Mental Note to Self

Recently, I've been noticing specific behaviors of others that either irritate me or pleasantly surprise me, and filing them away mentally so that I can avoid or repeat them in the future. Here are a couple examples:
-Pay your babysitter extra on holidays. She gave up a celebratory night so that you could have one -- reward her accordingly.
-When getting ready to take your child on a long train ride, do a dry run first. Going from Detroit to Chicago and aren't sure if your kids will behave? Treat them to a 20 minute train ride from Pontiac to Royal Oak to acquaint them with the train and get them excited about the idea of a longer trip. And while you're at it, dress them up in conductors outfits (that was truly icing on the cake).

Apparently I should have put these in writing earlier because those are the only two I can think of right now! And now it'll drive me crazy...

New Year, New Tradition

Several months ago, the stress of the holidays started to kick in and I began to wonder what I'd do for New Year's Eve. Last year was a huge letdown, so I knew I would have to come up with something I was really excited about, or to just stay in. Due to a serious lack of funds, I chose not only to stay in, but to babysit. I babysat from 8pm-1am, and although I didn't make much money, it was the ideal way to spend the night. So ideal, in fact, that I think I may have started a new tradition of staying in on New Year's Eve. The key to not feeling pathetic about it was not watching anything on television that was at all related to the holiday (I had absolutely no desire to watch the ball drop by myself), and was happy to receive the phone calls and text messages that I did. Apparently my life is happier when I have low expectations, a lesson I'll take with me into 2008.

Ciao

Well, tomorrow I head off to Europe, where my *hope* is to keep up with my blog, but I really don't know what to expect.
Here's a little about my trip:
I'll be spending my first month in Rome, where I'll be taking a Comparative Law class as well as Immigration/Unauthorized Employment Law and will get to see the Supreme Court of Italy, as well as other Italian legal institutions. Then I'm off to Strasbourg for 2 weeks, where I'll be taking European Union Law I and Comparative Elder/Disability Law and get to see the European Court of Human Rights, EU Parliament, and the Council of Europe. Then it's off briefly to Luxembourg for the EU Court of Justice, then Brussels for the EU Commission and NATO. Finally, then I'm spending 2 weeks in Oxford, where I'll take European Union Law II and Art Law and the Collector, and we'll visit Legal London.

Along the way, I also have trips planned to Cinque Terre and Capri/Sorrento within italy, as well as to Athens, Greece. I'm going to try to make it to Venice, Switzerland, Prague, and/or Germany as well. I'll try to keep you updated as I go!! If not, I'll have some heavy duty blogging to do when I return.

MEAN!!!!

Today I got a phone call from a very concerned friend suggesting that I come to school as quickly as possible and make sure that my textbooks are still in my locker. Why, you might ask? Because some asshole broke into several lockers in the law school today and stole as many textbooks as he could get his hands on.

Yep, one week before finals.

This concerned friend of mine had every single textbook taken out of her locker. Luckily, my books were all still in my locker and are now in the safety of my apartment, but I don't know what I would have done if they had been taken. People, COME ON, that is just plain mean.
Apparently this happened last semester on a smaller scale, but the idiot was caught because he tried to sell the books back to the bookstore around the corner, so maybe there's hope that this person is equally as stupid and will be caught. Argh.

Legally Strawberry Blonde

What I'm about to write about isn't going to come as much of a shock to anyone, because I know it is a well-established fact that when you enjoy your teacher/professor, the subject matter is generally more enjoyable. But never before law school have I experienced the impact of this truth. I have had something like 60 teachers in my lifetime, and some have stuck out as wonderful, some as horrible, and some as mediocre, but in law school the gap widened and, as the year ends, I'm noticing how much I let it affect my education. I lovelovelove my Contracts professor. He is really smart and incredibly nice, but not so nice that we take advantage of him. Nearly every single one of my classmates comes to class prepared, every day. Constitutional Law, however, is the exact opposite. There is certainly something to be said for law school's practice of instilling fear in us that makes us work hard, but that really only lasted for the first few weeks of the semester in this class. For the past few weeks I have half-assed my way through the readings, knowing that I won't be called on again this semester, and literally dread attending class. I go, but I might as well stay home, because I barely even pay attention to what he has to say. He cuts people off, tells us we are wrong, and humiliates us if he's in the mood. And not surprisingly, this is the final exam that I am most dreading because I just cannot immerse myself in the subject matter. The mere thought of Constitutional Law never used to make my skin crawl, but now I can't help but associate the topic with the fear I have of my professor. Can't wait until this exam is over on May 11th. Except, wait -- I have him for Con Law II next semester. Oh, joy.

Selfish Blog

So as most of you know, I'll be leaving the country from May 23-July 28. I'm starting to get really excited and I just ordered a new iPod, which I'm ready to fill with all kinds of good music and am also starting to think about what kind of reading I'll be doing on my trip. Unfortunately, I won't have a lot of luggage, and will only be able to bring a few books, so I'm asking for some recommendations. I might even look into buying some audiobooks off iTunes if any appeal to me. So my question is, do you have a favorite book, one that you would recommend to anyone, or -- more specifically -- to me? Keep it light, folks, I'll be in school while in Europe and don't want anything too serious/difficult.
Thanks!!

Joke-asaurus

Kourtney: If you're a hungry "hippo," what are you if you're thirsty?
Me: A thesaurus.

THEN, I realized a thesaurus is a book, not a dinosaur.