I Was There

today is the second day of move-in. i have a couple more car loads to take care of and i would really like to paint over the green living room. i've accomplished a lot and am very excited that this is going to be my home for the next three years.

i've made a decision. i'm coing to close down this site and open a new, more anonymous one. i'm thinking that during law school, i'm going to want to talk (vent) about my classmates and professors and i think it would be wiser to do that in a forum where my name is not at the top of the page. just email me if you would like the new site page.

i've been very excited to start law school. i got my schedule, new books and first day assignments. i've been impressed with the schools organization. almost everthing is online. outlines. homework assignments. i've already printed out my property syllbus for the year.

no more cute little one bedroom. i'm going to be living in a condo instead and i'm very happy with the change. its a nicer neighborhood, more space and i can decorate the place however i want. i had to have a little grieving time for my loss of being able to walk to school, but all in all, the condo is the clear winner. i still have to worry about the lead paint though so all future visitors will have to restrain themselves from gnawing on the windowsill.

right now raul is over attempting to fix mom and dad's computer. then he's going to start working on my old laptop. personalized computer help in exchange for dinner - not bad. we played two games of ping pong in the basement and i got a rush of memories from dana's time here. the thing i'm most looking forward to is our trip to coldstone when the computers are all done.

i've been getting really excited about the decorating possibilities of my new place. i've checked out more books about this than law school. i won't have the time or money to do everything that i want to do, but i have some basic paint jobs in mind. i know the living room color has to go. i'm can't handle moss green walls.

other than those random things, i've been getting loans together for law school, convincing mom i'm not destined to a life of poverty because of those loans, slowly getting my stuff organized for the move, regretting watching "troy" and bothering dana for information about laptops.

this is a collection of pictures from my trip to granada with mom and dad and then later with struby. i didn't mind going twice because i saw different things each time and i got to try out more traditional tapas bars. granada is famous for serving free tapas when you order a drink and i exploited that to the fullest.

the alhambra, granada's claim to faim. its the whole expanse of buildings on that hill. i think the alhambra is amazing; i loved all the decorative geometric designs and coloring.  

there was a huge garden inside the alhambra grounds. mom, dad and i wandered through it pretty extensively. getting to enjoy the outdoors was a nice complement all the time spend touring the inside of heavily decorated buildings.  

this is more of the gardens. the moors were big on the fountains.  

this is struby at a square in granada. the fountain behind her did a little light show at night. this attracted lots of spanish hippies, with their mangy dogs and fire twirlers. no kidding.  

even though i had already put down a deposit on the most perfect apartment ever (aside from the lead paint), i went with mom to housing day today. she really wanted to check out the surrounding neighborhoods and check out my classmates. but mainly just to check out my classmates. i have to admit i was curious as well, but the early start of housing day was deterring my interest. i'm glad i went because i noticed that no one there looked scary and i actually got to know a few people. plus when the whole thing was done, mom, dad and i had a nice lunch at the trendy loop, and they got to see my apartment.

my apartment is a one-bedroom with lots of cabinet space, a huge closet and a pink bathroom. its within walking distance to the university and forest park, and only one street away from the school shuttle line. see? perfect. i had to lie all day and pretend that i didn't have an apartment because i didn't want my new friends to think i'm a weirdo. always a good start to strong friendships.

i get the feeling i'm going to be the minority public school kid in this group. everyone was naming where they went to college, and the answer was usually some ivy league or close-to-ivy-league little exclusive school. hopefully this combination will lead to some funny questions: "did people bring guns to your school?" "was it just like 'dangerous minds'?". they passed out a sheet of paper with everyone's hometown and university on it. i look really boring on that paper. hometown: st. louis, university: university of missouri. ha. little do they know about my cultural background. i will amaze them all!

i'm back in columbia. i've been here for 10 days and have been having a great time seeing all my favorite people. i'll be leaving tomorrow to continue the Great Apartment Search. i'm a little nervous about living alone but mainly i'm really excited. everything where i want it, how i want it. i'm worried that after this i'm going to be practically impossible to live with.

the Great Apartment Search has mainly involved looking up apartments on the wash u website but starting tuesday i'll be seeing some places in person. i called up the wash u housing company and told the nice lady i had a couple apartments i wanted to see. then on thursday there's a housing day where wash u shows everyone around the neighborhoods and has some of the owners around to answer questions. i feel pretty familiar with the neighborhoods by now but i want to feel like i left no stone unturned.

i finished up "One L" while hanging around columbia. i would not recommend doing that to any other entering law student because it just raised my anxiety levels. my goals for the year are getting more and more basic: be happy. stay sane. i really can't believe how close my first day is. it'll be fine. i'll be fine. i can always drive home on bad days. it could be a weird mix of old and new self-therapy: first, hide under my childhood covers and then have a beer with mom and dad on the porch and make fun of my teachers.

i got the cutest letter from my favorite spanish family. the dad wrote about how things are going with sara and marc. basically, the only english sara has retained is counting to 10 and therefore, she does it nonstop. marc has picked up on "blue" and "bye". they go the the beach a lot. they enjoyed new york. they enclosed some pictures of me with the kids. my favorite part was the little note sara wrote on the back for me. here is it, verbatim: hola. hello. how are you? i am fine. i love you a lot. sara.

i love those kids. get used to me talking about them.

i'll be posting more pictures soon, no worries. but my laptop is currently kaput so we'll all just have to be patient.

here's a select few of my 500 pictures. i'm starting out with the homebase: alicante. its still hard not to see pictures of the first place and not heart-wrenchingly miss it.

backyard of first place. wow. i really miss that place.  

view from the first place.  

struby and i on the balcony of our second spanish home, the apartment. it was overpriced, freezing and without any form of entertainment, but we made it work.  

that's the bullring, where i saw that horrific bullfight. about 5 minutes to the left, there was a huge, outdoor market twice a week where struby and i would buy about 6 lbs of oranges for 75 cents.  

that's the alicante harbor. in the background is the castle and the huge building marks where the main street of town is. the harbor had a couple restaurants, a McD, a movie theater and lots and lots of boats.  

the barrio. those stairs pretty much curve around the mountain and head straight up, until you get to the castle.  

a house in the barrio, the oldest part of alicante. i loved all the flowerpots.  

so, i have news. although since i am such a slow poster, most people probably know already. i was taken off the waitlist for washington university and am now attending there, instead of hastings. i'm actually really relieved and don't have any regrets. it was a little hard to let go of the idea of living in san fran but wash u is simply the better choice for me. right now i'm trying to find a place to live close to campus. i would love to be able to walk to campus but i would also love not going into ridiculous amounts of debt. mom is "merely stating her piece" about me living at home, and i see her point of view but i don't know if i can give up my dream of having my own little apartment just the way i want it.

i spent the last week in columbia. it was very fun and i was so happy to see everyone. at first, it was weird to be back and especially weird to walk around campus. but it was great to be able to visit some of my favorite restaurants and get quality time with people. i noticed i'm all out of practice on small talk. with a lot of people, its just been too long a time to ask "so, what's new?". i think it worked well to just try to start at the present and tell stories when they came up.

i'm trying to get prepared for law school. i've been reading this "introduction to the study and practice of law" book, which i honestly think is interesting, but its not what you would call "light" reading so i can't make myself read it too often. i've also been reading basic books on what to expect. mom, dad and i watched "the paper chase" today. it was recommended by wash u as a good movie introduction to law school. i'm going to have to disagree. it was boring, slow and the acting was horrible. never, ever watch that movie. so far i've been able to stay positive about the upcoming year. that's my goal.

i hope that halfway through the school year, i don't think back on that last paragraph and think "what a waste of time"

nothing really big on the horizon. just more of the same: preparing for law school. any tips or monetary donations would be appreciated.