I want a kitty

I want a kitty. Last night I planned where I would put a scratching post, a kitty bed, a food and water dish, and I imagined a cat sleeping on my pillow and purring me to sleep. I thought about names and what I would do with said kitty if I went to Kenya for the summer or Central America for spring break. I thought about vet bills and difficult decisions. I thought about hair balls and insulin shots, dead birds and thyroid pills. I wondered if a cat could be happy and fulfilled living in a junior one bedroom apartment in Center City Philadelphia.

I really miss Soot. I miss how he would sit on me when I was taking a nap. I miss how he would touch my face with his paw when he wanted attention. I miss having someone waiting for me when I come home who is always happy to see me and very vocal about it. I miss having a furry cuddlebug to cheer me up when I am stressed out or sad. (This would come in handy in law school)

I promised myself that I wouldn't have another pet until I could afford to give it all the medical care it needed. I never have been patient.

Another year older

Well, I made it to 26, who would have thought? I was admittedly a little bummed out by the whole thing until I decided that I am pretty pleased with what I've done with the past 26 years. I had a great birthday here in Philly. I watched some So You Think You Can Dance marathon, walked to the zoo, took a nap, and tried to slice my little finger off with my kitchen knife... Happily, I was unsuccessful at that last bit, but I did manage to give myself quite a gash. Apparently I should not be trusted with sharp objects.

Once I got that under control, I went out to dinner with some friends. Turns out the restaurant that I made reservations at via the internet was closed Sunday only for renovations. Strike two! So we went to a great Thai place instead. Dinner was great, and then some of us went back to my apartment to have some AMAZING carrot cake that my friend Adrianna made from scratch. She is an awesome baker, so it was the perfect ending to a great birthday. Now I get to dive into my Civil Procedure reading. I refused to do any work yesterday, so I had better get to it!

Holiday weekend

Ahhhh. One class stands between me and my 3-day birthday-holiday weekend. Very exciting. Last night I went to the International Law Organization dinner at Kabul restaurant. Some tasty food, and some great events coming up. There is going to be a symposium on North Korean refugees, and one on national security.

I e-mailed the lady in charge of resettlement at the UN refugee camp in Dadaab yesterday to see about how to apply for an internship next summer. Things are rolling along here, no sign of stopping! Gotta go learn about the duty element of negligence torts. If the statute says you need to have your lights on, turn your lights on!

Philadelphia Zoo

I am now a proud member of the Philadelphia Zoo! I checked out the Nation's First Zoo with a fellow 1L yesterday afternoon. We didn't get to see everything due to the reading waiting for us at home, but I will be back. If I can avoid the pitfalls that are the zoo store and the food court I should be good to go. So far so good! I'm not sure where this will power came from, but I am not complaining! The zoo has three baby tiger cubs that are almost four months old now, too cute! We have reason to believe that there will be baby kangaroos in the not-too-distant future, too ;)

The third week of classes has already started! I was skeptical when I was told my first year would fly by, but it seems to be happening even as I type. Today I met with the professor who teaches a lot of the international law courses here at Penn and had a great discussion about my future goals and how I should be preparing for an international career. It is a little scary to be planning the rest of my life, but it is very exciting to have what have been far-off day-dreams become tangible.

Well, Legal Writing reading awaits, and a full day of Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Legal Writing, Torts and Socratic dialog is in store for tomorrow!

I Like Cold Beverages

Yesterday I got some excellent news. The JD/MA in International Studies program that I was so excited about has added two weeks in SENEGAL to their summer immersion part of the French program. I also found out that I can apply in January which will give me some more time to work on my French. If I am accepted I would still have to spend a month in Paris, so I guess I'll just have to pack lots of cortisone salve if that happens! Alors, je doit faire mes devoirs!

This post is called "I like cold beverages" because I just got back from the store with a wide variety of tasty cold beverages, and also that song cracks me up. I think I'll go enjoy both.

Socratic Method

Well, I finally had my first taste of the Socratic method. I think it went OK, I didn't faint or vomit and I was able to come up with passable answers (I think). I have to say I was impressed by my Criminal Law professor's pronunciation of my last name, I think he may have practiced.

So far I am still enjoying law school, the readings are pretty interesting (though some admittedly make me cross-eyed at times), the class discussions are thought-provoking. Now I remember why I've always said I am better at school than real life. There are also so many great opportunities to get involved with pro-bono projects, clinics, and other fun groups. I have to be careful not to sign up for too much, but it will be really nice to see my education put to good use so immediately.

I went to an academic support series lecture on preparing for class and the professor talked about lawyers as storytellers who translate the story from human language to legal language. Storytelling and translation? I guess I made the right choice of career! That is it for tonight, the pile of dishes in the sink is about to reach critical mass...

Apartment Pictures

These aren't quite in the order I wanted them in, but for a first try I guess it will be fine. Hope you like the pictures!

First week of class

Classes are now underway and things seem to be going pretty well. I am enjoying my classes, keeping up on my reading (and understanding most of it), and I haven't been called on yet. Just another benefit of having a last name that is hard to pronounce! My Professors are all really good, my classmates are lots of fun, and man am I exhausted! I am not used to paying attention for so many hours a day, I guess. Happily, I have been keeping up on my naps for now.

This weekend I plan to get my apartment into photographable shape and get those pictures posted. How better to induce you to visit? I am also planning a trip to the zoo (they have baby tigers!) and massive amounts of reading. Now that I have blazing fast Comcast cable internet with power boost at my house (is it obvious I was a marketing major?) I should be able to post more often, provided something interesting happens!

About the comments, pics are coming soon, I am not anti-technology, just lazy. I don't know if I prefer Pat's or Geno's cheese steaks, they are both good for different reasons, and a 1L is a first year law student, a 2L is a second year law student and a 3L is a 3rd year law student.

Gotta go, class is starting!