Catching Up on Life

Y'all: I HAVE MY LIFE BACK!!! Meaning, I am finally done with Moot Court and will no longer have to spend every night in practice plus countless more hours every week researching constitutional law and the Defense of Marriage Act. We had our competition yesterday and today, and while my team didn't make it to the finals, I am so so proud of everyone. We ALL gave the best arguments we've ever given this weekend. There's nothing quite like the adrenaline rush of getting up in front of the judges, knowing you know your stuff, and being able to respond to whatever questions they throw your way. Our case was based on the real arguments being heard before the Supreme Court these past couple weeks concerning the constitutionality of DOMA. Our competition rules prohibited us from listening to or reading any of the real oral arguments, so now that it's done, my teammates were like, "I can't wait to go listen to the actual arguments!" Sorry, not me--after pouring everything I've got into this for three months, I'm not sure I ever want to hear about DOMA again! But I'll take a break for awhile and I'm sure sometime I'll check those arguments out.

 

This is us. These people are like family now (I mean, I've spent tons more time with them since January than I have with my actual family!)

 

Anyway, I could not be happier that it is done. Don't get me wrong, I have learned so much and it was so worth it to do this competition, but I'm ready to once again have time for my life, like studying for exams in a few weeks. School, sleep, and pretty much everything else has been put on the back burner for this competition, and I need to get back in balance.

 

I feel like this is going to be a long rambling blog post, but I just feel like there is so much I want to catch my readers up on (there's also a TON of blog posts I've been wanting to write but just haven't had the chance to put them in words yet, so hopefully there will be some good stuff coming soon). Here's some other things that have been going on with me:

 

The law review book that my article got published in finally went to press! I got 30 little booklets with just my article in them, as well as one copy of the full edition that included it. So that was pretty exciting to see what I wrote in print:

 

 

I got to spend a day over spring break with my lovely best friend, Anna, in Asheville:

She has lived in South Korea since 2010, and this is only the second time I've gotten to see her since then, so any time I get with her is pretty precious! As usual, we talked and talked and talked--and talked some more--about absolutely everything: our love lives or the lack thereof, my school, her job, future plans, philosophy, God, psychology, American culture, Korean culture, and what's going on the Supreme Court today (somehow that seems to be our usual list of topics). We also went to some thrift stores, driving around a lot more than was really necessary because I kept missing my turns because we were too absorbed in the conversation. And going back to one of our favorite activities from high school, we went to the mall and tried on endless dresses and took some photos of ourselves in our favorites. Here's mine (love the dress, it's from Charlotte Russe):

 

Anna and I had lunch at my favorite restaurant in Asheville, this cute little hard-to-find place called Tomato Jam Cafe. This is their amazing chicken salad sandwich with goat cheese and cranberry mustard: 

 

 

 

And she brought me a gift bag of Korean goodies! :)

 

The rest of spring break (well, the part when I wasn't at school getting ready for the competition) I mostly just hung out with Mom and Dad, relaxed, watched some movies, worked on some class outlines, did some pleasure reading, etc. I finished John Grisham's book The Confession (very good but missing the plot twist I was expecting. Oh well, I can't blame the book for not ending the way I hoped it would!) Speaking of reading, I just put in holds at the local library for about 10 books now that I'll finally be able to do some regular reading again--I can't wait.

 

Anyway, here's what's on the agenda for the next few weeks: study for exams, get ready for my summer job, finish some law review assignments, and also try to relax and enjoy the spring weather we're finally just starting to have. Thanks for reading!