School is now officially in full swing, and I’m running around like a complete nutbucket. My homework for this past week was over 150 pages of reading. Since the only time I can really study is when the Wooster is at school – a time I have been using to do my house chores, that is leaving me trying to re-balance my schedule. I know there are many of you out there who are probably laughing your ass off at me complaining about having to read 150 pages, and rightfully so. Please remember that my brain hasn’t studied anything with this amount of consistentcy for 20 years, so there is some adjustment.
So far my Intro and Research classes are still gearing up. At this point I’ve learned a hell of a lot about the structure of the American and California court systems, but not a whole lot else. But that’s the foundation we need to learn what we need to know. It’s all about baby steps at this point.
Family Law is in full swing though. Since it’s not a beginner class, it jumped right in to the subject matter. I had to read 60+ pages for Tuesday night’s class, and it held my interest, even though I haven’t quite caught up on my sleep from missing all of Sunday night. I’m sure if it had been any other subject I would have nodded off after two paragraphs. I’m finding it nothing short of facinating.
My three instructors are about as different as you could possibly imagine. My instructor for Into (Monday nights) spent the first class laying down the law, so to speak. He kept saying things like “you’re in boot camp now”. Uh, no…actually I’m in night school at community college. But I understood where he was coming from. He was trying to weed out the people who really didn’t want to be there, or who were “testers” – the ones who didn’t have any desire to be a paralegal, but thought they’d try the class for curiosity. It worked, because about half of the people who were there that first night are gone. And his attitude has softened appreciably. He even admits that if we take another class from him (like Contracts), we will see a different side of him. In spite of his initial blustering, I like him and enjoy his class, even though he is very strict. You’re late for class, you get docked half a class. If you miss two classes, you’re out. Period. This is a 7pm – 10pm class, and we use the whole time. Monday is a long night, but he knows his stuff and makes it interesting.
Tuesday is Family Law. My instructor for this class is much more laid back in that she hates to stay until 10, and if you miss some classes, she’ll provide a way for you to do a make-up at the end of the semester. A good thing too, because due to circumstances way beyond my control, I will be missing two Tuesday classes this semester. She’s winging this class – it’s her first time teaching it and her practice isn’t in Family Law, but she’s bringing the material together quite nicely. And as I said before, it’s facinating to me.
Wednesday night’s Research class is meeting at the county courthouse law library. The instructor for this class is very nice, and has an extensive background in legal research. She gives us exercises to do that make us run around the library pulling case books and finding statutes. It’s like a big scavenger hunt, and I’m having a blast. She’s also not very strict, and initially said she wouldn’t even take roll call. But she’s changed her mind on that since the class has 18 people and where we meet in the law library only comfortably holds ten, so she’s trying to whittle down the class. This class is supposed to meet from 6-9, but we’re usually out of there by 8:30, and I’m home before 9. It’s nice to have an early night.
So school plods on, and I just keep moving from one class to the next, one week to the next. I find that my brain is waking up, and at this point is appreciating being fed some meaningful information. I’m sure it won’t take long before the “new” wears off and I see school as a chore again, but for now, I’m enjoying the hell out of it.