Memory Lane: September 16, 2005. My First Law School Post.

i've officially completed my second week of law school at the university of minnesota. to say that it has been interesting is an understatement. before i go into some of those interesting things, check this...imagine that two years ago, you decide you are going to apply to law school. you start the process. you do your lsat. get reference letters. you apply to a couple of schools. other schools send you stuff. months pass by. you get some letters from your not so favorite canadian schools saying you are on their waiting list. they'll let you know. thanks. how considerate. you get a rejection letters from said canadian school. you get accepted into the university of cape town in south africa. you think about. you think long and hard. you accept. but you think "let me get my south african citizenship and passport first". its january, it's three weeks before school starts in south africa. you find out that home affairs has lost your passport application. you can still go. but you have a "feeling" so you decide not to go. a couple weeks pass by. another rejection letter from a canadian school. you waiver on that feeling. one day, a letter comes from the university of minnesota. legal sized envelope. pretty thin. you think "another rejection...oh well, it's a top 20 school, how could i get into there, if i couldn't get into windsor" you open it. the first line reads...congratulations.

excitement. joy. is this a joke. is ashton kutner upstairs with the punk'd camera crew? you accept. time goes by. you start getting ready. you think you have lots of time. you don't. its 5 days before you have to leave. you say your thanks and goodbyes to your employees at work. you get this new "feeling". bbq bashment part 1. bbq bashment part 2. that "feeling" becomes stronger. you realize that "feeling" is that you won't be seeing those people that you see everyday,weekend, etc. for sometime. wow. goodbyes to all your great friends. feeling of sadness. leave for minneapolis. 1519km. 15 hours. you find a place. set up shop. parents leave. feeling of sadness. orientation is tomorrow. you try and get some rest. you can't. orientation. your first thought. "what if my name is not on the list, and they made a mistake and i'm really not supposed to be here" uh oh. enter the building (see walter f modale school of law pic). "Mr. Karolia, welcome to the University of Minnesota Law School" smile.

so incase you didn't know what the midwest is...here it goes

-the univeristy of minnesota is the "big 10" conference, but there are 11 schools in the big ten "11"...ok next

-in my class, i've been fortunate to meet interesting people from places such as maryland (hurting them in the home of the terrapins), california (i don't think they really know how cold it is going to get), wisconsin(cheeseheads) , iowa, michigan, nigeria, sweden (hey mats sundin, he's swedish..) and many more...whereas at the university of toronto, i met people from scarborough and missisauga. see the difference

-upper year students (known as 2Ls and 3Ls) are extremely helpful and pleasent. the midwest has this reputation for friendliness which i really have to say is true. as my duty as a former torontonian, i make sure that i inform everyone who has the perception that canadians are friendly, that, this is not true. where and how that rumour ever got started, i want to know.

-law school is just like regular school. if everyday at regular school consisted of what it was like way back in grade 4, of your first day of french class. remember that. make sense? you know english, then your first day of french comes along, and sure some words are the same, you just add a le or la in front of it. then remember the confusion when you get into all those rules, femine/mascaline, plural, singular with femine. that's sort of what law school is like, except everyday of class, is like the first day of french class.

-you actually enjoy going to class, you wish class was longer so you can learn more....but you kind of fear of being "called on" by professor charles

-imagine this, you do reading for a class, you take detailed notes, you think you have an understanding of the concepts and ideas, then out of a class of say 100 students, the professor calls randomly "mr...why shouldn't the supreme court review political decisions??" and you, whether you were the person picked or not think "what, was that in the reading?" and if you were picked, you ask for the question to be repeated to give you more time to put together a reponse that makes no sense. welcome to the socratic method ladies and gentlemen...but you go back and re-read what you just covered, and its like you see things in a whole new light. its like a revolution every day. i like that.

-you look back at your undegrad, and realize what a joke it was. kind of like remember when you were in high school, oac, and you used to study the night before for your calculus exam, and you thought that was tough. then you got to university, and you might have studied for a couple of days for your finance/english literature or whatever class, and you thought that was tough, and you might have had a paper due for another class. and you looked back on high school, and said, wow i can't believe i used to complain about studying for one whole day, and if you could go back, you think you can get 100%. that's basically the feeling i have about my undergrad right now.

-it appears that most of the undergrads here know that being an undergrad is a joke. sure there are some engineering students that are serious. but you know the stuff you see on american tv shows, where the kids on campus are partying it up, having a good time, skipping class cause they are too hung over from tailgating...that is exactly what goes on here. then realize that the legal drinking age here is 21, and that college freshman are around 18. then ask yourself if you really think that matters.

-flip flops, shorts, and a sweater??? honestly, does this even serve a purpose. yeah you keep your arms warm, but don't your legs and feet get cold. you can't tell me, you don't feel the cold, cause i'm from canada, i know what cold is too. i'm beginning to wonder if most law students, and all students for matter even own a pair of shoes (i could have swarn i seen a student with a suit and flip flops on friday), because all i seem to see is people's toes wiggling around.

-you really start to see things differently. i saw a guy push a lady on the bus last weekend, and rather then thinking..."is that lady ok", i was thinking "hey that's a tort, is there a lawyer here? hey am i' one (well not yet)

-i've heard that there is no such thing as a free lunch, well i've had about 6 of them on campus already. so obviously the person that said this was never s a student accumulating massive debt. this is like winning the lottery for a small sum, and who doesn't love that?

-there is such a thing as law humor, and yes i find it amusing. i could try and tell it right now, but its one of those things where you would have to be here to get it. trust me. (but you can look up "chewbacca defense" on google)

-the word "reasonably" takes on a new meaning (see that's some law humor)

-i'm spelling the word "humor" without the u (canadian humor)

-cooking is not so much about making great filling dishes, and more about the time and effort it takes to make something, and clean up. (i could make some grilled chicken in pan, but wow, that peanut butter sandwich, that only makes a dirty knive and plate to clean up...peanut butter sandwich 1, grilled chicken 0.

-i know, that i never knew that a fridge could look so empty. that everything in that fridge is something that you put or did not put in it. think about that. compare it with the fact, then maybe when you are at home, you eat something, or you have some dirty clothes lying around. usually you are a good kid, and you pick up after yourself. maybe every now and then, you forget or you get lazy, and your parents harass you to clean up. sometimes its just an oversight, and you still leave it, or you might even know that eventually one of your parents are going to pick it up for you. well, that will never happen here anymore. if something is there or not there, its staying there or not going to be there, unless i get off my ass and do it.

-u.s tv. what can you really say about a nation that brings you countless amusing reality shows. from celebrity blackjack featuring warren g and the host of survivor to showing girls sweet sixteen birthday parties where they are spoiled to death then led to tears about how much they hate their life, to reality shows about killing reality shows where they put former reality tv stars in a house and let them go at it, to tommy lee going to school as an undergrad in nebraska, and my favorite of them all, teradise featuring human hangover tera reid. the whole show is basically about her getting hammered all over the world, exposing herself, and looking like an idiot, so basically, they just put cameras on her, and let her live her regular life..if i didn't have school, there isn't anything i would like to do more then watch people live in a train wreck that is their lives

-its such a simple formula and it works so well. take the surreal life for example, the new season here has jose canseco, the guy from perfect strangers, etc. take a look at each season. you have a has been rapper, a washed up rockstar, a realed washed up c list actor, a reality tv show star, a former coked up model, a freak of somesort, put them in a house, and you have instant issues and drama. then use that formula and apply it to every possible situation possible. great tv.

-hearing from family and friends on the phone, email, text messages, msn, etc. takes on a whole new level of importance. good looking out, i appreciate it

-you start using a blog to write about your life as a law student in minnesota, and less about the toronto raptors.

it wasn't all a dream, and i didn't have to read word up magazine...done