Calling all extremists

This will be quick! Here I am at law school. It's amazing and strange and wonderful and true. I am quite busy being orientated and whatnot. We also had our first class meeting today, "Intro to Legal Methods," as part of orientation. I am officially studying, doing homework and reading assignments, and learning about the law. And I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

I'll have a lot to say when I have more time to post again but I'll just share three thoughts from the welcome session this morning.

First, our law school dean spoke and he said, "Who are you 327 people anyway?" He then talked about the variety of the class by telling us we came from 36 states and 15 foreign countries...that among us were a school board trustee, a marine, a former Martha Stewart Living intern, and so on...including "someone who taught English as a second language in Korea." So, hey! I made the dean's welcoming address.

Side note, speaking of Korea, I may FINALLY be done with Ding Ding Dang forever. Rejoice! When teachers leave the school keeps a "utilities deposit" of approximately $300 to cover final bills. Fine. Well, my remaining deposit money has been wired into my U.S. bank account this week, but not before in addition to $100 for May and June phone, Internet, gas, and electricity--that's all well and good--they took an additonal 40,000 won or approximately $40 for a cleaning fee for the apartment. I did point out via e-mail to Betty that that is clearly insane--remember the hours I spent scraping the freezer mold?! and the dead bugs from the walls? Go on, relive my horrifying move-in adventure--but I knew they wouldn't change their minds. I'm just so glad to be done with them and on to law school.

SO, back to Hofstra.

Second thought, in the dean's speech he talked about the law and his view that it's not a job, it's a calling. "You want a job, go sell shoes or tennis rackets," he said. "As lawyers people will be coming to you in their hour of need..." I liked all the things he said very much.

Third, another professor spoke and she compared examining a legal issue to peeling an onion. She even brought an onion and knife and peeled it to illustrate her analogy. She also added, "I didn't realize there was going to be someone here who'd worked for Martha Stewart!" Anyway, her point was well taken, that you must uncover all the layers and might end up with something that looks very different from what you started with. She said the study of law means "taking logical and analytical thought to its most extreme."

Well, I've certainly been accused of that enough times before! Anyone else think I'm in the right place?