, but it's weird to see, I keep thinking the No-Majs are going to hit each other head-on. And I'm still trying to get used to some of the terminology. I don't think I'd ever used the word 'corridor' instead of 'hallway' before coming here..."

He smiled. This talking thing was getting a bit easier. Maybe he had just overhyped it in his head. Fascinating... He should probably still get a book about it, though. Maybe this newfound confidence wouldn't last into his next social interaction.

But wait... Was he talking too much now? Oy vey.