So we’ve gotten a little behind on the posting/reading schedule and for good reason! Classes have resumed. It’s weird to get back into the swing of things. In undergrad a new semester simply just meant figuring out what building to go to and then figuring how much sleep you could get in class or how much reading you could go without doing. (And believe me, I slept plenty in classes… probably would have done better if I hadn’t)
Law school is different. You get a new class schedule, have to figure out the syllabus, have to see how much reading you are going to be required to do, have to figure out how much detail the professor will want, figure out how to take notes for the class, what the teacher wants, what the teacher doesn’t want, which teacher is going to cold call, which teacher just wants discussion, how many tests you’ll have and so on and so forth. It’s a whole new schedule or class, sleep, workout and study. And the thing is, for the first week you sort of feel out-of-place.
Which leads us to the story of the Golden Trio of Harry Potter:
Harry, Hermione and Ron attend Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday party (a party celebrating the anniversary of his death) instead of going to the Halloween Feast. They get to the party hoping there would still be good food and fun, yet once they get there they realize they are the only ones who are living and not dead. Worst of all, they find out there is no food for them to eat, just a bunch of rotten food for ghosts to pass over and maybe “taste”. As they stand around at the party they see the different ghosts of the school and Hermione makes a comment about Moaning Myrtle, which of course the pesky poltergeist of the school then tells Myrtle causing a scene. They leave the party and Harry hears the voice int eh wall he heard a couple of nights before, and as they rush down the hallways, Harry following the voice, they find a wall painted in blood stating ” The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, enemies of the hair, beware.”
Harry, Hermione, and Ron go to Nick’s party out of respect for him and out of curiosity. But when they arrive, they start to regret missing out of the feast they are used to with their fellow students. They feel out-of-place.
The first week of the second semester of law school feels similar. Last semester we had formed study groups, gotten down routines, saw people regularly and by the end of the semester felt like we knew what we were doing each and every day. Then finals hit followed by winter break, and now returning to school, things feel really out-of-place. It’s an adjustment getting back into a routine with different study habits and assignments. Everyone is split in new ways, not necessarily bad ways, just new. As we head into a long weekend and have a chance to catch up and get our bearings heading into the next week of classes we should start to feel a little more secure in where we are and what we are doing.
In the chapter Ron laments going to the party and suggests that if they left they may still be able to get pudding up at the feast… this upcoming week at school, I’m looking forward to the pudding (my old study habits and routines) and hope you are too!
Until Next Time,
Mischief Managed
P.S. May you Rest in Peace Alan Rickman… You will always be our Snape!
Recap: Harry is woken up by Oliver Wood to go to a sunrise Qudditch practice where Harry is followed by Colin, this pesky kid who just wants to take Harry’s picture and have him sign it still. The Gryffindor Quidditch team works to keep their eyes open through Wood’s incessant talk to drills and plays. As soon as the team embarks on an actual practice the Slytherin’s show up with a letter from Snape saying they can practice eon the fields to train their new Seeker, Draco Malfoy (whose father incidentally bought the whole team brand new brooms). An argument ensues between Hermione, Ron, Harry, Draco and the two teams, and Hermione is called a mudblood. Ron tries to curse Draco where he will throw up slugs, but Ron’s broken wand malfunctions and instead curses Ron. The trio scurries off to Hagrid’s hut where Harry asks what a mudblood is exactly. He learns that it is a a derogative name given to a muggle born witch or wizard by horrible pure blood families.
You see, even at Hogwarts status is a huge indicator of where you stand. While this doesn’t have to necessarily deal with their grades and is more like the pedigree their families hold (which can sometimes be a status indicator in law school too), it is a way of separating people by class. Our grades coming this week threaten to do the same to all of us, because there are already cracks there based on perceptions of people’s intelligence. Which sucks because we are all smart. We all got into law school, and as someone pointed out to me this past week 
So while we await grades tomorrow, and then spend the next few weeks walking around in a stupor, judging each other, letting our heads either become big or our hearts break, remember all the good you still have. Don’t let these grades confuse happiness and success… Success is finding happiness and finding happiness is success. Hermione had her great friends, Ron and Harry, beside her to pick her up when called nasty names and judged for her blood status… who are you going to let pick you up when you are down, and better yet, where is your happiness rooted?
If you ask certain law students it’s taking an actual break from doing anything law school related until the last-minute. Others would say it’s taking about 2.5 weeks off, then getting back to the swing of things like purchasing books and getting ready for the next semester. Then there are those students who have used winter break to get other things done like resumes, cover letters, buying school books and supplies, looking for summer jobs, getting a head start on classwork and so much more. It’s funny to look on Instagram or Facebook and see what people are up to, which path they’ve chosen or at least which path they want you to think they’ve chosen. That’s the thing with social media, you never know if people are being sincere or creating a story about their lives, and looking back on this semester, the stories we tell each other in law school are very similar.
This week I’m writing to everyone from a New York City apartment where I’ve been lounging around and hanging out with one of the best people in my life. There’s always something magical about NYC and always something new to explore. This is the third year I’ve visited the Big Apple and every single time I’ve come to the city it’s been a different experience…mainly because it’s been a different me each time.
It’s funny how law school takes over life these days. A group of us recently went up to Vail to “get away” from the stress and madness of school (bringing all of our school stuff with us in case we wanted to study). We did a pretty good job of not studying, but drinking instead, yet law school always found its way back into the conversation. They tell us not to work the first year, to really study hard, and to put our hearts and souls into it. The thing they don’t tell us though is how consuming it can become when you approach it in this manner. It eats away at you, you end up craving it, needing to bed n the law building to have purpose, you can’t live without it, and the thought of it being taken away from you puts you so far into a panic that nothing else matters… ever.
Which brings us to this week’s Harry Potter chapter. The dinner party from chapter one is in full swing, everyone is in their places. Harry saunters up to his room to find a strange magical creature sitting on his bed, a house-elf named Dobby. Bobby is there to tell Harry not to go back to Hogwarts this fall, for bad things are going to happen to him. Bobby reveals that he’s been interfering with the mail from Harry’s friends and has been trying to make sure Harry has no incentive to go back to school. At hearing this Harry lunges at Dobby and a chase ensues down the stairs and into the living room area where Dobby magics a pudding to come crashing down on one of the dinner guests. Dobby disappears, yelling ensues and a letter comes by owl into the house. Harry has been officially warned about using magic outside of school. Uncle Vernon is enraged at both the night’s events and finding out that Harry has been lying about being able to use magic outside of school. Vernon is so upset he puts bars on Harry’s window and won’t let Harry out of his room, not even for meals. Harry becomes more and more desperate to get back to Hogwarts, and then one night, a car pulls up to his second story room window, with a familiar face looking at him.
In the last book, Harry had finally found his purpose at Hogwarts. He finally found a place where he belonged. He made friends, found that he was good at something, and felt at home. Then returning back to his Uncle and Aunt’s house he found himself longing to be back amongst the crazy staircases and the Gryffindor dormitories. He longed to hear from his friends and to laugh with them. Having no contact from his friends, having no way to practice his magic or to fly his broom, having to keep Hedwig locked up all the time, Harry was starting to feel alone and desperate to return to his new life.
Well, there hasn’t been school in like a week and how odd that is for me at least. Thanksgiving break brought about a chance to relax and to enjoy our family and friends. Well… at least for some… a lot of people spent their breaks preparing for next week.
The Aunt Petunia: This type of studier is someone who sticks to the advice they were given by others who have gone before them. They keep to a laid out plan, following a strict plan of attack. They are quiet about their plans, about their outlines, and about what they do or do not know about the exam. They keep to themselves studying just the right way.
The Wizarding World of Law School 