The First Week & Thoughts

Hello Friends,

As many of you know, I just started at Boston College Law School, indeed, this is my second day of classes. After two days of orientation and one of class, I am happy to say that I am really excited for the next three years! This venture is unlike any I've encountered so far, in that it commits me to a relatively solid path for the next three, and more likely seven years.

In many ways it is like undergrad in that the course load is similar, classes are often and in the morning, and the mix of people is, if anything, even more diverse. When the Dean of the School introduced our class, it was humbling to hear the impact my classmates have had on the world and thrilling to realize that I'll be working with them closely for the next three years and beyond.

Two things I've gathered in my very short time here are that
1) Law School is all about method, learning a new, precise, and powerful method of reasoning, namely legal reasoning. I'm interested in seeing how this style of thinking differs and coincides with my studies on cognitional theory and epistemology. The thing about inculcating a method, is that it takes a lot of work and time... hence the infamous 1L year :) http://www.hulu.com/the-paper-chase

2) (and perhaps this is just my current orientation, but) Law School emphasizes relationships much more than I anticipated. The law community is a small one, and everyone ends up working with and knowing everyone else. Sure there are abuses and many of the negative images associated with lawyers show keen insight, however, those images do not represent the majority of lawyers.


A few unrelated thoughts:

I've been attempting to choose between Google and Bing as far as reliablity of searches go, and have yet to make a decision... I feel that Bing is indeed better, but, alas, I have adapted so well to Google that I can often find things faster and more efficiently with the scatter-gun approach. Hmm... try it for yourself :) http://www.bing-vs-google.com/

As I may have mentioned, I'm training for the 2010 Laramie Enduro. Having added cycling to my running has really improved my running speed and lower heart rate endurance. I've cycled to the BCLS campus every day this week over Heartbreak Hill which, with 20-30lbs of books on my back, has and will be good climbing training for next summer!

Peace,

Taylor