The first day of school often brings obstacles like early morning classes and registration frustration, but yesterday reluctant students faced an additional obstacle -- rain.
Students who turned out in flip-flops for what should have been a hot August day ended up sliding all over the sidewalk.
And first years who were not yet aware of Charlottesville's fickle weather were caught with only newspapers and friends' umbrellas for protection.
Fourth-year College student Tony Wong was running errands around Grounds after an early start with a 9 a.m. wrestling class. He said he would have liked better weather, but he was more concerned with his class schedule.
"I'm trying to audit a Spanish class, but I'm having trouble getting in," Wong said.
First-year College student Tripp McLaughlin also was struggling with ISIS.
"I only had one class, so I spent the morning trying to get into other classes through ISIS, but it was slow," McLaughlin said. "I only got into one."
McLaughlin's class was the infamous PHYS 105 "How Things Work" taught by Physics Prof. Louis Bloomfield.
"He seems like a really nice guy," McLaughlin said. "He already did a really cool demonstration. He pulled a tablecloth out from underneath a table setting."
McLaughlin's experience with the physics class, however, will be a little different than that of past students.
"Bloomfield told us we're not allowed to take exams outside the classroom," McLaughlin said. "But it seems like it's going to be a lot of fun."
Second-year College student Melissa Bunnell only has one class on Wednesdays, a clinical research class conducted at the hospital.
"There are a lot of cute doctors," she said.
Bunnell said the idea for the class was taken from the University of Pennsylvania, and that this is its first year at U.Va.
The class gives undergraduates a rare opportunity to work with real doctors in the University hospital's emergency room.
As a biochemistry major, Bunnell is excited about the opportunity to be a participant in this first test class.
But "it would have been better if it had been a sunny day," Bunnell said.
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