First Day of Classes

Today is my first day of classes.  Technically the first day was yesterday, but the one class that I was supposed to have yesterday doesn't start until Thursday (?).  Strange. 

I'm going to be taking Archaeology of Scotland, a Politics course, and an Art History course.  And these three classes would be the equivalent of three 5 credit classes at home (or five 3 credit classes).  Not digging that I have to take more classes than I usually do at home but, hey, its Scotland.

My first class is going to be Archaeology.  I'm looking forward to it, in part because there are a couple of field trips included as part of the class.

In general though, I'm really nervous/anxious about these classes.  Just because I have absolutely no idea what to expect or the best way to get through the whole semester.  So far everyone who has been to class has said its mostly like classes at home, with some differences, which sounds fine... but its the differences later on in the semester that I'm concerned about.  The reading lists of 50 books... what am I supposed to do with that?  I don't know, I'm really hoping that everything will make more sense (and seem more normal) once I'm in the classroom and the professor is speaking. 

I just figured that as part of this blog it was necessary to document accurately how I was feeling before I went to class.  I'm really hoping it all makes sense.  And that one of my friends here knows something about Art because I have NO idea.

EDIT:  Ok so I have returned from class, and figured I would just edit this post to add my reaction because A) I'm sure nobody has read this post yet and B) it would make it more organized :)

Today I had Archaeology of Scotland, and Politics: Intro to Liberal Democracy.  Archaeology was from 12 - 1, and Politics was 1 - 2.  Yes, you read that correctly.  My first class ends when the other one is starting.  Apparently this is normal, because professors generally start classes 5 minute late and end it 5 minutes early.  But I have discovered the flaw in this (yes, just I have discovered it).  Because everyones classes start and end at the same time and they only have a few minutes to get there, there is always a HUGE crowd of people... EVERYWHERE.  I had a really hard time getting from Archaeology to Politics because of the massive amounts of people everywhere.  And this campus is in the middle of the city, with different buildings that classes are in, so its not like we're all stuck in one building.  But still, there are a TON of people.  And then when it comes to getting in/out of the lecture theatres, its really hard to get in/out because everyone else is trying to get out/in.  It makes no sense.

And yeah, in Politics, by the time I got there, it was standing room only.  I never saw the front of the room, the screen with the powerpoint, or the lecturer.  Hopefully a bunch of people will drop.

Also another thing about these lecture theatres... the rows where everyone sits are constructed in a very weird way.  Its a row of seats with desks in front like normal, but there is no space behind the seats to walk... so to get in/out of a seat in the middle, everyone has to get up.  Weird...

As for the classes themselves:

It seemed fairly normal so far, and they do give a massive amount of reading, but I haven't quite figured out what is necessary and what is not.  They keep using words like "might want to buy this" or "you might need to read this", and just very vague references to whether or not you need to buy/read all of these books. 

I think it'll be interesting to see as the classes progress and become more normal.

Oh, and neither of the two professors/lecturers that I had today were Scottish.  One was from America and the other I think was from Canada.