Back to School I Go

Well, I have survived my first week back to school. I think it's going to be a pretty good semester as far as classes go. I've got Family Law with Professor Bell who is highly respected in the family law realm in MS. Secured Transactions, which is a business law class. Civil Procedure II which is a very practical class since it teaches you how to actually file a lawsuit. US Space Law with the foremost professor on Space Law. Ole Miss has the most respected (and one of the few) Space Law programs. Last, but not least I am taking Federal Trial practice which is a class on how to conduct a trial.

Overall, it will be a very informative and practical semester. However, my schedule leaves me somewhat wanting, mainly because the only days that are the same are Mondays and Wednesdays, and that is somewhat annoying, but oh well. Here is my schedule:

Monday - Family Law 9:30-11 and Secured Transactions 3-4:30
Tuesday - Civ Pro II 9:30-11; Space Law 12:30-2; and Federal Trial Practice 2-5
Wednesday - Family Law 9:30-11 and Secured Transactions 3-4:30
Thursday - Space Law 12:30-2
Friday - Civ Pro II 9:30-11

Like I said, a little random. This first week has been a little hectic because I've had to run errands and get my schedule/routine down. Luckily, I have a 3 day weekend to get caught back up (I'm already behind, how crazy is that?) and I'll be using it.

I have also begun sending off more resumes for summer internships. I know. I know. I should have done it over Christmas, and I did to an extent, but now the motivation is really there. So wish me luck, and if you know any lawyers/law firms that need a summer clerk let me know! :)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand BREAK!

I'm done! I made it through finals alive! It's a miracle! Ok, maybe not a miracle, but it's pretty darn awesome!

Last week I had finals on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. It was a stressful week, and I literally did not know what day it was. I just knew I had a final or not. After my Saturday final I took the afternoon and evening off and then all day Sunday as well. It was a nice little break. I got back to studying on Monday for my Wednesday, and last, final.

Yesterday after my final I went Christmas shopping and didn't find anything for my family, but I did find presents for my friends (progress?). I think I have an idea what I'm going to get the fam, but they're so hard to find presents for!

Anyways, I also went and saw The Muppets yesterday afternoon. That movie is awesome! I'm so glad there's a new Muppets movie out. Then I spent the rest of the evening doing absolutely nothing! :-D

Today I slept in (wonderful) and then cleaned my apartment. It's best to clean before you leave so when you come back it's a relief. My apartment is never as clean as right before I leave, I wonder why that is? :)

I'm getting ready to finish packing to head home for break. I'll be heading home tomorrow. Tonight is the end of the year/we survived finals/Christmas party. Last year it was a ton of fun, and I completely expect it to be just as good tonight.

Hope everyone has a good Holiday Season! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Another month down...

Wow! I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving and almost finals! Where in the world did this semester go? I feel like I just got back from London when the riots were going on! This semester has been pretty busy. Let's see... I had the Moot Court Competition in September, and then October was a little less hectic. October and March are really down months for law students b/c you've gotten into your routine, and it's far enough away from finals that you don't need to do as much work.

Last weekend was Halloween, and that was a lot of fun. The 2Ls (the year I'm in) hosted our own party on Thursday night b/c a lot of people were going out of town for the weekend, and the Law School Halloween Party was on Saturday. So I got 2 Halloween parties in and successfully wore two different costumes. I was a ballerina on Thursday night and I dressed up like I was going to a masquerade on Saturday. Kevin was one of the Swamp People (which is a show on the history channel about gator hunters down in the bayou of Louisiana). I put up some pics below.

So now it's November, which means it's really time to start hunkering down and preparing for finals, which for me means making lots and lots of flash cards. This weekend not much is going on, and after last weekend, I am thankful for that. Next weekend I'm going to Georgia w/ Kevin to see the University of Georgia v. University of Auburn game. I'm really excited to go. I've seen Athens before, but not full of students tailgating and such. Kevin talks about all the good times he had there, so I'm excited to experience it myself, even if ever so slightly.

The following weekend it's the beginning of Thanksgiving break. This is something I used to look forward to, but now it's just a week off to study. *sigh* Oh well. It'll be nice to go home. There's a home football game on that Saturday, and I'll probably go home after that. After my week off I've got a week of classes and then it's 2 weeks of finals and then Christmas break. Can you believe it's so close???

So the other thing that's been going on this semester is that I've been taking adult ballet classes. It's a good way to just get away from law school for an hour during the week. I've enjoyed it a lot, and of course I've learned some ballet, which is always nice. :) So because I've been taking these classes, I now get to participate in this years production of The Nutcracker! I'm just in the very beginning in the party scene, and then I help wrangle the kids backstage through the rest of the performance. There's 2 shows: Dec. 3 and 4. Of course, this is the ballet school's performance, so it's not exactly like we used to see in Tulsa, but still... it's the Nutcracker!

That's what has been going on around here though. Still just taking it one day at a time. This semester has been pretty awesome. Here's some Halloween pics:



This is me at the first party as a ballerina with my friend Ryan who was the prince of darkness.



This is me at the second party. I really liked the masquerade idea. :)



This is me and Kevin. Kevin was one of the gator hunters from swamp people... note the gator on his shoulder. It's attached to a piece of rope because on the show, they catch the gators almost like you would catch fish with a hook on the end of a rope.



This is me and my friends Chase and his girlfriend Liz. They went as Vladimir Putin and his woman.

Half way already?

Sorry it's been so long. Law school is just a little time consuming. :)

So the first half of the semester has gone well. I've kept up on my reading, and I'm even starting my flash cards for finals early (I'm so proud of myself)! The first week was pretty tame, just getting used to being back in school. The second week began a month long stress fest. It was the moot court competition. The first two weeks we had to write a brief, which is essentially a 20 page paper discussing why your side should win. The two sides were the gov't and a drug company named Zydeco. I was the gov't. The worst part is, your not allowed to talk to anyone else (whether they're in the competition or not), which was more frustrating to me than actually writing the brief. After we turned in the brief we had a week to work on our oral arguments. We had to make essentially a 20 min. speech for both sides. But while we talk, the judges can interrupt us and ask us questions about the issues. So the fourth week it was time for oral arguments, we had to do two. I argued first for the gov't on Monday, and then on Wednesday, I had to switch sides and argue for Zydeco. Unfortunately, after all this stress and work, I did not make the team. I'm not super surprised, but I am very surprised at some of the people who did make it, and that pissed me off more than not making it. Oh well, it's in the past.

After that I felt it weird to have extra time in my day, and I felt guilty, so I started making flash cards for finals. The past two weeks have been pretty low key, which I love. The other thing that goes on in the fall is of course, football! We've had about 4 home games, and it's amazing. You go out to the grove, which is this big grassy area, and you tailgate (watch tv, eat food, hang with friends). It's the most fun thing about Oxford in my opinion. :)

Mom and Chels came up this weekend so they could participate in a prospective student day at Ole Miss. I think they both enjoyed it, and I enjoyed having them here. Chels was here two weeks ago for the Ole Miss v. University of Georgia football game, and she'll be back in 2 more weeks for the Arkansas university v. Ole Miss game. Mom wanted to come, but she has a swim meet that day.

Plans for the rest of the semester for me include a Fall Fun event this coming Friday, a Halloween Party in a few weeks, more football games, and continuing to study for finals. Sounds like fun right? As much as I'm ready for the semester to be over, school seems to be going by much too fast for my liking.

A new school year

So I'm finishing my second week of my 2L year and I have to say the old adage is true: "Your 1L year they scare you to death. Your 2L year they work you to death. And your 3L year they bore you to death." Well so far years 1 and 2 have proven true... Kind of can't wait for the 3L year right now.

So this year started off with a bang. I moved in a week early so I could get settled and unpacked in my new place, and I'm very happy with how it all turned out. I have my own space (with lots of storage, which is good b/c I have a lot of stuff. Did I mention I filled 3 closets w/ clothes?) that's the perfect size for me. I can make it as dirty/messy or as clean as I want. It's kind of nice.

The first week was filled w/ "welcome back to law school now let's get to work" classes. This year I My schedule looks something like this:
Mon and Wed - Legal Profession (Ethics) from 8-9:20
Mon and Wed - Jurisprudence (Philosophy) from 9:30-10:50
Mon, Wed, and Fri - Evidence from 1:30-2:50 (M/W) and 12:30-1:50 (F)
Tues and Thurs - Criminal Procedure I (what police are allowed to do) from 8-9:20
Tues and Thurs - Entertainment Law from 2-3:20

I rearranged my schedule a little bit from what it originally was (I had Income tax instead of entertainment law), but this works out better for me. This past Monday was the beginning of the Moot Court competition. This is one of two competitions I can enter in order to get on the Moot Court team. Moot Court is a combination of Mock Trial and Appellate arguing (it would take way to long to explain what those are on here, but essentially it's like different types of trial practice). I have two weeks to write a 25 page brief and then I have to do two 20 minute oral arguments for each side. The current board members grade it. They gave us an 18 page problem that contains two opinions of past decisions. We have to read through the problem, research the problem, and then write a paper. You only write your brief for one side though (which means as I do research for my side, I also need to do research for the other side too). So this week in all my spare time I've been researching cases for this problem. Today I'm finishing my research and writing an outline so come Sunday I can start writing.

What makes this difficult is I still have reading to do for my 5 classes, and all my clubs are having their beginning of the year meetings, and I need to work on my resume and cover letters so I can start applying for jobs/internships over the next month, and to top it all off, I developed a cold this week which essentially incapacitated me for a day. On the bright side, I got ahead in a lot of my reading last week so I wouldn't feel guilty not reading a day or two this week or next. I've also gotten caught up on my research from earlier this week. So as soon as I get the rest of this research done and outline written I will be free until Sunday.

Which basically brings me to this weekend. College football has returned!!!!! Ole Miss' first game is against BYU (Brigham Young University). This should be interesting in more than one way. The main reason of course being the strictness of BYU's policies and the lack there of at Ole Miss. The Grove (where tailgating is held) is a different type of experience, and one where the alcohol and sodas tend to runneth over. Of course we all dress up for the football games too. And, since we're in MS, the weather has decided it will give BYU a warm (very warm) welcome. I hope they like 95 degree weather that feels like 100 (the game kicks off at 3:45).

Football = my favorite time of the year!!!

Anyways, that's all from here (pretty much). Hope everyone's well. Have a good weekend.

New Place

Living room from the front door.



Living room from the Kitchen



My Kitchen



My Kitchen



My Bathroom



My Office



My Bedroom

The End (but not really)

Sorry it's taken so long for me to write this last post, and of course because of that it'll be kind of long. :)

So my last few days at Cambridge were spent mostly studying, but it paid off. I've gotten 2 of 3 grades back and they are an A and a B+. Wednesday after our last final I went and packed up my room. The general goal was just to get everything in suitcases, which of course made my big suitcase quite heavy. :) That afternoon I met up with Jesse and we grabbed a few beers/ciders and a magazine and headed to the park to soak up the beautiful weather (75 and sunny). It was a great afternoon. That evening was the farewell dinner. It was pretty good actually. Both Czarnetsky (Ole Miss prof) and Hopkins (Cambridge prof) made speeches. All the professors and their families were there. It was a good time all around. After dinner we headed to the college bar for last night of frivolity, and many of the professors joined us which was fun. And when that closed we hit the town in Cambridge. It was a good way to end our stay there.

Thursday we had to be out of our rooms by noon, and a few of us caught the train to London together, and separated once we were there. While pulling my suitcase along the streets of London though I discovered that not only was my suit case broken, but one of the wheels was broken as well, which made it much more like dragging than pulling. Kevin was kind enough to pull my ridiculously heavy bag to the hostel for me. I stayed at Queen Mary, a University of London Campus in East London. It was really nice actually. That afternoon, Kevin and I went to the Great Britain Beer Festival. We had a lot of fun doing that. After dinner, Kevin headed to the airport where he was staying because he had an early flight in the morning.

Friday I got up and did quite a few things. I went to the Cabinet War Rooms where Churchill ran WWII from. It was amazing. It is pretty much exactly as it was left. It looks as though on the last day they left, and the next day, the museum people came and put glass up and it became a museum. After that, I walked down to Buckingham Palace because I was near there, and then back towards Big Ben. For lunch I went to one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants. It wasn't one of his more famous ones. It is called York & Albany. It was still really good food though. After lunch I walked through Regent's Park because it was another gorgeous day. After that I went to M&M World, which is actually just a big M&M Store, but it's still pretty cool. That night I met some friends for dinner in Covent Garden.

Saturday I went to Dover for the day. I went and saw the white cliffs and the castle. It was also very interesting. It was very cloudy and started raining as I walked back to the train station later that afternoon, but other than that it was nice. I saw the underground tunnels used in WWII, a lot of old guns and tanks, and then of course the castle. I went in the castle and up to the top. I enjoyed it quite a bit. After that I headed back into London, and went to the Globe to get tickets for whatever show was playing that night. It ended up being a show called The Globe Mysteries. It was a play that took people through Bible from creation to Judgment Day. It was written in Old English, and a lot of the costumes were modern (it was kind of like watching Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio). It was really good though, and very well performed. There were some humorous parts in it, which made it that much more enjoyable to watch. I was just going to pay 5 pounds and stand, but the weather had said it was supposed to rain, and although it didn't look like rain, I didn't want to risk it. And it did rain while the show was performed.

On Sunday I got up and was supposed to meet some friends that afternoon to go to Camden Market, but we ended up not being able to, so I went shopping on Oxford Circus that afternoon. It rained a lot on Sunday, but luckily it only rained when I was in the shops looking around. :) I went to dinner at a pub that night (I figured it'd be my last time for a while), and after that headed back to my room so I could repack everything for tomorrow. I had to be out of my room by 7:30/7:45 that morning because they were going to begin refurbishing the room I was staying in. I was supposed to be in a different room on the 4th floor, but as there were no elevators and my suitcases were heavy and one was broken, I asked to be moved, and that was the condition of my moving, which was fine with me.

So on Monday I got up early, and put my luggage in storage and headed out for the day. I went to Windsor Castle that day. I figured I'd spend 2 hours there (tops) and be done; then I could get back into town and get out to my hotel with lots of time to relax. Yeah... about that... :) I ended up spending 4 hours there. I did the audio tour, as well as a guided tour (the guided tour was actually a private one because I was the only one who showed up for that time). I went into the State Apartments and those were gorgeous. Then I went up to the top of the Round Tower and got some great views of the area. After that I went and looked around St. George's Chapel before heading back to London. I ended up not getting back to the luggage storage until after 4.

I had decided that instead of taking my suitcase down 50 some odd stairs to the tube, I would take the bus to King's Cross and catch the tube out to Heathrow from there (there's elevators at that tube station). I figured out the bus I needed stopped right outside the Queen Mary, so it worked out perfectly. I did not anticipate a 1 hour bus ride, or having to stand in line for a half hour at King's Cross to get a tube ticket. So I finally got on the tube, got to Heathrow and took the shuttle from there to my hotel. I ended up not even getting to my room until after 8. I still had to repack everything and take a shower. I had to be up at 6 the next morning too, so I was trying to get to bed early (that didn't happen). So I finally climbed into bed sometime after 11.

Tuesday I got up early and headed to the airport. I was determined to get there 3 hours early because it's Heathrow and you never know what's going to happen. It's a good thing I did too, because I ended up at the wrong terminal. My first flight was supposedly with BMI (which is terminal 1), but I had to go check in with Continental (in terminal 4). And then of course I had to stand in line for an hour or so to check in and go through security. Once through I had about an hour and a half to kill, so I grabbed some breakfast. Got on the plane, and had a smooth trip to Newark. However, when I got to Newark, I found out my flight at 4:29 to Memphis had been cancelled (noooooooooo!!!!!!). So I had to go to the transfer desk and get a new flight so they put me on a flight to Chicago at 4, and then I was to catch a flight to Memphis from there. So I was like, well, at least I'll get home today. While in Newark I found out that one of my cousins was there on a layover waiting for his flight as well, in the same concourse even! Go figure. So we met up for a few. I ended up getting home about 2 hours later than planned, and by the time I went to bed I had been up for over 22 hours (go me).

So I'm moving back to Oxford on Monday, so this week is basically being spent running errands and getting everything done that I need to get done. Woo hoo. :)

So that's all from here. It was a great summer. I hope y'all enjoyed reading about it as much I enjoyed experiencing it. :) I'll update again sometime soon.