You've also got to factor in that it's around exam time when most of the girls in there are stressed out and trying to cram in as much stuff as they can, so nice one on getting conversation going rather than getting totally blown out.

Also the riffing off what people say is an excellent point, if your brain makes a connection go with it. When I met my ladyfriend and she told me she did archaeology all I could think of was Indiana Jones. The rest of the conversation was about how to punch Nazis and lost artifacts.