It's over.

I did it.
I have finally finished my first semester of exams.
It feels so strange. I feel accomplished because I know that I did the best I possibly could, and while I have to accept that my work may not have been perfect or the best off my class, I'm proud of myself that I made it through.
Now I'm looking forward to my three week break, but I'm also taking my books home so I can start on my assignments for the first week of next semester. And I'm excited to come back in January and start the next semester.
I love this school and I love my professors. I love the readings and the discussions in class. I love my friends and the way we help each other through this mess.

Honestly, I'm really just loving law school.

Finals are eating my brain.

But really.
I don't know how I'm going to remember all of this.
With that said, I have my death final tomorrow, so I'm hoping to blog a bunch tomorrow night. It might be a bit loopy, but I want to catch up.
Cause I miss writing. It helps me stay sane, which is a struggle at some points.
SO, I'll be baaaaaack.
Soon.

Law School Moments

As a law student, your life changes in some strange ways. We do ridiculous things to try to get work done. At some points, one might call them desperate. Random things make us excited. Things that most people wouldn't even giggle at, we find hysterical. These are my law school moments.

LSM #1: Backseat typing.
C and I decided to take a break and grab some In-N-Out when our homework just wasn't progressing. I really wanted to go, but I really needed to do work, so we found a compromise. While C drove, I busted out my computer, my civil procedure book, and started typing my memo that wasn't happening before. Surprisingly, I finished a solid half page in the time it took to drive to In-N-Out and back.
I wish I could have taken a picture, but it was too dark.

YKYWRIAW, post 2

YKYWRIAW #4: The temperature hits 50 degrees and you have nothing to wear.
So, it gets cold in Sacramento. My "winter" clothing consists of sweatshirts and some Ugg boots. When I walk back to my apartment after a long night in the library, I freeze. I've taken to wearing a blanket in my apartment, because McGeorge apparently doesn't believe in double-paned windows. For the first time in my life, my flannel quilt, two regular quilts, massive afghan, and four fleece blankets isn't enough on my bed. I only own two real scarves.
What will I do to survive this winter, you may ask?
I'm not really sure.
I've been layering things as much as possible. I can put tights under my jeans, wear three shirts, and throw my big jacket on over my sweatshirt. I'm going to look like I gained 20 pounds, but I value warmth over fashion.
I can do this. I think.

Jared Lee Loughner.

Yesterday, Jared Lee Loughner was sentenced for opening fire at a Safeway in Tucson during one of Gabrielle Giffords' "Congress on Your Corner" events.

Loughner was sentenced to seven life sentences and an additional 140 years; the seven life sentences are six for the people who were killed and one for attempting to kill a member of congress and the 140 years is 20 years for each person injured.
I was in class during the sentencing, but I followed three reporters who reported from the courtroom via Twitter. Being able to follow this sentencing was important to me for several reasons. First, the mass shooting rocked my quiet little college town. The event affected the entire country, rippling through the nation, as every tragedy does. But this was in Tucson. One of my homes. It’s that age old cliché: you never think it could happen to you, until it does. I wasn’t in Tucson when it happened, but when I went back to school three days later, the whole town was in a state of terror and shock. My roommates and I visited the memorial, and it was nothing like I have ever experienced before. Nothing I ever want to experience again. Here's my post from last year about the memorial.

It also made me think about the people around me. I always felt safe at U of A. Whether that’s because I spent time in high school there, I had created my life there, or just being lulled into a false sense of security, but I always felt safe. When it first came out that Loughner was a student, I had to wonder, was he someone I had seen on campus? Did I pass him in the Union?

Second, I majored in journalism, and this event rocked that world. Several news stations declared Gabby Giffords dead before anything was confirmed. My mom and I had both of our laptops open and two T.V.’s on trying to figure out what was going on, and we were getting a different story everywhere we looked. The initial news about Loughner was just as confusing. I was disappointed in the industry for making as many mistakes as they did.

Third, now I’m in law school, and I have an interest in being a public defender. While I’m attracted to the idea of helping people and ensuring that people receive due process, I don’t know if I could do what Loughner’s defender, Judy Clarke, has done. She’s represented on scary and twisted people. What it comes down to is, being  public defender is not about getting someone off, it’s making sure that someone who can’t afford legal services has help and that they have a fair trial. For this, I have to admire Judy Clarke.

The sentencing trial itself was interesting to read about.
The statements from all of the witnesses were heartbreaking, as well as inspiring. The coverage said that every witness was looking directly at Loughner, and often spoke directly to him. All of them spoke of the pain and sadness that resulted from Loughner's actions. However, every single one of them also testified that they were slowly healing, Loughner didn't ruin them, and they weren't going to dwell on him anymore.
Here are some of my favorite statements:
From Suzi Hileman, who brought her neighbor Christina Taylor Green to the event: "I will walk out of this courtroom and walk into the rest of my life."
From Mary Stoddard, whose husband was killed: "I forgive you. I do not hate you I hate the act you performed."

From Stoddard: "Your family is not blame and I want them to know that I put no responsibility on them."
From Pam Simon, to Loughner's parents: "It is my hope your parents can eventually find some peace."
From Mark Kelly, Gabby Giffords' husband, after telling Loughner to pay attention: "You tried to create a world as dark and evil as your own. Know this: you failed.”
From Kelly, regarding Gabby's spirit: "Mr. Loughner, you may have put a bullet through her head, but you have not but a dent in her commitment to make world a better place."
From Kelly: "After today, after this moment, Gabby and I are done thinking about you."

While this trial doesn’t signify the end of the pain and healing that is taking place in Tucson and the families affected, it does at least provide a resolution. From here, things can only get better. 

You know you were raised in Arizona when...

Now that I've been here for awhile, it's become glaringly obvious that I grew up in Arizona.

As I find more, I'll add them to the list.

YKYWRIAW #1: Day light savings time seems like the stupidest idea ever.

I understand that it is necessary for some geographical locations, but having grown-up without it, it just seems unnecessary. So you have to get up in the dark?  I usually just alter my schedule to work around it. However, I did survive my first time change, the only causality being that my text messages now record the time I receive them in Arizona and California time.

YKYWRIAW #2: You get excited that the leaves change color.

In grade school, we were taught that the the leaves change color in the fall. I've never actually seen that happen. BUT this is what is outside my door.

THOSE ARE RED LEAVES!

YKYWRIAW #3: You feel the need to step on every leaf on the ground.
Running with the theme that Arizona doesn't get real autumn leaves that fall, I impulsively step on as many leaves on the ground as I possibly can. This results in me stomping across campus, usually disappointed because most of the leaves have already been crunched, sometimes by my own doing. However, when I finally get a good one that succumbs to my stomping with a delightful crackle, I'm completely thrilled.

Adventures in This Week's Menu

I did my cooking for the week tonight as usual.
Tonight I baked pumpkin apple streusel muffins with this recipe.
I give these muffins a B-. They're not bad, and I like them, but they're not my favorite or even one that I would mention to friends.
To me, the pumpkin and the apple, mellow flavors it the first place, mellow out each other further.
The struesel did work very well either. I know my dad has a recipe, so I'm going to have to work on stealing it.

For dinner this week, I made spicy chicken rigatoni a la Buca de Beppo using this recipe.
I give this an A. I've never had this particular dish at Buca, but I've had other spicy dishes, and this one comes pretty close.
I really enjoyed how easy it was to make as well. Anything that makes it a little more idiot proof is awesome to me.
The only thing I changed about this recipe is that I close to tripled the amount of chicken. That was how much chicken came in the package, and I didn't really want to find something else to do with it. Plus, protein's good, right?

Review of the past two weeks.

Blah. Law school wins again and the blog loses.
Last week was a busy week.
Monday, I got drinks with M. M and I were on The Epitaph together. She got all of the copy editing done; I protected her from stupid questions so she could focus and be efficient. She's living near Los Angeles, but is from Sacramento and was home for the weekend. It was good to see her, and to spend a night not thinking about law school.

Tuesday, I got an awesome compliment at the gym. Someone in the pool stopped me and asked me if I was working toward something because he saw me there all the time, I have written workouts, and I'm very disciplined when I'm in the pool. I said no, it's just for my general well-being, but I was super excited that someone thought I was dedicated to working out. Things like that make it way easier to go to the gym every night.

The rest of the week was a "just get through it" type of week.

This weekend, I had more culinary adventures. I attempted to make P.F. Chang's chicken lettuce wraps.
Things that went wrong: I couldn't find ground chicken breast, so I used turkey. The recipe calls for peanut butter. I don't know why I keep following these recipes that call for peanut butter, because it NEVER works right and is way too overpowering. I was able to save it this time; the filling is just a little spicier than the real thing.
I also made blueberry muffins, but ran out of cupcake liners. So I have a blueberry muffin cake. It tastes the same, so life is good.

Last night, I had a GREAT workout in the pool. I'm not doing anywhere near the distance of what I used to, and my endurance is seriously lacking, but every workout I do personal time trials. The goal has been to hit my 100 split for my old mile time. It's only a 1:10.00, but I figure it's a good place to start from.
Last night, I HIT IT!
I don't know if I could do two in a row, but I did it once! It can only get better from here.

Very early this morning, I thought there was an earthquake and I was really going to die. I woke up around 2 a.m. to a loud bang and my bed moved. My first thought, "Crap. Where was it that I'm supposed to hide?" At this point, I realized that my bed was at an angle.
No earthquake, my bed just fell off of one of its risers. At 2 a.m., I tried to put it back, and I realized that in the course of the bed falling that the riser had broken. Once I realized that there was no way to fix it, I crawled back into my tilting bed and went back to sleep. It was thrilling.

So I'm safe from earthquakes, but the exam prep that I have to start might kill me. Wish me luck!

Wonderful Week.

This week was simply wonderful.
I went to the gym four times this week. It always feels good to be back in the water, but now that I've gotten into a habit of going, it feels even better. For years, my coaches said to just keep on doing things over and over and over and over and over and over, etc. because we would build muscle memory and it would just become second nature. I did what they said, but when I got to the last one hundred of a mile swim, I was positive that they were full of it and muscle memory was some fiction they made up.
IT EXISTS!
I noticed it when I started doing breaststroke. It's kind of awkward, and if you don't use the right technique, you make it 50 times harder on yourself. I was struggling through it, and then I felt my stroke elongate and stretch, and lo and behold, my body found the rhythm that I haven't used for years. I was beyond excited.
The only downside: when your old stroke comes back, so do all of the weird aches and pains from old injuries and funky body movements.
I'm loving the gym though. I can go whenever I want (meaning whenever I need a break from studying). I had my choice of machines on the day I decided I was going to run. That hour of working out has seriously helped my sanity levels, and I'm sleeping a lot sounder, which is always a positive situation.

This weekend was a blast.
Saturday, C and I went to Trucktoberfest, a food truck round up by the river. We got totally lost getting there, but it was so worth it. There were around 20 trucks parked around the edges of the park, and there were just so many options.
Our goal was to eat all the food, and we valiantly fought to make that goal happen.
We ended up eating a bratwurst, a waffle with strawberries and whipped cream, a shrimp taco, a strawberry lemonade, fried mac and cheese balls with bacon and black truffle, and a beer each. We were very proud of ourselves.
Needless to say, that was lunch, and I wasn't hungry for awhile.

After stuffing my face with food truck delights, I went home and took a nap. (Naps are probably one of the greatest things on the planet.) I did some homework and then went to the bar which we have deemed "our place."
Say hello to Firestone.
They've got tons of TV's, so all of us can watch our respective games. The food is great and the beer is good. The bartenders are really friendly, and they have started to recognize us.
Every game day, we're there at one time in the day. We get nachos and a giant pretzel. When I say giant, I mean they bring it to you hanging on a hook and you have to tear pieces off. And you get to play Pretzel Jenga. When the pretzel is down to the last bit, everyone takes turns tearing off their next bite. Whoever pulls the piece that makes it fall, loses. It's great fun, and the bartenders think we're hilarious when we do it.

I won this round. Yay!

Saturday night, we headed down to Firestone to watch the Arizona game. It was a sad ending, but still a lot of fun. An OSU fan was sitting next to me, so we got to go back and forth, and shake hands after the game ended. That's the biggest difference between watching the game in college and now. Everyone's friendly, and after the game, it's just a game. We're still people who can be respectful. It was also nice to have other Arizona fans around so that I could high five them when good things happened. I'm still missing being in the student section, but I like being an alumna fan as well.

Tonight a few friends came over to my apartment for "family dinner." C cooked and the boys came over. We all ate dinner at my kitchen table and then studied afterward. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but it was nice to have people over and around. We had pork with kale and potatoes. And guess what?
I ate it all!
This was big for me. I don't normally eat potatoes or vegetables in general, especially green and leafy ones like kale. I was a little surprised, but I really enjoyed all of it. Maybe I'll be brave and try something new.
I also was able to finish all of my work for Monday and Tuesday, as is the plan every week. My execution of the plan is sometimes pretty questionable, and it feels really good to be on track with myself for once.

This going to be a good week. I can feel it.

I'm Back Monday.

So I'm alive.
I had a funky two weeks. I've just been off.
BUT
This weekend I had my law school breakdown and cried in my apartment about everything that has gone on in the past few months: moving to a different state, missing home, missing my parents, missing my friends, learning to be by myself in my apartment, having my own apartment, starting law school, doing law school, studying ALL. THE. TIME., making new friends, trying to settle into a pattern, having to go grocery shopping, doing dishes (I still don't understand how I use so many dishes), and so much more.
I think I've finally started to get it down.
I'm going to get back to blogging regularly, starting with a weekend recap, tomorrow.
For now, enjoy this gem I found today. I had a three minute dance party after swimming today. I highly suggest it, the song and the dance party, to everyone.

Rough week.

This week was rough.
I wasn't ahead in my reading, I don't think I got enough sleep, and it was just kind of a struggle to get through.
Friday felt awesome.

Today was even better!
I was super productive this morning, got all of Monday's work done, and cleaned the apartment, which just makes me feel better in general.
Tonight my friend C and I went to Midtown for Second Saturdays. All of Midtown is on the streets. There was a drum circle, all of the art galleries were open, and there's people everywhere. We spent awhile just walking around and finding some cool places to eat.
I think we had the most fun people watching. There are some interesting people here. And I guess people liked watching us: we had five different males call us beautiful, or something to that effect. Wonderful confidence booster.

One sad part about tonight, I missed the Arizona football game. This is the first one I haven't seen, whether in person or on TV, in over four years. It's killing me. But I put on my Arizona sweats and I've got my Arizona blanket on hand, and I'm cheering them on from miles away. I can't wait until I get to see another game.

Still Bearing Down in Sacramento.

Whirlwind Half Week.

This Wednesday, I decided I'm going to try to become a morning person, I really am. So I got up at 6 a.m. that day. However, the action which gives you the ability to get up early is going to bed early. I went to bed at midnight the night before, probably fell asleep at 12:30 a.m.
What does this all mean?
I was dragging all day. But, the time I had in the morning was really productive. I'm determined to make the switch from being a night person. It could just make law school a little rougher.

An exciting moment on Wednesday: I WENT SWIMMING.
I found a pool at the local YMCA, and I went ahead and got a membership. I figured if I'm actually having to pay for it, I'll go.
So I went and swam. It was only a mile, but I felt amazing after I got out of the pool, and I slept like a champ that night.
I was also sore the next morning, but that's always a good feeling.

I slogged through the rest of the week, and then Friday left Sacramento for Bakersfield to visit T, a friend from UA.
I took a train down, and while it added about an hour and a half to my travels, you can't beat the experience of a train.
For instance, because I'm not personally driving my car, I save a significant amount of gas, as well as having the ability to do homework, capatilizing on my drive time.
Also, trains are so social. I ended up sitting next to an array of undergrads from the whole length of California. They were talking about their experiences in the dorms, and I couldn't help but think about how my dorm experience seemed so long ago. It was great to listen to their stories, laugh at the ridiculousness of being a sophomore in college, and I had a great time.
The conductors are hilarious. The stops we have passed so far are "the wild, the woody village of Wasco, the capital of roses," "The colossess of Corcoran," "the party hamlet of Hanford," and "the fabulous, frothy city of Fresno, ranked number two in the nation."
Finally, you get to see everything that happens goes by when you're on a train, instead of staring at the asphalt the whole time.

Grapes!

The train also has WiFi, which allows me to type this post and procrastinate reading as I travel home.

I had an awesome weekend in Bakersfield. I haven't seen T in a while, and Bakersfield was a good place to just hang out and do nothing of consequence.
Awesome relaxation weekend.
Friday night we got Mexican food at Mexicali's, simply because I haven't had Mexican food since I moved out to California. I think I might be going into withdrawals. Later, we just watched movies and hung out.
Saturday we went to lunch at Lengthwise. This is exactly the type of place I love. It's funky, it's original, and it's delicious. My dad always makes fun of me that all I do is eat, and points to the fact that I'm always talking about food on my blogs. Well, I guess you're right, dad. :)
Later, T gave me a tour of the oil fields where he works. He oversees the safety of Chevron's well crews. When he would talk about how hard it was to find a single crew in a field, I was picturing a big field with one or two wells. Nope, the amount of wells pumping out there is INSANE. They in the middle of parking lots, on the tops of mountains, and by the side of the road. And there's all of the pipes. It's nuts.

And also very interesting. These machines range in size, from giants to little baby ones (the tiny ones are my favorite). They're also very dangerous. T was telling me about all of the accidents, and it's mind-boggling. All of the stories seem like freak accidents, but something happens all the time.

I would describe this as a medium one. 

I now completely understand why T get frustrated when he has to find a two man crew in an F-150 that is in the middle of the forest of wells.
That night we grilled at T's parents' house (I know that's rough grammatically) while we watched the Arizona game. All I have to say is it could be a long season, but I love my Cats anyways.
This morning we got breakfast at Buck Owen's Crystal Palace. The buffet was awesome; they had waffles and omelettes and normal breakfast food and fried chicken. The atmosphere is so unique; the walls are covered in country music memorabilia and a slideshow rotated through pictures of country stars that had played there. I'd love to go to a concert there. It's small and interesting, and it's dance floor looks enticing.
We spent the rest of the day hanging out; I did some reading and T did some work stuff. He dropped me off at the train, and away I went.
Now, it seems that my torts book is calling to me.
I really wish it wouldn't do that.

A fruit-full week.

This past week was a productive one.
I also realized I've been eating a ridiculous amount of fruit. Like I've been CRAVING fruit lately.
I have a smoothie for breakfast with muffins with fruit baked in.
I have fruit for snack after my classes.
I have fruit for my evening snack when I get back from the library.
I've just been eating fruit.

Everyone keeps asking me how I'm liking school, and they all seem to be confused when I say I'm loving it. Yes, it's a lot of work, but I actually enjoy reading the cases. Classes are engaging, terrifying at times, but always enjoyable and engaging.
I had a really good class on Friday. Property is my only class, and the professor is pretty intense. The book he co-wrote with another McGeorge professor is used at Harvard. He's awesome.
However, he has this fantastic talent of calling on people in their momentary lapse of attention. It's common knowledge that when he does this, you have been "Sprankled."
He called on me Friday, AND I WAS READY!
I gave him all the facts, he kept asking me questions, and I kept having the answer.
I even got a "Good job, Amanda."
WHAT?!
All of my classmates congratulated me after class. That's how awesome it is to do well in his class.
Nothing could ruin my Friday after that.

Saturday night, I got to have dinner with one of my good friends from U of A. It was awesome to catch up and have some down time.

Sacramento cooled down a lot this weekend. Instead of using my air conditioning, and the electricity I have to pay for to power it, I open windows. It's cooled down enough that I've finally been able to add all of my blankets to my bed, which is so much more comfortable.
I was also cold enough when I went to bed that I busted out this gem.

I also love Arizona football.

This is a hand-me-down from my baby brother, who received it as a hand-me-down from one of our close family friends. I'm not even sure how old it is, but it's one of my favorite things to sleep in!

After today, I've decided Sundays are my favorite day of the week.
I woke up this morning, put on my slippers (!) and went downstairs to start some homework. I then proceeded to bundle up on the couch and do my reading, with some naps in between. The smell of bread wafted through my windows.
After I finished all my homework, I went to Walmart to do my grocery shopping. I was really surprised at how excited I was to go to the grocery store. It's an outing, I get to drive a little ways, and frolic around the store.
Sundays are also my cooking day. After I got back from the store, I baked some apple banana muffins using this recipe. That'll be breakfast for the next week.
I also try to make a dinner that I can use throughout the week. Today it was Chinese sesame noodles using this recipe. I'm not as big of a fan of this one. It turned out REALLY peanut-y. It's good enough for this week, but I don't think I'll ever make it again.

Overall, I had a really solid week.

Loving the legal life.

Domestic Sunday.

I was a domestic goddess today. Or as domestic as I'm going to get.
I did laundry.
I baked. Delicious strawberry pancake puffs for this week's breakfast.

Yum.

I did dishes.
I painted a pot for my baby cactus who desperately needs a home.

I also did more reading. Go figure.

Today was bid day for the beautiful ADPi girls back in Tucson. I didn't think I would be that upset about missing today, simply because I hate recruitment, but seeing all of the pictures and comments from people who went back kind of bummed me out.
It also reminds me of how proud I am to have been a part of such a great organization. And it's incredibly rewarding to see the new girls, who I may never meet, wear the same expression of excitement and joy as the ones worn the girls I welcomed home at the beginning of their freshman year. Now, those girls are women welcoming others into our sisterhood.

As the days go by, I start to notice little things about my area of Sacramento. Today, it was bread.
There's a Sara Lee factory a block away from campus. All day long, the scent of fresh bread wafts in through my windows. It's a great thing to wake up to as well.

Trying to make this place a temporary home while missing the old ones.

Lazy Saturday.

Today was a lazy day. I got through Monday's work, but I didn't do half of the other stuff I needed to do.
What I did do is go grocery shopping. And guess what? I DIDN'T GET LOST!
If you know me, you know I'm seriously directionally challenged. My Tomtom is one of my best friends. Sacramento is a very bad place to be if you get lost easily. There are a ton of different freeways, but they all share exits, so when you exit, need to be in the designated lane for you chosen freeway. If you're not in that lane, it's difficult to get over because there are cars everywhere. Sacramento also apparently doesn't believe in warning you when two lanes merge. They just...disappear. I've gotten better at spotting these vanishing lanes and altering my speed to fit within the other cars. I've also gotten better at being a little more aggressive and claiming my spot on the road.
My big find today was the closest Walmart. I went for the low prices, and the fact that I could knock off my whole list in one go. This Walmart was special: it's a two-story Super Walmart! The fun part was going upstairs: you put your cart a cart escalator that grabs onto a hook on the front, then ride the normal escalator up yourself. SO COOL!
But I've designated tomorrow as a productive day. I'm going to get through Tuesday's work, cook a real breakfast and dinner, prepare food for the rest of the week, do laundry, and clean the apartment.
Ready... BREAK!

One week down...

I SURVIVED MY FIRST WEEK!!!
Law school is nothing like undergrad. As an undergrad, I rarely went to the library, I barely studied, and classes were way easier.
Here, I'm in the library almost every night, I study seven or eight hours a day, and classes are more demanding than anything I've ever done. Your attention can't stray in the slightest, professors could call on you at any moment, and if you're not paying attention to what your classmate is saying, you might miss the whole point of that class period. Being mentally "on" all of the time is the biggest challenge, and can be exhausting.
The other challenge is being able to make yourself sit down for eight hours a day to study. The people I study with and I have found an awesome study room in the library that has comfy chairs that make it a little better.
The books are big and I'm having a blast writing all over them.

Even though the classes are hard and being called on in class can be intimidating, I'm loving this. The logical process of finding a rule, and applying it is exactly how my brain works. I'm figuring out what the different professors are looking for and am getting faster at briefing the cases. I know that I've only survived the first week, but I'm actually really enjoying law school. Go figure.

Along with figuring out my classes, I'm figuring out how to handle my apartment. I've been cooking a little bit, and I've been pretty proud of the results. I'm planning on cooking a bunch tomorrow in preparation for the week, because I really have no desire to make an actual meal between my study sessions. Here are some examples of my great culinary creations:

Rice and chicken with soy sauce. Yes, it's simple, and yes, it's in a giant mug, but it was satisfying when I finally got around to each at 10:30 p.m.

I've decided to call these pancake puffs; they're just pancake batter baked in a muffin tin, but they reheat really well.

Life is good. :)

And so it begins...

It's official. I have officially started what will be three long years of death: law school.

In case you didn't know, I am attending University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, and despite being slightly nervous as to what I've gotten myself into, I'm actually very excited to start this next chapter in my life.

At this point, I'm about a week in.
Last Saturday, my mom and I left Phoenix and started our two day drive. Most of it was uneventful. There were some interesting points.
I had never seen Joshua Trees before, and I was really interested in them. Enter the blonde moment: I didn't realize that they actually had bark, and that was really exciting for me.

It's a little blurry because I may or may not have been driving at the time. Leaning towards the may.

I got a new mouth guard for my water bottle, and he's happy to see you!

We spent the night in Bakersfield, then drove the rest of the way up on Sunday. We stayed in a hotel Sunday night, and I moved into my apartment on Monday!

The rest of the week was orientation.
My favorite part was the Dean's Welcome and Oath of Professionalism Ceremony. All of our professors, were welcomed by all of the staff, and took the oath.
It was explained to us that by taking that oath, we became part of the legal community. We have the reputation and credibility of the profession resting on our shoulders.
The dean also explained that as we begin our law school career, we are going the conversation that is the legal community. There's a constant exchange of ideas that we may not understand now, but we will.
It made me excited to start and to be a part of this school.