This semester

Well this semester is going to be a crazy one. My schedule isn't so bad:

Monday:

• Agency from 9-11
• Constitutional Law from 12-1
• Evidence from 3-4

Tuesday

• Work from 12-1:30

Wednesday

• Agency from 9-10
• Work from 11-1:30
• Evidence from 2-4

Thursday

• Professional Responsibility from 2-4

FRiday

• Professional Responsibility from 2-3

Doesn't seem so bad right? Well throw in Law Review and that is when things get a little more messy. For Law Review I have to right a 50 page research paper that is due on November 1 (with various deadlines for drafts inbetween.) I also spend about 5-7 hours a week editing an article that we are going to publish in our journal. On top of that I need to fit in 15 more hours of helping the editors do the various other tasks for the journal (finding sources, final editing, putting together the issue).

All of that keeps me busy, but I am still on the same type of schedule as last year. Study and School during the day, take a break for working out and eating dinner, study a bit more at night and continue the next day. I still take saturdays off and study on sundays.

What will change all of this is if I get the job I had an interview for last week. I interviewed at the Minnesota Attorney General's office to be a law clerk. Now it is kind of a long shot because I think they are looking for an older student, and I think I didn't do so well on the writing portion of the interview. But if I do get it, I will for sure take it because it is such a great opportunity. It would make my schedule a lot more crazy, but I think it would be worth it. But I will deal with that if it comes . . .

Spain Sunday: San Sebastian

My first weekend in Spain was spent in San Sebastian. I went with my roommates Cassie and Anne. We really had a blast despite the rain on our first day.

The tapas in San Sebastian were the best food I had during my whole time in Spain. Tapas are like small appetizers that are for munching. In Spain they have bars that just make tapas and it is definitely a staple food to them. A tapa can be anything from a spinach and egg soufflé type thing to a salmon or sardine mix on bread. In San Sebastian they set all of the tapas out on the counter and you can pick the ones that you want. I liked this because I could see what I was getting rather than ordering blindly from a menu.

After our eating tapas we wondered around the port and ran across this free concert (it was starting at midnight to give you an idea about what a different time schedule Spain is on) They played traditional Bosque music and every song seemed to have an Irish jig type dance that went along with it that the whole audience would start doing. It was fun to watch, and try and learn, all of the dances!

The next day we were planning on lazing around the beach all day, but unfortunately for us, it rained all day. We attempted the beach, but after we ate our breakfast we realized it was not going to work. So we went shopping

Then Anne and I decided to try and climb the hill up the trail that led to the Jesus statute. It was supposed to have a great view of San Sebastian, so we thought it would be fun. Little did we know that once you are on the hill you cannot see Jesus and so you have no idea which way to go. It ended up being a fun adventure that included MANY small stair cases and quite a few, "Donde esta Jesus" questions. It was really fun!

And there were some great views

And we eventually found Jesus

That night we did more tapas and went to this hole in the wall mussel place that was AMAZING (this from a girl who doesn't usually like seafood). There were no tables and the place was packed, we were like sardines in a can, but once we eventually reached the counter we got to make our order and eat it on the counter, it was quite the experience.

Here we are at the tapas bar

The next day the sun came out for us and we got our lazy day at the beach before we headed back to Salamanca (or in Cassie's case to Madrid to catch her flight home, it was sad to see her go!)

Stay tuned for next week's Spain Sunday post about Chris and I.

You know law school has begun when . . .

• you have no time to just "chill" anymore
• you schedule every moment of your day so as to fit it all in, yes this includes a shower (tmi, i know)
• you spend friday afternoons in you study carrel at the library
• you think that tuesday is friday because you could not possibly fit anymore into your brain that week
• you have a crabby attitude because you spent 5 weeks on vacation and your brain liked that better
• you spend more time with your citation bluebook than with your husband

Here's to hoping for a better week next week . . . and hopefully I will get more Spain pictures up then as well!

wishing I was still here . .

Boot Revamp

Last spring before finals, Jill and I decided to take a shopping trip. I was on the lookout for new boots because my brown and tan boots were both needing to be retired. You see, boots are a staple to my fall/winter/spring wardrobe. Actually boots are more than that to me, boots are the one cold weather item that I actually like, so having cute ones to pair with cold winter outfits gets me through our horrible MN seasons until summer comes.

While we were checking out the DSW clearance area I found these guys:

Very cute, but clearly in the clearance area for a reason, the buttons were all broken, if they were even there. I was about to put them back when Jill reminded me that it was very easy to find buttons and sew them on, and since they were so cheap it would be worth doing a little work for some cute boots. So I bought them.

Later, Jill and I took a trip to JoAnne Fabric and found these super cute buttons:

They have little pressed flowers in them, I love them! Yesterday I finally got around to sewing the buttons on (after being inspired by my newest DSW boot purchase to fill the "tan" hole in my collection). It was a lot of work, but I love the way they turned out. Here they are when I want to wear them tall:

Now if I fold them down to wear them short they have a little surprise inside:

I want a cold day so I can break out my new boots :)

Salamanca

Salamanca was the city I stayed in for most of my time in Spain. It was a beautiful city and the perfect size for living. Not to big, not to small, but just the right size for walking every where. It had a beautiful Plaza Mayor, which was in the center of the city. It was incased by tall walls and lined with bars and ice cream shops for snacking:

There was also a really cool cathedral that was actually two cathedrals in one!

And there was an astronaut in the cathedral wall:

But more importantly, in Salamanca there were my friends. We all showed up for our first day of classes excited for our new adventure in Spain. It turned out that we all got along really well and ended up having many fun adventures while we were there!

On the left is Jessica, a math teacher from Colorado and the life of the party! On the right is Cesi (pronounced Jesi) a student from Turkey.

First in this picture we have Benjamin from France. Next is Kaja (pronounced Kaya) from Slyvania, she was such a cool person. And finally on the right is Catchi from Belgium, she had the prettiest accent.

Next is my roommate Anne from the Netherlands. She was so sweet and funny, I really can't imagine my time in Salamanca without her!

And finally my other roomy, Cassie from New Orleans. She is a spanish teacher and so it was really nice to travel with her my first week!

It is so exciting to now how friends to visit around the world!

The Alhambra

As you saw from a previous post, the Alhambra was on my list of places that I really wanted to see before I left Spain. A friend of mine had told me that I should buy tickets in advance so that I could be sure to get in. Chris and I didn't have a lot of internet access and by the time we got around to buying the tickets online, they were all sold out! (The government limits the number of people allowed inside per day to help preserve the monument) I was disappointed, to say the least. Once we got to Granada I talked to the tourist office and they said that I should try calling the office to see if they had other tickets available. Unfortunately they were all sold out as well but the lady I talked to told me that they reserve some tickets for people who come the day of. She said that the office opened at 8, but that I should go early to make sure I got tickets. So our Alhambra adventure began. We woke up at the crack of dawn and took a taxi to the ticket office. Unfortunately there was already a line, and since I didn't know how many people they were going to let in, I was worried:

The a million more people showed up:

And we were less worried:

And then the ticket office opened and . . .

We got tickets!! I was very excited!

Castles and Palaces oh my!

While in Spain I wanted to make sure and do some touristy things. I had never been to Europe before and I wanted to be able to experience the history of Spain by visiting everything ancient that they had. I quickly realized that when it came to Cathedrals and churches (with the exception of the Sagrada Familia) it was basically, you've seen one church, you've seen them all. SO my new focus became Palaces and Castles. What little girl didn't dream of living in one of these when they were younger?

Our first stop was the Aljefera in Zaragoza. It was beautiful on the inside, decorated first by the Arabs (which is where the awesome architecture comes from) and next by the Catholics (which is where the awesome ceilings come from).

Next we went to the Castle ruins in Jatavia. This one was mostly destroyed by the French invasion and an earthquake in the 1700s, but it was still really cool to see.

You can see it behind Chris, we had to hike up a hill to see it (or we could have taken a tourist bus, but we were feeling adventurous)

the view from the top was awesome

of course the toilet was still in tact :)

Next up was the Alhambra in Granada. This was one of the reasons I switched our last destination from Malaga to Granada, I really wanted to see the Alhambra in all of its beautiful Arabic glory. Getting inside proved harder than I anticipated, but that story is for another blog. The Alhambra is more than a palace or a castle. It is a mini-royal city nestled in a hill behind HUGE castle walls. There are two palaces (one built by the arabs and one by the catholics), a fort for the soldiers, some AMAZING gardens that surround the place, it is literally a maze of gardens, and a garden palace. Unfortunately by the time we got the gardens we were STARVING and didn't really take many pictures, but we got some of the other parts.

the entrance hall to the Nasarid Palace

On a terrace

There were so many interesting pools like this inside and outside the Palace

The Charles the 5th Palace

And our only picture of the gardens, it definitely does not do them justice!

Next up for me was a palace that had been on my list ever since I bought my guide book to Spain. It is one of the first pictures in the book and its caption explained how it was the palace that Walt Disney fashioned Cinderella's castle after. Any girl who has ever imagined herself a princess couldn't miss this one! The Sunday that Chris left proved the perfect day for me to go visit it because it was in a small town on the way to Salamanca from Madrid. It was my favorite Palace by far, it was so beautiful and they had furniture from the time inside, which made the experience even better!

The Throne Room

The bedroom, with sheets woven with gold!

the garden from the terrace

And a view of the back of the palace

Week of Spain

I'm home! And now it is time to share some of my travels with you. Here is a little preview of what is to come:

You'll see some food that we ate:

And some Roman ruins:

Also some pretty sweet churches:

And many amazing palaces and castles:

You will also be introduced to some of the awesome friends I made while in Spain:

It should be lots of fun!