law school blues

So, just finished my 9th week of law school, and we really only have about a month and a half left of this semester. It's moving along quickly. Do I feel like I've learned anything? A lawyer's answer: It depends.

So far, I've learned about what makes a contract a contract, what offer and acceptance is, how to write part of an office memorandum, and a whole boatload of elements of negligence. I better learn a lot more for how much I'm paying for all this.

So far, Torts is my favorite class. I don't care much for the Legal Writing class, and I'm completely lost in Contracts. I've ordered a supplement book, so we'll see if that helps. By this time in undergrad, I felt like I had everything under control. In law school, it's different, because there really is nothing to help you gauge how you're doing, there's only one test at the end of each semester.

I'm also frustrated at myself because I'm too scared to raise my hand, and I don't get called on. I'm also terrified of getting called on, and kick myself when others give answers I knew or if I had the wrong answer in my mind. Like, darn, I knew that one! Or, whew, glad I didn't say out loud my wrong answer. I just can't win.

And if my Contracts professor would post the friggin questions on time like he said he would instead of lagging for days, maybe I wouldn't be stressed out all week until he finally posts them. GOSH!!

But I think I'll feel a lot better after doing more practice exams. I feel relieved I have a study group going, and I enjoy reading cases. They're interesting. And it's amazing what people sue for, it's crazy. I will continue to keep in mind what a professor said at orientation: "Remember your future clients." I am doing this for the people I'm going to help in the future.



And in the grand scheme of things, it's really the Bar that matters, not these dinky first semester classes. I'll be ok. I'm just going to keep telling myself that.

What more do I have to say about law school?
The campus is beautiful. It's only 3 miles away from home. I'm learning "The Law." And I have one great professor so far.

Ok, enough with the bull. I would rather talk about the things I miss.

I miss reading for leisure. Before I got accepted to McGeorge, I had JUST bought another book by my favorite author, Columbian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude. Never got to start it. So it's sitting on the bookshelf collecting dust. And it will remain there for 3 years. Since I've started, I've bought a few more books with wishful thoughts, but I know it's stupid, because I won't be able to read any of them. It's so sad!

Here are the books I've bought in the last few weeks that I won't get to read for a long time:
  
 

There was also a book by Franklin D. Roosevelt and a book on the history of medicine that is sitting on my bedside table, I won't get to those either.

I miss riding my bike in the middle of the day on a weekend. Just hitting up the bike trail to enjoy the sun on my skin and smile into the breeze. How I miss the freedom.



I miss calling up my brother and just heading down to the Bay to visit him for the weekend. Well, we're fighting right now and haven't talked in 2 weeks, but we'll get over it and I won't get to hang out with him as much as I'd like. And he needs me.





I miss the feeling of coming home after a long day of work and just being able to change into my pjs and sink into my cushions and read whatever I want. My TIME magazines and Vanity Fairs are just sitting there in a pile, untouched. It will remain this way until the subscriptions run out, at which point I will not have a chance to renew them.

I miss going to the gym at night. Run in the morning, gym at night. Watch a little CNN, because that's where I get my tv fix-at the gym, but no more.

Wah wah wah. I'll stop whining. I'll keep thinking about my future clients and shut up.
At least I have two races coming up and a 12-day trip to Honduras at the end of the year. Something to look forward to!