Here goes nothing...

Friends, Neighbors, Countrymen,


For those of you who stumble upon this and don't actually know me, my name is Emily and I am just finishing my first year of law school.  Because I didn't study abroad as much as I should have in college (I was an International Studies major, it's kind of ridiculous that I spent a whole two weeks in Ireland during my undergraduate years) and I'm not ready to go back to the real world where people work in cubicles in offices, all summer long (obviously why I quit my job in the first place), I'm taking summer school classes in The Netherlands, Switzerland, and France, this summer.

I mentioned to one of my friends that I was thinking about keeping a journal, during the trip (which I still intend to do, on paper) and she suggested that I start a blog.  Between her suggestion and the fact that my brother's blog on Buddism as a Beginner has been such a wild success in Houston, I figured I'd give it a whirl.  (Check out his blog at http://dharmacook.blogspot.com/, I'm so proud :P).  Nevertheless, as a baby lawyer, I feel compelled to drop in the disclaimer that it may not be worth your time to read this, but I feel like writing it, so I will. In any case, continue at your own risk.

Spending 10 weeks traveling around Europe and getting reacquainted with international law seemed like a brilliant plan 2 months ago, when I began to make the arrangements, but now it feels like I have a million things to do, not the least of which being my last final for the spring semester, tomorrow morning, before I leave and my flight is at 6PM on Monday.  Obviously, the best use of my time, right now, is to write this post, instead of, oh, I don't know, sleep, study, refine my to-do list.  ;{P  But, I figured if I'm going to do this, I need to just start it, and see what happens from here on.  


Don't get me wrong, I haven't been this excited about anything in a long time.  I'm really looking forward to the classes I'm taking and making new friends and, seeing the Peace Palace, and the UN facilities in Geneva and generally getting my geek on, but trying to finish up finals and get everything in order to be out of the country for that long has been an interesting experience.  I'm also finding that, as the time to leave draws near, I'm a little sad at the opportunity costs associated with being away from Chicago (where I have lived for 9 years and go to school), all summer.


I sort of feel like I'm going to summer camp, for the first time in my life.  That's right, friends, I never really went to summer camp.  Here I am, 26 years old, one successful career behind me, starting another, lived across the country from my family for 9 years, moved across the country, twice, and I have never been to summer camp.  What's more, I'm not going to any summer camp, I'm going to observe the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague and spend a month with practitioners on the cutting edge of international human rights in France.  I never claimed to be conventional.  


My point, though, is that I feel like I'm going to have this amazing experience, but I'm going to come home and I'll have missed a lot of goings-on right here in Chicago.  It's weird, because that's never been something that concerned me before.  I've always been impatient to move onto the next thing and ready for the next adventure, but now, I'm really happy right where I am and doing exactly what I'm doing.  I guess it just means that I have some pretty exceptionally awesome friends, now, and I don't want to miss a minute with them.  Which also probably means that I should A) stop worrying about it, because they will still be here and be awesome when I get back, and B) shut up and be grateful that I have such amazing people in my life.  Or maybe my mother's right and this is what growing up feels like.  At any rate, I like it and I don't, at the same time.  Kind of like the way I feel about needing to stop here and go to bed, because that Civil Procedures final isn't going to take (pass?) itself, tomorrow.


I'm not really sure where this is going, yet, but I'm hoping it'll develop some kind of theme, some time in the near future.  I chose the name, because it has become something of a mantra for me, since starting law school, whenever I start grumbling to myself about quitting my cushy day job for this nonsense.  I'm not much of a planner, so I'm just diving into this blog stuff and I figure it'll end up being useful/purposeful, eventually.  :)  We'll see, I guess.


Hugs and Kisses!
Emily