Weekend Brief: The Bay, the City, and the River.

N and I went on a bit of an adventure this weekend. 

The plan was to go camping Saturday night. We decided to take a gamble on getting a spot in Bodega Bay, and we did find a spot. However, it was incredibly windy, which is really no fun in a tent. Instead, we were just going to eat lunch on the beach, hang out for a little bit, then head back to Sacramento.

The bay had other plans for us.

We found a beach, climbed down the hill, and were immediately blasted with sand. It was not only windy, but every time we took a step, we stirred up the sand, which then was blasted straight back into us. Within minutes our blanket was COVERED.

Sand, sea, and a skeptic face.

So we took some pictures down by the water, packed back up, and ate lunch in the car. Lunch was actually quite lovely through the windshield. We could see the beach, the clouds burned off, and we were able to just sit, watch the waves and talk.

Our view for lunch.

I had seen the taffy place on the way in, and N was nice enough to indulge me and stop.

The shop and the haul.

Instead of just going home, we decided to make a side trip down to San Francisco. We just frolicked. Down by the piers. Then up to Union Square. Back down toward the Wharf. We walked all over the place. We grabbed dinner at the Rogue Brewery. And then I got bread, which is a necessity for me. 

On Sunday, we went paddleboarding. As usual. This is seriously becoming one of my favorite things to do. We floated. We jumped off rocks. We paddled up to the prison line. 

We spent about three hours on the river, and thus went farther then we normally go. We got away from the screaming kids and a large majority of the people. There was one point that we got away from everyone. All you could hear was the wind in the trees and the birds chirping. It was awesome.

*All pictures provided courtesy of N. 

Trees suck, but people don't.

So this happened last Tuesday.

I had an interview scheduled an hour and a half from when I found that a tree branch had fallen on my car, and shattered my windshield. I had a moment of complete panic, and I did what any girl who is trying to hold herself out to be a competent and independent woman does. 

I called my dad. (When I talked to him later, I remarked that what you do is kind of a test of how much of an adult you really are. He assured me that it wasn't.) After figuring out that there was no quick fix, I went back into my office, and magic began to happen. 

I was trying to figure out how to get to the interview and what to do with my car all at once. Two of my fellow interns volunteered to take me downtown for my interview. One of the secretaries gave me her cell phone number so I could park my car at her house when I was able to deal with it, and then came and found us when we had to move it so we could take the back roads and avoid any trouble. N, being his normal princely self, picked me up, drove us the 45 minutes back to my car, then drive my car with the impossible to see out of windshield to it's waiting spot.

Today, I got my windshield replaced and figured I was all good to go. But what happened had spread around the office, and everyone has pooled money together to pay for the windshield. 

I have been so taken aback by all of the kindness that had been shown to me. It's one of those moments that tells me I'm exactly where I need to be, and that I've found truly amazing people in this world.

So, the great lesson from this whole situation: trees are actually very angry objects, but people really are fantastic. 

Annnnnnd we're back!

So, this semester kicked my butt.

I was going to try to recap the semester, but there was a lot of school and boring-ness and I couldn't figure out how to sort my pictures, so I'm just going to pick back up with what's going on now.

IT'S SUMMER.

I'm out of school, working at the public defender's office full time. It's still fabulous. I'm appearing in court and love it.

I've also have re-found my appreciation for weekends. When I don't have homework, it's actually time off. So I've just been hanging out, and not feeling guilty for just hanging out.

We've been spending a bunch of time at the river. N has paddle boards, and they're pretty sweet. Now that it's actually getting warmer outside and the water's not too cold to be in, it's really nice to just float.

This. Everything about this is something I can get used to.

This crazy month called November.

November's been a good month. Crazy, but so good.

At the beginning of the month, I took the MPRE. Then jumped in the car with this awesome guy N and drove to Berkeley for the Cal-UA game. After spending way too long looking for parking and walking to the stadium, we finally made it and watched Arizona bear down to a win! 

Our seats were pretty awesome.

The next Thursday, I did my full day trial for my trial advocacy class. It was an amazing learning experience. I was on the prosecution, so it was a good experience to see things from "the other side." It was fun to do the trial. It's got all of the public speaking and the strategic wording and the spontaneity that I think is a good time. We lost, but it there was reasonable doubt up and down our case file, so it was comforting that the jurors, who were community members, were able to see that and come to the right verdict. We also got to watch the jury deliberate, and it's interesting to see what parts of your case that they latch onto and which parts they ignore. Spoiler alert: they don't always pay attention to the information that you want, and pick up on lots of things that you didn't even mention.

Two days later, I took my first final. Gag. And turned in a big paper that Wednesday after that. And then did an oral argument a week later.

But then, I WAS FREE!!

To do things like go to Apple Hill. Or do some mini golfing with N. 

So November, thanks for kicking my butt, and being a blast.

Holy semester.

This semester has been... interesting.

Why interesting you ask? Here's why:
Life was busy. Between school, part time job, externship, and generally wanting to have time for myself, life was busy.
It's all been great though. School has been school. I was stressed, as to be expected, but not in the panic-filled manner that I was last year. The old, tired saying that the second year of law school will work you to death is absolutely true. I'm no longer afraid of being called on in classes, and I know that all of the work will get done, there's just a lot of it.

The part-time job is beautiful. Most of the time it's just holding office hours and doing my homework, which is much appreciated.

My externship at the public defender's office is still amazing. I love the office, love the work, love the clients. It can be kind of crazy and a little trying at times, but I love being able to go there and work with real people on their real problems. It makes me excited for the future.

I'm still running the half-marathon in January (eight weeks! Ahhh!). I've taken LOTS of breaks throughout the semester, whether it be because it was dark when I wanted to run, or my bed wouldn't let me leave, or my knee was being stupid. I'm up to eight miles, and while it sucks for the first three or so, the last five rock. I'm excited to finally do it!

And that's been the last three months. All I have left is two, count them two, finals this year. So much better than five. I go home for Thanksgiving tomorrow, come back in a week, take my finals over the next two weeks after that, and then I'm done! Play time for two weeks!!

Can you tell I'm excited?

First week back.

As of now, I've completed my first week of classes.

Honestly, I feels like I never left. I know I had this whole summer of adventures and working, but when I sat down in my awkwardly linked chair and pulled out my highlighter and my pens and starting taking notes on what the professor said and was preparing myself with something semi-intelligent to say in case I got called on, it all came back.

Another reason it feels like I've been in class this whole time: this is the first time that I've started school without a so-called "syllabus week." You know, that first week of school when the teacher or professor goes over how the class is going to run, lets you out early because you haven't had homework yet, and an overall joke of a week.
Law school doesn't believe in syllabus week.
We have first assignments. So day one of class is a full class, because you already have had homework that needs to be discussed. I'm telling you, we never really left.

I do have to say I'm pretty excited about my classes this year. We're not stuck in sections anymore, so I get to see different people and go to different rooms. For some reason, the tone of the classes is very different. It could be that I'm not scared to be wrong, but the discussion is much more open, the professors are more engaging, and it's much more of a discussion than a lecture. But then again, this is just week one. I could be singing a completely different tune in a few weeks.

The subjects are interesting as well.
Constitutional law is going to be a beast, but it's got to be done.
I'm doing a program that integrates evidence and trial advocacy. It's also going a TON of work, but I'm stoked for it. The professors are engaging and interesting. I love that I can apply what I'm learning in evidence to the exercises I'm doing in trial ad. Plus, trial ad. is fun.
Professional responsibility is all about what lawyers can and cannot do, but it's done through discussing what you would do if you were the lawyer in the case. The "what would you do" discussion is really interesting.

I'm continuing at the public defender's office through the year. I also picked up a part-time job on campus. 

It's going to be a busy semester, but I built it that way. Last year, I wasn't as involved, and I felt like I had too much down time. I'm excited to have a schedule. I'm excited to be working with new people. I'm excites about the things im going to be working on. I'm just pretty stoked on this year. 

Moving stinks, and other things in the past two weeks.

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Sometimes more of a tornado. But things can only go up from here!

Last week, C and I got the keys to our new apartment on Tuesday, and I had to be out of my old apartment by Friday. It was also my last week full-time at the PD's office. As such, I was refusing to take a full day off to move. So, I planned to pack all weekend to the sound of Netflix or love of my life Spotify, move everything out Tuesday and Wednesday, clean Thursday and be done in plenty of time to sleep a normal amount on all nights.

Best laid plans of mice and men and all that.

Now, moving is never fun. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever. Throwing all of your things into boxes, hauling those boxes to a different place, and then taking all of those things out of those boxes sucks. There's no way around it; no way to make it fun.
Our school's network was down starting the Saturday I planned to start packing. So that meant no interwebs. Which meant a sad and Netflix-less Manda. And not laundry machines. Which meant an angry and frustrated Manda moved dirty laundry.
I have WAY more stuff than I imagined. I lived in a two bedroom apartment by myself, and it was apparently my mission to fill it all. That meant that I moved a few hours Tuesday, a few hours Wednesday, then six hours Thursday. Add two hours of cleaning to Thursday, and it's two a.m. C's boyfriend was awesome and left me an air mattress; I blew it up, flopped down and passed out. Up at five a.m. to unload everything then off to work!

I was out of my apartment on time, so it all worked out.

Peace out, Oak Park. 

This week has been setting up the apartment and helping with 1L orientation at the school.
I bought an antique bed frame that I'm absolutely in love with on Craigslist. I now have a mattress, and I love it even more.

It's been kind of strange not being at the PD's office. I know my email is going to be overflowing, and I miss the assignments. I get to go back the second day of school, but it'll be different to not be there all the time.

Sunday, C, C, and I went to the Sacramento Antique Fair. That was a fun trip. Some of the stuff was what my great-grandfather would have called a nickel's worth of God help us, but some of it was gorgeous. There were tons of trunks to drool over. Like, the most beautiful trunks I  have seen in a long time. If only they weren't two or three hundred dollars.
C and C hit the jackpot though. We found a sweet locker (like a full length high school locker that the nerdy kids get stuffed into), a big picture frame for $5 (score!), an end table, an awesome love seat for our patio, and a beautiful blue dresser. It's now sitting beautifully in my closet, full of my clothes.

Isn't she beautiful??

Monday, I started my job in our school's student affairs office. I'm really excited to get started there. It's the first time they've had people in the positions held by myself and my cohorts, so we're getting to put the procedures in place and start things the way we want to. It's also fun to know everything that's going on at our campus, get to know the student leaders and the administrators, and be able to aid student life in general.

Tuesday, I volunteered in a scavenger hunt for the 1Ls. We got awesome neon orange shirts. My job was to sit at a coffee shop for four hours and tell people they could have free coffee. My life was hard.

Wednesday, I volunteered with registration. I loved meeting all the first years and sending them on their way.

Today, I recruited for my clubs. I had spiels that I could rattle off without thought. Thank you, sorority recruitment. I guess you weren't completely terrible.

Tomorrow, I get to start first assignments. Helloooooo 120 pages of trial advocacy and a bunch of constitutional law. Out of the frying pan we go.