Don't forget the clap!

There are many books on how to succeed in law school.  I have read a few of them, like Law School Confidential by Robert H. Miller.  These books tell you how to brief cases, succeed with outlines, and take exams.

None of them warned to clap on the last day of class.

Boy- Don't forget to applaud a law professor.

My crim class did- and she let us know how she did not apperciate it.  We all were flabbergasted at how upset she got (even told her 3L class about our faux-pas).  She was equally mad at the whole class, so technically it should not effect how she graded our exams on a curve- but we are law students. We are prepared.

We gathered together and bought her a thank you gift.  

She responded back by e-mail and told us how thoughtful we were and how she loved having us.

Sigh of relief.

I wished someone told us about that rule. oops!!

On a happier note, I took my first final today.

I finished and did not panic. Enjoyed some peanut M&M's too.

Back to Tort... I plan on writing a Law School success exam check list next time!

Stay cool and in school (forever!)

To type or not to type....

That is my question.

Hello from the zone of danger-

My first exam is next Wednesday.  So this weekend is chalk full of studying and trying to remain sane. (I have so far avoided the plague- I have to keep swallowing it down when I start to talk to other law school students about law school.... It is hard to remain polite to people when all I am thinking is I really don't want to talk about this!)  So far, I have been pretty chill.

In order to prepare for exams, not only do I have to study, but also I need to decide if I want to type or hand write my exam.  

Majority of law students type their notes on their laptops in class.  I am in the select minority that still uses a pen and paper to take notes. The benifit to writing out notes for me is that I  retain more information.   Typing always makes me feel like I am on auto pilot. Also, my computer give me the internet which gives me access to Facebook- if you all know me well, I have extreme focusing issue: if I stop paying attention to the professor, I might never start again. So far, my writing had helped me retain my information, but should I write out my exam and be uber- old school.  

I downloaded the exam software they require us to use if we are typing.  It is nice that has stopwatch to let you know how much time is in the exam as well as gives you alerts for the last hour, 15 minutes, and 5 minutes.  They apparently have safety features in the program if your computer crashes too so that you don't have to worry about your test going Buh-Bye. Also I can write faster if I type.  I won't have to worry about the internet or Facebook since it locks us out from every other application on your computer so that students can't look at their outlines in the middle of the exam or IM for answers.  Also, I will only need to focus on my computer since I do not need to pay attention to a lecture.  

I think I am going to join the digital age and type my exams.  Seems logical.

Please send my laptop happy vibes :-)

Avoiding the Plague...

As someone not so kindly reminded me today: 15 days left in the semester.

Small Gulp.

After a wonderful break, I am back in the infection zone.

[Quick Note: Highlights of trip:

-Airplane's stink- almost got stuck in Newark even though my connection layover was over 3 hours.

- I enjoyed seeing Sara's world up at Merimack. Her hall even has a fire place.  I had fun playing castle's with Sara and Colin. Sara smoked both our bums- but at least I one once (unlike my dearest Van Alstine). I can't wait for New Years!

- Ricky took me to see Twilight- which I enjoyed.  It is a hard book to adapt because so much is internal thoughts, but I think they did a great job. Ricky liked it too... I swear!

- I ran the Turkey Trot 5 k at RWU on Sunday.  I ran just under 31 minutes, and ran a 9:58 mile. This is huge for me because I went down :30 from my personal best.  I also beat the Nirsh!

-I bummed around campus on Monday: pretended I worked in the SAO and saw profs.  P Deeks looked like he saw Santa when he saw me. Fantastic times.

-Tuesday, I was productive with both my Crim Law outline and my Memo. I also went to two philosophy classes: Political Philosophy with Wright and The Philosophy of Neuroscience with Yess.  Good times, although it was weird to see the difference between undergrad and law school. 

-Tuesday night, Ricky and I went to IHOP and ate yummy food and talked :-). We then went to Barnes and Noble and I got my newest Nora.  Ricky and I then went home and snuggled and read together. :-)

-Wednesday: Flew back home and did my IOLTA application.  Went out to dinner with Mom, Billy, and Mont. 

-Turkey day was bitter sweet.  First holiday without Aunt Arline. We always went to her house.  But we gathered together and ate yummy (and gourmet food like seafood crepes).  We decided to do a gift exchange this year.  When I propose the d idea, my uncle Tony called everyone together because he thought I had more exciting news.... eep.

-Friday: I wrote my memo.

-Saturday: I wrote my memo. Also went to mass in honor of my grandparents and had dinner with uncle Tony and Aunt Marge along with a few cousins. Hmm.. Italian food!

-Sunday: Came back home.  I edited my memo. Submitted my memo. Done!

Ok: Not so quick note.]

I am now finished with my first Law school class: Legal Writing. (In case anyone was wondering at home, I finally did get my assignment back- I did fine.)  I did my best with my memo, but I officially am confused with insurance contract law. Hopefully contracts next semester will help.

Today I completed my game plan for the rest of the semester. My number one goal is to hide from the law school as much as possible. I have already been asked by people I do not know about the status of my outlines or how am I studying for my exams.

My goal for making it through the next 15 days is to stick to my routine. Eat, sleep, exercise, watch TV, read, and do home work as scheduled.  I am hopefully not going to catch the panic.

I will keep you updated!

Ciao.

Running away from law school.

Get me the heck out of here!!

I am not the only law student that has thought this. Between the constant work load and the mind games everyone plays- we just want to pretend we applied to medical school instead.

Here at PSU Dickinson, we have the week off for Turkey day break. One of my profs said that the only thing we should be doing during this break besides studying for exams is maybe eating some turkey. My plans are slightly more expansive.

Today I am going to my last class, Civ Pro and then running for the hills. Off to Scranton I drive. Once there, I will make a pit stop at Allied and say hi to my peeps, next go over to my doctor's to get a shot, and then head up Cissy's to cuddle with my babies. Finally at 6:30, I am hopping a plane to RI where I am spending a good part of my break.

Saturday I am heading up to Mass and stopping in to see Ms. Sara Q and her boy Colin.  I also I have lunch date with a fellow SAO member, Carolyn. I am only spending the day, so Saturday night I am busing back to RI and going to see Twilight with my Ricardo.

Sunday, I am running in RWU's turkey trot- only a 5K, but a great guarantee for some exercise (who would of thought I would one day say ONLY a 5K?).

Monday and Tuesday I plan on meeting up with various friends including pretending I still work in the SAO. Wednesday I head back home.

Thursday will be the Turkey day with Friday-Sunday just being genuine chill days.

How does Law School fit in? Did I fall off the bus?

No fears: I made my kick bum game plan.

I calculated the best way to fit all my school books in a carry on, and determined even if I could squeak by with that much weight, I would break my back before I did all the work. So, I priotize. My final Memo is do for Legal Writing first, so all that research is going on the plan with me.  Here is a template of my game plan:

Friday-Wednesday: Finish Legal Memo and proof read A LOT.

Do Criminal Law outline.

Thursday-Sunday: Do Torts outline

Do Civ Pro outline.

Outlines are important for final time (or so they tell me) in order to organize the law in one's head.  I am doing my outlines in order of finals times. Some people only outline for final study purposes. I hope to be able to finish mine before the last week of classes so I can do a kick as review.

I am going to combine my free time during break with nice study time with fun time.  My goal is to not catch the Law School plague and get through this with only a small ulcer.

Hence, I am running away.

Happy Turkey day!

As the BSB once said: The Countdown is ON!

The Fall semester is coming to a close with only two more weeks of class.  I am excited to turn back into a human for a few weeks for winter break.  I am not excited for finals.

I do get a week off for Turkey day- which will give me plenty time to edit my final Legal Writing memo and work on my outlines for my other classes.  I also am traveling up to New England and visiting friends.

Life can't be too horrible right?

My legal writing professor has been promising our closed memo papers for the last week.  Not in some vague, "I think sometime this week," but a serious, "They will be emailed to you on Wednesday."

Or "Thursday."

Or "Friday afternoon."

Or "Sometime on Saturday."

As does the good lord, Sunday is the day of rest so no paper.

I woke up to an email this morning from my professor saying how she will be handing them back early this afternoon. As of 3:50- still no paper.

It doesn't really bother me that I don't have it back yet. I am from the academic world that no news is good news.  I prefer usually not getting my work back.  My problem is that I loose all focus if I know something is coming back.  I keep on checking my email. (as of 3:53- no paper). Each day that goes by I get more and more tense up.  

The need for the grade gets louder and louder. I warn my family that I could call them that day because the grade is supposed to be back. (Side issue: the overachiever complex makes me worried about my grade because so far all my friends have cried when they got theirs). So now I have my mother calling my late at night asking about the grade.  Ricky answers the phone with "how did you do?" My sister even asks me unprompted.

It takes a lot for me to loose my focus. Anticipation is my kryptonite. 

I am continuing to do my work and prepare for the upcoming crunch weeks.  I spent last weekend at home in order to recharge.  Watched some Trublood.  Got my follicles cut.  Played with my babies.  Ran in a monsoon.  Watched fiddler on the roof with Mom and Mont.  Crunched out some Blue book (Law school citing) and read all my readings.

AND CHECKED MY EMAIL EVERY hour for my GRADE!

Luckily, only my family and friends know about my need to explode.  As ascertained by the edgy tone in the class email my professor sent, I think there are already one too many law students emailing her and asking her for our grades back.  I refuse to do so because I know she is busy and she has been really helpful so far with my work. I am not going to bite the hand that feeds me- especially since she is the one professor I will have again next semester and she is the on who fills out recommendations for me for summer work.

Thanks for listening to these ramblings :-)

PS: 4:02: No e-mail. When is early afternoon anyway? In Italy I could totally say Buona Sera right now.....

Week 10: Another book?

Monday we had Career Services Orientation in between classes. The nice people for the CSO handed us a HUGE manual about reaching not only summer but final employment. They told us that the first 10 weeks of law school we were supposed to just worry about our academics, but now employment is an issue to juggle in with all the reading, briefing, researching, writing, and final taking.

Can you say great?

So, me being me, I read the manual as a procrastination devise. I have decided that the type of law I would like is probably in fields of law that I don't want to practice. How does that work? I love to research and write- standard skills in the legal profession- but I also like to deal with big problems.  If I work in a public interest, the problems aren't as interesting and I would be spending more time in court. Not bad and probably fulfilling....  I need to now research public interest researching jobs.

All this free time I have.... right.  Now I understand why they don't want law students to work during winter break- they want them to spend the time applying for jobs.  Jobs that 50% of the time mean that you need to volunteer to do.  

Already looking forward to summer time.....

On happier news- I am having fun with friends. Probably too much fun since I could be doing so much more school work. My family and friends came down this weekend so I was not as productive as I could be. Tomorrow I need to make my list and then get cracking.

Off I go to read another book... ciao!

Legal Writing....

I can't write a short sentence!!! 

My roommate has two dogs. Whenever I try to give them a command, I say too long of a sentence. Example: Bailey, do you think I could please have that ball?? Vs my roommate: Bailey, ball. My roommate laughs when I mutter my frustration and says that it is probably my philosophy degree messing me up.

I think it is that combined with Classics. My peeps who have translated from Latin in English (namely with our friend Cicero) know that in order to say in english what they say in latin we need to write a lot. Cicero loved to combined different types of clauses. When I took German, I had fun making long sentences. English readers don't like reading long sentences. Especially law professors.

My first graded assignment is due on Monday. I want to kick bum. I need not to write such long confusing sentences with dependent clauses. I find this difficult, especially since there is a page limit. Combining sentence saves space. But, alas, confuses people. 

As you guys are probably.

Hence the tittle of my blog. The RAMBLING Orator. I guess I could pretend that it costs money for each word I use. Grumble Grumble.

Off I go work!

PS: My Torts professor was a Classics major in undergrad. He laughed when I told him that my only beef with 300 was the use of Hercules.  That saved my day!

The Penn State Kool-Aid

You can't help but notice the pride Pennsylvanians have for Penn-State. Driving around you will see paw prints on car doors, JoePa bumper stickers, and on game days, brown tails sticking out from behind the car. Kids dream of going to Penn State while parents remember going to Penn State. Everyone has the Nittany Lion sweatshirt. It gets a little crazy.

Until last night- I have never REALLY bit drunk the Kool-aid. Yes, awesome state school but not something I was prepared to devote my life to. The reason I decided to come to the main campus, University Park, instead of the other campus for my law school (where Dickinson has operated since the 1800's) was because UP is closer to home and my sister always said she loved her summer she spent here so I thought I would give it a try.

State College is a great area- looks rural with all the cows and sheep, but has the convenience of a city with great ethnic food and shopping 5 minutes from my house. You just have to ignore the college students who walk in the middle of the road, and all and all a good time.

I joked to Ricky that I drank too much of the Mac Kool-aid that there was no fanatic behavior left in me to become a PSU cult member.

Boy, I was wrong.

Just like I thought Classics stole my only sole and then Philosophy swept in and stole my void, apparently there is enough fanatic in me to LOVE the Penn State.

I went to my first big game: Penn State vs Michigan.

I probably would have jumped on the bandwagon sooner if I hadn't gone to Italy last summer. While I was enjoying the Almafi Coast, PSU student tickets went on sale. They sold out in 10 minutes.  I had no shot of getting into any of the games. I never thought I had a popsicle chance of going to one of the biggest games of the year (I couldn't even snag tickets to go see the Coastal Carolina game). I am poor law student- I need to prioritize (like Backstreet Boys tickets). So how did I get to go? Facebook.

I noticed my cousin had as his away message that he was going down to the PSU game. He came down for an earlier game and totally did not stop and say hi. So I facebooked ragged him. 10 minutes later, I had a ticket to go to the BIGGEST game with my aunt and uncle for free. FREE! I like those prices. So I went and got a PSU sweatshirt so I can go to the game styling.

Yesterday I woke up early and made my way to the law school to park and do some work in the morning. (I can't waste any time according to Civ Pro Prof.... during Thanksgiving Break we should only stop studying in order to eat some Turkey). I was very productive- hunted some legal principles and got a good chunk of revision on my memo for Legal Writing.

I then wandered over to the stadium and found the family tailgating. Ooo the food! (And the alcohol- my aunt is classy- she brought her Pinto Grigio with real wine glasses). I love my family- They made sure I ate enough and was enjoying myself. My cousins came by and were their crazy selves. Perfecto afternoon. I would have been happy not to even see the game- or so I thought!

I sat with my aunt in some AWESOME seats. Seriously, I was like 20 rows back from the 30 yard line. Perfect spot to see the end-zone. PSU had butter fingers for most of the first half- and it looked like the Michigan curse (beat PSU for the last 9 years) was going to come true again at 17-0. 

Then- JoePa must have called down from the press box and told his players they should play some football. By half-time they evened up the score 17-14. The second half they killed Michigan. (Even completing almost a 50 yard touch down) and the game ended up 46-17. 

My PSU Kool-Aid drinking happened somewhere between the surety of defeat and the mascot dancing to Thriller while dressed up as Michael Jackson.  All the fans were cheering- We are Penn State- and singing. We booed Michigan when they had possession of the ball. It was homecoming so there were both the student marching band and the alumni band. There were twirlers and color guard- even dancers.

Moral of the story- you can't be thrust in the center of huge game without finding some school spirit. I am definitely getting my tickets next year because football seems to be a great asset to my law school and I don't want to miss out!

One more question...

Law school lectures are taught in the style of my friend, Socrates. The so called Socratic Method means that professors use helpless students in order to teach a lesson. (Resembling the Meno if you are playing the Plato home edition: Socrates shows that a boy with no education surely knows that 2 +2= 4 because of the world of ideas- really, Socrates just asks leading- yes or no-questions). The professors ask questions in order to bring forth legal principles from case law. Sounds like fun? Eh?

All in all, I don't mind it. I am used to talking in class (thank you small majors) and I do my work so I at least can carry on my own. Well, today, in Torts, my professor tested my confidence level.

He walked in and gave the administrative talk about how we are going to do the reading in order to make up for the last two classes. He mentioned how he wanted to move fast through today's reading, so he was going to mostly lecture on Immunity defenses instead of calling on people. Professors rarely lecture- so the whole class sighed with relief.

Then, my favorite professor looked up and caught my eye... and said, "Jena, did you do the reading?"

Note: My professor knows my name- good right when there are over fifty people in the class? WRONG- that means you get called on if the professor is too lazy to look down at the seating chart. 

Off course I answered yes. I did do the reading, but I still would have said yes anyway. I learned in Civ Pro last week never say you didn't do the reading.

Then begins the 'lecture' on Immunities- aka- Professor and Jena question and answer time. Woo hoo... 

Normally, my professor is really nice and tries not to make us feel too stupid, so if you start to flounder he will move on to his next victim. Even if you aren't floundering, he normally moves on at least after we discuss the first case. 10 minutes of Socratic torture. Not so bad.

I sat there, flipping through my case book, even gaining bonus point for answering a trick question. I feel good. Should be done any moment now...

My favorite nice professor who will start lecturing at any minute then states, "Ok, one more question Jena..."

Two cases and twenty minutes later I am brained fried, but successful. I answered about five million one more questions....

After class, my fellow victims- I mean students- acknowledged- wtf.

I officially learned today that I should never under estimate my professors- they are willing to torture in new exciting ways the moment you think you get a handle on what is going on in law school.

Jena's fun Law wtf:  The police have a duty to protect everybody which means they have a duty to protect nobody.

This Time Last Year...

Great news: 

Less class! Torts was cancelled yesterday and today and Legal writing was cancelled yesterday and again tomorrow. What does this mean for a young, vibrant, and free-spirited law student? More time to do work!! Wooo Hoo!

In between breaks of reading about sexual offenses and trying to understand what removal and remand is, I took some reflection time. Boy, some things are vastly different than this time last year. 

First, schools:

Fall 2007: Senior at Roger Williams in the middle all New England.

Fall 2008: I am a 1L (cool term for first year law student) at  The Dickinson School of Law at The Pennsylvania State University in the middle of PA.

The difference between the two are vast. State College  becomes the 3rd largest PA city on game days- then it is a cool town nestled in farm country. PSU hosts over 40,000 students. RWU: 4,000. I have over 120 people in my class at PSU. RWU: Between 3-20.

I get lost more here because of the size difference. I am not saying bigger is better- although thanks to my program I do feel most of the time not like a number. I don't think it would have been a good idea for me to come here 5 years ago as an undecided.

Second, work:

Last year at this time I had 4 jobs. Currently: I have 0. None. Zip. No income. In fact it is against the American Bar Association for me to work. Seriously. I could get kicked out for getting a part time job. No wonder lawyers cost so much: they are living on loans.

Although I have classes here (only four), I spend most of my time reading and preparing for class- which is definitely different from RWU. But, fortunately, I like my work, which I take to be a good sign.

Third, relationships:

Oddly enough, not much has changed. The quality of my  friendships remain strong, even though the I don't see them as much as I would like. I miss Starbucks dates.

But being close to home, I have been able to go up to Scranton and see my family. I get to see my niece and nephew more regularly. I like not to be forgotten!

Also, I miss my boyfriend. But it helps that we are both so busy and we kind race through our work so we could spend a few weekends together. Also helps I am luring him to the dark side of how wonderful PA is... hehehe...

Fourth, health:

Last year at this time I was my couch potato self. I would exercise irregularly. Eat a lot of the healthy things. Enjoy all the good college food.

This year: I am down 30 pounds, managed my portion sizes, and run regularly. Heck, I even finished a Half Marathon. 

Conclusion:

Things are moving to the better. Pretty content with the way life is going- now I just need to work on my writing. Then I would be happy as a peach!

Trying to stay on the bus...

The Good News: I successfully completed my first 7 weeks of law school.

The Bad News: I only have 7 weeks until my first round of law school finals.

Today, my Civ Pro teacher told us that we have entered the part of the school year where half the class will fall of the law school bus. He sounded just like a guy breaking up with a girl,  "its not you... it just the way law school is... it happens at every law school..."

Gulp.

I can do this? Right? As one for never wanting to get tests back, I find it odd that I am resenting the final only grade system. Maybe I wouldn't resent it so much if it weren't for the fact that law school is ranked. My scholarship depends on that rank. 

Gulp.

The good news is that I am enjoying all my classes.  Since this is my first blog entry, I will tell you about the topics:

Civil Procedure: 

The class where we learn how to file civil suits in court. Easy paperwork? Nope. Besides having to memorize five million rules (Thank Tony for you magical system of language memorization- it works for learning FCRP rule 4 (A) (1) (a) too), we have to interpret case-law in order to understand a) whether a court can cast a valid judgement over the defendant and b) whether the court can even hear the case based on the type of claim. 

Criminal Law: 

The law and order part of my day. These cases are not dull to read, but sometimes scary- not just because of the homicides, but also because of some of the decisions that are spun out because of statutes. 

Torts:

Besides making me want to have a nice cake, I did not have a clue what legal concept we would cover in this class. Tort law is civil claims where plaintiffs try to have their wrongs redressed: aka- money damages. In tort, we have covered negligence claims so far. Interesting- but like Crim Law, makes me sad when some decisions are made.

Legal Writing:

Learning how to write like a lawyer. Cool tip: Courts do not like synonyms or crazy syntax. But they do like organized writing. When in doubt: repeat repeat repeat.

I will write more about my quest to become an active citizen alla Cicero.

Stay tuned!!

Law School Tip for the day: Never tell a law professor that you didn't read a four page case because you have too much work!