I got up super early at 7am to finish my reading for my two classes today, but I honestly could have waited another couple days because both lectures ended up regurgitating exactly what I had read. And since there was no participation aspect, I didn't need to prove that I already knew it, so it was kind of boring hearing them re-explain the pretty obvious information I'd just learned. I guess it's good to know now that I can wait to have the homework done by Wednesday, when the seminars/tutorials are, because that's when we are supposed to actually discuss the reading.
The lectures today were pretty boring, but that might have just been because I'd already read or knew most of what they said. This was especially true of the film class because it was all about the structure of narratives, which besides being super basic, I'd had a whole class on just last semester. But I think the film class will be pretty interesting once we get into deeper stuff, and the English class should get better as well because it's about taking a linguistic approach to literature, which isn't something I've done very much of before.
It didn't help that two of the four lecturers (there were two in each class) today weren't very engaging, so I spaced a lot. I hope I grow to like them more as the semester goes on. They don't have Scottish accents though, so that automatically makes them less fun to listen to, just sayin'.
There was an hour break between the film class and the movie screening, during which I went to the student union for the Clubs and Societies Fayre. I signed up for a few emailing lists, including the radio station, the craft beer society, the international society, and the rock society, which were all ones I had been interested in initially. I still need to pay a membership fee to officially join the clubs, and I think there's just one flat fee of five pounds that lets you join them all. Rugby will be a little harder because I have to pay for a sports union membership and a specific club membership, but it shouldn't be too ridiculously expensive in the end.
Anyway, the movie screening was of Casablanca, which was good, of course, and I'd seen it before. But I didn't know what to take notes on exactly, since today was pretty introductory. All I really noticed in relation to the class material was that every single one of the loose ends got tied up and there was a romance and a happy ending, as typically happens in classical films. I also noted how pro-America the film's ideology is because everyone in that movie wants to go to America and everyone is all about how great America will be and knows the Allies will win the war. But that was pretty much it. I mostly just enjoyed watching it. Maybe we'll talk more on Wednesday about what we were supposed to notice.
Since the movie ended earlier than the designated screening period, I had about two hours before my first rugby practice with the University of Stirling women's team. I de-tagged all my new rugby stuff and molded my mouthguard (which they apparently call "gum shields" here) before the team captain Iona picked me up at my apartment. She's really nice, and besides the school's team, she plays a for a separate, very high-level rugby club and a netball team, so she's very experienced.
Apparently, the university team is in need of a prop, so it's perfect that I'm there. We had a meeting at the Stirling County Rugby Club, so I got to meet some of the other players, who all seemed nice and friendly. One of them wants to give me the rugby nickname "Gandalf," because my last name is almost "unicorn" which she said is magical and Gandalf is magical. It's a little odd responding to a rugby name, since I've never had one before, but she is being very consistent with it, so it might stick. We'll see. I'm alright with it though cuz Gandalf is a boss name.
The practice wasn't as organized as what I'm used to at Denison, but Iona told me that normally they are more organized. She also said they only practice things like unopposed and scrumming and lifts on Tuesdays during "game prep" practices, because Wednesdays are game days. That's also really different for me, since Denison games are on Saturdays, but Wednesday is good because I want to travel on weekends. I do have to work things out with my tutorial teachers so I can play though.
Mondays and Fridays are just for skill drills, which I assume normally include things like rucking and tackling with the pads, although today we just played some conditioning games like touch rugby to get back into the swing of things for the new season. Iona told me that a lot of the players aren't very experienced, and there weren't nearly as many as at a Denison practice, so it was different playing with such a small group of totally new people, doing different things and even different stretches I'd never heard of. They also have different signals that I have to learn, like when the scrum half throws the ball out, they call "push" instead of "ball's out" or "launch up" to signal the defending side to run up. We also practiced at night, which felt really strange but is good because my film screenings wouldn't allow me to make a 4pm practice. There were lots of little kid rugby teams playing on the fields next to us, and that was kind of cool to see them getting into the sport already. I'd actually never seen kids that young playing rugby before.
Unfortunately, the team has trouble with everyone showing up to practices, so hopefully we can recruit a lot of people tomorrow at the sports clubs involvement fair, because the team could be in danger of folding next year if they don't get enough consistent players. I'm going to help them run the booth in the student union, which should be a good opportunity to get to know the other players, and I will do my best to help get people to sign up. The team is having a try-it-out day for the new recruits next Monday, which will be fun because we get to set up stations with rugby drills for them to do. I think I'm going to like playing with this team, and it will be interesting to find out all the different ways they do they things.
Song of the Day (because I really am right now, after all this stuff):
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