I realized the other day that my law school career is halfway over. Three semesters down, three more to go. Too bad I still have exams before things are finally over. I enjoy exam time because I don’t have to go to class, but I don’t like exam time because it means I will have to take exams. Luckily, I only have two exams this year (I also have two papers).
Exam time is an interesting and amusing (at least I think so) time at the law school. Here are some observations:
1.) The Student Affairs office always has a huge table filled with cookies and cider/coffee/tea, which is excellent. The cookies they provide at all law school events are surprisingly delicious.
2.) The library and the other study lounges get pretty crowded and there’s a sort of nervous tension in there, so I try to find empty classrooms instead.
3.) Junk food and sweatpants are aplenty. People come prepared to hunker down with three meals in their bags and who knows what else.
4.) You will suddenly realize that you did not know that there were so many people who wore glasses as people decide to abandon their contact lenses in favor of the glasses that they never wear but are much less annoying than contact lenses.
5.) Some people disappear during exam time and you won’t ever really see them. Other people whom you’ve never seen before will magically appear.
6.) People are still procrastinating, of course. As you walk by people you can see Gchat or Facebook open alongside their outlines on their computer screens (I’m writing this instead of doing a practice exam for admin law). Yesterday I had ESPN Gamecast on for the SEC and Big 12 football championship games while reviewing for corporations.
Exams are important but it’s also important to not drive yourself nuts during exam time because that will mean you won’t do well on your exams and it’s bad for your health. The Student Affairs office runs a lot of wellness programs and in general I think people are pretty good at maintaining a school/life balance even during exam time. There may be some people who stay at the Law Tower from 8am to 11pm or longer, but I haven’t met them (unless of course my friends are all lying to me and having slumber parties at the Law Tower every night without me. Sidenote: there’s actually a shower in the men’s bathroom on the third floor of the Law Tower (nobody really knows why). I’ve never seen anybody use it, but I saw a shampoo bottle in there once. I personally can’t stay in one place for too long and always need a change of scenery.
My exams are on back to back days, which is slightly brutal, but because they’re on second and third days of exams I finish on December 11th. I’m getting out of here on December 13th and going to India until January 8th. The lack of cold weather will be most enjoyable.
