A day in the life

Spring break officially arrived Friday at 2:00 p.m. By 6:00 p.m. I was home and in my pajamas. Some part of me certainly wanted to go out and celebrate, but the remainder of my body, mind, and spirit overruled that request, and the celebration was confined to the couch.

I did have big plans for Saturday, which included exploring some local walking trails and updating the contracts outline. The trails were never explored; instead, I walked a few miles around the track, and that took all of the energy that I could muster. The contracts outline stayed in my briefcase (the thought of studying made me nauseous). Most of the day I stayed in my pajamas. I moved from couch to bed watching basketball and movies. I was so tired. It was the kind of “tired” that you feel when you have the flu; you know, every cell of your body and brain is spent.

I can imagine that people tire of hearing me say “I’m tired,” especially those who aren’t present in the day-to-day of this law school boot camp lifestyle. “I’m tired” is usually just a blanket statement to cover all of the finite details of the days preceding. But, to be more specific, let me infuse a few details into this statement so that—possibly—it can be appreciated. During the course of a week, I attend 15 hours of class in the following subjects: Property, Law Skills, Contracts, Torts, Foundations of Law, and Civil Procedure. Except for Foundations and Law Skills, the remaining four topics will be part of the bar exam that I will ultimately take (and hopefully pass), so a firm grasp of each of these topics as they are addressed day-to-day on an incremental basis is essential.

Every night in each of these classes there are reading assignments. We must read, outline, note, comprehend, compare, analyze, and synthesize the material. On a good night, the gods may smile upon us, and we can be prepared in an hour for the next day’s reading. If that is true, be prepared because that means we are going to spend a lot of time in class comparing and analyzing this reading with prior materials. On a bad night, we may spend three or four hours reading for one subject, which is what I had to do Monday night in preparation for Tuesday’s Torts class. It literally took me almost four hours to complete the reading. Earlier in the day I could hear grumblings in the library from fellow classmates about the enormous reading assignment for the Torts class. It was a tremendous amount of reading, especially in light of the fact that we were also trying to prepare for a mid-term exam in Foundations class (where I had a 75-page outline to review).

So, you might say, why don’t you just skim? That would be about as effective as skimming the instructions on how to build a nuclear reactor.

Or, just pick out what you think is important? I’ve been more successful at picking lottery numbers.

Or, surely the professor can’t cover all of that material the next day? Yes, he can; and, history verifies, he will. Either be prepared, be absent, or be humiliated.

So, four hours to prepare for Torts.

Then we had to read about 40 pages in Law Skills and prepare a burnt offering (a/k/a assignment). Every assignment is graded. If there are typographical or grammatical errors, the grade drops 10%; if it is late, the grade drops 10%; if it is not a “good faith effort,” the grade drops 10%. Monday night, Law Skills was relatively straightforward; it took me about two hours to complete the reading, then complete the assignment, then print, proof, correct, edit, and reprint the assignment.

Then I had to prepare for Contracts. Contracts is typically the class that requires the most preparation. There is reading in the casebook, which often refers to the UCC and Restatements of Contracts. In addition, our professor posts 15-30 questions every night that he will address the next day in class. So, you outline the casebook, brief the cases, insert the UCC and Restatement language into your notes, including the relevant notes and comments at the end of each one, and then attack his questions. If I must skip anything, it is the questions because they, alone, will take hours to complete. Usually I will peruse his questions just to ensure that I have an idea of what he’s looking for, but Contracts could be a full-time job but for the fact I have five other subjects to study. So, Monday night, I spent about three hours preparing for class.

On Mondays we are out of class by 2:00 p.m. Usually I grab a quick lunch at the cafeteria and then head over to the library to prepare for the next day. By the time that I had prepped for Tuesday's classes, it was almost 10:00 p.m. That’s when I pulled out my Foundations outline and began studying for the mid-term that was a mere three days away. This took me until midnight, when the library closed. I headed home and had to wash a load of clothes before going to bed.

I was in bed before 1:00 a.m. and up at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday to go to the gym for a quick “wake me up” workout. This gave me enough time to get to school about 20 minutes before class so that I could review my Torts notes before class started at 8:00 a.m. And this was the schedule that I had for the entire week. Get up at 5:30; leave home around 7:30; get home around midnight. Five days of that can wear a body out! And, I know from personal experience, of course; but I also see my younger classmates dragging their tail feathers too.

Even still, so much was NOT accomplished last week. I did not update my outlines in any class. I spent all of my time just preparing for the next day and preparing for the mid-term. I did not have time to use any of the commercial materials to reiterate class discussions or case briefs. I did not have time to meet with a professor to answer questions about confusing areas. Consequently, I did not have time to look for a summer job or a summer study abroad program. Basically, the day-to-day routine was just to keep my head above water and forget how tired I was from treading water.

Today is Sunday, and I am still tired; that amazes me. For the past two days I have avoided the alarm clock and just let my body sleep until it was ready to wake up, hoping that would help. I’m sure it has, but I still don’t feel like I’m at 100%. Nevertheless, there is much to do during spring break. This break is like a gift (of “time,” which ranks right up there with “air”), so I’ve got to appreciate its worth and let my body catch up when it can. If I’m lucky, I will only work about 12 hours a day; as you can see, that would be a luxury.