Come Hail or Sun...

My view in the sunlight and some images of the Pier Walk

On Sunday my roommate and I went to St. Salvador's, the University Chapel, for church. The service was very nice, quite traditional and yet also fun. They have a bit of a different tune and words for Amazing Grace, which threw me off. The sermon was on how Eeyore is like God...I think I'll let you all figure that out for yourselves. After the service we did the pier walk which is a St. Andrews tradition. People, students and townspeople, walk down the pier at the edge of town after church on Sundays in memory of a student that died while saving several sailors that were is a ship wreak on the coast. It was beautiful and a wonderful way to feel connected into the 600 years of tradition here.

Today was the first day of classes and though I thought I was going to get to go to all 3 courses it ends up that one of my econ classes will not start until next week. Sadly I found this out after walking to class in the hail, but happily I met a 3rd year in the Honors Economics department who is in two of my classes and gave me some tips about figuring out the department. Even though he is from Germany he knew where Knoxville was!

My first "module" (what they call class here), Advanced Macroeconomics, went well and, though it was a bit frustrating because I am not familiar with the way the school internet programs work, seems at my level academically. I may even have had a bit more of an introduction to some of the topics. After the first of what may be several attempts to get the tech desk to get my WebCT(the internet component of the class) working, I checked out a few books for another class and then walked around a few of the older parts of the campus. The new and old blend so well in this country. The Macro module is in "School V" (5) which is maybe the oldest academic building, but the inside has been refurbished and even the projector doesn't seem out of place. In my opinion, this is a skill Americans could stand to learn. My next module was Jesus and the Gospels. The lecturer (aka Professor) managed to make even the course outline interesting so I have high hopes for his ability to make the subject engaging.

After a quick lunch back at my hall, McIntosh, I headed out again for the Economics of Innovation course. While it had been sunny (though chilly) in the morning, it had begun to rain and even hail a bit in the afternoon. It ended up that the module is not starting until next week for some reason, but I didn't really mind because I got to see the view!

The classroom has a huge floor to ceiling bay window that looks out over the sea and when standing at the window you can't be more than 40 feet from the waves. I think I am going to have to pick my seat carefully or I might find myself learning more about the tides of the sea than the economics of innovation.

Tonight a group got together at the student union pub and competed in the Pub Quiz. Though my team (The Killer B's...we all have home Universities that start with B) didn't do too well, especially on the sport questions, we did do OK in the Disney and Shakespeare(Thanks Mom and Professor Flesch) categories.

Tomorrow should be much the same as today, but the lectures will be content based.