i got inspired to post here for the first time really since iāve started school. no idea how many/if any people will see this, but even for my own benefit i thought iād write a little update on how my semester went (iām in the exam period now until the 21st):Ā
iām doing okay. school is a lot of work, and a lot of stuff has happened. but overall, i enjoy it. my classmates are for the most part nice and interesting people (some are also incredibly annoying, but thatās to be expected when your classes have 90 people in them). i have one person iād consider a genuine friend that i see and talk to a lot about all sorts of things, and various people iām on friendly terms with. iām involved with a few student organizations related to public defense/criminal defense work, and over the semester i volunteered at an adult prison and at a juvenile detention center to talk to kids about their constitutional rights. it was great. classes were interesting, though iāll relish when iām able to pick my schedule out entirely. this semester was civil procedure, contracts, criminal law, and legal writing i. next semester is torts, constitutional law, legal writing ii, and evidence (myĀ āelectiveā).
michigan and ann arbor are cool, very hip. i havenāt really been able to explore it as much as i like, but itās a nice town. itās also very cold and started snowing (albeit lightly) at the beginning of november, which is much earlier than it starts in massachusetts. i love it, but iām in desperate need of more hand cream (my knuckles are bleeding as i type because of how dry my skin is).
what i miss the most, or what i find the most lacking, is that people seem to have severe tunnel vision about law school. people who arenāt public interest-focused (and even some who are) basically spend all of their time thinking about school --> getting good grades --> getting a good clerkship --> getting a high-paying job. and thatās it. the part of me that originally wanted to get a phd to focus on more random, abstract questions about Literature has still not really been satisfied by anyone iāve met here, because people are so enclosed in the law school universe and donāt look beyond it (at least not with me). itās hard for me to take law school entirely seriously when i privately think we should just rip up our constitution. i also refuse to sacrifice my health/desires/interests on the alter of getting perfect grades, which is what i did in college (for no good reason).
i havenāt been on tumblr much at all, but iāve thought about many of you many times throughout the past several months. i donāt know how active iāll be on here honestly, partly because iāve been so busy and partly because i think itās beneficial for me to be off of tumblr (just the general climate of it). but i hope you all are doing well, and if you ever want to send me a message, i did try to check them at least every once in a while during the semester, so i should see it...eventually.