We're going to law school in a castle!

We spent our day on campus today and are starting to feel like students again. Campus is a solid 2km hike from our dorm, which makes for a tiring day. It's a walk through a posh, gorgeous neighborhood, however: each house has a gate and a name with a BMW parked in the drive. The scenery makes it more bearable to lug our textbooks home.

The people in the neighborhood are just as charming as the houses. Yesterday, on our way to a grocery store, I walked behind a mom with her blond haired, blue eyed six year old daughter. In their most earnest Irish accents:

"Tell me what fabulous things you learned at school today, dear."
"Oh mum, we learned about the sun and it was so much fun."

Campus is lovely. It's a mix between wonderful modern buildings and grand old buildings (we are, after all, taking law classes in Roebuck Castle). Everyone seems friendly and we've started to learn our way around. Contrary to the UMN, we won't be locked in one building. Each class is in a different corner of campus and we'll have an opportunity to really experience student life. I will be on campus this weekend to do homework (instead of buying textbooks, we're using everything in the library) and hope to take photos then, when there are less people around.

Orientation was an Experience, though, that's for sure. After getting lost on our way there, we got there just as the academic introduction was ending. We arrived just in time to be led to the recreation center, where we were promptly shown how to shoot a bow and arrow, jump on a trampoline, skip rope, and play lacrosse. Bewildered at first (What? You aren't going to lecture us about how stressful law school is?) we soon took up the sports and sampled each activity. Perhaps American law school would be more bearable if it was presented in a fashion that promotes extracurricular activity. Don't just sit us in Room 25 and tell us of the importance of finding a good work-life balance; cart us off to the gym, shove a bow in our hands, and show us that it is possible to have fun as a student.

Being American students, however, we did wrap up orientation in the library. We're still struggling to determine how vigorous these classes will be. Reading assignments and syllabuses seem to indicate large work loads; student opinions are different. Not the types to shirk our responsibilities, the next 3 months are going to be comprised of finding that perfect balance between experiencing as much of Europe as feasible while still passing classes.

- CAC