Happy Holidays!

And enjoy the New Year! The only thing I have to post about is a unique gift wrapping idea. All my presents were wrapped in old law school practice exams - and my family still loves me. However, tragically, I did not get one present that I really wanted.

Giving Thanks

I've never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving (especially because I *hate* lots of traditional Thanksgiving foods; see stuffing/dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie...each and every one = yuck), but Thanksgiving break during law school has been a huge blessing.

Last year, my roommate & I both stayed in New Haven for the long weekend...our families are far away, and the hassle of traveling wasn't something we wanted to mess with around Thanksgiving. We watched a full-day "Jon & Kate Plus 8" marathon. I went to a big potluck dinner with a bunch of our classmates. We passed the rest of the weekend being lazy and ordering takeout and occasionally venturing out to neighborhood bars; it was glorious.

This year, both my roommates and I are all staying here. And I get SIX WHOLE DAYS off. Woo hoo! We're again having a massive Thanksgiving potluck (coordinated this year with a Google Spreadsheet - hallelujah!). We'll be joined throughout the long weekend by friends who share our love of wine, cookies, and board games. We'll sleep in, with no alarm to be heard. We might do some online shopping. There won't be any "Jon & Kate" this year, but I'm sure we'll find something else on TV worth watching (personally, I'm hoping a "Dog the Bounty Hunter" marathon magically appears).

Sometimes in the midst of source cites and long lectures and fruitless searches for international and unpublished law journal sources, I forget just how wonderful a life we've been blessed to be living: we spent last weekend with visiting friends for the epic Harvard-Yale weekend, where there was school spirit galore and beautiful weather and a bountiful tailgate and only a little bit of homework. Now, just one school day later, we get twice as much of a weekend. Lovely.

Happy Thanksgiving! How are you spending your holiday? Are other law students buckling down with work, or are you taking a real break?

**

Veterans Day!

No, we don't have class off (although the 1Ls do.) But due to an amazing convergence of events, I have (almost) no class/other responsibilities this Wednesday - a day that I am usually out the door by 7.30 and not home until 9.30! I will be using my extra day to:

1. Catch up on a little sleep

2. Catch up on a lot of reading

3. Eat a sizeable amount of the pumpkin pie I bought this evening.

I promise, I would be grateful to our veterans even if I had to spend all day in school. Is it bad that I'm just a little more grateful to them since I don't?

Germ Overload

Ugh. The past few days have been horrible. Somehow (I might blame a loooong night out on Saturday, but that might be just a tad unfair) I ended up really sick - I literally have about 5-15% of my voice at any given moment. I have a terrible cough. My throat hurts. My head hurts. I'm tired all the time.

Mom and grandma say: "Go to the doctor!"
I say: "I don't have TIME to go to the doctor!"

Like in college, of course it's okay to miss class every so often - I skipped class (and one in particular) a LOT in fall semester; now, though, since I have three uber-small (under 15 people) classes, I feel pretty bad about missing class - even for a totally legit reason. And, I already took a few days off for job interviews, etc. So I was hoping to get to the magicalness that is spring break without any more interruptions. Bah.

So, I've been dragging myself to class, meetings, and appointments the past couple days, despite being in an obvious state of malhealth. Part of the bad thing about being at a small school is that students have to (or get guilted to) take on responsibility in student groups really early: today I had a client meeting I couldn't reschedule for clinic (thank goodness my 3L partner could take the lead!), and I still had to tend to journal and extracurricular obligations. Not to mention my part-time job.

I had promised myself that I'd be careful & not get overcommitted like I did in undergrad, but it's just SO HARD to say no sometimes, especially to things that sound really fun! So this week, my non-class tasks got prioritized above reading for class (I figured if I have no voice, I can't really be asked to participate in discussion - right?!?). And I'm sleeping a lot. And hopefully I'll be fully recovered in time to enjoy my warm-weather getaway come next weekend.

***

Semester's End: Small Group & Social Stuff

[Note: I'm going to try to do a series of semester-end reflection posts...we'll see how that goes...]

We've come to the end of classes for the semester [like Cat, we also have exams in January, which at this point seems pretty distant - it's next YEAR], and I don't think I could be any happier. I am always really into the holidays, and although New Haven hasn't yet (but might tonight?) been blanketed in sparkly snow that sticks, there's a lot of cheer to go around.

On Monday, my small group (the 15 1Ls with whom I take all my classes, plus our two 3L TAs, and our professor) assembled at our professor's house to mark the end of the semester and our time together...after today, there likely won't be any case when all 15 of us are in the same class again. (Tear!) We had dinner & drinks and had many versions of the following conversation/question stream:

"When are you going home?"
"Where are you going for break?"
"What classes are you going to take next semester?"
"What're we gonna do the rest of the week [now that we can blow off the last few days of class]? Who's having a party?"
"What're we gonna do without each other?!?"

It's really amazing how close we've become in the past 3 1/2 months, so it was nice to see everyone in a relaxed social environment one last time before break. As our professor snapped candid photographs of everyone, a couple people surprised the rest of the group by announcing special "awards" - "Best use of Latin in class," "Best in-class 'save' when nobody knew what the professor was asking," "Best future governor," etc. There were lots of inside jokes, a couple cheap shots, and tons of laughter. We gave our TAs and our professor some "thanks for being awesome" booze, and they closed with some loving/awww-inspring warm & fuzzy thoughts.

We left our professor's house and went to one of our small group member's apartment for the after-party. There was lots of good wine, free-flowing conversation, and (as the wine began to flow freely) some bad jokes. We were also lucky enough to have our friend break out his guitar and serenade us for a while, after which it became a sing-along. All-in-all, a totally awesome night with some of my favorite people at YLS.

Last night, after most everyone was done with classes, there was a big joint birthday party for three of our classmates at the VIP room inside Toad's (generally, Toad's is kind of townie/sketchy, but the VIP room - Lilly's Pad - was surprisingly nice). [Earlier in the night, I'd gone to a smaller dinner party hosted in one of the birthday girls' honor...the food was fantastic, and the company was even better.] At the big party, people had baked cakes/cupcakes, and someone else played iPod DJ. While the atmosphere was really different than my small group's party on Monday, it was totally awesome - it was great to see a bunch of people before they left town, and people were generally in a fairly nostalgic "I love law school! I love you!" mood. We'll see if that holds up once exams roll around....

***

Examing

So, classes are done and the real work now begins - studying for exams. Unlike SB, our first semester isn't pass/pass. We have actual gradations (although far fewer of them than 1L's here last year.) I'm trying to make a plan. I'm trying to stay out of vacation mode, in which I watch 7 hours of Law and Order a day. I'm trying to keep my apartment clean, myself in reasonably good health and shape, and my family happy. I know, I know....grossly unrealistic.

No one will tell us what the grading curve will be, which I think is actually decreasing anxiety. One of our professors has said that between 40-10% of us will get honors, and another has said that only 3/80 will. Of course, that same professor mentioned that if he announced he was only giving out one "H", that would be enough for your average HLS student to fight for it. I'm not 100% sure that he's wrong. Overall, my classmates seem remarkably calm about the prospect of exams. Of course, that may well change once we get closer to the actual exam date.

On a non-school note, the holidays are here! I'm (unsuccessfully) trying to figure out how to buy Christmas presents for all my three zillion relatives with a law-student income. I tried hard to figure out a place to put a very very tiny Christmas tree in my very very very tiny apartment, but no luck. I think I may go with the "Christmas bush" option instead. Or maybe just a wreath. Hmm...these decisions suddenly seem so much more important than exams....

Election Day

It's been approaching for a mighty long time, but it's finally here! The steps that the law school has taken to accommodate it have been pretty sweet. They're taping all the classes so that people can feel free to campaign, vote, go home, whatever. We're having a school-run election party, at which we've been promised, and I quote, "a non-lame" gift. And of course, the fact that one of the candidates is an alumni of the school hasn't hurt at all.

Unfortunately, my feelings on election night are basically mixed. I've already voted by absentee ballot in a state where my vote will make no difference. I hate watching the returns come in, because I find it super stressful. Plus, the fact that I have to get up the next morning and go to class is kinda sucky. Still, happy election day! Go vote!

Addendum on November 5th: It was pointed out today that the law school now controls two out of the three branches of government (presidency, majority on the Supreme Court.) I can't decide if I find that troubling or not.

Columbus, You Creep, I'm Pretty Grateful Right Now

Yay for federal holidays! (Even those celebrating a man who maybe shouldn't be celebrated that much.) I think the craziness of law school just makes the time off that much better. Yesterday, I went apple picking with some friends, which was pretty much the greatest thing ever. Although I nearly killed myself falling out of a tree, I am now the very proud owner of a bag of Concord apples, and am concocting plans about applesauce. Today, some other 1Ls and I are going shopping for winter clothes. The Californians in my class are looking distinctly nervous about the approaching deep freeze.

So, it is possible to be a law student and have fun. Who would have guessed? A friend of mine who is also a 1L told me he spends at least 8 hours day asleep, makes sure he exercises, and spends his weekends just walking around the city with his wife. That, I think, is the right way to do law school.