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!

First wedding nightmare

Last night, I had my first wedding nightmare. It was the day of our wedding. I was riding on a trolley with a bunch of our wedding guests to the ceremony.* I looked at my watch and realized that there was only ONE HOUR until the ceremony. I had no idea where my bridesmaids were. My hair and makeup was not done. I had not put on my dress.

To my friends I kept joking that I was going to be late to my own wedding.....while in my head I was kicking myself. I realized that I hadn't planned ANYTHING for our wedding. We obviously sent out invitations as my friends were there, but I realized that other than finding a place for our ceremony and reception, we had not done anything else. I thought, you had a freakin YEAR to plan this wedding and you did NOTHING????

This morning I woke up and told CP that I had a wedding nightmare. He told me that I shouldn't stress about our wedding- especially when it is a year away! While I agree, I know myself...and stress will be part of the process. I just have to resign myself to that fact.

*Note: We will NOT be having a trolley for our wedding.

Loves for fall

It is starting to get colder here in MA. As in, yesterday was a high of 50 degrees. I'm feeling in a "listy" mood, so here are the things that I am excited about in the fall season:

*Turning leaves. I haven't seen a long period of fall foliage for four years (basically since I lived in Philly).

*Apple cider. CP and I can go through a jug of it in a very short period of time.

*Cooler temperatures. Okay, so I am totally not ready for a MA winter, but I do love fall temperatures. Bundling up in sweaters (including my new sweater from Target), laying on the couch wrapped in blankets, snuggling in bed under the covers, etc. I'm sure that I am going to be doing a lot these things until late spring!

*Eating a lot of squash. CP makes a great butternut squash soup with ginger in it. Not to mention, I have a great cookbook for just vegetables (which just happens to have tons of recipes for all different kinds of squash).

*Football, obviously. Let's not talk about the fact that the Eagles are not having a good start to the season.

*The fact that fuzzy britches gets excited about everything. With the cooler weather she suddenly has tons of energy and it is hilarious! Not to mention that she likes to sit on our feet- thus saving us from buying slippers!

*Eating more soup! I love soup!!!

*Moving from drinking Sauvignon Blancs/ Torrontes into Pinot Noirs. Our favorite? Seven Terraces Pinot Noir from New Zealand.

*Not sweating after I get out of the shower from the heat and humidity.

New hair

So sorry I left you guys in anticipation on my new hair color on Friday....I knew that it was our anniversary and that I wouldn't have any time to write a post that night. So I wrote one ahead of time.

Anyway, the hair appointment was supposed to take an hour and a half.....it took three hours. Luckily, the stylist was freakin' awesome and a lot of fun to talk to so I didn't mind. However, it meant that I started the appointment at 5pm, didn't leave until 8pm, and then didn't get home until 9pm that night. CP and I then had a whole HOUR to spend for our anniversary eating take out Thai and watching the VP debate before heading to bed. Not quite what I was expecting out of the night......

The darker hair is definitely going to be something that I will have to get used to. I do think that it looks good with my skin (very important) and CP says that it makes me look younger (that definitely earned him points!).

Doing it ourselves

To continue with our trend of trying to stick it to the wedding industry, CP and I decided to make our own save the date cards. According to my wedding book, we probably shouldn't send out our save the date until 6-8 months before the date. However, I might be down in DC for work and don't want to put all of that work on CP. So, we are looking ahead on our wedding checklist and trying to figure out what can get done ahead of time. Since we already know our date and location for both the ceremony and the reception, we figured we could let everyone know that they will have to travel for the wedding- hopefully they start planning in advance so that they can make it.

In addition, we just found out that a woman that I went to law school with is having her wedding on the same day that we are. That effects at least one couple that we will be inviting to the wedding as they will definitely be invited to both. We were hoping that the husband would perform our ceremony. So, it might be in our best interest to let people know as soon as possible about our date so that they will commit our wedding.

So, CP and I spent waaaaaay too much time at Michael's. I used to love to do craftsy things, but I swear law school sucked any creative bone I had out of my body. We disagreed over notecards vs. cards, one leaf stamp vs. another leaf stamp, etc. In the end, I think that our save the dates look pretty cute- they are definitely not amazing but they will serve their purpose. Instead of spending $2.25 per card at the paper store, we got all of the supplies for less than $40. CP pushed for sending out an email, while I originally pushed for magnets....in the end we have cards.

Another decision made

I made another decision last night on my way home from work (BTW, this might not be the BEST time of the month to make these decisions but I am running with it). I am going to dye my hair. Right now I still have my highlights in from this past May and you can definitely see that my roots are darker (the highlights are a dark caramel color, my real hair is brown). It's starting to look bad so I think that it is time to take the plunge. The last time I went in to do my highlights the woman at Aveda said that with the number of gray hairs that I have, it might just be easier to dye my whole head. So I am thinking about moving towards a darker color, maybe just a little darker than my normal hair.

My friend J is totally on board. She has been dying her hair forever and suggested that I do it out of a box on say a Friday night and if it looks awful, to then go to a salon Saturday to get the color fixed. CP thinks that I should just go to the salon to get it done so that I don't pick a silly color. I kind of agree with CP- I think that if I go to a salon they will be able to help me figure out the best color for me instead of standing in front of all of the boxes at the drugstore for hours on end, unable to make a decision.

So, I have an appointment tonight at a nearby salon. Cross your fingers that it goes well! Tonight is our three year anniversary so my new hair color will be a complete surprise!

The one where I am down on myself

Yesterday I decided that I needed to join a gym- ASAP. I am sick of waiting for my building badge to come in from the other office so that I can use the free gym downstairs. Last week while at my conference I got to use the hotel gym and it was glorious. I haven't tried to run since July and was pretty damn proud of myself that I was able to run a mile anyway.

Also pushing me into this decision to join the YMCA near work is the fact that I feel like a fat cow. This is not helping our sex life. CP came in the bathroom while I was showering and all I could think of was "suck your stomach in! I hope that he doesn't look at my ass as it is HUGE." Etc. Not good. So, at lunch today I walked over to the nearby YMCA and signed up. I can't wait to go to the gym this morning!!!!

And then this morning as I was packing up my lunch CP said "wow that is a lot of food in there!" Way to kick me when I am already feeling shitty about my body. He didn't mean to make me feel like shit but he truly did.

-Breakfast is a 100 calorie bagel with a little butter
-Mid-morning snack is a banana
-Lunch is a lean cuisine, a small can of corn (I know this is weird but I seriously LOVE corn). Sometimes I bring a 100 calorie snack pack or a piece of fruit. I also have a small sugar free jello (only 10 calories)
-Mid-afternoon snack- grapes.

Seeing as how I am gone from the house from 7am to about 6pm every day I don't think that this is a lot of food. Plus, everything I read talks about eating (healthy) snacks throughout the day in order to keep your metabolism running. Your thoughts on the food I brought to work today?