Earplugs

I had my first official day of orientation today which included a speech from the Dean of Students complete with his promises that we will graduate law school before the Yankees win a World Series and before all of the litigation associated with the Big Dig is finished. Our class is apparently the 100th entering class for the law school, which is kind of a neat distinction.

We briefed our first "case" in an Academic Resources class, which most of us found pretty helpful, but I could tell that others found the case even more confusing when we were done. The school offers a great optional class where you can get extra help with briefing cases, legal writing, or just some advice as to how to deal with the overwhelming feeling all first year students are bound to have. The professor said first year was once described to her as trying to drink from a fire hose. I love the image of that, as foreboding as it might actually be.

The school has a message board where students can post topics on just about anything. I've decided not to read the message board anymore and classes haven't even officially begun! The latest post was a debate over whether or not our Civ Pro professor wanted us to read pages 1-4 or chapters 1-4. Mind you, chapters 1-4 cover about 250 pages of material relating to personal and subject matter jurisdiction, including the "famous" Pennoyer v. Neff, International Shoe v. Washington, and the Erie Doctrine. I think the consensus on the web board was to only read pages 1-4, but I'm not listening....

Speaking of not listening, I've decided that earplugs are the only way to go while trying to read at home. Every single noise for me is a distraction and I've found that they really work! My roommate likes to talk on the phone too, so the earplugs pretty much wipe out that noise as well.

I've briefed the cases for my Legal Practice Skills class tomorrow, and I've just about finished all the work necessary for the first days of class - even the 250 pages of Civ Pro. I'm in good shape to go off to Canada tomorrow after orientation wraps up. Bring the fire hose on.

~GAC