Delayed

Until I get the internet situation figured out in my apartment my blog posts are going to be delayed by a day, and even more over the weekend, so when I talk about "this morning," it really means yesterday morning.

First thing this morning I moved into my apartment. I felt a little bad because the people who ran the hostel, who were all very nice, seemed like they were personally hurt that I was leaving early. They were concerned that I hadn’t been comfortable and had decided to leave a day early just because I didn’t like the hostel. Even after I explained that I was moving into an apartment of my own they didn’t seem to understand why I would leave a day early. Wouldn’t anyone move out of a hostel if they could go have an apartment to themselves? Am I weird? The people at the hostel really were very nice, and while it wasn’t my favorite hostel ever, I did like them a lot and never complained to them about a single thing. There was also an interesting Russian biker gang staying there for the last couple nights. They added a lot to the general character of the place.

After getting to the apartment and taking a shower I suddenly realized that I had confused the time that church started. I had it in my head that the afternoon branch started at 1:30, but really it started at 12:30. I hurried, but I still was a little late. It was nice to go to church. No matter where in the world I go to church I always feel comfortable and welcome. I talked to a few people today and everyone was very friendly. Here’s a picture of the church building

and a picture of the larger building that the chapel is a part of. This isn’t even the entire building. It’s massive. I couldn’t fit it all in one shot.

So there’s a spot I’ve walked by a couple times now that has me curious. There’s a little statue of a cat sitting on a ledge on a building just off Nevskiy Prospekt. The statue is probably about fifteen feet above street level.

This would be curious enough, but every time I’ve walked by there has been at least one person throwing coins at the cat, presumably trying to get them to stay up on the ledge. I need to investigate this curious pastime.

Otherwise it was a quiet day. I bought some food and put all my clothes away and feel pretty much settled in. I’ll close with a couple pictures I just took looking out my bedroom window. Keep in mind it’s after 11:00 pm.


I’m having a hard time going to bed at a normal time because I’m never quite convinced it’s as late as the clock says. The only other time I experienced this on a regular basis was as a missionary, when I had a pretty strict schedule and bedtime. I remember eating dinner super late at night during family vacation in Alaska, being confused as to why the campground was so quiet, and then realizing it was almost midnight. Life for me here is like that. The days continue to get longer for more than three more weeks and they seem to be rapidly lengthening. I might have to stay out all night on the 21st, or whatever day they have their big celebrations here (in Lithuania they do it on the 26th, or something like that). Happy long weekend America!

A Five-Minute Walk

All of the main things I did today were within about a five-minute walk of my new apartment (I'll be taking up residence there tomorrow morning). I can't wait. Hostel life gets pretty old. Remember I thought it was a little weird being the only one at the hostel? It turns out I really liked being the only one at the hostel. It was so quiet. Suddenly this place filled up and it's kind of noisy now. And I'm sharing my room with other people. This all makes me sound kind of hard to please, but it's always nice to have your own room. Starting tomorrow I will have my own room, kitchen, bathroom, washing machine, etc. It's going to be great.

After sleeping in this morning I went to the Russian Museum, which I may have mentioned is located mainly in the Michalovskiy Palace.

The statue in the square is of Pushkin. It's a pretty spectacular building (really beautiful grand staircase, etc.) and a pretty spectacular collection. I especially love Russian iconography, but there's all sorts of other stuff there too. I didn't have time to get through the whole museum today, so I'll be returning, but I'm including one of my favorite things, a 12th century icon of the Archangel Gabriel.

I had to cut my visit to the museum short so that I could go see my new apartment and get keys from the girl who is there right now (she's leaving very early in the morning). The apartment should be very comfortable and feels very Russian. I took a picture of the street I'll be living on. My bedroom window looks right out on the red church in this picture.

After reading my book in the Mikhailovskiy Garden for a while, I decided to go inside the Cathedral of Christ on the Blood.

I took a little audio guided tour that lasted too long, but the church was spectacular. It is actually a museum, not a functioning church, but I learned that it has essentially never functioned for services and was not really intended to be regularly used. It was intended pretty strictly as a memorial for Alexander II who was assassinated on this spot. They actually have a place where the cobble stones are exposed, which is the place where the incident apparently happened. The inside is very richly decorated - covered in mosaics. It was used as a warehouse for most of the Soviet era, though the government began restoration in 1970 that was finally completed in 1997. They did a pretty amazing job (they have some before and after pictures), though some icons and the doors that are supposed to be in the main iconostasis, blocking the congregation's view of the altar (blocking physical sight so worshipers can achieve spiritual sight), were lost to looting and have not been replaced.

Finally, here's a picture of me (in front of the Mikhailovskiy Castle (different from the Mikhaliovskiy Palace), just because you probably all want to see my face.

Since it was pretty rainy again this evening, I went home early to read. I'm pretty into the book I'm reading right now, which I hate to admit because I kept resisting reading it when Mom suggested it (People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks).

A Baby!

Nothing remarkable really happened in St. Petersburg today (to me, at least; I'm sure something remarkable happened to someone here). I didn't even really interact much with anyone today. I don't know if Friday is don't come to work day, or what, because there was hardly anyone there, and then it was raining, so I didn't do a lot afterwords. I did, however, find the Armenian Church today, which I know you were all concerned about.

I find this church very pleasant, and it's kind of fun because it was financed by an Armenian businessman by selling a Persian diamond that was bought for Catherine the Great by Grigoriy Orlov, one of her many lovers. He is especially notable because he helped her plan the dethronement and murder of her husband, allowing her to take the throne.

The other thing that was noteworthy about today is that I found out I will be able to move into my apartment a day earlier than I thought, on Sunday instead of Monday. I will be very happy to be in my own place, with food in the refrigerator, with my backpack unpacked, etc. Plus my apartment is going to be in one of the best possible locations.

It's going to be on the other side of the museum/park you see at the end of this street. The museum at the end of the street is the Russian Museum, which I think I will spend some time in tomorrow. The museum is in the Mikhailovskiy Palace, and houses one of the greatest collections of Russian art in the world. I was going to go spend my first of several days in the Hermitage tomorrow, but I'm going to see the apartment and get keys in the early afternoon, so I decided to put that off.

I'm also including another picture of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, that maybe gives a better idea of what it looks like. Or maybe it's just repetitive.


The remarkable thing that did happen today is that my sister had her third baby! I'm excited to meet my third Rhodus niece sometime at the end of the summer, at which point hopefully she has a first name. Precious Miracle #3 Rhodus would be a pretty bad name in the long-term.

If It's Easy, You're Not in Russia

I continued my search for an umbrella this morning, since it was still raining. I asked the lady at the hostel where I could find one and she told me the name of a store (Spekter) and told me where it was. I went there and they had two kinds of umbrellas. One kind were made to look like animals and had eyes that stuck up out of the top. You could choose from a frog, a mouse, or a bear. The other kind were plain black, but seemed small enough to be child-sized. When I asked if they had any different umbrellas the salespeople seemed to think I was an idiot. Who needs more of a selection than this? Not me, I guess. In my desperation I went with the child-sized black umbrella, as it was better than nothing. I know you were all hoping I had gone with an animal umbrella. I would have chosen the bear. I'm left wondering where all these people are buying normal umbrellas. How can this be so difficult?

Work was uneventful today. There was an office meeting this afternoon (it lasted three hours!) which I enjoyed sitting in on at the beginning, but after a while it got really exhausting trying to follow everyone's Russian, especially since they were talking about legal stuff and not the things I'm really good at talking about, like where I'm from, food, or church related things. Dang I wish my vocabulary was broader. I think I got pretty good when I was in Ukraine. I don't have it all back yet, but I'm working on it. As I was leaving the office I ran into Ivan and his wife, Jen, who is an American, on the street. It was the first time I met her, though most of the correspondence I did before coming was with her. She asked how I was settling in, and then immediately said, "if it's easy, you're not in Russia." I thought that seemed especially apt. Nothing is simple here. Not finding an umbrella, not finding a normal place to eat, not buying a train ticket, not buying groceries. Nothing. I remember feeling this way when I first got to Lithuania, but things have changed so much in the Baltics at this point that I don't think that's true anymore.

I wanted to buy myself a little treat on my way home, so I walked into a store that said "supermarket," shoved my bookbag into one of the tiny lockers at the front of the store (you're never allowed to take them in, even though the stores are small enough that they could watch you) and walked all the way in before I realized that this "supermarket" only had liquor. Sigh. I sheepishly collected my bag and left. Not the kind of treat I was looking for.

Since I'm done with my writing competition, I figure I'll spend some time walking and being a tourist every evening before I come home. Tonight I went back to Nevskiy Prospekt and went into a few places that I walked by the other day.

First, I stopped into what I thought was the Armenian church just as services were starting. I was pretty quickly aware that it was not the Armenian church, but I enjoyed a few minutes of the service just the same. The organ was playing and a solo voice sang at the beginning. It was a very peaceful place to spend some time.

This is the Singer Building, as in the sewing machines, which is located right on Nevskiy Prospekt. I just thought it was kind of a cool building.

And finally, this is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, named after the miraculous icon from Kazan, Russia, which is now located in this cathedral. There was a line of people waiting to pray at the icon. It was very subdued inside, but some of the icons were very beautiful. Originally the architect planned to build an identical colonnade on the opposite side of the street to create a large circle, but instead there is only the one. Can you tell in the picture that the colonnades curve out on both sides to the sidewalk? They do.

I'm starting to sleep more normally, which is a mercy. I'm just really tired when I get up in the morning. I probably need to start updating my blog earlier so I can go to bed earlier.

Free at Last

For the moment I don't feel any crushing weight to be getting anything done. This is the first time since I started law school that I've felt this way. Not that I've been working super hard on this writing competition, but it kept me from really enjoying myself. I submitted all my stuff a few minutes ago and felt immediately lighter. I love that feeling. I don't know that I did an amazing job, but it was at least something. We'll see how it all turns out. Of course, now that I think about it, I better start researching employers so I'm already to interview when I get back. I think I have to submit my rankings of employers that I want to interview with (rank up to 50!) pretty soon.

In other news, there's not much. I did go to a meeting after work today that was fairly interesting. Ivan told me I should go because a professor from NYU Law School would be speaking, so I assumed it would be some kind of lecture. It wasn't. When I got to the room where the gathering was happening it was in a small office and there were three people sitting there. I felt a little funny because Ivan had received a specific invitation, but wasn't going to be there, so I didn't know if it was a private kind of thing or whether I could just walk in and sit down. It was all fine of course, and in the end there were about ten people there. The professor from NYU, Stephen Holmes, is in Russia traveling and doing research with a scholar from Sofia, Bulgaria named Ivan Krastev. What they were really doing was just having a conversation with these people that worked at the European University in St. Petersburg about the Russian court system. It was interesting to sit in on the conversation and to learn a little bit more about the Russian legal system. Professor Holmes seems to teach a lot of classes on law and security, which would be pretty cool, and I got to talk to him a little bit. He seemed like he would be an engaging professor.

Anyway, that was about all that really happened today out of the ordinary. Other than that I was really just writing. Except it was raining today and I could not figure out where to buy an umbrella. I looked in every store I passed and could not find them anywhere, though everyone on the street has one, so they must exist somewhere. I hope I can find one soon.

Secrecy Is in Our Blood

Today has been an interesting day. Once again, I woke up a little before 5:00 am and could not fall back asleep. This has been putting a real damper on the schedule that I have planned for myself. I don’t want to actually get up and do things that early, because I know I will be tired later, but that means I feel compelled to stay in bed until the last possible minute and I’m not able to do anything in the morning. Maybe tonight.

This hostel I’m staying in is really weird. As of yesterday I seem to be the only person here besides the lady who’s running the place. It’s nice, in the sense that it’s quiet and I have my room to myself, but it’s also strange to be staying here with just this one lady, especially since we don’t interact very much. Also, they’ve decided that tonight is the perfect time to do a little remodeling, which means there has been drilling, sawing, and hammering going on all evening. They’re still out there working and it’s midnight! They’re quieter now, though, so it’s not really bothering me. They did turn off the wifi though, so this entry won’t get posted until I get the office tomorrow.

Speaking of which, here’s a picture of the building where I’ll be working every day.

Today Ivan, the head of the organization, asked me to come and participate in a meeting with a guy from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an independent NGO established by Congress, which is the source for at least some of the Institute’s funding. It was interesting to hear Ivan talking about the challenges they are facing and the work they’ve done in the last year, explaining why the US government should continue funding the organization, essentially. These challenges in the last year have included personal physical attacks that resulted in hospitalization, a group storming the office (which explains the emphasis on always looking the office door), and obstacles from the Ministry of Justice, including litigation. Meanwhile the guy from the NED was interesting to talk to and has a pretty cool job. They don’t hire lawyers though - I asked.

During this meeting one of the things we discussed is the importance of helping people use the Russian freedom of information act, which is a challenge because a lot of people either don’t care, or think that the government should keep secrets. Ivan explained, in reference to the Russian people, that “secrecy is in our blood.” While progress of some kinds might be slower than we might like here, the rate of change is pretty remarkable when you consider that Russia has experienced essentially 800 years of bad governance (and often tyranny).

I’ve spent the evening working on my writing competition stuff. I’m going to be hard pressed to get it done, but I’m certainly going to do my best. Unfortunately, I may not have been doing my best for the entire two weeks, so my best tomorrow might not cut it. Those are called consequences. And jet-lag (I just want to sleep all the time!).

The Dutchman

Today I finally went to my first day at the Institute for Information Freedom Development. Perhaps it hasn't seemed to you all like this day has been a long time coming, but to me it has felt like an eternity.

I was told to take my time getting there this morning, but I wasn't quite sure what that meant, so I decided to shoot for showing up around 10. When I got there a little after 10 (nervous that I was making a bad impression by showing up so late), it turned out I was one of the first people there. Nice. Their normal work day is 10-6, but people seemed to show up between 10 and 11 and leave when they need to. The atmosphere was pretty laid back and everyone was very friendly. There is one other intern, a guy named Michael, who is from the Netherlands. He has been there for about 7 months, but does not have a legal background and is looking for a real job. His girlfriend is Russian, so he decided to move here. It sounds like he's had a pretty rough time of it and may not stick it out in Russia much longer. I guess the winter was really cold and the job market is pretty poor, so he's giving himself until September to find something and then he's heading back to Belgium, where his family now lives. He was a nice guy, though, and seems like someone I'll be able to socialize with some.

Ivan Pavlov, who is the chairman of the board for the organization, had a little chat with me about things I could potentially do for them this summer. The Russian freedom of information act went into effect in January of this year, so one of the organization's current goals is to help people become aware of how they can use the law to protect their rights and interests. To pursue that end, he wants me to do research on the application of similar laws in other countries, and to identify cases that would provide good examples of the power that information can have, etc. The idea would be to write these case studies up and publish them in some kind of pamphlet form.

I struggled getting started on that project today because I was SO TIRED. I woke up at about 4:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep, even though I had stayed up until midnight. I'm hoping tonight is the night that I really sleep through the night. In an effort to not fall asleep as soon as I got back to my hostel, I went for a walk after leaving the Institute and eating dinner, so here are a couple of today's sights from around St. Petersburg.

This is the Alexandinskiy Theater, and that's a statute of Catherine the Great in front of it. I happened upon this little square as I walked down Nevskiy Prospekt.


And this is the Isaakievskiy Sobor (St. Isaac's Cathedral), one of the largest cathedrals in the world, though it was turned into a museum of atheism during the Soviet period, and remains a museum to this day (though an art museum now, not a museum of atheism).


Anyway. Day one is over, so from here on it should be smooth sailing.

Ugh. Who Cares about Cybercrime and Personal Jurisdiction?

I do a little bit, but not right now!

Sorry. No pictures today.

Today I went to church. Online I found LDS meeting times at the same building at 12 and 12:30, which seemed strange, so I shot for the 12. It turned out that today was district conference (a special church meeting that happens every six months), and it started at 11, so I was an hour late. I nailed down, though, that meetings normally start at 10:30 and 12:30, so I will probably be joining the 10:30 branch from now on. Also, this church building was a little strange and hard to find as it was in the back part of a monstrous building that was a long walk from everywhere. For whatever reason, though, I decided to walk to the back of the building to see what I could find, and I managed to spot windows that looked as if they might belong on an Eastern European LDS chapel.

After church, and the trek back to the metro, I went and got lunch at a Georgian restaurant. Yum. I'm looking forward to being able to move into my apartment so that I won't have to eat out all the time, but the Georgian food was good.

I spent the rest of the day reading material for the journal writing competition at school. I meant to get this done before I left New York, but with one thing and another I didn't even bother starting it (whoops!), which is why I found myself sitting on a bunk-bed reading about jurisdictional problems for law suits based on internet activity. BOOORING! Towards the end the material started to get more interesting, but was still not scintillating bedtime reading. I might just chuck it and only try for moot court, in which case I don't need to worry about writing a comment on these hundred+ pages of material. Moot court is what I think I really want to do anyway, but I was going to try for some journals as a back-up plan. There are certainly a lot of journals and only one moot court board. Advice? Counsel?

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and finally getting started on my real purpose here; though there is a little knot of anxiety in my stomach too.

A Horse?

This morning, as I wandered around Moscow and unsuccessfully looked for breakfast, I saw a girl riding a horse down the sidewalk. She crossed at the crosswalk with all the other pedestrians and behaved like everyone else in every way, and nobody else seemed surprised by her presence either. But she was on a horse. She was dressed in modern clothing and looked very much like a city person, so she wasn’t a poorer person from the country in the city for the day, or anything like that. It was strange. I wish I had taken a picture. Right after I saw the girl on the horse I passed some presents that the horse had left for all the other people using the sidewalk.

I seem to be handling the jet lag pretty well, except that I woke up at about 4:00 am and couldn’t go back to sleep, even though I had only slept for six hours after an exhausting thirty or so hours awake. I then proceeded to take a nap on the train in the afternoon. It’s 10:00 pm now, and looks like about 7:00 pm outside. I’m going to attempt to go to sleep in a minute. I hope it goes well.

I took the express train from Moscow to St. Petersburg. It makes the journey in four hours and forty-five minutes instead of nine or more hours. It was probably the nicest train I have ever been on, and at one point was going 250 km/h. Not bad, Russia. It was interesting to pass the old-school Soviet trains every once in a while and see the contrast.

While this was a very nice train and they have a few going every day, it seems that most train service in Russia is lagging far behind my experience, and is still more comparable to trains that I rode in the Baltics and in Ukraine. I sat next to a nice Dutch guy on the train. We chatted for a little while, and then both decided we were tired. I ended up sleeping on and off for about two and a half hours of the ride.

So far St. Petersburg has been a pleasure, aside from some minor confusion with my hostel reservation. This seems like a fantastic place to spend a couple months. It really was kind of thrilling when I walked through the grand arches on Morskaya Ulitsa into the Palace Square and saw the Winter Palace framed by the archways. It was quite a spectacular sight. I wish my photo did it justice.

This is looking from the Winter Palace back to the other side of the square (see the arches that I came through?).

Plus, I was already asked to be in a movie. As I was stopped on a foot-bridge to take a picture of a canal and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (more commonly called the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood because it was built on the spot where Czar Alexander II was assassinated),

a guy approached and asked me if I would be willing to help him out. I was supposed to be a guy that steals a suitcase that two girls put down on the bridge. I especially felt good about this whole thing because the entire exchange between this guy and me was in Russian and I had no problem understanding and responding. My responding needs some work though. Hopefully that will improve with time.

Today I Walked 5,000 Miles

Though all of my entries have been written "with love," this is my first entry "from Russia." Crazy stuff. I can't believe I'm here.

My flight was scheduled to leave New York for Moscow yesterday at 4:05 pm, and while we boarded on time (I was in my too small seat by 3:30), the plane did not take off until 7:30. It felt like a long time to be sitting on an airplane. But I made it, and that's what counts. After making it through passport control and customs I took a train to the city. It dropped me off at Belorussky Train Station, where I got on the famous Moscow metro, and finally made it to my hotel at about 3:30. I promptly changed into shorts (it was hot here!) and left to explore the city for what was left of the day.

Here is my conclusion: Moscow is not friendly to pedestrians; it is a city of crazy wide, busy streets; no crosswalks; and long distances. My feet are sore. I explored quite a few parts of the city, though, and got myself a train ticket to go to St. Petersburg tomorrow. For some reason the Russians decided it would be a good idea to have something crazy like ten or thirteen different train stations in Moscow, each of which only serves specific destinations. It makes getting a train ticket a little confusing, at least to me.

I'm holding off judgment on Moscow until I have time to really come and take it slow, absorb some of the things here, and really experience what Moscow has to offer. But as of this moment, Moscow is not my favorite city, but part of that might be because today and yesterday all feel like one really long day.

I did take some pictures today.


I took this picture out by the Leningradsky Station, where I bought my ticket to St. Petersburg. You can see what I think are two of the "seven sisters." Stalin built seven similar buildings ringing the central part of the city.

This is the Cathedral of Christ the Redeemer, built in the 1990s to replace the cathedral that Stalin had blown up. Yeltsin laid in state in this Cathedral after he died in 2007. I didn't go in today because I was wearing shorts, but next time I come I'll go inside.

This is a view up a wide street towards the Kremlin. I swear there is not a single view in this city that is not full of overhead wires. Next time I'm here I'll also pay to get in the Kremlin and go on a tour.

This was the best picture I was able to get of myself in front of St. Basil's. Once again, I'll go inside next time. Today was mainly about exploring the city.

The Kremlin walls from the outside.

A Poem

This is going to be a random post, because again, still not in Russia. For now let's just pretend that where it says "Russia" it says "Loren."

I had a really great New York day today. I delivered food this morning as a part of Meals on Wheels (except it's Meals on Heels in NY); went to a matinee of "The Glass Menagerie" this afternoon, which was excellently acted and pretty depressing; and spent the evening walking and talking with a good friend.

I just came home and read this poem, which I have loved for a long time, but hadn't read for a while, and realized that I could share it with all of you by just posting it here. I love this blogging thing already!

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year

'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'

And he replied, 'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'

So I went forth and finding the Hand of God

Trod gladly into the night

He led me towards the hills

And the breaking of day in the lone east.

So heart be still!

What need our human life to know

If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife of things

Both high and low,

God hideth his intention.

-Minnie Louise Haskins

Experimenting with Photos - Law School

This was my team for the very awesome New York City scavenger hunt during orientation, and these are some of the people that I ended up spending the most time with at school. We were at least in all the same classes.
Me and Teri Sulmers - one of my best study buddies. This was halloween, by the way.
Me with my other study buddies, Michelle Wang and Kim Donnelly. This was just last night, celebrating the end of 1L year.
And this is just a picture that I took one day during a lunch break from studying. My school's in a pretty cool neighborhood.

Introduction. And Musings upon Completion of My First Year of Law School

I guess introductions aren't really necessary, since I doubt I will have any readers that don't already know me, but I figured I would give an explanation as to why I am starting a blog at all, since I don't have kids or anything, and that's what most people seem to blog about (which I love, for all of my readers who blog about their kids - I love your updates). I just completed my first year of law school, and I am off to St. Petersburg for the summer to work at a Russian NGO called the Institute for Information Freedom Development. I figure it may end up being a blog-worthy experience, and writing a blog seemed like the most practical way to share my adventures and photos with family and friends who might be interested.

For all you people who aren't interested, you don't have to tell me, but you don't have to read this blog either.

However, I'm not in Russia yet (which means the title for the blog seems a little bit inappropriate), but I thought I should get this started and write my first post before I go. And I do have something to share. As of 6:00 pm yesterday, I completed my first year of law school, and I though I would share some of the things I'm thinking about, as well as some of the feelings, good and bad, that I've had during this year.

First, law school has not lived up to the horror stories I heard about it. Most of the time. And then sometimes it does. My experience so far is that all of the other students are friendly and happy to help each other out (no sabotaging anyone else to get the benefit of the curve), professors are generally eager to be helpful and make sure you understand, and the workload is not so bad. Except for maybe one professor and the last six weeks of the semester.

Second, every once in a while I find myself in a setting where I suddenly am overcome with panic because I seem to have become part of a sub-culture that I was not expecting and am not fully prepared for. Meetings with the Career Services Office seem to do this to me - everyone is throwing around the names of big law firms (that I've never heard of and everyone else seems to know all about) and talking about working 100 hours a week; I'm left feeling like I'm on some crazy track that I'm not sure I want to be on, but that seems required.

Third, it turns out I don't think I'm at all interested in doing the work that I thought I was coming to law school to do (public international work). Granted, this is based on my experiences in a single class, but I feel pretty confident about this feeling. It was a disheartening and somewhat jarring realization.

I sound like a downer. So let me share with you:

Fourth, I LOVE law school. This has been the most unexpected thing that has happened to me this year. I don't know that I have ever been so intellectually stimulated or challenged. The things that I'm learning are helping me to look at the world in a different way, and I have noticed that I think about things differently, which I'm coming to realize is the purpose of a legal education. Besides being exposed to the law, law school, at least this first year, seems to be about learning how to think in the way that a lawyer has to think. I don't know that any of my education up to this point has had this kind of impact on me, or that I have ever enjoyed it so much. I have consistently felt during this year that coming to law school was the right decision for me to make, even though sometimes I'm not sure why I'm getting a law degree.

So there you go. I may have more musings about law school to share with you later, but that's all for now. Also, I'm posting a few pictures from the year, mainly so I can figure out how to use this thing.