So last weekend Leigh came to visit me and we went to Boston for an overnight and had a great time. On Monday my team and I kicked our final project into overdrive (some more than others, but I digress) and really started realizing how soon everything was due. We did a lot of writing, talking, even some arguing but ultimately turned in a decent rough draft. This week we have to submit a more finalized rough draft to our sponsor, our professors, and a rough draft of our power point presentation on the same topic. All of this must be done by Wednesday. Commence nervous breakdown!
The thing is that if I were working on my own I'd be done already because that's how I roll. But lawyers work in groups a lot so it's important for us to learn to delegate and produce massive projects as a group of four or five. So I'm sure you can imagine it slows and complicates the process.
In other news, things are going pretty well for me personally. I bought my ticket to fly back to Buffalo. Leigh and I are planning a southern road trip to see some historical sites (Monticello, a few National Parks like Fort Sumter), stop offs are planned for Charleston, Savannah and Jacksonville (to see my brother and his kids) for wandering around and some beach time. The general idea is 1) we need some quality time together before I go west and 2) we wanted to see parts of the south we never got around to while living there before we both end up living out west.
I've been spending a lot of time with some new friends I met from Long Island. This past weekend they took me to the Hamptons to a bird sanctuary and to see the beaches and huge houses. It was really nice to get out of the city, the weather was gorgeous, and I really enjoyed myself. However, I found it very difficult to be impressed by the Hamptons after being so spoiled with scenery in places like Alaska for hiking and coastlines, Costa Rica, Hawaii, and the beaches of Virginia and the Carolinas. I don't mean to sound like a snob, but I'm much harder to impress since I have been so blessed to travel so much. I only wish that everyone had the chance to see some of the more dramatic places in the world so they could experience the way the beauty wells up inside you and the intense feeling of being so small and insignificant that is at once both humbling and freeing.
Graduation is coming up really soon too. My dad and step-mom are driving up for the ceremony, which nobody really wants to attend but we're all doing it to say we did. Then two days later I'm on a plane to Anchorage, AK to study for the Alaska Bar Exam. I got a job helping to run the class, which is awesome and will cover my rent for the summer. Yay!
I also got a job working for my grandparents in Washington for the time period between taking the bar exam and leaving for France, which could be any time period from 3-8 weeks, depending on information I won't have available to me until mid June (*sigh* I blame French culture for this annoyance...). I'm hoping my position doesn't start until October but it may very well start September 1, which would be tough both financially and personally, as I really need time to visit the east coast before I fly to Europe not to mention the time I need once I arrive in Europe to get an apartment!
My whirlwind summer plans are set, which is nice so I can just focus on the end of the semester and know that I will have so many great experiences to look forward to. It's all a bit overwhelming, but I suppose if I take it all one step at a time and am mindful of my goals everything will work out alright.
My time here has been a lot of fun, but I'm not even remotely enchanted with NYC. I never was, really, more curious than anything and wanting a new experience. The school experience fell below my expectations, but I did learn a lot and I got a semester away from Buffalo, which was a nice change. Socially I met some interesting people and experienced the night life, which was a lot of fun but I doubt I could make a habit of it. I've been very lucky to get to live in Manhattan, Spanish Harlem at that, experience the subway, the neighborhoods, the walking, the shopping, the food, the people. Now I'm ready to get back to my roots- smaller cities and towns, cleaner air, less pretentious attitudes, less focus on the material. Basically I want to leave before this place can change me, which I am sure it could eventually do.
On that note, I think I should get back to my homework...
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