Spring Semester 2009

This semester I have 6 classes because we added criminal law. I don't have midterms in all of my classes this time, only 3 ... and one of the 3 is only multiple choice. I took a partial final on Thursday that is 20% of my LRW grade for this semester. The first hour was multiple choice and the 2nd hour was doing citations from the Bluebook (our citation manual for law school). I feel like this semester's test had a lot more problems to do within the time limit, so I don't necessarily feel as good about it. But, again, it only matters how I do in relation to the other students, and I get the impression that most people felt worse about the test this semester than last semester's. I'm shocked at how much I've learned since last semester, and things I had to really study for/work hard at last semester are common things this semester.

Valentine's week was really fun. I got a lot of cards and packages from Kyle, Mom, Dad, Mama, Laurie, Madra, and Theresa. Thank you to everyone who thought about me that week. I just finished all my cookies, and I'm still eating on the candy! Kyle and I had dinner Valentine's night over the web cam, so that was corny and fun :)

We had our annual Dodgeball Tournament last weekend, and I played on a team with 5 other Faculty Scholars. They clear out the atrium here and create what they call the "Pepperdome" for us to play in. The Dodgeball Tournament is a combination of dodgeball and a costume contest. Our team was the "Dropouts" and we dressed up as what we would do if we dropped out of law school. I wore my sonic outfit! People from all 3 years play, and even the faculty and their kids play on teams! Dean Gash is the one who started the tournament and he takes it really seriously! The picture is of part of my team. The winning team and the team with best costumes got discounts on their Bar prep courses. The team that won best costume dressed up as Pac Man characters and they were adorable. They had Mr. and Mrs. Pac Man and the others were the little different color characters. We got t-shirts and they say "Getting hit in the face with a dodgeball is as cut throat as law school gets." by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes :) (and actually, Dean Gash did hit a kid in the face!)

I went to Dean Starr's house last Sunday. The Starrs open their home once a month for students to come over and have dinner, and then there's a discussion afterward. Last week we had 2 professors (one was my contracts prof), and they talked about finding faith in law school. We weren't sure where Dean Starr lived when we left for the dinner, but we decided to just keep driving toward the highest point on campus, and we actually ended up at the right house :) The Starrs, of course, have an amazing view of the campus and the Pacific! They are genuinely nice people, and Pepperdine is lucky to have a Dean that's so interested in the students and bettering the school.

I've joined a group that meets on Tuesdays with Professor Cochran and we're talking about "The Question of God." We're comparing the lives and writings of C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud. We've only met one time so far, but it was really interesting, and we have a really diverse group, so the conversation is interesting.

This weekend we had Faculty Scholars finalists visiting. That's the scholarship I have, and they're making the recruiting trip that I made to interview for the scholarship last year. We got to hang out with them while they were here. Saturday night we all went to eat at Buca di Beppo in Santa Monica, which was a lot of fun. The girl I picked up from the airport is from South Carolina and went to school in Michigan. She's very sweet and I think she'd be a great fit here. On Sunday we took them to church and to the beach, and then I took a group of girls to Malibu Yo for frozen yogurt. Tonight we had the big final dinner, and it was amazing. It's been a really busy weekend, at a really busy time of the semester, and it was a blessing to have this dinner tonight. I remember being on the other side of this last year, and I was so neverous. I had such a big opportunity on the line, and after spending the weekend at Pepperdine with Dad, I think we both felt like this could be a west coast home. The dinner tonight was a great reminder of why I'm here. I was definitely meant to be here, and this weekend reminded me of how amazing Peperdine is. I can't imagine going to law school anywhere else. This is truly a special law school, and I wouldn't get the same experience anywhere else. I hope that all of my friends and family have the opportunity to visit me here at some point so they can really understand how special this school is.