Student card at last...

Tennis began today, through the social club run by the teams. I was a little rusty after a few weeks with almost no playing, but it was a lot of fun to get out there and hit some balls with a nice group. Although I have been playing tennis for a few years now, I sometimes get so bent on my own personal progress that I forget it's a social sport. Only in the last couple of years have I begun to play with more and more players and realize that it's actually a great way of getting to know people. I think, for me, the tennis front will probably be the most promising place to meet more students while I am here, at least for now - while sitting down at a table of total strangers in the cafeteria might give me pause for thought, firing small green balls over a net at a total stranger somehow feels perfectly comfortable.

I also went this morning and picked up my student card, at last. The form I sent in told me it would be sent to me, but by the end of the first week I hadn't received it either in my box or at home. Someone told me I should actually go pick it up in the library, so I went there for the first time; it's quite high tech, and very neat, I think. I look forward to exploring it more. In any case, they didn't have it, they only had replacement cards. I finally had to e-mail the card office, who replied rather coolly that I needed to go get it from the Register, which is in a completely different building a couple of blocks away.

The Register building is quite incredible; it is huge and square, and surrounds a central courtyard, about the size of a soccer field, which was being ripped up for remodeling. The entrance to the building is a series of immense vaulted archways, which dwarf you as you go through them; but they're also beautiful in their precise shape. The whole gateway gives off a feeling of old power, which I found quite attractive.

There is a terrace on the inside surrounding the courtyard, and I ended up walking around the entire space looking for the Register. The building is enormous, and contains, among other things, the law school and some kind of art gallery, as well as the Register.

After getting my card, I stood for a moment looking at the construction, wondering what they were going to do. I happened to look down, and saw archaeological remains extending from beneath the terrace I was standing on. The dig was apparently finished, because there was construction debris around an old wall foundation, and spray paint marks on what looked like a patio; but it was the first time I really realized that I am actually in a place where these kinds of remains are the norm, and I was rather blown away.