First week thoughts

My first week of 'real' classes... I have now had at least one of each: Criminal Law, Civil Procedure, Contracts, and Property. (Next semester I take the continuation of each class except Property which will be replaced with Torts.) Initially I was worried about the work load since the number of classes had quadrupled from last week, but it was actually pretty manageable. To keep organized, I have five piles of books and binders on my floor, each representing one of the subjects... I take class notes on my NEW laptop, which has also worked well so far.

The readings for Criminal Law have been the most interesting, of course. In the first week we've already been assigned a case about a stabbing, a dead baby case, an attempted robbery case and a rape case. I found the initial readings for Civil Procedure and Contracts a little dry - mostly introductory information about the procedural history of each. My Contracts professor is great, though, so I think that class will pick up once we start reading cases. I worry a little bit about Civil Procedure... 

My Property prof is very young - it's his second year of teaching - but he seems to know what he's doing (after being a teacher, though, I know this might just be an act!). The first few cases for Property have brought up interesting ideas but the cases themselves were somewhat stiff. The prof speaks very quickly and eloquently, so all of us spend the entire 2 hours of his class time furiously typing. I think we'll have to build up stamina for that class because his Tuesday lecture made my brain and fingers hurt!

As 1L's we've been instructed to 'brief' our cases. The 2L's swear that we'll quit doing that once we realize that it's a waste of time, but for now it's really a necessary evil. We're too green to know which parts of the case we can skim and which parts are really important... I think I'm starting to get a little better at it, but I still find I have to write everything down for it to process in my brain. Definitely a new way of working.

My schedule is actually pretty nice... M-W I have one class at 10:45 and another at 2:00. Th my first class is at 11:15 (which is why I'm blogging this morning!). F our first class is 9:00 and our second is 11:15, so we're done at lunch time. Even though we only have two classes per day, I still constantly have assignments that I need to do. Most days I've been leaving the house at 7:15-7:30 to beat the traffic, I work out at the school gym, shower there, then spend the morning before class in the library doing work. It will take a few weeks before my body adjusts to the schedule... and to carrying around the heavy books!

K