Pills

Necessary pain pills aside after surgeries, I hate hate hate having to take prescription medicine. I wasn’t a huge fan of birth control pills, but deemed them absolutely necessary (at least until about two weeks ago). :-) When I first started law school, I started to get awful heartburn and weird belching issues. Sometimes the only thing that would help would be for me to make myself throw up (no I was never a bulimic). I went to the doctor and was told that I had GERD (acid reflux disease). It was most likely due to the stress that I was under and the extra pounds that I was packing on.

So after making sure that I didn’t have any ulcers in my throat, I was put on Prevacid and Pepcid. The pills worked throughout law school and after the bar I decided to try to lower my dosage to one pill every other day. As in, I would take Prevacid the 1st day, Pepcid the 2nd day, Prevacid the 3rd day, Pepcid the 4th day, etc. That seemed to work okay too. Then my prescriptions ran out and I didn’t feel like going back to the doctor. So I started to buy the over the counter medicines and take them every other day. That made me feel a bit better as I knew that my dosage was at least getting smaller.

A few weeks ago, my over the counter pills ran out and I decided that I was going to fully quit the drugs. My stress levels are lower, I am eating healthier, and if an attack comes on, I find that taking charcoal pills eases the acid attack. The first couple of days were ROUGH. Going from fully reducing stomach acid to suddenly allowing it back in your system is not fun, despite the fact that I thought that I “weaned” myself from the drugs in a reasonable manner. One day while at work I tried everything to relieve the acid. I ate an apple. I ate some almonds (which I hate). I chewed some gum. I drank tons of water. Eventually, I felt a little better but it was bad enough that I almost thought about going back on the over the counter drugs again.

But, I persevered through a couple of awful days and gradually it has gotten better. I have had a few times when I have had to take two charcoal pills, but for the most part I am pretty amazed.

I take the pink pills on the bottom (FYI- I was not asked to review this product or paid to put it on my blog. Many people that have acid problems do not know about taking charcoal to relieve their problems. My doctor suggested it and it has worked out well.)

And boy am I glad that I have weaned myself off the drugs. Especially when I saw this on NPR.com today: FDA Warns About Bone Breaks and Heartburn Drugs. 1 in 20 (!!!) people use these drugs to reduce stomach acid. And the higher the dosage/ the longer you take the drugs, the higher the risk.

I may have dodged a bullet here….4 years of these drugs was quite long enough for me.

Rumors

Last week, I received a weird email from my manager. It was extremely vague saying that the program is “going through a transition” and we will “get details soon.” She also wanted “to address rumors” that have been circulating (huh? I haven’t heard any rumors).

This woman is ridiculous. Sending an email to all of us in the program, most of who do not have face-to-face contact with her is causing all of us to talk MORE about what could be going on. In fact, I emailed people that I know to find out if they knew anything about the rumors!

It reminds me of an email that was circulated first year of law school. For those of you that haven’t been to law school, first year is a lot like high school. The cliques, the gossip, everyone knowing everyone else’s business, etc. Second semester an email was sent around to a large number of people in my section trying to dispel three rumors that had been circulating. The email was hilarious because I had never heard anyone talk about the three rumors and of course once you circulate something in print, it gets forwarded around to the entire class! Good times.

Needless to say, my manager said that we wouldn’t be adversely affected by whatever is going on, but I don’t believe anything this woman says. I wonder how long it will take to find out what is going on….


*UPDATE*
I just received an email from another person that helps out with my program:

Also, I am no longer as accessible with the [redacted] Program. My duties are limited. Further information will be forthcoming on this matter.

Best of luck.

WTF????

Why do I care?

Why do I care what other people think about me so much? All of us do it, but I think that sometimes I take it to an extreme.

For example, I want people to know that I am not losing weight because I am the typical bride-to-be and want to look fantastic on my wedding day. OF COURSE I want to look fantastic on my wedding day, but my weight loss is not for the wedding. Also, I want people to know that my weight loss has nothing to do with a New Years resolution. Before law school I was in great shape- working out by playing volleyball, flag football, soccer, etc. while running two to three times a week when living in Chicago. Despite my love of Miller Lite beer and such delicacies as wings, I was healthy and happy with my body. I knew that I was never going to be a stick figure, but was okay with the curvy, athletic body I had.

Then came law school. The lack of a schedule killed me. I didn’t work out enough and I ate because I was stressed. Three years of crappy eating while CP was on the road and not working out enough pushed me at least 30 pounds heavier than when I entered law school. This summer I vowed that while studying for the bar I would allow one hour of working out a day to keep me sane. That went well until two weeks before the bar. After the bar was over, I vowed that I wanted to look better for my 30th birthday. Well, that milestone came and went with me working on a regular basis, but not having lost any weight.

Why does it matter to me that people know that I have been struggling for this for a while instead of wanting to lose weight for my wedding and/or a New Years resolution? I have no idea.
Maybe it is because I intend to not only lose the extra weight before my wedding but also keep it off. I want to be a healthy mother when CP and I start having kids. I want to go off my stomach medicine for my acid reflux. I firmly believe that my weight gain in law school, coupled with the stress brought on my painful and annoying stomach condition. Hopefully losing the weight will allow me to stop taking the pills.

Maybe I should stop worrying about why other people think I am trying to lose this weight and focus on sticking to healthy eating and working out…..

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On a non sequitur note, someone typed the phrase "chicas in heat" and ended up on my site. Somehow, I don't think that they found what they were looking for!

Bye bye 2008

Looking back on the year that was 2008, I have to say that I had an amazing year! I almost don’t want it to end! Then again, maybe 2009 will be even better?

Some of the 2008 highlights:

*Two week trip to Maui with CP. Exploring places with funny names such as Haleakala National Park and Wai’anapanapa State Park. Learning the basics of scuba diving while watching huge sea turtles and bright fish swim by and listening to the whale sounds while underwater. Traveling as high as 10,000 feet to the top of the Haleakala Crater, to the bottom of the 400 foot Waimoku waterfall. Relaxing by the pool with fruity tropical drinks. Ahhhh it was the life.

*My final spring break as a law student. My law school friends, their significant others and I were able to score a sweet ski condo for the week- I even had two friends come over from Sweden! The skiing was amazing. Before we head up to the mountains, CP (ever the engineer) came up with an “alco-rhythm.” Basically, it was a formula that he made up to gauge how much alcohol we needed for the week. And it was DEAD ON. I have a smart man!

*A long weekend with CP in Puerto Rico. I happened to be out in DC for a job fair and CP was stuck in Puerto Rico for work (usually you wouldn’t say that you were “stuck” in PR, but CP was working very long hours- even weekends- and didn’t have anyone around that he knew). It had been two weeks since we had seen each other, so CP asked his boss to fly me out to PR from DC on the company’s dime. Amazingly enough, his boss said yes! We spent the weekend exploring the San Juan National Historic Site, El Yunque National Forest , going to yummy restaurants, and even kayaking in a bioluminescence bay (AMAZING!).

*Getting an offer for my dream job right during finals.

*Graduating from law school. ‘Nuff said.

*Getting a kayak as my graduation present from CP. I was able to justify a few hours away from studying for the bar for kayaking because it was exercise and time with CP this summer.

*Surviving a summer studying for the bar 12+ hours a day and living with CP at my future mother-in-law and her fiance’s house. The future MIL was great….the fiancé? A different story. At least I had an excuse (studying) to get away from silly conversations with him.

*Getting engaged! With a beautiful ring! In a way that is very “us.” Speaking of which, this is what CP wants to write on our wedding webpage about how he proposed: I like surprises. NSC likes ruining my surprises. Tactically this needed good execution. No dressy dinner, no get away weekends, nothing that was going to arouse suspicion. How was it that I was going to propose without any warning? My solution: choose a random day and deliver the ring via bivalves! With a little help from my hard-shelled friends, I was going to deliver a sparkling diamond ring on the underside of a oyster on an otherwise uneventful Wednesday evening. First problem is that NSC doesn’t like oysters (don’t worry, I am working on this issue). My solution was a dish of mussels steamed in a broth of herbs and fume blanc. Second problem, diamond rings have all sorts of prongs and crevices that seem to snag onto food. My solution was to wrap the ring in plastic wrap, which had the appearance of a bottle cap. Also, mussels don’t comfortably fit a full ring. Needless to say what I envisioned was a romantic delivery of a ring. What resulted was that NSC almost became ill from eating a mussel that had mysteriously swallowed its body weight in bottle cap. So, where I failed in romantic execution, I at least passed in catching her off guard. Success!” CP amuses me.

*Passing the god forsaken bar!!! Then getting sworn in last month.

*Doing my part to help Obama win the presidency!! Does anyone else want time to speed up so that he can just become president already????

*The joy of continuing my streak of seeing one Eagles game in person per year. So the game against the Redskins wasn’t very good….at least they made up for it last weekend!

*Getting to see CP during the week instead of just on the weekends starting halfway through the year. Although CP is not very happy with his job right now, at least he hasn’t had to travel since June. It’s nice to sleep next to him every night….even if he does snore sometimes!

*Getting back into an exercise routine. I was exhausted yesterday at work, but still willed myself to go to the gym because I didn’t exercise as much as I would have liked while in Chicago. I feel better….even if I have only lost 2.5 pounds.

*My family and my friends. This year they have helped me through freak-outs over why CP hadn’t proposed, if I was going to find a job, if I was going to pass the bar, moving across the country for a BOY, etc.

I hope that everyone has a SAFE and FUN New Years! See ya in 2009!

What it is like to be a 1L

Before I forget (as I do tend to have a short memory), I wanted to finish my series on law school and what it is really like. First up? First year of law school.

First comes orientation. At that point, you don’t know anyone. At my school, we were forced to sit and listen to three days of information on topics such as the bar exam, how to succeed in law school, and financial aid. Meanwhile, as you start to talk to random classmates, you are hearing about all of their successes previous to law school (examples: doing the Peace Corps, running their own business, being a doctor). This, coupled with people bragging about their LSAT scores, is really annoying. I mean, we all got into the same school. Who cares what your LSAT score is now? I think that it was a way of people making themselves feel better in an new and scary situation.

After orientation, we had a weekend before classes actually started. Did I mention that you have advanced assignments? Yes, before you even step foot inside a classroom your professors will give you a bunch of cases to read and brief. Oh yeah, and every professor wants you to brief cases a different way. These assignments will take you HOURS so start early.

The first day of class? Completely terrifying. My first class of law school was with the most demanding professor I had in my three years. The professors usually start off with a few words about law school, making sure you do assignments, their technique for calling on students*, etc. As soon as the professor of my first class was done with the overview, she went straight into calling on people randomly. THANK GOD IT WAS NOT ME. Seriously. I have no idea how the kid that did get called on did it. My stomach was in knots the entire class. Also, I found out that I briefed the cases completely wrong so that didn’t help.

My entire first week I was filled with stress and self-doubt. My parents are lawyers so uhh no pressure! Everyone else is also freaking out at the same time so you are in good company. At my school, we were divided into three equal sections. Every section is then broken down into smaller sections for certain classes. This is helpful as you spent a lot of time with the people in your section. However, this also leads to law school being strikingly similar to high school. Everyone knows each other’s business, rumors fly around the section, etc.

Law school tends to attract some interesting people. I went to a fairly liberal law school which means some extreme wackos. For instance, there was one woman that was very worried about unionizing Starbucks. I wanted to tell her that instead of unionizing employees of a company that is usually ranked as one of the best places to work, why not try to unionize a place like Walmart, which is cutting employees’ hours so that they fall just under 40 hours a week, therefore cutting off health benefits? This is the same woman that told me about a program that she wanted to do in New York City. Basically, you paid a monk a couple thousand dollars to be homeless for two weeks. I bit my tongue, but I wanted to tell her that she could do that for free if she really wanted. *Sigh* Yes, there are some odd ducks.

After a few weeks you are still very stressed, but learn how to take a little less time briefing the cases and what exactly each professor is looking for. Now student groups start to call on the first year students to man tables in the hallway, for bake sales, etc. I waited to really involve myself in student groups until second semester. However, I did start up a weekly Thursday night happy hour. I included people from all three sections as we would eventually have classes together the following year. It was a good way to get people away from school and let off a little steam.

Finals your first semester are the scariest thing ever. For the most part, your ENTIRE GRADE is dependent on the exam (some professors have 5% based on your participation in class- i.e. whether you gave thoughtful answers when they called on you). Some professors give a review towards the end of the semester, others show you past exams, etc. Either way, you are in the library from sun up to sun down studying for these exams. For most people, that means making outlines of the class. These outlines tend to be 40+ pages when all is said and done. I couldn’t wrap my head around outlines my first year, so I made notecards of every test, definition, etc. from the semester. I also spent a large chunk of time with fellow section members in study groups. I found out later that this was not the best use of time for me, as I was a better learner by myself than in a group.

Most finals were closed book for 3-4 hours. I would quickly outline the question and the topics that I wanted to talk about and then literally type for the rest of the time, furiously pounding on my laptop before time was called, trying to get all of the definitions, tests, analyses, and conclusions in as possible. After the exam, you are completely drained. But, you have to do it all over again in a completely different topic either the next day or soon after so there is really no time to go home and sleep. Nope, it is back to the library to study!

Christmas break is a much-needed rest between semesters. You will literally go home and sleep for days as you are so tired and your brain physically HURTS. You will then wait for up to a month to get your grades. Grades are very important if you are gunning for a big law firm position.

Second semester starts with people asking about grades and possibly not seeing a few people as they have dropped out. I had some of the same classes as first semester so it was good to see familiar professors and know what they want in advance. A lot of people study abroad the summer after your first year because it is difficult to get a paying law job and you might as well get some credit for going somewhere fun! I went down to South America and had a fantastic time (especially because after a month and a half of not seeing each other, CP was able to come down for 10 days after the end of my program).

Second semester finals are similar to first semester finals so you know what you are getting into, but they still kick your butt.

Misc. things about first year:

-You also learn to hate your law school administration. I don’t think it matters what law school you go to, this is bound to happen.

-The “gunners” (people that raise their hand to try to answer every question and/or just like to hear themselves talk) annoy the crap out of you. Some professors even make jokes about them….don’t become one!

-The first semester of law school your significant others will be very annoyed when you constantly talk about school. You will relate everything you learned in Contracts class, Torts class, etc. to things in every day life. This happens again when you are studying for the bar. I think that this is also because you are still getting to know your law school friends and school is an easy thing to talk about. It also helps with trying to memorize concepts.

*Most law school professors use the Socratic method. That means randomly calling on students for answers. Some professors will call on one or two students for the entire class period, some jump around after a few questions, etc. It is scary. This is why you MUST make sure to read for class every day!

Something you must experience yourself

I figure that this post is perfect for Labor Day.

I worked at my first job out of college for two years. I had plenty of responsibility and was close to my coworkers. The only thing that I didn't like about the job? My paycheck. Even though I was working a second job on the side, my credit card bills were steadily increasing. I decided that I needed to change jobs to get rid of my debt. I thought that as long as I made more money I would be happy.

One always hears the phrase "money is not everything." Boy did I find that out in my second job after college! It was a sales job for a large work equipment company. I never had to go out into the field to schmooze, but was constantly on the phone talking to dealers. We had operating instructions (OIs) for absolutely everything...except on how to go to the bathroom. I was making a lot of money, but hated my job. I could not make any independent decisions; everything had to be discussed with my boss first. People were nice enough, but there was always competition. My managers were all about the bottom line. When I would get home every night I felt worthless that I was making money for a large company...not using my intelligence to make a difference in the world. I was chipping away at my debt, but would cry on the phone to my mom because I hated work so much.

After a year with the company, I decided that I was wasting my life at a job that I hated. That I had always thought about law school, so what was I waiting for? Although that was a tough year, I'm glad that I went through it. First, it was great to get me out of debt. Second, it was a great learning experience. I knew that I would never put money ahead of happiness at a job.

So when I started law school, I knew that I didn't want to work for a large private law firm. I didn't need to make $150,000 and bill 100 hours a week. It was an easy decision to work at public interest internships: with the city government, non-profits, and federal government agencies.

The summer after my second year of law school I went to an interview for a middle-sized private law firm that specialized in employment law. I had just finished an internship in employment law and thought that I might be interested in that area of law. Plus, it was paid. The women that I interviewed with were nice, but I decided to withdraw myself from consideration. I KNEW that I didn't want to work for a private law firm. Instead I could use the summer to work for a public interest employer that I would potentially want to work for after graduation.

The concept of trying to find a job that you love instead of one that just pays a lot of money is a hard one to explain to others. It really is something that you have to experience yourself and hopefully learn from that experience. I'm glad that it is something that I learned early on in my career. I do have student loans from law school. And as nice as it would be to quickly pay off that debt, I would rather be a sane and happy person when I get home from work every day. So far I love my new job and feel that I am making a difference. I am extremely happy that I went with my gut and not money.

Nervous about my first day

So I am writing this Sunday and not posting it until Monday morning because I have no idea what my first day is going to be like. I am getting very nervous though. It is not like an internship in law school where I know that I have a finite time to do work over the semester/ summer and then leave. An intern with some responsibility, but ultimately, people would look over my shoulder. I no longer have that luxury. Although now I actually get A PAYCHECK. Very exciting.

You see, sometime in my last year of law school I realized that I really didn't want to practice law in a private law firm or corporate setting. Actually, I knew that my first year of law school. It just never was going to be for me. Watching my parents worry about billable hours, working 12 hour days and weekends was never going to make me happy, no matter how much money a firm would try to throw at me.* So, I sought out public interest internships and built my resume on such experiences.

Luckily for me, I was able to get a public interest position right before graduation. Also fortunate is the fact that my job is not premised on passing the bar.** In fact, I don't even need a J.D. for the job that I am going to do. And that makes me extremely happy. But, the job still comes with a lot of pressure as the program that I am in is very competitive. I don't want to let my new employer down as they have paid a lot of money to get me on board. I want to live up to my raises. And, you know, live up to the reputation that I graduated law school. Supposedly there is another person starting at the same time that just finished law school. He also took the bar. What if he passes and I don't? That would be embarrassing. At least he is in a different section so I won't be compared too much to him.

On a side note, while trying to give off a professional image, how am I going to check my email? How am I going to check my Google Reader? Perez Hilton? A job is definitely going to put a cramp in my internet usage......


*One of my friends is going to be starting a firm job this fall making $160,000. While I am jealous of the actual salary, I would rather shoot myself than to trade jobs. He will practically live at the office, barely seeing his wife and dog. Nope, not for me at all.

**I have a number of friends that will be fired the day the bar results come out if they did not pass. That sucks.

Don't put THAT in your mouth

Stress eating. I does it. I know that I do it and yet….I keep on doing it. When it got close to finals in law school? What did I do? Eat when I wasn’t hungry. And I didn’t eat rabbit food like lettuce and carrots. Oh no I ate fast food, ice cream, pizza, etc. All while telling myself that I needed to eat quick food because I didn’t have time to have anything healthy. Because of my stress eating? I am twenty-five pounds heavier graduating law school than when I started law school (I wasn’t exactly a stick when I came into law school either). Ugh. I am at the heaviest I have ever been in my life and it feels awful.

I know what I have done in the past to lose weight (count calories, go to the gym, not drink as much, etc.), but as I get older it is going to be harder to lose that extra weight. I made it a goal this year to lose weight before my 30th birthday in December and I am hoping that after the bar exam I can stick to it. I am a schedule-loving girl and when I worked prior to law school it was easy to drag myself to the gym after work every day so that I missed the bad traffic on my way home. I am hoping to do the same starting in less than a month.

One of my possible impediments? BF. He is absolutely THE BEST COOK EVER. I keep telling him that he is chef stuck in an engineer’s body. But…..this means he doesn’t use margarine or Pam instead of butter, he makes sauces for vegetables instead of just eating them steamed, etc.

Another impediment is simply wanting to spend time with BF. This will be the first time since we started dating that I won’t have any homework or studying to do at night (oh boy I can’t wait!) and he won’t be traveling during the week. We can actually (gasp!) spend time together. Because he commutes one way and I commute the other way we probably won’t join the same gym. That could be quality time we spend together after our work days are over.

BF and I do try to get out a lot on the weekends for athletic endeavors. My first birthday present from him was to learn how to ski because if I lived in a ski state, then I had to learn. Recently, we bought kayaks and have been enjoying getting out on the water as much as possible. We both have golf clubs and I would like to teach him how to play tennis after we are settled into our new place.

I just need to tell myself that the gym is for ME. Time for ME to spend getting healthy and losing weight. And maybe my compromise with BF and his cooking is that two days a week during the week I get to cook something healthy. I found a lot of recipes in The Biggest Loser cookbook that are delicious. That way if I eat a healthy breakfast and lunch, then on the couple of other days that BF cooks, I can eat foods that are a little more caloric while still losing weight.

I also have already told BF that I am instituting the “salad rule” after the bar. At the beginning of the week, I will wash and cut a bunch of lettuce, along with chop up lots of fresh veggies in advance of the week. Every night with dinner we will have a salad on the side of whatever we are eating.

Hopefully in the 3 ½ months before my birthday I will start to see some progress and work towards the goal that I set for myself in my last year of my 20s.

Things that law school brochures don't tell you (updated)

Because I have now gone and scared La about law school I thought that I would write a post about what law school is REALLY like. Things to expect, things to do before you start, etc. Feel free to email me or comment if you have any questions- I'm happy to answer them!

Suggestions before you enter law school

*Make sure that going to law school is really what you want to do. Take a law class in college. If you are out of college, see if a nearby school has a class that you can take. If it is possible, try to get a job as a paralegal or a legal assistant so that you know what you are getting into.

*Speak to a friend of the family that is a lawyer. Or, if you don't know of anyone see if a law school in your area has any alumni that are willing to talk to prospective law students. While the alum might be biased, it's a good way to (again) know what you are getting into.

*Think very hard about WHY you want to go to law school. Are you just going because you don't know what else you want to do with your life? Because that is not a good reason to go to law school.

*If you do have a reason for going to law school--whether it is wanting to prosecute criminals, save the environment as a environmental lawyer, work on patent law because you were an engineer in college--I would highly recommend picking up US News and World Report to check out what schools are ranked high in your subject area. Look at their LSAT scores, GPA minimums, rank of the law school, etc.

*In addition, some law schools (not mine) offer certificates in certain areas. For example, if you take X number of credits while in law school in patent law, you will receive a patent law certificate. I'm not sure how much a certificate really helps you when looking for a job because I have never heard an employer ask about one...

*Think about the cost of law school. I went to a private law school that cost $30,000 year just in TUITION. Books alone each semester are about $800 new. And obviously that doesn't factor in your living expenses. You are in law school for three years- most people I know came out with $100,000+ in student loans.

*Study for the LSAT. I would recommend taking a class, even though they are expensive. From what I have heard, they really helped people's scores.

*Think about what part of the country you would like to go to law school in. If you are in or near a big city, your living expenses will be higher, but you will have more opportunities for internships, networking, and job prospects. This is also huge because the more you can network during school with local attorneys, the easier it will be to get a job afterwards. It really stinks to try to find a job in a state where you do not know anyone.

*Think about what state you would like to end up in after law school. Some law schools, like those in Louisana, have very state-specific classes. If you head down there for law school and the professors teach state-specific law you might have a problem with the bar exam in a different state. This also goes back to networking and jobs.

*Are you a person that needs to brag about what law school you go to and its rank? Because then you damn well better rock the LSAT and have a great undergrad GPA. Or, do you not care as much and would be willing to go to a lower-ranked school in order to get some scholarship money?

*Are you felon? You may laugh, but most law schools nowadays have a section on their application where you must list any crimes you were convicted of, even if it was just underage drinking. This is because depending on the crime, you may not be able to sit for the bar in certain states because of your past criminal behavior.

*Are you willing to be poor and live off of student loans for 3 years? (some schools do have evening divisions where you work during the day and then go to classes at night for four years) Finding a legal job that pays during the summer is difficult. If you are not at the top of your class and willing to work long hours over the summer at a big law firm the summer after your second year, you probably have to work for free.

*Get everything ready to apply by October. This means your recommendation letters, the applications, the checks for the application fees, etc. There are way too many people trying to get into law school right now. The worst thing you can do is to wait until December or January to apply. Most schools will accept applications starting in the beginning of October. It is in your best interest to apply as early as possible! Even if that means sending everything else in before you take the LSAT!

My story

That all being said, let me tell you all of the things that I did wrong. Luckily, it has all panned out, but I definitely made it harder on myself.

*I did not study for the LSAT, nor did I take a class. I did fine and got into a good law school, but would have had more options, and probably some financial aid.

*I did not know what kind of law I wanted to go into. I knew that I wanted to help people, but uhhh that is pretty damn broad. My parents are lawyers and I was a paralegal for a year before law school so I did know what I was getting into.

*I did not really think about the cost of living or the job opportunities that I might have after school. The city was big enough for me to live in, but not super expensive so I was lucky. I was also lucky because it turns out that the city that I picked was a great place for me to be in for what I eventually figured out I wanted to do. There were tons of opportunities for internships and I took full advantage of them.

*I knew that I would love living in the western state and really thought that I would stay there after law school. But, BF and I had to move east for his job so that foiled my plan. That being said, trying to find a job not located in the western state was tough. I only had time in my last semester to fly out to the northeast once and had to try to pack in interviews over that short weekend. No one knew me and although my law school is pretty big, it does not have a reputation in the northeast. All of my contacts out west didn't really have a lot of people that I could speak to during my trip. So I would say that I spent more time looking for jobs and applying to jobs than actually studying my last semester.

*I worked for free at all of my internships (that would be all 5 of them) during law school because the places I worked didn't have any money to pay me, but I wanted the experience on my resume. It was very frustrating. Luckily my last year I fell into a work study position, but they are hard to get.

*The first year I applied to law school I was disappointed in where I got in. So I decided to work for another year before trying again. Instead of sending in my applications in early January, I had everything ready to go by early October and I got into my #1 school.

This post became really long, so I am going to break this up. Next up? Once you get in to law school, what is it really like?