Today is the Last Day, Before the First Day (of Orientation), Before the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

I've been in C'ville for a week now. Much of my time has been undertaking mammoth building projects, the scope of which probably would be better suited to being farmed out to the Army Core of Engineers. Nevertheless, here I am, and it's the start of a new week, and my apartment is getting close to completion. I still have far too many boxes lying around, and I haven't finished unpacking things into the kitchen, but at least I'm making some progress.

While my comrades (I'm thinking particularly of NewYorker) may be having similar experiences, I can't imagine anyone else going out with as much frequency as UVA Law students do. Coming from a city where I enjoyed going to downtown clubs (real clubs), it's a bit of a different feel going to Collegetown bars where there's a greater emphasis on beer than dancing (a shame, for me). I guess the trade-off is that I spent a lot less money here than doing the equivalent up in NYC for 3 of the past 4 nights.

One part of me looked toward law school as the Great Reinvention of myself, and this planned Reinvention would be going on on a lot of different levels. It's definitely true that I've managed to be a lot more social (I've gotten out and met a good number of 1Ls and a decent handful of my section mates. Looking back over it, though, I dunno if it went as well as it could. I'm a natural introvert, I wind up on the edges of conversations, or without people to talk to sometimes. I generally find myself trying to play catch-up to stay in the social game. I don't know if I managed to really eradicate that tendency from myself for law school. I was pondering this earlier this morning.

Then I remembered.

Wait a second. We're here for Law School. It doesn't matter if you managed to be the most suave person at the bar or not, if you got the numbers of maybe 4 people instead of 15. Once this little unrepresentative-of-law-school-life honeymoon ends, we're all going to be smack dab back in a classroom (which I never really left) working our tails off to do reading every night. Even UVA with its famed beer and softball mentality, UVA Law still is a law school, so when the socializing (which I'm not great at) ends, the academics (which, God willing, I'll be good at) start, and maybe I'll be more in my element.

"I guess I'm just saying I'm ready and happy to be wrapped up with pre-orientation and moving on to Real Orientation, so that we can get back into the swing of things. My motivation is fueled by pressure (and, on occasion, fear), I want to feel like I'm in the (academic) race and I need to keep on my toes...sitting around is getting old."

That's what I told myself when I sat down at the computer. Be damn careful what you wish for.

Section assignments have been out since Friday, and our CivPro class assignment is already up. If I had been concerned that we were all drifting off into the drunken stupor of lethargy, this bad boy just sobered me right up.

I went online to get the assignment, which referenced the syllabus, which I downloaded and printed. Unlike the syllabi of Undergrad, this one was, shall we say, "extra beefy." By a lot. No longer did I get to have neat little lists of short things to read every class, peppered by the occasional writing assignment. Now the game is a 21 page syllabus with a slew of details, all of which have to fit in to 1/4th of my mental headspace by the time exams roll around.

Would I say that I feel confident? Maybe. I've taken enough Legal Studies classes at Penn that I at least understand concepts and terminology. I skim through the first sections of the syllabus assignments and I see "Introduction to American Court Systems" and "Introduction to the subject-matter jurisdiction of the federal courts" and "an overview of a lawsuit."

The Good News, those are all things I know, I think.

The Bad News, those are most of the things I know, I think.

After having parted with just under $900 just for my mandatory books, I have been firmly reminded that the law is very big and very deep, and seemingly eager to swallow me in its clutches. Is this better than feeling somewhat out of place at endless social encounters? Ask me in a few months.

I will say this though: I have pretty much set up the Law School Command Center, and the thing place is sweet. I have a mind-bogglingly big desk, a whiteboard, and lots of space for books. Which is good, because having carried those books back from the law school (haven't got a car yet), I think I'm gonna need all the help I can get.