Mini Life Assessment

So, I'm 3 weeks into school and I haven't had a chance to come up to breath. Between Law Review, classes, working in a law clinic in school, and working 16 hrs a week, I haven't had much (any?) free time. The odd thing is, I'm struck by how grateful I am for each of the things I'm doing this semester.

Law Review - In addition to becoming a bluebooking bad ass and bff w/ CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style), I'm genuinely challenged to think and solve problems while trudging through an onslaught of footnotes to be edited. It's crazy to think how reliant we are on the internet for research. And even though procuring a hard copy of every single source cited in an article seems slightly archaic/pretentious, I'm kind of proud that I know how to find the most up to date current US laws in a book. Not to mention all those photo copying skilz I picked up working at Bancroft Library are totally coming in handy.

Classes - While I'm enjoying all of my classes, I'm most surprised by my Reproductive Choice Law class. I came in with the expectation that I would be a conservative in a sea of liberalism backed by one of the most notoriously left-leaning professors at the school. While this is still true, I have been pleasantly surprised by that professors ability to present both sides of most issues. The class is largely discussion based, and while I may have singled my self out from the rest of the crowd, I don't feel like I can't speak my mind.

In addition to Choice Law I'm taking Employment Law and Modern Real Estate. Our employment law professor plays a song from his "employment law sound track" everyday before class, so that pretty much makes him awesome. My Modern Real Estate class is one of the most applicable classes I have ever taken in my life. Buying a house just seems intimidating, and while I don't expect to buy one any time soon, I feel like by the time this class is over I could handle it with confidence. Also, the professor is a rock star, by day 2 she had everyone's name memorized based on the pictures she has of us on our seating chart. She also has the most wicked MN accent EVER.

Law Clinic - I'm involved in the Child Advocacy Law Clinic. This clinic is one of the reasons why I chose to go to the U. Little did I know that everyone wants to be in a clinic and each clinic only has about 10 spots that are assigned via a lottery system. I got lucky! Anyway, I basically get to be a lawyer, under the supervision of a real lawyer (think the scene in Legally Blonde where Elle takes over as Brooke's attorney). The other amazing thing is that the work I'll be doing in this clinic is exactly what I would want to do if I didn't have a ridiculous amount of school loans to pay off. I call my first client next week!

Work - I love my job! In addition to having a boss who tells the best lame jokes, I'm actually doing law stuff. School is a lot of theory and "learning to think like a lawyer." At work I have cases, I talk to clients, I write stuff for clients, I file petitions for stuff. It's so cool to see the mechanics of all this thinking. And I work with Randi; enough said.

My House - I feel like I need to tack this one on. I really love my new place. It's really comfortable and I'm already starting to feel like I'm developing a sense of community here that I was lacking before. I love the stage where you get to know the people you are living with: who is a morning person, who gets annoyed by perky morning people, who likes to tell stories, who gives comfort, who serves, who likes the same tv shows as me, etc.. Sadly, I am the only coffee drinker and unfortunately I bought the 10 cup coffee maker. Every morning now I'm faced with a problem: can I drink 10 cups of coffee or do I attempt to make a smaller portion. No matter what I always have too much and half of it goes down the drain (literally and figuratively).