Registration complete!

Well, I'm officially registered for all my classes now! I met with the film studies head of department yesterday morning and had no problem getting her permission to take the honours level course. Apparently they just need to talk to us about what the class will involve and see what kind of history we have with the topic. Since my film studies class is about social and political factors affecting international film industries, my two majors meant that it was pretty much the perfect choice for me. In addition to that, I'm signed up to take an intro Scottish history class and a class in the sustainability department. I'm not quite sure what to expect from that last one, since it's apparently taught by professors from across the school's departments on how sustainable development practices affect their different areas. It sounds like it could either be fascinating or mindnumbing, but either way I'm hoping to apply it to my Foreign Affairs major.

The speeches we got during orientation were pretty general, mostly about study habits and how to find student services. The one really interesting part was from the University Travel Services, offering weekend trips to tour Scotland and talking to us about how to find travel deals. Apparently they're the school's own travel agency, and since they get no commission from selling us tickets, their goal is just to provide us with the cheapest travel options possible. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take advantage of that! The weekend day trips they have are really affordable. Right now, they're offering a highlands tour and a visit to Loch Lomond. I can't decide which one I want to go on, so perhaps I'll try both!

I also watched a rugby game today. The Six Nations tournament, with England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and France, has started, and everyone here is really excited about it. Rugby has a lot in common with football, but is much more continuous. I think I could grow to like it more that football once I understand it more, simply because it has less downtime. Even when a player with the ball is tackled, the game goes on. In fact, his fellow teammates have to protect him from losing the ball to the opposition, even though he is on the ground. Mark and James, another exchange student from William and Mary, were trying to explain to me how rugby players don't get hurt during the game, but I don't understand it. It's a pretty brutal sport, and most of the time they have no padding at all. The forwards even have to tape their ears down so they don't lose them in play! But the game today was a lot of fun to watch. Ireland beat France, despite having been down briefly in the first half. Apparently both teams did better than England and Italy, who had played what one of Mark's friends refered to as a "travesty of a game". The tournament continues tomorrow, and I'm not sure how long after that. I'm sure the pubs will all have it advertised.

I'm not sure I'll do much tomorrow other than getting ready for class Monday, so look for another update then to hear how my first day goes!