Thursday Tied to the Law Day.

1 month later, the fun in law school starts to creep out in various forms:

1. Dinner with professors - two amazing female professors cooked for us. Included in the menu: goat cheese and wine, Coq au vin, and meringue.

2. Chatting with profs about a small Italian restaurant in McLeod Ganj, India.

3. Planning a spirit week for next month. On the agenda, "Thursday - Tied to the Law" - our whole section is coming to class each wearing a tie :) Week concludes with a trip to Rockport, MA to look for best the best lobsters in town.

4. Sneaking out for a networking event and coming to class drunk.

5. Having random hour long conversations at Espresso Royale.

6. Having one chocolate muffin every day to achieve zen, whatever that means.

7. Translating for Asian immigrants at a legal clinic.

8. three parties, two different cities, and one night - to de-stress from the week.

9. Right now, I could really use a shower and a long nap :)

1L is not as bad as they make it sound!

I want travel!

I went online to check the difference in the meaning of the words "forclose" and "preclude", and got totally distracted by the nomadlife.

Mazzy is travelling by herself in Europe; Li'er is enjoying KL more and more each day, and Alex just posted breathtaking photos of Peru. Meanwhile, I contemplated whether I should put up travel logs on various parts of Boston :P I might.

First, I need to charge camera, second, I need to go out.

Am very excited about celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival (a.k.a. time to have as many moon pies as you can in the shortest, or the longest period of time beginning from now till the last moon pie expires).

A lovely reunion weekend

On Friday, I took the bus to New York with a classmate. We spent 4 hours on the bus editing a list of citations (aka worst assignment possible), while listening to a Korean sorority girl behind us giving relationship advice to her legion of "girls".

Something very disturbing about this: If Korean TV drammas are any rea; indication of their mentality in relationships, then NO KOREAN IS ALLOWED TO GIVE ANY ADVICE on relationships. Otherwise, there will be too much crying, whining, and stuck-on-stupid behavior.

Needless to say, I was very happy when we finally got out of the bus after 6 hours.

The ordeal was only a small price to pay to meet up some of my best friends from college... all of whom happen to be in New York, working, studying, or doing something between the two.

Overall, everyone is doing something that they had really wanted, and seems happy for it. Well, almost everyone. Some of us need time to get on the path that we had really intended, and are making a bit of a detour along the way. The important thing is to know where our hearts want to go...

Third week of law school begins... I'm both excited and afraid. It feels a bit like running very quickly along a track while being blindfolded. Time to go visit the profs more often.

Finally in Boston

During the summer, time always passed too quickly. But I'm finally getting over a phase of pathologically missing Amsterdam. Days are beginning to settle into a routine, and I'm only too happy that they are passing by quickly. I'm beginning to make new friends, but am not really trying. I wish that soon I'd wish time is going to slow again.

This is too funny, I have to share it...

In 1971, a man in Iowa decided to protect his storehouse full of old beer cans and other like "antiques" with a shot gun trap- aimed at the future intruder's leg. A few days later, a thief climed in through the window, and sure enough, his leg got f*cked.

The thief pled guilty to stealing, and was fined 50 bucks. The owner of the house, on the other hand, was fined 30,000. When asked on what he thought, he replied,

"They used booby traps in Vietnam, didn't they?"

I can't think of a better defense.

I survived first week of law school

Granted, two classes and a long bike ride everyday do not constitute a strenuous mental or physical routine, but I am still proud to say that I walked away from the first week of law school quite happy and stress-free.

That is in part because I had a lot of fun at the 50+ person bar crawl, where my classmates finally loosened up after many a glass of 1 dollar beer.(America needs to have its own breed of monks that do nothing but make drinks to get closer to God...) And after a long summer of techno and bad Dutch hip hop, I finally get to hear some heavily commercialized hits. Ah, music to the ears.

I almost can't wait for Monday's classes to begin... except that I'm already behind on my assignments (well, only relatively behind because some people have finished next week's assignment already. Bastards).

I haven't got any pictures, except for this. the law school is the tallest and ugliest thing standing on this side of the Charles River. Even advanced Adobe Photoshop techniques couldn't help it.

Adrenalin rush

When I was in elementary school, I hated speaking up in class, mostly because I was extremely shy in a big group setting. I could feel my heart race, and blood rush to my cheeks.

Today, while I was sitting in class and preparing to make an announcement to 140 people, I felt that frenzied rush creeping in me again. But I think for the first time, it was registered as a happy feeling.

:)

The one with pictures

Some pics to complete the last entry.

Li'er's extremely short visit to Amsterdam made me so happy. Thanks, babe!

Going to a party - Amsterdam style.

My two best friends in Europe :)

Never had so much fun drinking Weise beer and listening to folk song in a foreign language. (berlin beer festival rocked!)

Alex, Alberto, Li'er, Julia and Hannes in front @ the Brandenburger tor.

Pirates & Hawaiian party. Uninvited guests: the police.

Party animals onboard...

The dream lives on

A whirlwind of a summer, a dream, a beautiful memory was what the past three months seem like.

Getting a call from the Dutch embassy about my visa being ready seems only like yesterday.

And then next moment, I was on the plane, flying to a new city, and starting law school.

What happened in Amsterdam shall always stay in my heart. I've got a little I Amsterdam key chain on my backpack, reminding me to be strong like the Dutch girls, to live life to the brim like it's a glass of the finest Belgian beer, to befriend people and discover their inner beings - for even in two months, I have come across some of the most amazing characters, and have formed such friendships that usually takes years to develope.

And I've learnt to not take myself too seriously, that what doesn't break you makes you stronger. I've learnt that Europeans are not all the same - the Danes and Swedes love sarcastic humor, but it's sometimes better to make fun of yourself than others. I've learnt that I like financial modelling because it allows me to understand economic constructions through numbers, but I'm still bad at understanding people. I've learnt it's great to work hard, party harder, but not so hard that even your boss can tell you went drinking last night.

Day one in law school, I was chatting up everyone from the guy that sweeps the floor to the computer techie who was too shy to even look at me in the eye, hoping to find pals to replace a vacuum created by leaving Amsterdam.

Day two, I am sitting at home, exhausted from hours of biking, and talking on MSN and writing emails to friends as a retreat from the cases that I have to brief in the next few hours.

Needless to say, I miss Amsterdam. But my experience would not be half as interesting and fulfilling had it not been the great people I've met. Sandra, Irene, Antonio, Mazzy, Gina, Dennis, and Dzi, Dave L. and a lot more... will always have a special place in my heart :)

xx