this is it

Last sunrise train. Last Friday classes. Last day of my first year of law school.

"I can't believe it's actually over," K. rejoiced after Civ Pro. "Civ Pro is over!"

"I can't believe it either, because it isn't," I grumbled. "I have so much Civ Pro to do between now and Wednesday."

"Yes, but we don't have to go to class any more!" said K. with a huge smile. This was true, at least. And given that K. likes Civ Pro about as much as I like Property, I identified.

Professor Contracts ended his valediction with the word "etcetera." He received a round of polite applause. Professor Civ Pro advised that we should all pursue justice; he was then applauded and presented with a sixpack of Coors beer, inspired by one of his in-class hypos. Professor Edie passed around bags of peppermint patties and Hershey kisses, for which he received an excessive round of applause in return. Or maybe that was just because it was the last class on the last day, and people who didn't intend to go to any of the afternoon discussion groups or review sessions were finally finished and were applauding themselves as much as anyone else.

My section played no further pranks on anyone. The Che flag prank had been quite enough, and was still spiraling out of control: Professor Property reported to our review session this afternoon looking fetching in a black beret with a red star. (Perhaps a prank/class gift from a previous year's section, or maybe she went out and bought this one herself. Either way, you can't make this up.) "You probably had no idea that your class gift would have this effect!" she chortled to us. "But I'm going to hang it up in my office, even though it might just horrify future students!" She followed this with a giggly comment about being a revolutionary. I leave it to your imagination whether it was a boast or a recommendation.

Thus ended my first year of law school.

It doesn't feel over, mostly because 100% of my semester grades remain to be determined. Still, I think I'm in a much better place psychologically than I was this time last semester: two of my outlines are already complete, and the other two are each almost halfway there. I've lost the driving sense of panic that whipped me into a persistent lather for so many months. Now I'm keeping my focus narrow, staying within the day-to-day rather than shredding myself over abstract projections of personal failure. So I have some exams to take. I wish they were already over. Meanwhile, I now at least have time to work without the distractions of additional assigned reading and sunrise trains.

thus spake /jca @ April 25, 2003 08:00 PM