Friday, August 26, 2005

I made it through the first week of classes

And am I tired?!? Good heavens! Of course, I attribute part of the exhaustion to dealing with my croupy kid in the middle of the night several nights. But so it is. The long and the short of it is, yes, I'm tired, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE school.

I've got 5 classes, writing, research, Torts, Civ Pro, and Contracts. And honestly, not one of them is a stinker. Don't get me wrong, I've got some issues with some of them, but overall, it's good stuff. So here's the break down.

Writing: Best prof of them all. Hands down. I've only got it twice a week but I remember almost everything that he says because he teaches with anecdotal (read: hilarious) stories. I'm sure when the hard core writing comes in, it will be less exciting, but I am sure he will make it just as interesting.

Research: Meh. It's not bad... it's a library class and I'm kind of a library geek. And in some sort of demented way, I like doing research projects. Which is good because that's what associates do. And this class is only 8 weeks. So hurrah!

Civil Pro: I wasn't sure what to say about this class until today. I like it. In some sort of rule nazi way, I like it. The prof is by far the least socratic, but she does expect you to know your stuff, you do get cold called, but she will actually let you feel good about your answer when you are right, novel idea. The homework is a PITA though. A million and one rules per night. I'm living on the assumption that it will get more interesting as we get more into the subject matter. For those 2Ls and 3Ls here, go ahead and laugh. But a girl's got to have something to look forward to.

Torts: By far the most socratic and most frightening of all my profs. I got picked on the first day, first person. So, yeah, he's got me quaking in my boots. However, for as much as I dread that class because of my fear, that's the quickest 1.5 hour class period I have. It moves and I never stop paying attention. And the topics are pretty interesting. Some ridiculous. But entertaining.

Contracts: I left this one for last because the jury is still out. In some ways, I think this will be the most important class to me as an individual with my value set. So far I have gathered that my prof is the polar opposite of me in every social and political way. And that doesn't bother me. What does bother me are reading her opinions in a book that we have to read in addition to our casebook. She's one of the editors. Generally, I frown on teacher's pushing their published work on students at retail prices, but so it is. Happily, her book is very engaging and with every page I turn, it challenges some of my core and fundamental values. Seriously, yesterday I was reading our assignment for next week and found myself wanting to march right up to her office and ask her 1) if I am understanding it right, because it seems so out of my line of thinking and 2) if she really really thinks and feels that way. I stopped myself from doing that, which was probably a good move :) She's moderately socratic, but class participation is a significant portion of your grade. We'll see how that goes. But I predict by the end of the semester that I will have really challenged my core beliefs and, hopefully, come away stronger and more aware of the opposite side and more tolerant and compassionate because of it.

OK, could I be anymore vague about that paragraph??

Anywho, so that's it in a nutshell. Other non-class specific items of note to me from this week:

  • parking blows big monkey chunks
  • I've got the class jerk in 3 of my classes, unfortunately they're all core classes, so I get to hear his vast wisdom frequently.
  • There's one guy who surfs, IMs and emails in class the whole period, doesn't take notes and then watches Friends on his computer or sleeps when we aren't in class. To that I ask, why waste the money, man?
  • I love, love, love that my school has study carrels that are assigned to you with lockable units to store books. Thank you law school.
  • 8 pm is a great time to do research homework in the library where you need to use books to complete the assignment because NO ONE else is there.
  • I sit on my ass pretty much all day... blech.
  • I do better on my cases when I read all the assignment together and the next day do all the briefs.
  • I will never be "caught up"
  • Did I mention that I'm loving it?
So there it is. Welcome to law school, class of 2008.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! I went through it a few years ago, sans the child. I'm now attempting a PhD in Criminology. Can't get enough of learning! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Well the fact that you haven't wet yourself is a good sign. Get used to that class jerk, there's always one. Glad your loving it, welcome to the very select masochist group called law student. We get T-Shirts.

Joey said...

good to have you folks stop by. Thanks for the comments.