Not-so-Secretly Scavenging

What recession? The much-discussed economic downturn has resulted in some uncertainty about summer jobs...those who want to work in the private sector are being encouraged to spread their net as widely as possible, pulling some geographic strings if possible; those who were thinking public sector/government/non-profit work are suddenly faced with more competition for their spots as previously firm-oriented people look elsewhere for employment. We're blessed to be a bit more isolated than perhaps students at some other schools, and certainly nobody is reaching panic mode yet, but it's still a little disconcerting to find what might be the perfect opportunity, only to be told "Sorry, we can't hire 1Ls this year." Bah humbug! So the search continues...

One thing that's not lacking - even as endowments spiral south - is free food. I have to admit to being a bit spoiled in that regard. In my pre-law school life, I never cooked all that much (because I didn't have to in college, and because I went out to eat a lot in "the real world"), so I came in anticipating the need to sharpen my culinary skills (to save money, etc.). I was sad to be moving somewhere far away from my beloved Whole Foods, but I figured Trader Joe's was a fair substitute. I was pumped to make use of my pots and pans.

I'd heard, of course, that law school was basically a non-cook's dream - free food at lectures and lunch presentations and dinner meetings and weekend conferences. But I was planning to reserve judgment: I'd also heard that an awful lot of these free food opportunities featured pizza. New Haven pizza. Let's be clear - New Haven pizza & I have a complicated relationship. And by that, I mean that the last three times I ate pizza here before starting school, I threw up. So lots of pizza would be like lots of brussel sprouts: the equivalent of no edible food. And a renewed requirement that I procure my own sustenance.

Truth: there IS a lot of pizza. But people have gotten smart: students get tired of pizza. You have to offer something else if you really want people to show up to a non-obligatory event. In New Haven, that means food from any number of Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, Chinese, or Italian places. Every day, there are numerous lunch events that offer free food, usually to accompany a visiting speaker or a career panel. At dinner time, it's inevitable that two or three school-wide emails go out alerting people to the presence of leftovers from club events - you don't even have to go to the event to get food! A few entrepreneurial 3Ls bring tupperware and stock up for later. Smarties.

Today I had TWO scrumptious free Indian meals: lunch at Thali Too and dinner from Sitar. Lunch was courtesy of the Dean of Student Affairs, who took a small group of us 1Ls out to lunch to see how the semester was going. The food was so good, I didn't really want to go back to school for con law (it became pretty obvious that none of us really wanted to be there/we'd all been out late together last night when halfway through class people stopped talking...but I guess such is the case the day after oral arguments?). For dinner, I had the pleasure of hosting a small group dinner with a handful of fellow YLS women and one of my favorite new-to-YLS professors; he came over to my apartment and talked to us about his experience when he was in school here and what it's like being a professor. He asked us all what we want to do with our lives, and kept us entertained all night with jokes and stories. Best part about hosting the dinner: I got to keep the tasty leftovers. Yum!

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