Week 1 in the Books

Week one is done.  Many more like it to come...

This has been a long week.  Or at least that is how I perceived it.  On Wednesday, I felt like it should have been Friday.  Time seemed to drag like those times as a little child waiting for the day to leave on a trip to Disney World.  The days seemed to drag on the closer the day to leave became like some amount of torture on your psyche.  This is how this week seemed to me.

Now, this is not to say the week was agonizing or torturous; the week just seemed to take a long time to complete.  And reflecting back on the week as I sit here and type, the week seemed to have flown by so quickly.  These are odd feelings.  Are these directly related to the 1L experience?  Guess I'll see next week.

The only problem with next week is it is a short week because of Labor Day.  Dang holidays.  As soon as I develop a routine, the desire of the people for a day off to celebrate work places a bump in the road. 

On Mondays and Wednesdays, my first class is not until 9:25.  On Fridays, I have only one class which starts late in the afternoon, 2:40.  I know, how lucky I am to have only one class on Friday and the class is in the late afternoon!  But, on these days, I go to the gym.  Tuesdays and Thursdays class starts at 8:00 am.  I know, how lucky for class so early!

Every day this past week, I got up at 5 am.  I was at the law school by 8 am on the days I worked out and at the school by 7 am on the other two days.  I was never late or rushing.  I will stick to this routine as it seems to work.

If you were paying attention, I got to the law school at 8 am on Friday - the day I have class at 2:40 in the afternoon.  Yesterday (Friday), I spent the entire day working and reading ahead and studying.  I hope to keep this routine up for the rest of the year.

I left the school at 4:30 most days.  A couple of days I stayed until 6 pm.  After eating dinner, I would spend an hour or two working in my study at home.  While I wanted to have school be school and home be home, I feel that the only way for that to work is to stay through dinner at school.  I know that sounds like a lot of studying - and it is - but the prize, I believe, is worth the effort.

Law school is a balancing act.  You must balance life and studying.  I think I would prefer to eat at least one meal at home with my girlfriend, to have some semblance of the life we had prior to law school.  I know there will be days I'll have to stay through dinner at the law school.  On those days, I will not come home and do school work.  Instead, I'll spend time with my girlfriend.  I believe this is the way to maintain sanity.

This weekend I have some plans of off time.  But I also have planned time to work on law school.  Balance is key.  Law school is studying.  Many hours of studying.  Karl Llewellyn says the cure for too much law is more law.  But at some point, you must say, enough is enough and take time to clear the blood and sweat out of your eyes so you can keep your eye on the prize.