First Weekend Complete

Hey there! So I haven’t posted here in about two weeks and here’s why: I moved to a new city and am now operating on the absolute worst university wi-fi ever. I leave my Macbook for 5 mintues and it has frozen up and I need to reboot. It’s enough that they don’t even make the damn software to connect to the internet for Macs, but also that it freezes my Firefox for a good 7 minutes before it works. So I’m stuck using the inferior Safari program. Oh well… Hopefully I don’t get disconnected before I finish this brief update.

Anyways, orientation has completed and it must’ve went on for weeks (or at least seemed like it). Everyone told us how difficult yet rewarding law school would be. “It will be much tougher than college, but filing your nails is more work than college.” Really??? I worked pretty hard throughout college. Before you begin reading a page of any casebook, you need to learn a whole new lingo: torts, restatements, a bunch of acronyms, like IRAC (not the country) and UCC. And of course, that double S logo that I have no idea how to make, but do know how to copy and paste: §. Ha! I’ve already noticed myself talking like an alien to other people. Thankfully, everyone else in my building is an aspiring lawyer, so I won’t sound too odd.

So I’ve completed all the work for my three classes on Monday and it was quite intimidating at first, but that’s what four months of doing no work will do to you. At least I had essential cases to brief – such as the lady who got into an argument with someone else in New Hampshire and charged her with disturbing the peace or the guy who sold his farm based on a joke he wrote on the back of a used banknote. Oh what a country we live in!

By now, you must be bored with legal jargon, so let’s talk about a far more exciting topic to discuss – the Washington Nationals. This past weekend I saw my first game at Nationals Park. What a beautiful stadium – you have a nice view of the Washington Memorial from the upper deck. The whole stadium is open. And most importantly, there’s a Five Guys there. Yes, the prices are way overpriced and they only serve one size of fries, but at least I was able to refill my cup of fries 8 times. The team is pretty horrid, but once Zimmerman returns and Strasburg makes it up, they’ll have some good pitching. Maybe they won’t finish 43 games out of first place then.

I am about reaching my wits end with this humidity, I am always walking with a wall of sweat on my face, which is not a lovely sight. Only four more months until snow… can’t wait! Time to sort out this laundry situation, ciao for now.

My European Escapades: Part III

So before we begin on this latest blog, I want to give some props to the main supporting character of this story, my buddy Matt. He’s off in Peru doing some wonderful things and deserves a ton of respect. He also speaks like 16 languages. I told him a year back that he’d be an ambassador in my future administration and I stand by it. Go read about the great work he’s doing here. Keep up the great work buddy!

By this time next week, I’ll be officially moved into my new apartment and only be a few days away from orientation. Until then, I’ll continue writing about my escapades. You can find the first two parts under the archives. Here we go with part III:

“Listen up Joel Surnow & Bob Cochran, Jack Bauer in an episode for only 4 minutes is unacceptable. I know that you want us to care about other characters as well, but 24 is the Jack Bauer Power Hour. For the record, casting Powers Boothe as the VP was a brilliant move.

For dinner, we were considering going back to Liam’s, but wound up at an Italian restaurant. Yep, we’re staying in Italy for 4 months and during our week away from it, we still go to an Italian restaurant. At least we had a Spanish wine, which was yummy.

Back to the hotel and there’s an even hotter receptionist this time. She made me reconsider my original scale and after checking-out today and seeing the first receptionist, I’m bumping her down to a 6.5. Sorry love. I spent the rest of the night nursing a vodka and cranberry, except that the cranberry juice that I asked for looked and tasted a lot like gin. Regardless, it was one of the strongest drinks I’ve ever had.

This morning was another travel day and it was rushed like hell. We looked at the breakfast buffet and it was the same stuff we had in Valencia, although we had to pay for it this time, so no dice. I totally wanted to go to Liam’s for breakfast and have some black pudding and crumpets, but we decided that going to the train station 3 hours early would be the way to go.

Now, we’re heading towards Barcelona where we’re staying in a triple room but will only be two people. “But I though Nathan was meeting you guys there?” Well Nathan lost his passport and won’t be joining us. That’s right folks, he lost his second passport in three months. Well at least he can say that he literally flushed money down the drain now. On the subject of hotels or hostels, whatever you want to call it, our hotel wants us to call them when we’re at the airport. I totally think they want to assault us and steal our money to buy some beans.

I’m sad because my beloved NYU Violents/Fiorentina/purple teletubbies pen died and I’m stuck using a 50¢ BiC. The battery on my Zen is nearly dead and if it doesn’t last me this whole trip, I’ll be stuck without listening to those crazy Gallagher brothers on the way to Barthelona. “But I thought it was spelled Barcelona!” Well, you’re no longer speaking Mexican or Caribbean Spanish. Spanish people in Spain use a lisp when pronouncing the letter “c” followed by a vowel, which makes them sound like they have a speech impediment.

I hope they have internet at the hotel so I can check my cards, e-mails of smilies and 27 fantasy baseball leagues. Also, I still want my Real Madrid shirt.”

Also, I found some gift cards for Barnes and Noble and since they don’t sell my law books, I want to use them to buy a game for PS3. What game should I get?

My European Escapades: Part II

So I’m trying to calm down from an intense Yankees/Red Sox game, where the Yankees completed a four game sweep over Boston.  Truly an awesome game.  I decided to write up another entry from my European Escapades before I hit the hay.  Hope you enjoy.  If you haven’t read part I, please do right here. Also, let me know what you think of this new design.  I keep trying out new themes and like this one… for now.  Here we go with part II:

“Yesterday, we got into Tarragona, actually Salou and find some pleasant (and unpleasant) surprises.  We walk into our hotel and notice marble floors and just an awesome looking lobby. The lady behind the reception was a solid 8 and spoke a very decent English… for a Spanish woman. She breaks the news that we didn’t want to hear: Port Aventura is closed! (EDITOR’S NOTE: Port Aventura is a massive amusement park in Tarragona.  Unfortunately, we arrived a few weeks early and it hadn’t opened yet. Here’s a picture to see what we missed.) She then tells us that there is free wireless internet in the lobby, which is good… no great news.  So I get rid of my bags and we decide to walk around outside.  What do I look for first?  That’s right, a Real Madrid shirt.  I find a store that has a good one for like 55€, but it’s way too big.  I might go back soon to actually check it out.

We continue walking around and I find some places that sell fakes.  Besides the fact that the guy is practically begging me to buy it and is giving me 27 reasons why the shirt is authentic, it looks like a piece of crap that I could have put together in my sleep.  No dice guys.  I may be a dumb American who calls the sport soccer, but I can still spot your fakes.  I spend the next 4 hours downloading Rome.  Hey HBO, I pay you $12 a month, I’m entitled to free shows abroad.

After that, I get a salad at some place on the beach street, but more importantly, I spot a blonde who blows away anything I ever saw in Valencia.  Wow!  I think about staying there and ordering another salad, but then decide not to.  Back to the hotel and I watch Rome.  James Purefoy is such an awesome actor, he’s quite possibly in my top 6 actors on TV now, outside of Kiefer, Laurie, Piven, Chiklis, and… screw it, Purefoy, my boy, you’re #5.  After relaxing for a bit and noticing that I have wireless in the room, we look for places to eat.  We decide on the Guinness Tavern and walk around trying to find it, but to no avail.  We wind up going to another British pub called The Vines.

We notice that the bartender speaks British and it’s an immediate comfort because it’s as close to English as we’ll get here.  I order what I’m dying for – a steak with chips.  Throughout the meal, we talk to the bartender.  All of a sudden, Matt tells him that I’m a big Oasis fan, when he gives us possibly the funniest reaction ever: “Liam Gallagher is flippin mad I tell you.  I just want to rip his balls off!  I like Christina Aguilera, she’s a good singer.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: He hates Liam Gallagher but likes Christina?!?!?  Seriously?!?!) At this point, we’re laughing our asses off.  After enjoying my steak, two Guinnesses and conversations with our new friend Liam, we head home for the night.

Today has been a very relaxing and mainly uneventful day.  I had a fried egg sandwich, swam, and now am writing this damn entry waiting for 24 to finish downloading.  I already experienced Prison Break being fake – this better be real of I’ll go Jack Bauer on someone.”

My European Escapades: Part I

Since my orientation for law school doesn’t begin for another week and a half, and I don’t want to bore you all with the apartment status, I figured that I would give you an insight into myself.  Two years ago, I studied abroad in Florence, Italy.  It was an absolutely amazing experience and I highly recommend everyone to visit there if you haven’t.  Somewhere during those four months, I began to write a journal documenting my experiences.  However, I barely kept up with it and only wrote about one trip – my spring break in Spain.  For years, my buddy had urged me to post the journal for the sheer brilliance that it contains.  I have decided to give in and post this on my blog.  Here goes with part I:

“So I had planned to keep a journal every day I was in Florence, but that just didn’t happen.  Then, I planned to keep one for my trip to Spain, but I forgot.  It’s now day 3 1/2 and this is the first (and who knows, maybe last) entry and the only reason that I’m writing this is because I was kicked out of the Alcampo.  I’ll try my best to recount the past two-and-a-half days in Valencia.

We took the train to Pisa at about 10:30.  Oh wait, trains in Italy were on strike on Friday!  Best day for a strike, guys!  So we had to take the bus there at 9:55, which worked out fine.  Of course, when we get to Pisa, it’s way too early, which is the story of my life.  So we grab a slice of pizza, water, and eventually a glass of “black” wine (rosso è communista) and wait.  In the mean time, I’m looking all around trying to find that damn tower, but no success.  We finally check-in to Rhine err… Ryan (pronounced like the Rhine River) Air and the lady says that my massively oversized bag is fine.  Why must they mess with my mind?  I get to security and my bag once again passes through with no problems.  A lady then asks me if I speak English and I know that I’m in trouble.  She asks me to open my bag to see if I have any liquids and this results in me checking my bag for 14€ – no biggies.  So we go on board with our new friends Emily and Jenny, who all go to our school.

The plane was alright, except for the fact that they don’t even give you a damn bag of peanuts.  But hey, when you pay 40€ for a flight, what do you expect?  So Emily tells us that we have to take a bus from the airport to the center and we just take it for granted, MISTAKE #1.  We get on said bus and wind up in the city center and only then realize that we have no idea where our hotel is.  We finally find a map and realize that we went in the complete opposite direction -  YAY!  So we hail a taxi and he gets us to our hotel.  The damn meter on the taxi increases by 5¢ every 5 seconds tho, so the trip winds up being like 15€. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Here, I write that I am really awful at drawing these Euro signs, simply because they look terrible.  Sorta like a kimono dragon.  Yeah, I wasn’t an art major.)

We walk into our hotel room and that’s pretty cool – it’s no Plaza, but it’s fine.  They have a really sweet thing in the room where you have to insert your key into the slit to turn on the lights.  And they have internet, except it costs ten freaking Euros for an hour, what a joke!  So we begin to walk outside our hotel and notice this huge outdoor mall, which includes the biggest supermarket you’ve ever seen.  It’s like double the size of Costco or BJs.  We find a sports store, where I immediately look for a Real Madrid shirt to buy, but there’s only Valencia.  Maybe I’ll find one in Barcelona, Real’s biggest rival.  (EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, I did like Real Madrid at the time, but not after you steal Ricky Kaka from Milan.  Oh no, no more jersey sales for you!)

In the mall, there’s an eating area and upstairs is a movie theater and arcade-like structure.  We go to a Mexican restaurant, where I have a pollo dish with queso and jamon (bacon and cheese), but the most important part was the sangria – WOW!  After dinner, we head back to the hotel where we then find out what train goes to the center.  After we get to the center, we find some working class bars, but not what we’re looking for.  We’re looking for bars or clubs with muchos chicas, but no success.  We head back to the bus stop, only to find that the buses are no longer running, MISTAKE #2.  (WHY CAN’T EVERY CITY BE LIKE NEW YORK?!?!)  We have no other option than to spend another 15€ on a taxi, except that this driver was one crazy dude.  We head back to the hotel and almost instantly fall asleep.

We decided that we would spend our first full day in Valencia in the city center and play the role of tourists.  We first stop off at an internet cafe because my hand is shaking without the net for a day.  After that is a red bus tour where we tons of awesome photo ops.  When we get off by the aquarium, I look for my ticket to get back on the bus and alas, lost.  We go to the driver and ask him for another one.  He says it’s not possible and I’m about to tell him that he never gave me a ticket in the first place, but no hablo Espagnol.  We go into the complex, which looks like a mix between the Sydney Opera House and the Enterprise from Star Trek.  I finally convince Matt to spend the money for a ticket to see the animals: “but it helps to free Willie, man.”  So we look at the animals and it’s one of the greatest aquariums I’ve ever seen.  Two pictures that I wanted to take were the dolphins (they swim way too fast) and these big pink birds taking a crap (damn delay on my cell phone camera!)  So we spend a few hours there and finally bounce.  We look at the map and notice that we’re about 17 miles (that’s 27.35885 km for all you metric system people) away from our hotel.  After walking around aimlessly for awhile, we finally find our bus stop and it was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all day.  Yes, I spend all day looking at Spanish women and I still said that.  Back to the hotel and back to more sangria.  We left the waitress like a 79.35¢ tip because I HATE all these damn coins.

Day two-and-a-half of Spain was designated as a beach day.  The previous day was anywhere between 78 and 82 degrees (EDITOR’S NOTE: I didn’t have a Blackberry with WeatherEye then, so I didn’t know for sure.) and this day was supposed to be even warmer.  After a bus and two twins, we get to our destination and our mouths open at the same time and we say “OH-MY-GOD!”  The beach was unbelievable, but unfortunately there weren’t too many topless women.  We have fun relaxing on the sand drinking some ice cold Amstel Lights.  After I chow down on a Waky de Pollo, we head back home, where we planned to go to an American restaurant named Hollywood.  I was going to get an American style cheeseburger and was thinking about it so much that when I got there, I ordered a fillet of salmon.  After dinner, we decided to walk around the mall a little.  I was hoping to find a different sporting goods store, but to no avail.  We decide to check out the movies playing and decide to see The Departed (Infiltrados) in Spanish.  Of course, you miss the awesomeness of the original acting, but it was a cool experience.  About halfway through the movies, I get tired and just leave.  I go home to listen to some Oasis and shower, only to find that my back in a bright strawberry color.  In the morning, I need to buy some aloe.

This morning, I woke up at like 7:45, got dressed and headed to the Alcampo.  I walk around looking for aloe and toothpaste when some guy says something in Spanish.  I tell him that I don’t speak Spanish, when he yells at me.  So I yell back in Italian because that’s how I roll and finally, he tells me that the store open at 9.  (EDITOR’S NOTE: This was the 3rd time I was yelled at in a language other than English while in Europe.  First, I was yelled at by a French cop at the airport, when I didn’t fill out the form for temporary residence, despite the fact that the stewardess told me I didn’t need to.  Second, I was yelled at in a Florence sporting goods store when she ripped the AC Milan home shirt I was planning on buying.  I just don’t understand the obsession with yelling at me.  There’s probably something written on my face that just tells people to yell at me.  Oh well…) I head back to the hotel and wait till then, which results in more Oasis listening.  We go to the Alcampan and I get what I need, pay by credit and show my license as ID, when the lady tells me it’s not valid here.  So she swipes my card again and then I have to pay in cash.  She charged me for the same items about 43 times as revenge for my earlier encounter with the guy.

After that, we ate breakfast and walked towards the train station.  It’s really heavy carrying a 23 pound bag with you.  After waiting about an hour for Matt to get the train tickets, we get on the train for Tarragona, where I am now.  This has been going on way too long, so I’ll write more later… maybe.”

Opening Montage

I’m Justin.  I’m a typical guy who has just started law school.  I’ve heard all of the stories about how difficult the 1L year is and how demanding law school is, but I won’t be intimidated.  I plan on using this blog to take you along with me on this three-year adventure we call law school.  Don’t worry, no legalese knowledge is necessary.  Stay tuned!

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