The First Day
Today was my first day of law school. Sort of.
Today was actually my first day of orientation. But much anticipation had been building towards it anyway. Today was the first day I would meet my classmates and get acquainted with the law school.
Suddenly, I was transported to Sept 1, 1994, the year I began my freshman year of highschool. Would I meet friends? Would people like me? And above all, what was I going to wear?! (We were going to be taking class pictures that day).
I settled on something classy yet casual, a black boat neck tank top and a dark, pencil-shaped denim skirt. To add a dash of whimsy, I looped my double pearl stranded belt through my skirt loops and slipped on a large-ish marcasite ring shaped in a floral motif. And of course, my fabulously expensive red patent leather purse and black sandal wedges completed the ensemble. I was ready.
Orientation began at 9:30 a.m. in a large lecture hall. Though there are about 500 1L's (first year law students) in the school, they are split into 6 sections to make you feel less lost. My section, Section 3, met in Austin Hall East and was welcomed by our section leader, Professor Hay, who will also be teaching us Civil Procedures.
Professor Hay strikes me as your typical absent minded professor, who's aging well. As he introduced himself to the class, I couldn't help but wonder, Did he feel nervous? Did he have first day jitters like the rest of us? He seemed a little flustered.
Prof. Hay's first instructions were for us to turn to our neighbors, find out about them, and then introduce them to the class. They in turn would introduce us. I thought that was a clever way to dispel ego anxiety.
One after another, each of us spoke in turn about the new classmate sitting next to us. Many students tried very hard to be funny during their schpiels.
One successful student started by addressing the class, "How many of you have seen Eyes Wide Shut?" 75% of the section raised their hands. He continued, "Well, then, you've seen Dan." The room fills with gasps of excitement. "Dan was that guy at the piano...except instead of a blindfold and people making out, its more like yamakuhs and barmitzvahs." (wild laughter)
Another successfully comic student said, "Harry spent last year in Bolivia. He said it was, in his own words, 'good.'" (wild laughter)
Unfortunately this spawned spin offs that were painfully unfunny. I'm cringing now just thinking about it. For instance, the person after the succesfully comic student above said, "Beth spent the last year teaching English in China. She said, and I quote, 'It was really fun.'" (silence...crickets chirping)
I introduced Rebecca, likely the oldest student in our section. She graduated college in 1990 and has devoted her life to environmental science, specifically water and hazardous waste.
I decided early on to deliver everything straight so as not to risk falling on a bad joke. But as soon as I opened with a very enthusiastic, "Hi, This is Rebecca!" there was already rippling laughter throughout the room. Later, my classmate Aaron unwittingly revealed to me the source of the classes' amusement when he said, "Hey, you're the really blonde one." Well, there you go. I didn't survive ONE day without being known as the legally blonde one.
Incidentally, that's the class movie we're watching together later on in the week.
All in all, people seemed to be trying very hard. Trying to be funny, trying to be likeable, trying to hide their extreme nervousness, and trying not to seem pretensious.
As each person was being introduced, I think, in all our minds, the question arose, "What is their secret power?" aka "How did they get into this school?"
But if people had secret powers, none were really revealed. Sure, there were a lot of world travelers, but that's not really beyond the reach of "normal" folks. And there were the occasional Masters or PhD graduates, but graduate programs in certain liberal arts aren't all that competitive...it's mostly just a lot of elbow grease.
Maybe some people were wondering what my "secret power" was. If so, my intro sure didn't reveal anything. I labelled myself as the pastor's wife/piano teacher.
But frankly (and sadly), it wasn't a sly attempt at modesty. It's really just all there is.
Today was actually my first day of orientation. But much anticipation had been building towards it anyway. Today was the first day I would meet my classmates and get acquainted with the law school.
Suddenly, I was transported to Sept 1, 1994, the year I began my freshman year of highschool. Would I meet friends? Would people like me? And above all, what was I going to wear?! (We were going to be taking class pictures that day).
I settled on something classy yet casual, a black boat neck tank top and a dark, pencil-shaped denim skirt. To add a dash of whimsy, I looped my double pearl stranded belt through my skirt loops and slipped on a large-ish marcasite ring shaped in a floral motif. And of course, my fabulously expensive red patent leather purse and black sandal wedges completed the ensemble. I was ready.
Orientation began at 9:30 a.m. in a large lecture hall. Though there are about 500 1L's (first year law students) in the school, they are split into 6 sections to make you feel less lost. My section, Section 3, met in Austin Hall East and was welcomed by our section leader, Professor Hay, who will also be teaching us Civil Procedures.
Professor Hay strikes me as your typical absent minded professor, who's aging well. As he introduced himself to the class, I couldn't help but wonder, Did he feel nervous? Did he have first day jitters like the rest of us? He seemed a little flustered.
Prof. Hay's first instructions were for us to turn to our neighbors, find out about them, and then introduce them to the class. They in turn would introduce us. I thought that was a clever way to dispel ego anxiety.
One after another, each of us spoke in turn about the new classmate sitting next to us. Many students tried very hard to be funny during their schpiels.
One successful student started by addressing the class, "How many of you have seen Eyes Wide Shut?" 75% of the section raised their hands. He continued, "Well, then, you've seen Dan." The room fills with gasps of excitement. "Dan was that guy at the piano...except instead of a blindfold and people making out, its more like yamakuhs and barmitzvahs." (wild laughter)
Another successfully comic student said, "Harry spent last year in Bolivia. He said it was, in his own words, 'good.'" (wild laughter)
Unfortunately this spawned spin offs that were painfully unfunny. I'm cringing now just thinking about it. For instance, the person after the succesfully comic student above said, "Beth spent the last year teaching English in China. She said, and I quote, 'It was really fun.'" (silence...crickets chirping)
I introduced Rebecca, likely the oldest student in our section. She graduated college in 1990 and has devoted her life to environmental science, specifically water and hazardous waste.
I decided early on to deliver everything straight so as not to risk falling on a bad joke. But as soon as I opened with a very enthusiastic, "Hi, This is Rebecca!" there was already rippling laughter throughout the room. Later, my classmate Aaron unwittingly revealed to me the source of the classes' amusement when he said, "Hey, you're the really blonde one." Well, there you go. I didn't survive ONE day without being known as the legally blonde one.
Incidentally, that's the class movie we're watching together later on in the week.
All in all, people seemed to be trying very hard. Trying to be funny, trying to be likeable, trying to hide their extreme nervousness, and trying not to seem pretensious.
As each person was being introduced, I think, in all our minds, the question arose, "What is their secret power?" aka "How did they get into this school?"
But if people had secret powers, none were really revealed. Sure, there were a lot of world travelers, but that's not really beyond the reach of "normal" folks. And there were the occasional Masters or PhD graduates, but graduate programs in certain liberal arts aren't all that competitive...it's mostly just a lot of elbow grease.
Maybe some people were wondering what my "secret power" was. If so, my intro sure didn't reveal anything. I labelled myself as the pastor's wife/piano teacher.
But frankly (and sadly), it wasn't a sly attempt at modesty. It's really just all there is.
posted by Alice in Wonderland at 5:17 PM
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