Weekly Recap

I'm thinking that my next post will definitely be something humorous, I promise, but here's a nice mediocre one:

If this blog ever manages to reach readers who are thinking about law school, I figured they might appreciate knowing what a law student actually does with their time, so I'm going to try to do weekly recaps (both law school and non-law school related). I think many of my fellow 1L classmates will agree with me that this has been one of the most draining weeks of the semester, and no, they certainly aren't all like this one! On Monday, I had a practice midterm in Contracts, and on Wednesday, the outline of my major memo was due for Legal Research and writing. For those of you who don't know, in most law school classes, there is just one exam-- the final exam, and that serves as your entire grade for the course. Knowing that this puts a lot of pressure on 1Ls who are new to law school and have no idea what a law school exam is really like, some professors will give you what's called a "practice midterm." During the first semester at UVa, each 30-person 1L section has a class, in addition to legal writing, that is with only their section. My "small section class" happens to be contracts. The professor of your small section class is required to give you a practice midterm, to which they will assign you a letter grade.

This practice midterm serves several purposes. For one, it helps to get you used to what a typical law school exam is like in terms of content and timing (although, they're given during the class period, so they're nowhere near as long as an actual final exam, which lasts about 4 hours) and will provide you with feedback as to how you're doing (no, I haven't gotten mine back yet). Also, at UVa, you're required to take all of your final exams on a laptop. UVa also does blind grading, and how this works is that you're assigned a blind grading number with which you submit your exam. By the way, yes, this means that any miserable "cold calls" you may experience in class, where you thought you said something completely stupid, really won't affect your grade, so relax!  Anyway, since you find your blind grading numbers and submit your exam online, it helps to do a dry run to get students used to the processes of locating their blind grading number and online submission. Furthermore, it simply helps to get students used to the testing environment (e.g. the nonstop clicking of keyboards as everyone is furiously typing away, etc.). Practice midterms are totally optional, but highly recommended.

Anyway, on to slightly more exciting topics. . .

During the beginning of the week, one of my roommates was eating raw cookie dough. I'm kinda bummed that she has reminded me of its amazing existence. Anyway, by Wednesday night, my craving for some Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough got so strong that I had to brave the cold and make a Kroger run to satisfy my craving. While heading to the checkout aisle, I noticed a giant bin full of snuggies, so I made an impulse buy. For those of you who do not already own a snuggie, I highly recommend investing in one. For those of you who are perplexed, a snuggie is a fleece blanket with sleeves, and they only cost about $12.99. I ordinarily try to avoid "as seen on TV" products, but I could not pass this one up. I only have a couple of complaints about my snuggie. It's really warm, but I still wish you could tie it up like a bathrobe; however, you just kind of have to wrap it around yourself. The bigger issue is that snuggies are "one size fits all." Now, this is a problem because, for those of you who don't know me, I'm a female who is between 5'5"-5'6" and weighs about 120 lbs (read: I'm not a big person). Basically, my royal blue snuggie makes me look like Merlin, the wizard (Fantasia, here I come!), because it is ridiculously long, and the sleeves are also ridiculously long. Someone suggested that I cut the sleeves, which I may end up doing, but then I'll look like Merlin, the hobo (but mostly, I ordinarily don't like mutilating my stuff, even if it is practical). However, what the snuggie lacks in practicality, it makes up for in comfort! Honestly, I may very well break down and start wearing that thing to class every day-- it is that awesome. Do yourself a favor and get one. Seriously. Do it.

Damn, Billy Mays ain't got nothing on me! Anyway, ...

I skipped out on Bar Review this week, unfortunately. I was just way too tired, and it was also to cold and rainy for me to want to venture outside. For those of you who don't know, Bar Review is a Thursday night event, where all of the law students go to a different bar every week, and there are typically drink specials and whatnot. It's a lot of fun and a decent way to meet other law students outside of your 1L section, with whom you will spend the bulk of your time during the first semester. Basically, I just "vegged out" all night, followed by a nice full night's sleep. As usual, dragging myself out of bed for my only Friday class, 10 AM Criminal Law, was tough, but I managed. I can't wait until next semester when I have class at 8:30 AM on Fridays--who did I piss off to get stuck with that schedule? Anyway, after class, I watched last night's episode of the Office online (they're posted on nbc.com for free viewing, in case anyone wants to know, and they usually stay up for a couple of months before they are replaced by newer episodes). Aside from a few shows, I don't watch too much TV, and my roommates and I are broke law students, so we elected not to get cable. It's not a big deal though; I can do the bulk of my TV watching for free online.

I just love to go on tangents! Anyway, I did some more tooling around on facebook, and now I'm here. Typical lazy Friday afternoon, I suppose. How is it already almost 2 pm?? Where does the time go?? Anyway, I'm off to go shower and do stuff around the house, and then it's off to dinner with a few people from my section. Stay classy, C-ville!