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
