Finals, Holidays, Job Searches...Oh My!

Well, it's time for my monthly post, and there is a lot to talk about. I've gone through my first law school finals period, we did all the holiday stuff, and I've been doggedly looking for a summer job. I've suffered, learned, gained weight, wasted time, worked hard, traveled, worried, waffled, pontificated, celebrated, stressed, and on and on and on all in about a month.

First, let's talk about finals. Now, I have been through a real finals period before, despite having gone to an arts conservatory. We did have academic requirements, and a lot of our theater classes had finals or final projects. So, I have experienced all night cram sessions, quadruple shot starbucks machiatos, and intense mental pressure. However, unless you've been to med school, law school, or something similar, you have not done "Finals." I'm not trying to diminish some of the trials and travails other grad level education programs require and this is not the bar exam, but this is something nuts. Let's set you up with some background first, you're in school with the top 1% of the smartest people in the country, you're being graded on a curve which means you're in direct competition with everyone sitting around you(curve means your grade is not based solely on your merits but on how everyone else does), you've had no assessment all semester to tell you where you stand(no graded papers or quizes), and this also means that this test is your only grade for this class period. So, can you see where the pressure may come from?

The process itself seems innocuous enough. Classes end a few days before your first exam so you have time to study, you have a few days in between each exam, and the exams are only about 3 hours long. The reality is much different. Studying for finals starts well before the "reading period" and you can't wait because everyone else is starting early, snatching up important books and practice exams. And a few days before the first exam and between to relearn a whole semester's worth of cases and law, not to mention taking practice exams? Yeah, right. And, lastly, the exams are 3 hours long, and depending on the course and the sadistic difficulty level of the questions, that can either be an eternity or not nearly enough time.

The whole period is kind of a walking nightmare. You start outlining in late November or early December, if you're behind like me.(finals are mid-December) Oulining is basically going back through all of you material from the semester, case briefs, class notes, professor handouts, cases, etc, and synthesizing it into one, small document(small being 30-50 pages, or more). Usually you can bring these into an exam with you, so from the outside most people see it as a kind of cheat sheet. But, in actuality, the outlining process helps you remember and relearn all of the material you covered in the semester. There is so much you read and discuss in law school that it's near to impossible to remember it all from the first pass, so this oulining really helps you get a hold on it. Also, they really aren't cheat sheets because if you're going through a 35-50 page document in only a 3 hour test for each answer, you're in big trouble. The oultine is there in the exam for emergencies only. OK, so everyone is running around trying to outline, scheming on what format will work best for them and give them an edge over everyone else, searching for that really obscure article the prof mentioned about that one thing, racking their notes and brains to find every little tidbit we talked about in class, and then editing and re-editing it all. We're all going through the library archives desperately trying to read and take all the past exams that the specific professor has given. For some reason, we think that these past exams will not only prepare us for the prof's style(which they will) but that they will give a definite clue as to what subject matter and cases will be on the exam(which they won't). And, lastly, we all sit around together discussing the cases, theories, strategies, and mostly bitching about the process and trying to convince eachother of the right way to do it.

It's very important to understand other environmental factors here as well. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is on a steady daily diet of no sleep, 4-6 coffees, or red bulls or mix thereof, cookies(yeah, I don't get it either), and any other crap that we can quickly cram down our gullet in between study sessions. We all cram into either the library, a study room, or coffee house. All of these are either too hot, too cold, too loud, too quiet, too crowded, too empty or too whatever to focus. Not to mention we all have wireless, and the internet is an unavoidable siren of procrastination.

So, you add all of the above together and it creates quite a weird, alien environment, as if law school wasn't different enough compared to everything else I'd ever been through. Then remember that this goes on for 2 and 1/2 weeks. Which brings me to an interesting point, finals is a marathon, well that's what everyone says. I've run a marathon, so I can say that the point is bullshit. Finals is an ultra-marathon through death valley in July. It's really just important to remember that this is not just about the individual exams but getting through all of it.

The exams themselves vary in difficulty, or rather it varies why they're difficult. They are all difficult. Some are mental Everests, except with Everest you know you have to go up and which direction that is, not so here. You just know it's mamoth and you're supposed to do something with it, but you have no idea what. Other exams may not be conceptually that difficult, but there is just so much to write about and so many questions that you can't possibly finish it in time. And then there are the ones that are just so, so simple(well, they seem that way), that you answer the questions quickly then sit there for an hour editing your answers and second/third/fourth/fifth-guessing yourself because it couldn't possibly be that simple, could it?

Overall, I think I did pretty well. There was one exam where I know for a fact that the professor sat down to write it with the theme, "How can I reduce them to confused, unknowing, crying infants in one exam?" But, at least everyone sat up and let out a stream of expletives after reading the first question, and we all promptly ended it by googling all of the business school applications we could. Still, I never felt out of place or completely overmatched, and in the end that's important but so is how I stand up compared to everyone else. I'll know for sure in a couple weeks when I get my grades. I did learn a lot about how I study and what is most helpful to me, after wasting a bunch of time doing it the wrong way. Well, I think I did, I'll know for sure with the grades. I'm pretty glad, and I know Noreen is, that this only happens once every 5 months, and that I don't need the grades to know for sure.

After that was over, and my friends and I spent a good evening being irresponsible to relieve the stress, Noreen and I went to my mother's in Dallas for Christmas. The usual travel crap came up here. We had to make sure the dogs were taken care of, that fell to my brother. He did a pretty good job with some hiccups, but that's to be expected. I'm pretty sure the dogs have deeply held resentment for us going away, though. To get from Boston to Dallas, we had to go from Boston to Providence, RI to Detroit to Dallas. Aaaahhhh, I love modern air travel. The Providence airport is much nicer than when I was in college, and it's only slightly longer to drive there than to take the subway to the Boston ariport. Detroit is pretty freakin cool! It's got it's own tram inside, and it's basically a giant mall with some airplanes parked outside, which is good if you're going to be there for 5 hours like we were. The flights themselves were fine and we didn't have any problems, we even got an earlier flight back without losing any luggage.

Going to my mom's was pretty good. We hadn't been to Dallas in a couple years, and hadn't seen my mom or stepdad since last October(2006). However, when you're used to having your own place, and routine, it's always hard to visit someone else's place. If you're in a hotel it's one thing, and if you have your own means of transportation, but when you, as an adult, become dependent on your parents again for everything, even for just a week, it's pretty frustrating. That's just normal. It was still great to visit with my mom and stepdad, and extended family.

Noreen and I did take one night to ourselves, which was our X-mas present to eachother. We got a hotel room downtown, and went out to a wonderful steak dinner(when in Rome). Downtown Dallas is developing at quite a pace right now. They are building all sorts of entertainment venues, apartments, condos, etc., and clearly trying to attract young people to the city as opposed to the suburbs. It's a good development since there is so much driving in Dallas, and this may cut down on that. Additionally, this may create a central hub in Dallas too, which would be good, it's a fairly spread out city.

After our trip, we just hung out for a week, seeing movies, walking around, spending time together. This whole week just reminded me how lucky I am. Noreen and I are best friends, and with all the business of life it's easy to forget or at least take for granted how much we love just being near eachother. I also got two more suits for work and whatever. I love buying nice clothes, rather, I love having nice clothes. Some guys may not enjoy clothes or wearing a suit, and I tell you that I don't get that whole thing at all. There is nothing better than getting all dressed up and going to dinner or something. And when you're at a business meeting, nothing makes you feel more confident than well-tailored, good looking clothes. Ok, where did that come from?

Oh, there was that little New Year's thing. Well, this year, we definitely did the old, adult thing. For the past 3 or 4 years, we've always gone to our friend's party in NYC. Well, this year because of money and the diaspora of a lot of friends from NYC, we decided to stay in Boston. So, we got together with a few law school friends, cooked a really good roast beef dinner, played board games, and watched the ball drop. I gotta say, the parties were fun, but this was a really great night, one of the best in a while for New Year's. I guess I am getting older.

Luckily, Noreen continued here internship at the school this past week. I say luckily because it prompted me to get off my butt and start doing some work that I had to get done. I started prepping for the next semester, getting admin stuff in order, storing away last semester's stuff, buying books, calendar prepping, and some reading. I also started the second phase of my summer job search. The first phase was the firm thing that I wrote about before. I've received more rejection letters but only about fifty percent, so I followed up with some of them and it's in a holding pattern for the time being. I started researching and applying to other positions, primarily doing public interest work. There are some pretty exciting options out there, hopefully I'll have an opportunity to interview with some of them. It's a little unnerving to have to deal with this and school, but I'm much more calm about it than before. I've just got to keep plugging away at it, trusting that the right job will come, and the money thing will work itself out.

School starts tomorrow, and classes on Tuesday. I'll be right in the thick of it right away. I've got a major project immediately, Moot Court. I've got some deadlines for fellowship applications pretty soon. And, the negotiations competition starts up in about a week for nationals. Plus, I've got regular class prep to do. Should be fun.

Oh, and Go Pats! Did you see Tom Brady last night, amazing! 26 of 28, unreal.