From Briefcase to Backpack

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions and events. As a Type-A borderline control freak, the most difficult part for me is the roller coaster, not necessarily the difficult events along the way. I'm going to try to make a long story short.

In October, I arranged to have a part-time externship for credit this semester. To say that I was excited to start this internship is an understatement. I looked forward to getting extensive experience in family law, an area of law which I'm extremely interested in but have limited experience. I couldn't wait to get more involved with practicing attorneys, the Philadelphia Bar Association, and hopefully find a mentor, one of my new years resolutions. However, this week when I arrived at the office for my first day, I found the firm to be in a major upheaval. During a meeting later that day with my internship advisor at the law school, I was told that the firm was no longer a suitable placement. We scrambled to find another internship, however, the proposed opportunities weren't aligned with my interests and I didn't want to have an internship just for the sake of having one. I felt like I was getting pulled in every direction and time wasn't on my side. After a tear-filled conversation with my favorite professor and about 1 million calls to my parents, I decided that it would be in my best interest to take classes this semester.

Picking up an additional 10 credits of classes hasn't been easy. I missed an entire week of some classes and have had to catch up on readings assigned for winter vacation. I'm not going to lie, reading 100 pages of my Federal Income Tax book in one day was brutal. But after spending long evenings and the weekend in the library, I've caught up. I'm drained, exhausted, but also proud.

On the bright side, I was able to get into every class I wanted (Trial Advocacy, Federal Income Tax, Family Law, Criminal Procedure, and Litigation Drafting) with some amazing professors. After improving my grades last semester I'm hoping to continue that trend this term. I' have already started participating more in class, limiting my computer use in class, and meeting with my professors more often. Having new goals for my new schedule has helped me adjust quickly. I'm also immensely thankful that this all happened the first week of the semester, I really don't know what I would have done if the firm had these issues in the middle of the semester. I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason and I am already finding reason in all of these changes.

Hopefully now that things are settling again, I'll be able to begin posting here more frequently again.