Too Slow or Too Quickly?

Sometimes I just wish I was already in law school, spending 20 hours a day studying or in class. Other days I even wish I was in the District Attorney's office in New York City.

And then there are days that I'm terrified of law school, that I want to stay in my safe undergraduate studies.

I mean, I know I want to go to law school. Unlike my year as a Secondary Education major, I honestly don't see my dream of being a prosecutor fading away. I could spend all day sitting in my Criminal Justice System class with the other CJ "geeks". Where else could I get excited about the Bill of Rights, talk death penalty in terms of constitutionality, or have someone finish my rambling of the Miranda warnings and be able to cite the Supreme Court case they stemmed from? I'm just hoping that my Crime and Delinquency class next semester proves to be just as entrancing as Criminal Justice has been...

My favorite courtroom drama, The Whole Truth, returned last night with many excited squeals from me. I adore SVU, Bones, and Castle, but I'm more in love with WT since it takes place in the courtroom and goes so far as to show both sides of the case, all the steps involved in building a case.


In other news, I'm still applying for an internship in Washington, D.C. this summer. I'm aiming for one of the district courts or something similar. I draw the line, unless it's my only choice, at interning at a corporate law firm. It's something I've never been interested in and I want this summer to be worthwhile and interesting. My dad has already booked a hotel room around the Fourth of July to visit me over the summer without me knowing if I even have an internship yet! The trust is overwhelming.

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!

Internship, Ahoy!

I'm aiming for a legal internship this summer in Washington, D.C.. My only complaint so far is the resume writing.

I brought a rough-rough draft to the campus's career center for a review. Needless to say, the woman there was incredibly bitchy about it and made me hesitant to return if I was going to be treated the same way. Well, I've re-done the resume and am ready to step foot in the career center again, but this time I made an appointment with someone other than the person I worked with before. I also didn't use an online form but followed a paper I was given before I left last time, so the format should be correct.

However, I've started looking really in-depth at possible intern sites. Unfortunately, my top choice, NCIS, isn't accepting interns for the summer of 2011 since they are moving their headquarters from the Navy Yard to Quantico, VA. So my short list includes the U.S. Department of Justice, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the local and U.S. District Courts, Office of the Attorney General, American Prosecutors Research Institute, and the U.S. Marshal though I am not opposed to looking at other places. I think it would be amazing to intern with the FBI if that was possible because, honestly, would that not be an amazing experience?

I'm also looking at housing. I could live on campus of American University, the school the internships are offered through, but I really want to live closer to the Mall and the Capitol. So, there's a group called WISH (Washington Intern Student Housing) that has houses right along the Capitol Hill and I would kill to get a bed there.

I'm getting so excited about this internship!! And lucky for me, my parents are completely behind me so far. If anything, they can visit me in D.C. for the Fourth of July or something, which plans to be great. How can it not be?

End The Backlog.

When I say I'm a huge Law and Order: SVU fan, I really mean that I'm obsessed. Like, literally. To prove it, let me just say that I ran across campus last night in order to catch the episode. And it was worth it. I have looked forward to this episode, titled "Behave", since I heard of its conception. And unlike some of the episodes that are purely creative writing, this one had it's base in a horrible truth - the rape kit backlog.

Some background on my dedication to sexual assault awareness. I spent the summer before college watching every Law and Order: SVU episode on Netflix. I fell in love, not just with the characters, but with the issues that the show took on. Before SVU, rape was a taboo, something that just wasn't talked about. Over the course of 12 season, SVU has changed that. One of the lead detectives, Olivia Benson, is played by Mariska Hargitay. She has repeated the story of how she went on to found the Joyful Heart Foundation many times. Most actors and actresses receive letters when they step into the spotlight and Mariska was no different. But instead of getting letters asking for autographs, she had letters from rape victims telling about their assaults for the first time. She founded the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2005, an organization that helps shed light onto the issues of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
One of the pieces of jewelry that I never remove is a gold necklace that's proceeds went to the Joyful Heart Foundation - a small gold plaque with the word "FEARLESSNESS" inscribed on the front. The JHF has quickly become my charity of choice.

This most recent SVU episode is based off one of the JHF's survivors. She was raped multiple times, yet submitted herself to further humiliation by having a rape kit done, a four to six hour procedure, in order to try and catch the rapist. It sat in a police evidence room, never tested. The JHF's newest goal is to end the backlog of rape kits that is prevolent across the nation. Visit End The Backlog to learn more about this issue and how you can help.

By not testing these kits, law enforcement officials are sending two messages. One goes to the rapists, letting them know it is alright to continue committing these truly heinous crimes. The other, more importantly, goes to the victims, telling them that their case is not important. This cannot continue.

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.