Back to School? {and a brighter note...}

This is the first time in my one and a half years of college that I haven't felt any strong urge to pack and go back to campus. I'm sluggishly sorting my jewelry and clothes but I don't feel any excitement to go start new classes. Yes, there are classes that I want to take, but I just don't feel like starting them on Monday.

It's the strangest feeling ever.

I'm going back to a room to myself and a television that gets all of my favorite channels and even that isn't cheering me up.

I've been very happy this Winter Break. I've sat and made jewelry, gone running at least four times a week, gone to the gym at least three times a week, made cupcakes and brownie bars, and been able to cuddle with my Boy Cat whenever the urge hit me. I think this is part of my sluggishness, which is ridiculous when the rational part of my brain thinks of it.

Rationally, I know I can still make jewelry at school. I can still go running four times a week (though part of this might be that I have a treadmill inside at home where I can stay warm while running). But I still don't really want to go back right now. Eventually, yes. But not tomorrow.

After spending a month in my house, just thinking of my dorm room makes me feel a little claustrophobic.


In other news, the family trip to Walt Disney World for Christmas 2011 is set! We called this morning to put in our reservation and the days were open. Only 334 days until I step foot in the place my heart truly calls my second home.

Fall.

The weather is finally acting like fall should. Instead of bundling up under my winter pea coat (bright pink, of course), I was able to walk around campus with just my cardigan and a scarf. It's lovely.

Since I'm the TV fanatic of room C301B, I'm allowed to feel sorrow over the fact that one of my favorite fall shows has been cancelled. The Whole Truth was such a great show, one that I found interesting. It shows the two sides of a criminal case, from the prosecution and from the defense and how each side interprets the facts of the case. Unfortunately, it was fighting against more popular shows in its timeslot, so it's only running 13 episodes. The cast was strong and so were the stories, so I'm still not sure why it's going.

On the other hand, I'm still in love with SVU, Castle, Law and Order: Los Angeles, The Good Wife, and Blue Bloods. Surprisingly, I have not watched a single NCIS episode this season for unknown reasons. Perhaps I'll catch up over Thanksgiving Break or something...

My spring schedule is being screwed up. The classes I want to take are filling up, especially those necessary for me to graduate. If it comes down to it, I can e-mail the professors and beg that they let me into the class. Most times, kids drop the class and open a spot for other people. Right now, these are my classes:

- Intermediate French I
- Cultural Anthropology
- Introduction to Mass Media
- Introduction to Literary Study
- Crime and Delinquency
- Topics in Victorian Literature and Culture

Since a few are filling up, my alternate is The Epic.

See That Girl, Watch That Scene!

I've commented on multiple occasions to my mom that I'm in love with this rooming situation this year. Just one example occurred tonight. Both me and my roommate are working at our school's Open House tomorrow and have to be up at 7am. Instead of going out for the night, we spent the night with her boyfriend watching Mamma Mia. Like, that would have NEVER EVER happened last year. We sang along to songs, had our RA join in when she went by on her rounds, and generally had a very light-hearted time. We're always in bed before midnight and if one of us is staying up, all but one light is off. It's lovely compared to the horror that was last year's situation.

Also, the law internship in D.C. is coming along nicely. I met with a resume person who gave me the okay for my current resume with a few suggestions for it. Now I just need to polish everything before I submit the application in January!

First Week of Sophomore Year

My classes are going well, but it's just the beginning since I've only had them twice. This semester I have:

- Criminal Justice System on MWF from 9 to 9:50. By far my favorite class I've taken at college. The first class, we played an intense version of Clue and my group won candy for finding the murderer, murder weapon, time, victim, location, and motive first. The second class was filled with notes about the CJ system, but I can tell you that despite it being at 9am, I have found myself always excited for it.

- U.S. Literature I on MWF from 11-11:50. The professor is a graduate student that doesn't look at all like the typical professor stereotype. She's very off-beat and doesn't like the "normal" English class style.

- Introduction to American Politics on MWF from 1-1:50 and F 8-8:50. It's a large lecture class three times a week and a small recitation once a week. So far, very interesting, especially with midterm elections coming up. The other class, we got into a huge debate about the mosque near Ground Zero.

- Geology of the U.S. National Parks on MWF from 2-2:50. While it sounds interesting, it has become one of the classes I really don't look forward to. We're supposed to be looking at geology by examining various national parks. Mostly we have covered a lot about plate tectonics. I'm starting to get bored and I've only had two classes.

- Psychology of Learning on Th from 4-6:45. It meets once a week for two hours and fourty-five minutes. If I were still interested in becoming a teacher, I'm sure the information would be more exciting. But I'm going to suffer through it for the semester. The time is difficult not only because it's long but also because it runs from 4 to 6:45, also known as dinner time. I was STARVING after class this week.

- French Composition I. I dropped this. I took three years of French in high school, then stopped for two years. When the professor walked in and said that everyone would only speak French, I knew that Wednesday would be my only day in the classroom. Needless to say, I dropped it as soon as I got back to my room.


I also ran my first 5K today with my Mom. We did NOT come in last place and it was my first and longest run I've ever done. It was nice to have someone to talk with.

Sophomore Year.

I moved into my dorm room Friday afternoon and have already found myself bored. I'm here early to help with the First Night we hold for the freshmen on Sunday, but sitting around for two days is not helping me. Here's a picture of my half of the room. There's lots of pink in the room which makes me happy to see since it is both my and my roommate's favorite color. And I love the set up this year - sooo much easier with just two people instead of three!

My roommate had said the room was tiny but it really isn't that bad. We have a balcony that we can use for ourselves and we have a few chairs and a table out there right now. I spent most of the day today out there, listening to music, reading, and watching some freshmen move into the dorm across from ours. I bought my textbooks (except my French ones since I'm not sure if the level is right for me) and found out I had actually bought the wrong edition for one so I'll need to return it tomorrow. One of my classes this semester is Criminal Justice System and, needless to say, it's the one I'm most looking forward to. The textbook looks really interesting and I flipped through sections of it. Lots of law information in it which just makes me wicked psyched!

And to finish this day off, Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde just came on USA (which I am soooo glad to have back). I popped kettle corn and curled up in my pajamas for a movie night!

Tomorrow, I'm planning on going for a morning run before it gets too humid and making a run up to CVS for ingredients for trail mix to have in the room. In addition, I want to start seriously looking at law schools that might be reach schools for me in addition to surefire ones. It's tough right now since I only have my freshman year GPA and no LSAT scores, but if I can get a rough list, I can add and subtract them once I have more information.

8 More Work Days...

The glamor of working in a golf course's phone room has worn off. I needn't say that it was never there to begin with. I have run out of books to read and re-read and playing pointless games on the internet is no longer entertaining. I may never want to see a polo shirt again, which is strange coming from me who loves polos. I never want to answer the phone with a cheerful "Good morning/afternoon, Juniper Hill Golf Course, how can I help you?" ever again.

Needless to say, I cannot wait for August 27th when I can break myself out of the cramped office I have spent every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday since May.


In other news...
I'm still researching law schools. NYLS still looks to be my favorite, but three others have arrived on-scene. They are Brooklyn Law School in Brooklyn, NY, New England Law, and Suffolk University's School of Law, both of which are in Boston, MA. I'm starting to look in Washington, DC as well. The only thing that has remained steady in this search is that I want to study in a city, not in the rural areas that I have grown up and spent my undergrad years in.