classes underway

Well I have completed my first full week of classes, although the first meeting of each class was basically just a brief discussion on course expectations. My first class, held on Monday from 4-6pm, is International Criminal Law. The professor seems incredibly nice but definitely likes to talk; he assures us that the course will soon take on a completely discussion based structure and we won't have to listen to him lecture for 2 hours, but I'm skeptical. My IP (Intellectual Property) and Technology: International Institutions course meets Tuesday mornings from 9-11am. The professor is a jovial South American man and it is his last semester teaching before he takes up a job in Costa Rica. I am completely unfamiliar with the course topic, as I have no background in IP or IT, but it is kind of refreshing. I feel well prepared for my other courses and I am looking forward to having one course where the material is completely new to me. I am currently working my way through a reading titled "The Outer Limits of Copyright Law - Where Law Meets Philosophy and Culture". Or whatever that means.

My third class is Fundamentals in International Law and I have already read the majority of the cases assigned for next week in my previous international law course. I'm hoping the course is worthwhile and not too much of a refresher of what I've already learned, but either way it should be interesting. The reading lists for each week for my different courses are extensive and overwhelming. My classes are all spaced out throughout the week, however, so I am trying to get into a habit of getting my reading for the next week done in the few days after each class. So far so good, I'm feeling on top of my work so far!

I have spent a lot of time in the library the past week, but I am also expanding my social circle slowly but surely. I am meeting new people in the history program through Zak and Ally and have met a bunch of interesting people in the law program through my classes and various

meetings I've been attending. There is never a lack of things to do with the plethora of pubs and

coffee shops lining every street! Everyone is very friendly and it is nice to start recognizing faces when I walk down the street or into a campus building. Update from my last post: I managed to get a bank account with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which I should be able to official utilize starting Monday. I also finally got a gym membership and had my first go on the treadmill in Scotland. I first though the machine was broken, but then realized they are set to measure speeds and distances in km and not miles; it sounds weird, but I like it better! Running 6k sounds so much more impressive than its mile equivalent, right? (Ok, confession, I just can't make the conversion in my head and like running without any real concept for how fast/far I'm going.)

Enough procrastinating, and back to the philosophical inquiry into copyright law...