My (Potentially) Last First Day

That sneaking suspicion that I'm actually a senior crept up unnoticed in the form of a determined freshman girl who asked me where a building was. Two hours later, a young man wondered how to get to the diner. The location stations were scattered around campus and once-deserted streets and sidewalks were now teeming with people. The day was steamy and sweaty, as the first day always seems to be, but I thankfully am not returning to an equally steamy dorm room, for we now rule the school.

While it's obviously been a year since I've seen a first day of school, it's my first time seeing the campus in action since December. As much as I've enjoyed my eight-month vacation, as Papa puts it, it sure does feel nice to be back, really back, to my regular life. I've got a new appreciation for it, living in my own place again, friends flitting in and out, and of course, the beautiful campus that surrounds it all. Yes, classes have begun, and while my course load is lighter, there's a lot more outside work (re: figuring out what comes next), it feels so nice to just dive back into the routine. No more traveling, no more tapas all the time, but I'm pretty satisfied just the same.

On another note, I'm doing the journalism law readings I was assigned last week (yes, during summer break), and it's not going as well as I'd hoped. My professor's syllabus warns us that this may be the most difficult course we take in the journalism school since the reading and writing are so different from anything our reporter's minds have encountered. So this class is now my litmus test for finally putting that law school seed to rest. If I enjoy/don't find it too difficult, then law school may just be the thing for me. But if I struggle along with everyone else, I will once and for all settle this recurring battle my brain is waging with me. I'm secretly hoping to hate the class for the sole reason of solving this problem. But I unfortunately am finding myself fairly intrigued by the various types of law explained in chapter one. Now I may only be hitting the calm before the storm, but I've got another sneaking suspicion that this law school question won't die that easily after all.