I was expecting Legally Blonde. Instead I got The Paper Chase.

I'm starting a blog. I know that is quite obvious, but I've never written a blog before. I don't know why I'm starting a blog; it's not like I think anything I have to say is valuable or that anyone will care. But at some point during my exhausting Tuesday schedule I realized that I needed some sort of catharsis besides calling everyone in my contacts list and complaining about my life. So, like all the TV therapists suggest, I'm transferring my frustration to paper (which nowadays means the Internet).

I left my undergrad in a very ungraceful manner. Some people can't wait to graduate college, others are hesitant, and then there are some who don't want to leave. I was dragged out kicking and screaming. My last semester, I actually contemplated ways to somehow not earn the one credit I needed to graduate. My first semester of my senior year was filled with GRE studying, graduate school applications, and classwork. Then, one day, while sitting in my kitchen on FB, I read someone's status about studying for the LSAT. And I thought, "hey, I should sign up for the LSAT!" This "moment of clarity" was preceded by the sickening feeling I felt in my stomach when I realized that, if I went to graduate school, I would be writing Spanish papers for another two years. So I signed up for the LSAT.

You ever look back at moments in your life and realize, "THAT was my downfall"? You know, the one beer that sent you over the edge, the to-die-for shoes you bought that slowly and painfully tried to kill your feet, and the perm that your hairstylist said would look "fabulous" on you? The "hey, I should sign up for the LSAT"? That was mine.

Before you begin law school, everyone tells you how hard it is going to be. To be fair, no one ever said "Psssh, it will be the easiest thing of your life!" If that were true, law school movies wouldn't be nearly as popular if we couldn't watch the protagonist helplessly struggle and then emerge triumphantly at the end of it all. I knew it was going to be hard; I didn't know it was going to be life-altering. Suddenly, you eat, drink, and breathe law school. I once dreamed about trying to modify a contract, and sat straight up in bed and yelled, "MUTUALITY OF OBLIGATION!" It consumes your mind 24/7, and it becomes impossible to talk or think the same way you did before.

But there are some valuable things that law school has taught me so far:
1) Don't say "Promissory Estoppel" until your professor says you can.
2) You can master the Erie doctrine...kind of.
3) In the library during finals week, make as little noise as possible if you want to survive...seriously.
4) Don't be late to Civil Procedure.
5) Striking up random conversations with people is the best way to make friends. I think that's how I met all the people I talk to.
6) Don't expect the law school to turn the heat on, even though you're paying tens of thousands of dollars to attend.
7) Con Law is like an auction. Don't make any sudden movements so you don't get the attention of the auctioneer. You don't want to bid on a Commerce Clause question that you don't know the answer to.
8) Be prepared to say "Wtf?" every single day in Property.
9) Realize you're not alone, and if you feel like you're drowning, talk to someone. It's extremely likely that at least 75% of your classmates are feeling exactly the same way.
But the most important thing that law school has taught me is
10) Appreciate the little things. The afternoon nap you get to take every two months, the rare night you don't have to read, getting to watch a new movie (or any movie for that matter), and that overwhelming sense of joy you feel when you find the Legal Research case that you have been pulling your hair out trying to find for 2 hours.

Hopefully this blog will help relieve the stress of studying the law. Alcoholism runs rampant among lawyers. I wonder if there's a correlation...