Style v Function: Law School Day 7

After four days of gentle orientation classes, my classmates and I experienced our first "real" class on Tuesday.  That is, the kind of class where you are given a dense reading the day before, and may be called upon to recite some or all facts of the case in front of your professor or classmates.

According to traditional wisdom, and the warnings of all those who have come before us, this is a moment to be seriously afraid of, or at the very least, somewhat nervous.  

I have to admit, I was totally excited.  In fact, if these last seven days are any indication, I am going to love law school.  From everything I know so far, both preparing for and performing during class are going to be considerably less terrifying and more fun than preparing for and performing during a class of high school sophomores less than interested in learning US History.  

So, I may have intentionally worn a bright teal jacket on the day of our much-heralded first class, and I was, indeed, the second person in a room of 140 called upon to answer!  Somewhat to my disappointment, the professor let me say about three words before moving on to someone else.
(insert overdramatic sigh)

One thing I don't like about law school so far:  Schlepping heavy books and class-related paraphernalia to campus, from class to class, and back home again.

The first few days I started out with a large tote bag. Call it vanity, but I was really hoping to not have to "regress" to an ugly, sporty backpack.  I'm excited to be a student, but I'm not excited to look like one.

Well... it didn't take me long to realize that, if my trusty tote was mostly filled by my laptop, notebook, tiny orientation folder, and wallet, it wasn't going to take me very far during classes.  Besides, the off-balance ache at the end of the day told me that hauling a tote bag on one shoulder was something my back might regret in the future.

I resisted for a few days, adding extra bags and my lunchbox on to supplement the inadequate carrying capacity of my poor tote.  As I looked around the classrooms, I noticed I wasn't the only one trying to find the right combination of carrying containers to match the demand of law school.  On the last day of orientation, the assistant dean of students even delivered a small lecture on the necessity of making our peace with rolling backpacks.  "I don't think I could even find a rolling backpack big enough," I heard someone mutter on the way out of the room.  "Maybe if I get one for each hand."

I dreamed of a backpack that was rugged but stylish--a backpack that would be padded and sturdy and beautiful.  It had to accommodate about 30 pounds of books, laptop, sustenance, and clothing layers (to cope with the ridiculously over-airconditioned interior of Green Hall)... and yet accentuate my fabulously classy fashion sense.

After much research, I discovered this backpack doesn't exist, and unfortunately I don't have the skills or patience to create it.  

So I gave up on image and decided to try out the one bag left in my arsenal that might still work out: A small backpacking backpack, scavenged from my friend Jacob's closet-cleaning extravaganza.  At the time I inherited it, I had no particular use for it--it's too small for actually backpacking with, and too huge and heavy-duty for everyday use. Or so I thought....

It turns out it was made for law school.  The top pocket serves as my lunch box, the front compartment has lots of minipockets to protect and organize my cellphone, pens, bus schedule, chapstick, and ibuprofen.  The padded back protects my back from sharp textbook corners, and protects my laptop from getting smushed.   It may be red, gray, black, and covered in zippers and straps and plastic buckles, but it worked beautifully for me today.

So, law school hurdle number one surmounted.  Wonder what will be next?