WonL

The random thoughts of an architect-turned- lawyer from the deep south living in Washington, DC...

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Comparative Law (School)

Tomorrow is the last day of class and exams are right around the corner. My how the stress levels around the James Lighthill House have begun to elevate. Let's do a little comparison between normal school and the summer program in London:


Normal School: 13 week program; 1 hour classes; meet a couple times a week
London Program: 4 week program; 2 hour classes; meet every day


Normal School: Exam reading period - approximately one week between last day of class and first exam
London Program: Exam reading period - a weekend between last class and first exam


Normal School: Space your exams out with a day (or a few days) in between to catch your breath
London Program: One exam Monday, one exam Tuesday


Normal School: Print outlines and notes on your home printer or at school if necessary
London Program: Frantically try to figure out how to print in a "cluster room" with no email access and computers that do not accept jump drives


Normal School: Study in the comfort of your apartment with peace and quiet during the day
London Program: Cannot study even with ear plugs because of the jackhammer 2 feet from your dorm room window during the day


Normal School: Sleep at least 6 hours a night with perhaps a nap during the day
London Program: You are lucky if you get 3 hours in the dorm with the pot smoking, loud sex, and drunken chatter until 5am


Normal School: Stress during exams.
London Program: I'm predicting all out insanity around here!


Yep, my friends, people around here are really losing it. Things is gettin' ugly. There has already been yelling, confrontations, reprimands from the director of the program and a couple of tears. I'm predicting it will only get worse in the upcoming days.


As for me: I'm fairly calm about the whole situation but that's easy considering my two classes are Pass/Fail. (Translation: I only have to pull of "C-" on a "B+" curve.) Not to mention, I have a man with a very quiet house in which I can study. I think my classmates may hate me for this.