Changes

So I decided I'm not going to France this summer. I just cannot afford the flight and living there and not having any money. So I need a new light at the end of the 1L tunnel...

I applied for some internships, one with the IL Innocence Project, one with CASA, and I've talked to my mentor about working with the public defender's office. So perhaps I shall find an internship for the summer.

I'm going to take summer classes in order to get my 711 early. Which will be good.

I'm in the process of hopefully being allowed to get my dog allowed into my apartment, which would be happy.

School...

Criminal Law: I kind of love it. I NEVER thought I'd enjoy the class. But it is fascinating. The crimes, the reasons behind the decisions, why something is Murder 2 and not Murder 1... the ways that people come up with to commit crimes. The good that is done by locking up the bad guy, and the amazingness that is accomplished by helping the wrongfully convicted. I hope I get one of the internships I applied for... they are both related to criminal law... so I'll be able to tell if I really like this stuff.

Contracts: Going okay. There are getting to be so many tools, and so many of the problems are solved by "creative lawyering" and it is confusing. I mean I usually know what is going on, I just am not sure if given a fact pattern I'll know which tool to use.

Constitutional Law: Why do I dislike this so much? Ok I guess its like... I like the historical aspect (I was a history major...) but reading LONG decisions about stuff that has already been pretty set in our culture is just soooooo boring. And the prof, who is an amazing lecturer, assigns SO MUCH READING! It's kind of crazy. I think the average has been over 50 pages a class. With briefs and all that needed. blagh....

Civil Pro: No clue what's going on. Dreading the final. Yup.

Basic Legal Research: Order of Operations for Legal Searches. I get it! yayayayaya! It is also kind of fun... its like a treasure hunt.

Legal Writing: The Appellate Brief. It is so beyond crazy. So much reading. So much writing. So much thinking.... gahhhhhhhhhh and of course the issue is one of first impression which the Supreme Court has failed to rule on yet as well, oh and its in a made up jurisdiction where everything BUT the Supreme Court is persuasive. Ya.

Dealing: My mom has been very understanding lately. I think she is seeing more and more how much work school is and how hard I work for class every day. Its hard that the only people you can talk to about this are other law students, who are equally busy, so we all can't just rant to each other ya know? So Mom has been taking a lot of my confusion and helping me out... which is good.

Graduate Assistantships: Waiting to hear back from the one I interviewed with. They said they'd let me know either way... but so far its been crickets... for a week. ya. A friend of mine also interviewed for the job, we are both pretty jumpy.