Three Months in Birmingham

On Friday I'm going to Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield) for three months (until early may) for an engineering internship. What should I know? What's the Birmingham area known for amongst Britons? What should I absolutely not miss in my down time? What social norms (at work or otherwise) might be unusual to me? What do locals do for fun? What parts of the city should I wander around in to get a sense of the place (and in which areas would doing so get me killed or served with an anti-social order)? [more inside]
posted by phrontist on Jan 27, 2010 - 14 answers