And a miscellanious hairy to you all!

Well, it's Tuesday, and that means that it's blog day! (I may have to change blog day depending on my timetable next semester- really hope I get another ALH style class so that I can draft in the mornings.)
Anyways, as it's blog day, here is a blog entry.

I have upgraded to 10.10.. Now I am suffering from serious lag, although this might be because I am currently attempting to load pictures to FB by their hundreds. However, 10.10 does mean that I am finally experiencing all the nifty features which Blogger offers- picture warning!

Christmas was ... eventful this year. I managed to get on possibly the only flight allowed into Heathrow, mostly through a stubborn pig-headed refusal to admit that there might be a problem, but my Dad's flight was cancelled, meaning that he and Lynn ended up arriving on Christmas Eve. Which meant that my Mom and I ended up driving to Heathrow and back last Friday. With my boyfriend down as well we ended up with 7 people in the house, which is about 4 more than its maximum capacity. And the 6 kilo turkey only barely fitted into the oven, and once it was in there was only room for one or two additional dishes. But Jed, my Mom, and Lynn performed miracles, and it was all on the table by 7 or so...



AND I got a sonic screwdriver, and lightsabre chopsticks, and sparkly converse, and some other stuff as well which was probably very important and exciting, but just couldn't compete with the amazingness that is a real live working screwdriver that lights up and buzzes and has two settings and lights up and buzzes! Which is probably why I spent most of Christmas looking like this:









And what else? Well, today was Jeffmas day, otherwise known as my Dad's birthday, and in honour of the occasion we headed up to Dartmoor so that Dad could have his annual heart-attack inducing cream tea at Badger's Holt.

Cream teas are amazing, even in the winter. Badger's Holt serves wedges of its own, secret-recipe scone, and proper Devonshire clotted cream. So really, it looks nothing like this picture. Cream teas are also ridiculously high in fat, which is why Dad only has them once a year- and why I'm trying desperately to cut back on my clotted cream consumption. But it's hard- clotted cream is hard enough to come by outside of the Westcountry, let alone in America, and so I will admit that I have been having teaspoons on my pumpkin pie at night. I did miss it so...

Also on Dartmoor, Joshua and I threw snow at each other, and built a fair-sized snowman (with a huge nose), and generally had a good time, while our mother attempted to wrestle the car through the ice and slush and snow. We took 'yellow roads' all the way there, which at one point did mean crossing an ice bordered ford. I hadn't believed the rumours of snow until I landed, but I definitely do now. Someone spray painted Britain, and no one knows what to do with it.

More to come...

JJ

Canadian Elves.

I will admit that for the past two weeks I was tempted to post identical versions of: "You want a blog post? Here's a blogpost. School is hard." But I didn't, mostly because I had a strictly enforced no internet policy. Fortunately, though, the fall semester is now finally over, which means that I can internet away to my heart's content. Can't promise it will help on the blogging front, but it should certainly reduce the 'argh' content significantly.
So, as a hash-mash of what I've been doing in my ever-so-exciting life:
Both essays are finally in. One was 30 pages, the other 17 (both double spaced). Both had bizarre conclusions, and yes, the last one was handed in today, at about 11am. From the airport.
The one-semester exchanges are leaving, left, right, and center, and it's been an emotional week on that front- saying goodbye to people who live on the other side of the world is hard.
My flight, which caused such problems with my exams, raised its ugly head again this morning. 8 am (after 2 hours of sleep) I was busy printing out my exam notes when I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and print out my boarding pass as well. Apparently they decided to change my flight to 13:00. My exam was supposed to finish at 12. Long story short, I am now taking the exam as a take-home on Wednesday, Annemieke and Els are AMAZING (seriously- I wouldn't have coped without their help), Dr. Brown of UConn Law deserves a huge bunch of flowers, and I'm currently sat in Toronto airport. Somehow I managed to book my flights to coincide with the massive shutdown of Europe- at the moment it looks like my flight is still going, but it's a minority, as is proven by the fact that my Dad and Lynn won't be arriving until the 25th. Which is not going to work at all- the 25th is Doctor Who Special Mass!
What else? Well, flying over frozen Canada was amazingly beautiful. Although I must say that it was also a fantastic way to confuse a sleep-deprived Jess- with everything frozen over and dusted with the same white powder, my view from the window on the flight was incredibly hypnotic. When the wheels came down, my first thought was that we were traveling in a giant transformer. This brain death followed me into the airport- Pearson is a medly of glass, chrome, and 'interactive' sculptures, and it's incredibly confusing for a person who stood staring at a desk agent for a good 60 seconds before actually handing over her passport.

Hopefully, hopefully, see you on the other side.

JJ out.

Is it acceptable to post all 5 M'Naghten questions into my intro? I say yes.

Brief, brief, busy busy blog entry.

- Apparently I'm not allowed to fly into Bradley without a problem. This time I got stuck in Nashville for an extra 3 hours.

- Thanksgiving was wonderful, Lynn surpassed herself, and it was lovely to see the family (if only segments of it) again.

- Papers are argh, thank you for asking.

- Editing work is currently non-existent.

- I am not sure whether or not I have class tomorrow, or what I should do for it.

- I have no food, and no clean clothes. Goody goody.

- I sang at another OM with my Dad, and it was fun.

- I miss AZ. It was warm there, and people fed me.

- 21 days!

- Moving is being difficult. Again.

- Lynn beat me at bowling, and attempted to drink me under the table.

- My mum sent me an amazing online advent calender- which doesn't work on Linux. Grumpy face.

- Problems with laptop registration continue.

- Got told today that "you girls are having far too much fun to be in law school." Which I think is good.

- Very excited for Christmas!

- Want to cook- cannot wait to have a proper kitchen again.

- Going out tonight- not sure when, or how I'm fitting it into my timetable, but am doing it anyways. So there.

JJ

Wild Wild West

This blog entry is coming to you all the way from my Dad's kitchen table in Arizona, where I am watching him and Lynn play cribbage- card game of the Carters, apparently. Have been here since Saturday evening, and so far have successfully avoided all and any mention of essays, reading, and the like. Which is nice. Am definitely feeling less stressed than I was last week, and am sleeping better. Not sure how well I'm going to cope with this whole '3 square meals a day' thing though.
Lovely Laura (and Siobhan, and Annemieke) dropped me off at the airport Saturday morning, on route to a day out at Ikea (as you do...), which was amazing- although of course the problem with making new friends is that they always seem to result in more people to miss...
Since I've been here I've mostly been chilling- played at an open mic night in a wonderful coffee shop (not-for-profit charity for the victims of domestic violence) on Saturday night, went to a 'Wild West' festival on Sunday and ate 'fry bread' which is yummy, but probably will result in an early death, took the written component of the AZ driver's test on Monday, and today took the practical component of the test and went to see HP7.1 for the second time. On an IMax screen. Close ups have never been more terrifying. And yes, I approve- yes, it was severely cut, but at least we didn't end up with another 'burning of the Burrow.'
And yes, I'm proud to say that I passed my drivers test- again. Slightly worried by the ease with which I obtained my license- arrived at the MVD at 12.20, and was on the freeway home an hour later. The test itself consisted of a 3-point turn (with cones, of all things!) and driving around two blocks. And yes, I tried to drive in a bike lane- dem got big bikes out here in the West- but somehow still passed. Must say that I was terrified by our return to the MDV within 10 minutes of leaving- was pretty sure I'd managed to pull an 'illegal' and was about to be fined...
Still not sure what I think of the test here- on the one hand, as my Dad says, they actually look at how you handle the vehicle and how you interact with other road users, rather than on whether you physically turn your head during 'mirror signal maneuver,' but on the other hand, they are practically giving the freakin' things away! Darwinism is all well and good, but not when it puts other people at risk...

Still trying to get used to the further time difference as well, but am hoping that with this week off I'll not only be able to get my essays completed (it's getting to that point now...) but also will actually be able to have a proper chat with certain people from home who I miss a great deal and who I haven't talked to in far, far too long. Plus, Cora and I have a party to arrange!

JJ

Article 3 cases are decided on the circumstances of the case: "Article 3 cases are decided on the circumstances of the case."

This will only be a brief entry, mostly to show willing. I have asked, pithily (and procrastinatingly) whether it would be acceptable to post a blog consisting essentially of "essays, Royal Wedding, Harry Potter, Thanksgiving, essays." Hopefully this will be a little better than that, but I can't guarantee it'll be by much.

So:

- I am still writing my essays. CCL is still ahead, although I have hit a bit of a roadblock in my breakdown of Soering; hence the title. Last night I had a dream that Sherlock Holmes laughed at it and then threw it away, so I must be doing something right.

- I am going to AZ for Thanksgiving on Saturday and am unprepared. Argh argh etc..

- I went out to the Arch St Tavern on Saturday to listen to a band doing 90 covers, and had fun, and danced, and played with a fluffy hat.

- Two of the International girls made dinner for the group (with the addition of an amazing Russian salad from our local representative) on Sunday, and I went along, and had fun, and played with dominoes.

- Lynn, my Dad's girlfriend who I generally call my stepmother just to make things easier, appeared on the AZ Music Cafe- a weekly show on KKNT Radio (whatever that may be)- playing some of her own pieces, and was generally fantastic. And my Dad also got a look in with a song about aliens. As you do. Well done to them both, anyways.

- I have started reading the Complete Sherlock Holmes as a distraction, which, it turns out, is aiding and abetting in my sleep-deprived nightmares.

- I am going to see HP 7.1 on Thursday at midnight, and am all ready to complain about inconsistencies etc.

- I watched Atonement for the first time, and yes, I prefer the book.

- I am still writing these bloody essays.

- As may or may not be apparent, I haven't had much sleep.

JJ out.

"Constitutional limitations on the state's power to extradite," and other topics which only lawyers find interesting...

In terms of real life, this week has been a quiet one. The general consensus on campus appears to be that, with the addition of a few dorms and a shower block, the library actually wouldn't make that bad of a home- that, and that "How is your paper?" "Ick." constitutes a full and fulfilling conversation. My own papers are currently in what I like to call the intangible stage- that is, I have a lot of information, and a very strict structure, and now I simply have to go through the process of somehow welding the two together. Rants expected in the near future.
In terms of my online life, though, I've been a little more involved- have managed to talk and be exceptionally silly with several of my friends from back home, which has helped a lot with the homesickness- although not so much the whole avoiding procrastination thing. I personally think that the one outwieghs the other- I went through a period of very severe homesickness and general stress, and anything which can alleviate that is to my mind a good thing! The homesickness issue is an interesting one- this appears to be the part of the semester when everyone starts noticing the cultural differences more, and looking forward to the plain familiarity of home. I do wonder whether part of it is a reaction to the fact that by now we are quite integrated into our surroundings, and have become pretty much used to the USA way of life- although of course the sheer proximity of Christmas is probably also playing a role! Generally, though, I think that we are all pretty happy out here, and definitely would not say that we regret coming- the collective homesickness if anything has helped to tighten ties in the international group, and I would say that we all act as support for each other. Which is nice.
Speaking of the group, and being nice- this Friday we should hopefully be leaving campus, if only for a little while, and heading out to a Huskies basketball game. Which means, of course, a mass exodus to Wiki to find out what on earth the rules are- and, for that matter, which team we are... But it should be fun- and we do love cheering along!

As to law- well, after today's lecture on the ADA and employment discrimination I am now seriously considering sitting in on the Employment Law lectures next year, if only to confirm to myself that the Brits do it much more logically- apparently you can only discriminate against someone with a disability if they suffer from a limitation of a 'major life activity.' And don't even get me started on section c and the whole 'regarded as' issue. Grumble, growl.

Morris Men and Madness

I have been told that it would be much easier on everyone involved were I to post 1 short entry a week rather than a monthly wall of rambling text. In fact, my dearest darling Dad went further, to the point of providing me with a template for the ultimate concise and effortless blog entry. As such, in order to to prove myself a dutiful daughter (and comply with my student advisor's advice that I develop more structure in my day-to-day activities), I have decided to give it a go and see how it works out.

So:

In the past week I:

- Returned safely from NYC, where I had spent the weekend at the annual International Law Convention at Fordham Law School, and of course, engaged
in sightseeing and general touristy-ness. NY is definitely something else, and the experience should by all accounts be on everyone's to do list. As great a time as I had, though, I don't know that I could ever live there permanently- though I can cope with (and work!) the subway and the grid system, it is simply too big, too busy- too consumerist.
It did give me an excellent opportunity to play with reflections and other fun photographic whatnots though, so I guess I can't be too hard on it- this time ...



- In direct contrast, I also took a solo trip to Amherst, MA, from Wednesday until Friday. In a bizarre situation my 'Sidmouth friend' Martin had been invited with his rapper team to compete and do other high-class dance team stuff in and around Boston, and part of their tour involved a few nights staying with a wonderful folky family in Amherst.



Suffice it to say that I has a wonderful visit, drank probably one too many pints (sorry, Sallyport), took far too many pictures, sang, danced (while avoiding chairs and holding a beer), climbed a mountain, and had far, far, too much fun with the side's decapitated rubber hand. Facebook is now flooded with pictures and videos, and I think it will be some time before I stop telling people that I have been invited to dance with the 'Ladies in Green,' an Amherst cotswold and border side whose name I cannot for the life of me remember.

- I also dressed up as Alice in Wonderland (the Burton version, obviously), went to the SBA Halloween party, gave out sweets to children trick-or-treating, and enjoyed it for the most part, although the party had to end after one poor lad reportedly broke his leg (although I think the truth is that he twisted his knee), and jumping up and down every three minutes to grab the sweet bowl is exhausting- especially when the teenagers don't even say thank you.

- Finally, I got into a debate about original intent theory in class when I said that to my mind it was the weakest out of a number of constitutional arguments in a certain case. This was in complete opposition to the American students, all of whom were aided by the knowledge that- bizarrely- it was one of the arguments most likely to be accepted by today's Supreme Court. I found this very odd when compared with the UK system, where Parliamentary intent is only considered as a last resort, and then only in the context of the interpretation of one particular stautory provision. Bizarre. After all, the Framers were only men- clever men, yes, but not infallible.

And that's a rather long summing up. Hopefully, this time next week will produce something rather more concise- as yet I have no plans!

A very folked-up
JJ

Research, research, research

Well, autumn is finally- and forcefully- underway, and my thoughts at least are turning towards pumpkin soup, apple pie, bonfires, and pretty much every other autumnal stereotype you care to name. The weather has, in the space of a heartbeat, swung from the muggy humidity of last week's storms to a crisp coolness which has finally realised my investments in wooly hats, thick scarves, and UConn Law 'stash' (read hoodies). There appears to be something very individual about an East Coast autumn- little things, like the smell of apples and the predominance of scarecrows and various squashes on peoples' front lawns are prompting half-remembered memories from my early Virginian childhood. At any rate, I love this time of year and am excitedly looking forward to Hallowe'en, pumpkin shopping, and, if I'm lucky, turnip stew.
In the meantime, I am being kept busy by research for my two seminar classes. (Legal History has allowed me to waive my final paper in lieu of my editing responsibilities, which are now beginning to come in thick and fast.) Mental Health Law is currently a little ahead, and I already have a rough outline for my comparison of the insanity defence in England and the USA, although I still have a great number of journals and cases still to read, as well as some serious dissection of my first year Criminal Law notes. Comparative Constitutional is lagging behind by a small measure, as technically I still have two potential topics up in the air, but, professor willing, it is looking increasingly more likely that I will be working on the 'Soering Effect' on extradition treaties- provided, that is, that I can find one or more systems to compare to! Failing that, I will be doing something about the direct enforcement of constitutions in foreign territories, something which, if I'm truthful, has far more legal substance than Soering, but which is harder to research, has an even larger connection with international political issues, and generally is, well, less interesting than Soering. I am conducting some basic research just to make sure that I do have a paper topic to fall back on, but I am hoping that my current proposal will be accepted.
In other news, I and the other Internationals went to the SBA's annual Fall Ball last Saturday, and by all accounts it was a pretty amazing evening, especially as all us Int'l girls got to wear our collection of oh-so-pretty dresses, and play with curling irons, hair spray, and heels. I went for the 5 year old vampire look with a little white dress (which I must admit I am in love with) and dark purple nails, dark eyeshadow, and, well, dark everything. As you do.
On the Exeter side of the pond, meanwhile, while I was dancing like a loon in downtown Hartford the Folk Soc committee were busy preparing for the 'Activities Fair,' or, as it is actually known, the Freshers' Squash. Suffice to say that they signed up a fair few new members, who I am eagerly waiting to add to the mailing lists, and that I still stand by my overtired FB post that they are indeed the best committee ever. Yesterday I finally got to see them all again, even if only for 10 minutes, and now everything just seems far less scary. Now all I have to do is deal with my ever present fear that the new members will somehow push me out of my friendship group- a fear which actually is self-perpetuating, as it has lead to me becoming a rather needy Skype contact...

JJ

The problems with a limited government

After almost a month of classes, I have come to the conclusion that life would be so much easier for us exchange students if the Americans would simply do away with their federal system and replace it with one central government- and a statement of positive rights. No more "well, there's not much uniformity amongst the states," "there's simply no basis in our constitution for a Soering-type case," "that would exceed the federal government's powers," or "as the dissent states, the only way this scenario can really be considered to fall within this Amendment is if the words are tortured beyond recognition." I understand, of course, that all of this is simply the inevitable consequence of studying in one of world's most famous federations, and, despite my turn as devil's advocate in class today, I do believe that the US system on the whole balances power very well, but nonetheless the OCD, traditionalist student in me has begun to cry out for rules- any rules! Not so much in Comparative Constitutional or American Legal History, which are clearly theoretical, seminar-based classes, but in Mental Health and Family Law I find it very hard that most classes are spent in discussion, with very little writing down of hard facts.
It's a different way to learn, I know, and I do enjoy it (particularly CCL, which I led for the first time today, and loved), but I am finding the lack of hard legal rules in the two classes which I feel really need them, well, kinda disturbing. I haven't yet looked up a Family past exam paper, but I am getting worried- the JD students had some fun sharing horror stories with us this morning. And yes, of course I realise that due to the division of powers, the only way I could get lists of rules upon rules is if I were to study on Connecticut law, which would happen (for good reason) only after taking the Bar. But, as Siobhan said, I do wonder how the Americans cope coming into the English system.

If nothing else, at least nationalism would lead to standardised TV programing. The TV in my apartment is finally up and running (I want to carry on from this by grumbling and growling about my landlords, but I will be mature...), and I must have spent a good 30 minutes trying to work out which random collection of letters and numbers represented which channel. I can now find CBS, Discovery, CNN, and the BBC, and I got to watch the latest trashy episode of my favourite trashy show this evening, but I have a feeling the TV saga may continue...

Patriotism, Intellectualism, and Beer

Here's an odd fact. For the past 5 years or so I have explained to anyone who's interested that America is 'a completely different culture.' This was the basis of my Study Abroad application- America might be a close cousin to England, but in many ways the culture is very very distinct, and it's the similarities between the countries that makes this distinction all the more obvious. And yet, knowing this, and indeed often celebrating it, now that I'm in the USA proper I still find it very strange. There are little things- spellings, phrasing, the expectation of class participation- and then there are the big ones. Like the serious politicisation of almost every area of public life, and the up-front, confrontational attitudes. In particular what has struck me are the high levels of patriotism and ethno-centric attitudes. Pub joke stereotypes, I know, but nonetheless very real, and very prevalent. I am studying in a North Eastern University, in one of the most liberal states in the country, and yet not a class has gone by in which my liberal haunches have been raised. Perhaps the most obvious example of this was a professor's claim that the UK's 'shut up and listen' school policy results in English children being indoctrinated in English propaganda, and that it was to be hoped that the future would bring about a switch to the American system. (This rising out of the fact that basic history lessons don't cover the US Revolution in great detail.) Later, in my constitutional class (fast turning into a favourite, even though I will admit that I struggle with the material), many of my classmates- despite having argued again the imposition of constitutions moments earlier- seemed shocked by the idea that the collectivist Japanese culture doesn't value freedom of speech as much as American society does, or that not everyone might consider the freedom to contract without interference an absolute right. I do know that in all these situations it would have been perfectly acceptable (and probably not even notable) for me to argue against the trend, and that doing so might even have added to the class discussion- but, being a good little student, I stayed mum, and at most shook my head a little.
These observations are not meant to be critical or negative in any way- I can write equally damning reports on English attitudes towards the rest of the world- but they are a reflection of what a very different country I am now studying in. I cannot really imagine an entire English class arguing that Japanese collectivism is wrong, and I certainly cannot conceive of a professor ever putting his views on other systems so bluntly- but this does not mean that the approach here is somehow stupid or wrong. It is, however, something that I will have to adjust to, and fast if I want to get good class participation grades.

On a less negative note, one of the aspects of the American (or at least post-grad) culture which I am particularly appreciating is the fact that intellectualism isn't stigmatised in the same way it is at home. As opposed to Exeter, when I go into class here I am prepared and ready for a full class discussion, raising very difficult points and encompassing very different views, and I know that my contributions to this discussion will be admired (well, I can hope) and expanded upon, rather than ignored, agreed with, or instantly struck down. Here, it seems, students are not only taught to criticise the law, but taught to actually consider why they are critical of, and what the consequences might be. Of course, to some extent I find this very frustrating (my current over-used example is that at least in England when anti-incest legislation is enacted no one complains), particularly as in some cases it seems that theory wins out over legal analysis. (In Mental Health Law today we were discussing why it's OK to forcible hospitalise a suicidal depressive but not a cancer victim, and I raised- as a point of law- the positive and negative acts doctrine. Only one person actually used a legal argument to render my point invalid- the others simply questioned the morality of such a doctrine.) However, being able to discuss and theorise, I feel, well, alive again. My passion for International and Constitutional Law has been re-ignited, and as for my passion for writing essays, well- I've chosen my paper topics for 2 of my 3 seminar classes, and am seriously considering asking my Family Law lecturer if I can submit a paper instead of an exam. And, as certain people may have fallen asleep to, I've chosen (at least for now) my comparative dissertation topic for next year. How does the rule of lex loci and the protection of same-sex marriage in Europe and the USA sound? I can certainly rant on it convincingly.

As a third point, the beer here is pretty terrible, and cider pretty much unheard of. It's looking like Corona all the way- well, Corona, and serious amounts of coffee.

JJ

My lawyer can beat up your lawyer

This may yet be the fastest blog entry known to man, as, according to the giant computer lab clock, I have 5 minutes before I'm due to go and stake out the main loan desk upstairs. I've been hunting down a particular book by Elyn Saks for the past week (according to Amazon my copy was shipped a fortnight ago, but that's becoming less and less reassuring), and have repeatedly been foiled by other people wanting to make use of the library course reserve system. The class is now less than 20 hours away, and I'll admit I'm getting a little tetchy. If I don't manage to get the book, well...
Suffice to say that I'm enjoying classes, and coping (well, mostly) with the reading, and that I'm beginning to make friends- although, to my personal shame, after ranting so much about International inclusion for the past two years at Exeter, I have found myself spending much of my social time with, you guessed it, the other Internationals. I don't know that I can justify my actions there, but then again I'm no so sure that I want, or really need, to. This weekend we (along with Hurricane Earl) went up to Cape Cod and Rhode Island, and had a really wonderful time- running in the rain, watching the sun set over the sea, eating sushi...

But I digress. To keep things brief, so far I:

- Have volunteered to co-edit a book on the Post-Charter Legislation of the American Colonies

- Have been elected secretary of the CT Alliance of International Lawyers

- Have ridden a bike down the hill in Elizabeth Park

- Have co-hosted a veritable Chinese banquet

- Have explained pretty much every detail of the English legal and political systems

- Have read. And read. And read.

- Have questioned my own beliefs to the point that everything seems absurd

- Have learned an entirely new form of legal dissection

- Have read more cases than ever before

- Have enjoyed reading said cases

- Have fallen asleep on my Legal History book

- Have cried for everything I've left behind

- Have drunk a lot of coffee and spent a lot of money

- Have smiled and laughed more than I have for a while.

OK, the book should be back now. Wish me luck.

JJ

Welcome to ... Albany?

By now pretty much everyone, both at home and here in CT, knows that the flight was hellish, that I ended up stuck at Albany airport for 4 or more hours, that I had Dunkin' Donuts for dinner (welcome to America, huh?), and that I finally arrived at Bradley Int'l, by bus, at 1.40 am. A couple of days ago I probably would have carried this introduction into a piece about the wonders of solidarity or the friendliness of North Americans, but now I'll just say that when you're traveling, no matter where to or for what reason, you need to be flexible- and never pack anything vitally important in your checked in luggage.
The reason you've all escaped a rambling S.O.C. piece based on my jetlagged thoughts as the bus trundled through Massachusetts is because, well, I'm at law school, and am having the will to live slowly orientated out of me. OK, yes, I exaggerate somewhat- the only truly boring session so far was last night when we sat in with the 1st year JD students and not only got to hear the same 3 hr talk for the second time, but also were given an introduction to legal reasoning. Big-fish-in-a-small-pond syndrome is all well and good, but this was closer to whale-in-a-paddling-pool.
So far UConn law seems to be everything we were promised. I personally am in love with the 5 floor library (for Exeter folks, that's a library about the size of the main campus library dedicated entirely to legal texts- I squee-ed, but then I'm sad.), but the campus is also fantastic- grey stone and and parkland and very New England- and the classes, well, after yesterday's breakdown of one case I can honestly say that I now feel more confident about approaching the law than I ever have before. Listen up, Exeter- class participation is a good thing!
There are downsides, of course, and it would be wrong of me to leave them out. Hartford, despite being in the richest state in America, is one of the poorest cities in the country, and the divide between rich and poor is dramatically obvious. We've had it firmly drilled into us that we will not walk home alone after dark, or, if at all possible, during the day. I live on the top floor of a huge, Victorian style 1920's house directly opposite the new Mayor's home, but if I walk to the next block I hit a very rough, very poor neighbourhood. It's not a nice situation, and I was very pleased to learn that all students at UConn law are required to participate in pro bono and community action work during their time here.
More individualistically, there's a lot of reading from a lot of textbooks, all of which are very pricey. Talking with the first year JD students I learned that their average textbook spending has been around $600- and that's just for one semester. With my student loan not arriving until October, and my savings still tied up in England, I'm seriously not sure how or if I'll cope. No wonder law school is portrayed as a rich kid's world.
Despite this, sat here in the computer lab with my rough reading list on the desk and 4 storeys of books up above I feel, if not ridiculously happy, very content. I'm slowly getting to know people, in the awkward way of first year, I'm finding my way around, and all in all everything is very nice. Yes, I'm slowly developing the slow bellyache of homesickness, and I'm not sleeping as much as I should because I've been spending every evening looking through photographs and Facebook pages, but that's something that I can and will deal with. My roommate is much much further away from home than I, and she's here for 17 months. If she can do it, so can I.

JJ

Tea and Biscuits

'Tea and Biscuits.'

Well, here we are. T minus 2 hours, and I'm set up in the main lounge at T3, tripping people up with my frankly impractical bag, getting disapproving looks from bored Duty Free staff, and fighting with internet connection. Reportedly there's a 'Free Public Wi-Fi' network, but its signal is so weak that whenever I try to connect I get bounced back to 'Boingo,' which wants me to pay £10 for an hour's worth of internet. I'm fairly tempted to go and dig in at the Starbucks across the way, but that would involve repacking the carry-on, running over peoples' feet, digging out the wallet and boarding card, and then attempting to find a table. As it is I'm currently having fun entering random streams of digits into the Boingo login page, and pretending that my giant headphones are somehow cool and retro.
I arrived at the airport at 8.30 if not earlier, and made it through check-in and security fairly quickly (and somehow managed to avoid having to pay an overweight charge on my big bag, which I think was more luck than skill in packing...), although the woman on the check-in desk recommended that I removed 3 kilos (I'm blaming my Training and Pupillage Handbook for all of those) from my pull-along bag and put them in my handbag. From what I understand it makes very little difference as, if I do have a bulkhead (and, at £25 for the privilege, I'd better!) all my bags will have to go into the overhead locker during take-off and landing. As it is, I've spent the time since checking in shuffling books back and forth between the two bags, which is something of a lengthy task, and one I intend to avoid doing again until they call my gate.
The bag shuffling and general juggling have been made much worse by my acquisition of (shock horror) a shiny Duty Free bag. (I'm still not sure if that should be capitalised- technically the phrase shouldn't be a proper noun, but I've only ever seen it treated as such.) On Saturday evening, while in the middle of worrying about whether or not I'd packed my PJs (I had), I suddenly realised that I hadn't thought to get a gift for my landlords. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, given my strict 'I'm skint' stance, but given they're putting me up in their home for 9 months I thought something special was called for. A quick enquiry to the general knowledge database that is my Facebook friend list revealed that tea came top of the quintessential 'Englishness' list, with biscuits (to, I imagine, take away the taste and the polite expressions) coming in second. Hence how I've ended up with a shiny bag of Twinnings Earl Grey and Walkers Chocolate Shortbread. They'd better go down well- they're certainly causing me enough trouble!
It's now 10.35, and my gate opens in half an hour. A part of me still feels sick from the adrenaline, which is probably why I'm managing to be so incredibly clumsy. Soon I'm going to have to pack up (again), and head off to Smiths in order to get some mints for my aunt and an inconveniently bulky bottle of water for myself. There's still been no improvement on the internet front, so I guess I'll be posting this in Hartford, or, if I'm really really lucky, Toronto.
See you on the other side.

[Ed- posted from ... TORONTO, due to an hour's delay on the plane. Which actually worked out pretty well for me!]

The Little Things

First of all, some parental guidance- this post is being written by a Jessica who has had very little sleep and too much coffee in the past 48 hours, who is currently convinced that her dictaphone has gone missing purely to spite her, and who is now referring to herself in the third person.
It's now less than 3 days until I catch the Paddington train and leave England far behind me, and I am very proud to report that the packing list has now been reduced to 6 items, most of which are going in the hand luggage. The huge Training Handbook is still sitting out, and will no doubt tip my bag over the 50lb limit (I had 42lbs at the last weigh in), but that's no longer really a worry for me. If it's overweight it's overweight- the bag has wheels and I have a special travel 'cushion' in the bank.
At the same time, though, the closer I get to completion the more I remember all the little essentials. Things like my address book, my phone charger, my power cable, my camera... Things I never thought to include on my list because they seemed so obvious, and yet so easily forgotten. I'm not sleeping properly because of anxiety, and so as a result I'm not thinking straight and getting stressed out at little things- like the missing dictaphone. I've a feeling it might be trapped under the pull-out bed which is under my bed, but the way I'm feeling right now, any attempt to verify this would probably lead to total bedroom annihilation. I know I'm going to forget something important, but by now I simply just don't care- if I have to buy stuff, I have to buy stuff. Although I'd never admit it to her face, I do kinda wish my mom was still here, if only to do the whole making dinner and going to Sainsbury's thing.
But, as usual, I have a plan. This afternoon I'm going to finalise the packing, and then I'm stopping. Tomorrow will be completely free, and on Saturday all I plan to do is print out the important stuff. Come Sunday all I'll need to do is pop my laptop and sponge bag into the case and head out the door. Perhaps by then I'll be thinking straight once again.

OhheavensaboveI'mleavinginsixdays

While I try to restrict my use of drama student speak to Facebook and jokey conversations with the girl who started my tendency to type in ALL CAPS, a very large part of me wants to add 'ARGH ARGH ARGH' onto the end of this title. How can it be 6 days? It was 2 weeks last time I looked, I swear. How am I not currently drifting on a pile of organised lists and packed bags. How can I still only have a vague idea as to what tshirts and CDs I want to take? Why is my bag already so full? Why can't I go around talking in capitals until this all goes away?
OK, if I'm honest, I have mostly finished- just have tshirts, shoes, and some miscellaneous washing to search through now, and the plan is for that to be finished today. Then tomorrow I can do all the 'etc' stuff - DVDs, dictaphones, folders- leaving the rest of the week for me to pack my carry on and generally OCD. I've banned myself from youtube, Skype, almost all of FB, and, more for my own sanity than anything else, fanfiction.net. Mostly because I shouldn't have to continually prove that no matter what the topic, after 15 minutes' worth of browsing one will need brain bleach and a large wire brush. With all this in place, then, I should be able to play tetris that little bit faster.
The landlord continues to be lovely, although I have now learned that the apartment doesn't come with an oven, so no baking for me next year. Adaption shouldn't be a problem (although my mother's face should be a fantastic sight when she finds out), but it is slightly frustrating. Especially as over the past week I've started making cakes quite regularly. Raspberry chocolate apple cake is something else, let me tell you.
I got my money sorted out last night, and hopefully should actually have some breathing room, although my tuition fees will be coming straight from my savings account. I'm currently more worried about having enough cash to get over there- £240 for vision is a painful price tag indeed. Although my new glasses are cool. And vivid red. And allow me to see again...
Jessica out.

Playford, problems, and packing part II

Yes, it's been a while. For the last week-and-a-bit I've been volunteering at Sidmouth Folk Week as a stewards' coordinator, which sounds rather more important than it actually is. While the entire week rocked like nobody's business (which is a very interesting sentence if I do say so myself), it did mean incredibly limited internet access- and an excuse to not think about the whole travel thing. At least until Martin so helpfully said "oh, so just under 3 weeks then."
Unfortunately, Sidmouth is now over, and I no longer have any excuse to avoid dragging out the big red bag and upending my wardrobe into it. At the same time, on the final day of Sidmouth I received a message explaining that the girl I'd been planning to stay with on the 22nd is now on holiday, so the final weekend was spent in something of a panic, with texts going off to everyone living in the general London area. Fortunately my cunningly disguised knight in shining armor (or at least the Horde equivalent) has stepped in, and I have a genuine London sofa for the night- and then the tube in the morning. It's not the greatest state of affairs ever, but it's better than completely rearranging everything. Of course, I'm now really worried about rush hour and train cancellations and all sorts.
Less scarily, I've now got an address, a landlord, and a roommate for next year, and so far everyone seems lovely. The house is a big old Victorian thing, and utterly gorgeous, and my landlord is an attorney specialising in banking and finance law. And I have a case study for my first orientation week lecture, which is exciting to the extreme.
Packing wise, Josh and Malcolm are now both in VA, and so some of the bulky stuff is on the right side of the pond. For everything else I have made huge ticklists, and now it's just a matter of playing tetris until it all fits. Oh, and maybe making some important lists with regards train times / flight numbers / etc. So yes, it's a bit all over the place, and there are now only 2 weeks before I leave- but hopefully once I actually start lining the bottom of my bag with dresses (which are still leaving me in a bit of a quandry) all will sort itself out. It's going to have to.

"So ... are you looking forward to it?"

This has so far been my brother's only reaction to my leaving- well, that and general complaints about my taking away the Spore laptop. I think it's just his teenaged way of saying that he'll miss me- and hopefully not just because I provide computer games and a way out of the house! It's a tough question to answer- of course I'm going to relish the experience, and I certainly hope that I will enjoy myself and not end up confined to my room and the college library... And of course there are so many things out there that I've missed for 11 years now- the scenery, the openness, proper refried beans, Mt Olive dill pickles, real snow and proper sun, cheapy clothes- the list goes on, and sadly remains for the most part very consumerist.
And yet, going abroad for a year is a tough decision to make, and until I'm out there I know a small part of me will remain convinced I've made a mistake. By the time I return many of my friends will have graduated or gone off on their own years abroad, and I'll be taking lectures with this years Freshers, none of whom I know. And then there will be the people I'll meet in the States, and the friends I'll hopefully make. Flights to the US are expensive, and I already have a long list of states which already have a claim on me. Making friends just to leave them after 9 months- it's hard, very hard.
I know I made the right choice, but that doesn't make the late-night agonising any easier. I am looking forward, of course I am, but in the sense that I will miss everyone- even my smelly, 6'2" little brother.

Packing- Part I

With just over a month before the big day there isn't much left for me to do except pack. Sure, I've still got to copy down train times (at least 3 times, given their infuriating tendency to go missing at the last minute) and print hyper-important flight tickets, but that's relatively small fry when confronted with the mental mountain that is packing.
At the best of times I tend to make a meal of the whole affair- I have my mother's tendency to overpack combined with an obsessive need for minimalism, and so even an overnight bag requires a good half hour of making lists. As for holidays, well, even as a seasoned flier I still like to dedicate the best part of a day to the process. What faces me now, though, is something far beyond a simple holiday bag. Somehow I've got to cart my entire life to the other side of the Atlantic, and, due to baggage restrictions and general stinginess on my part, I've only got one fairly large bag and a backpack to put it in.
Most frustrating is the fact that I can't simply pack up my summer wardrobe and exchange it for my winter clothes when I return for the holidays- due to the layout of the academic year I'm going to have to take equal portions of summer dresses and thick scarves, which is going to considerably reduce the limited room available. As such, even more planning is going to have to go into the process than usual, particularly as I have to take more than clothes.
First step is to make a list of what I really need (clothes, toiletries, school books) and of what I really cannot bear to leave behind (pictures, jewelery, my teddy...), after which I'm going to have to face the monstrosity that is my wardrobe and work out how to cut down my clothes drastically while still retaining some semblance of a working wardrobe. That's the plan for today, but I somehow imagine that trying to reduce the sheer bulk of stuff I need will take up much of my time. Perhaps I'll work out an ingenious solution to the whole thing, but more likely there will follow several weeks of rants about how many pretty dresses a girl needs, and why it's vitally important I find room for my pig of a jewelery box.