And So Bar Prep Begins . . .

I am back from Haiti! Meagan and I had an amazing time. I am still processing everything and working on an official blog post to tell you all about the trip (complete with pictures), but that probably won't be done for a couple of days yet. I am trying to get back in the swing of things in the US, catching up on emails, doing laundry, deep cleaning, etc. Today I did my initial diagnostic practice test for my bar preparation course, and I have to complete foundation classes online before the class actually starts this coming Wednesday. The foundation classes are focused on the MBE (the multistate bar exam), which is 200 multiple choice questions testing the majority, "national" rule of law in 6 subject areas: evidence, criminal law and procedure, torts, contracts, real property, and constitutional law. These subject areas are all also tested on the Georgia essay portion, as well as family law, commercial paper, secured transactions, business associations, federal and state civil procedure, legal ethics, and I think a couple subjects I am forgetting about. This is why the bar exam is so hard--it's about sixteen final exams in one over the course of two days, and the stakes are incredibly high because it is only offered twice a year and you can't be a licensed attorney unless you pass. Plus, you have to know how Georgia law differs from the multistate/ majority rules of law--like how the Georgia evidence code differs from the Federal Rules of Evidence. But I feel like I'm in good hands with my prep class, so I'm not too worried about it right now, I'm just trying to prepare mentally to spend about 500 hours this summer preparing for this test.

So just so you all know: 1) care packages are appreciated, especially if they contain chocolate/ wine/ Starbucks gift cards, and 2) I may be going off the grid a little bit, or a lot, with the blog this summer (well, I kind of feel like I've already done that. It's been forever since I've posted anything really substantive.) Who knows, I may find blogging to be stress relief and end up doing it more than usual, but in case I disappear for a little while, I'm just warning you ahead of time because my prep class will be very demanding and I plan to spend a lot of what free time I do have training for my next half-marathon at the end of June. I also have tons of drafts of posts that have been languishing forever waiting to be published, so I may give you all a bunch of those this summer too. The "going off the grid" thing kind of applies to all areas of my life--I can't promise I'll be very social or that I'll respond all that promptly to emails, phone calls, and texts because studying is my most important priority right now. But I'm just going to dive right in and get this done, and on the other side (hopefully), I'll be an attorney . . .