The First Day, Part Deux

I’m back for a second dose of Contracts (with the HWAAAA guy). Precisely why we have the class twice in one day has not been made clear to me, beyond the implication that lunch should constitute not a break but a period of frantic reading to accommodate the newly-acquired assignment doled out in the morning.

I have to say, I’m a first-class fan of the Illinois law mandating that all cars yield to people in the crosswalk, regardless of their quantity, pace or gratitude. My opinion on this matter fleetingly changes as I’m driving home, but for the most part…

Why in the world does Insight Cable not carry the Travel channel? They have HGTV. They have QVC. They have the friggin’ Women’s Network, and who watches that? They even offet MTV2 on their basic cable system, but noooo, not the travel channel. Of all the stations for them to omit, they choose the ONE I actually watch. Last night I actually deigned to watch a wedding cake design contest on the Food Network for the semblance of friendliness and social interaction that I usually mine from Samantha Brown, the host of my favorite show Great Hotels.

I’m just about to start Legal Research, the last class of my Monday. I think it’s rather sadistic to schedule Monday as the longest and most tedious schedule. I’m sure they’ll make us crunch the archaic form o f research and then give us the access codes to the online catalog, whereafter we well collectively gripe about the massive loss of time and effort.

It’s strange that they listed all the assignments for our first day of class on a peg board in the basement by our lockers. This school is so high-tech that when a professor says something of note a series of blue screens suddenly burst into action and emanate a massive, orbiting clicking sound, yet they can’t manage to e-mail the first day’s assignments. Ah, well.

Today I used the time between my first classes attempting to acquire a parking key. They have a fantastic system here where you buy a little plastic key for $35 and then you can put a bunch of money on it. When you get to your parking spot, you stick the key in the meter and it deducts a quarter, so you don’t have to haul change around all the time. It’s $.75/hour at the meters, as opposed to $.50/hour at Marquette, which really isn’t bad considering it’s $1/hour downtown. Anyway, the key. There were so many one-way streets that after forty-five minutes of circles I gave up for fear of being late for my second Contracts course. I’ll have to go duke it out tomorrow. The second break included a chat with my sister and a trip to the art museum. I sat in front of open windows at a glass table and typed my Criminal Law outline. Ahh, life.

In Legal Research, the teacher (who seems really amiable and loathes U of Michigan grads) is making us go around and introduce ourselves, which I hate. He reminds me of my high school algebra professor, although this guy actually possesses a sense of humor as opposed to just thinking he does. He’s got dark olive green pants, a white dress shirt and a powder-blue and white checkered tie (don’t any of these guys have girlfriends to teach them how to match?!) But he seems nice, so we’ll overlook the serious match mishap. For example, one kid said, “My favorite movie is the Shawshank Redemption.” He said, “Watch much TBS, Mr. Cho?” And then, “My favorite book is The Great Gatsby.” “Speaking of alcohol…” He asked for either our favorite tv commercial, movie, book or album, which proved immensely more interesting than the traditional undergraduate institution – major – hometown lineup we’re typically subjected to, as we fight the urge to nod off and meekly attempt to feign the slightest modicum of interest. I was highly impressed by the bloke who cited his favorite book at Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and one who named Office Space as his favorite movie.

The upside of this guy: “I have a rule I tell 1Ls: believe fifty percent of what 2Ls and 3Ls tell you. If you are a female, and the 2L or 3L in question is male, believe half again of that.”

The down side: “I won’t hesitate to fail you.”

He says the three pillars of law school are 1) alcohol (they have a keg every Thursday right outside the classrooms starting at 5), 2) relationships and 3) terror. Thanks. I’m really looking forward to that last one.

In my slowly increasing age and disproportionately increasing wisdom (cough, cough) I’ve come to realize that maybe Marquette wasn’t the travesty of a school I deemed it. Sixty-five percent of my 1L class went to undergrad at this school, and they are thus suitably disillusioned with the multitude of merits I and other out-of-staters so adore and perceive. I think my attitude made it an atrocious school. And the suburban Catholic snobs. And the less-than-stellar teaching staff. And the awful surroundings-

Okay, that paragraph didn’t pan out as planned. The point is, Marquette was what I made it. It’s just disgusting how my parents are right about everything.

It was the most beautiful day today, about eighty and bright with a breeze. When I returned to my apartment I opened the patio door and listened to the crickets. I can’t wait for the fireflies!