The Law School Experience Thus Far

With finals now over and the first semester of law school officially under my belt, I've done a bit of reflecting. Here are some of my thoughts this weekend:

• It really is a lot of work. You can't get behind a bit or else it snowballs (in a "I-just-got-hit-in-the-eye-with-a-snowball!" kind of way). However, if you go into it with that mindset (or one similar to it) and put your head down and just push through, it's quite doable.



• I have been quite impressed overall with the quality of the students in my class. I've heard that things get more competitive after the first semester (when grades are tossed out like blood in the water - okay, maybe that's a bit much, but at some schools, I'm sure it's like that). Honestly though, most of my peers are quite nice, and my section (100 students taking the same intro classes together during the first year) has developed a bit of camaraderie, which is nice.



• Good grades = good internship = good job = $$$ (or, in some cases, $$$,$$$). Thankfully, I have the blessed benefit of not having to subject myself to much crazy pressure in order to feel some sort of self-valuing purposefulness to my studies and endeavors in law school. And that's a big thing. We are much loved by God.



• Maintaining balance between school and personal life was just as important to me as school! Stephany and I determined at the beginning of the semester to commit to meeting with our church home group every Wednesday evening (my busiest and most exhausting school day of the week), and it was definitely rewarding. Meeting people and seeing our friends has been such a great weekly thing for us, and enriched personal life means more ability and freedom to study determinedly.

Those are the thoughts so far. I have a few weeks off between semesters, which is fantastic. During the break, I'll begin working on applications for judicial internships for Summer 2008, so if you are a judge, I'd like to speak with you. Likewise, if you know any judges (particularly, in the DFW area), I'd like to speak with you.

Stephany, my coffee sugar mama, is puttin' in some extra hours at Starbucks this week in order for us to travel back to New Mexico to visit family for Christmas. She'll be back blogging soon. In the meantime, our love to you all.

-Nathan

Christmas Pics

My exams for this semester lasted about two weeks - easily enough time for one to drive oneself mad, if cramming for subjects like torts and civil procedure was all one did (I say "all", but of course I was drinking quite a bit of coffee during that time as well, if that counts as an activity - and I think it does). Fortunately, during that two-week period we actually managed to do a few normal things, like see some friends, do a bit of Christmas shopping, and watch Ugly Betty.

One night we took some hot chocolate over to the SMU campus and walked around for a while, taking pictures and admiring the lights my tuition money had contributed with putting up. It was definitely a fun time - and a good break from studying. Here are a few pictures.







After we left campus, we drove around some of the neighborhoods around Highland Park to see how they do Christmas lights around here. We were not disappointed. In fact, we saw some truly amazing productions. One home, built on at least several lots, had wrapped all its trees in lights (green on the bottom, white on the top), had installed giant Christmas jack-in-the-boxes in the front yard, and was played New Orleans jazz Christmas music on loud speakers. It was both really cool and sort of hard to believe (but in a merry sort of way I think).

It was a good time.

-Nathan

Goodbye 2007 & Hello 2008!

Nathan and I have had a wonderful year. We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary, moved to Dallas, and had some fun adventures. We are looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us this next year. We love you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

~Nathan & Stephany