First Day in School (for real)

Many of you would remember that I had started school 3 weeks ago on the Comparative Intro to American Law. So why "first day" now? Columbia Law School actually starts on 6 Sept. The rest of my classes started today. For the past 3 weeks I've been doing the Comparative Intro class intensively -- about 3 hours of lessons every day Monday through Friday. But now is when the real law school stuff begins.

I had Corporations this morning. It was relatively easygoing-- just housekeeping matters generally and getting us to ponder over what the course was about. Hmm... it's remarkable what the JD students (ie the real law students -- we were just "outsiders" LL.Ms) do during class. We could see some of them bid for stuff on e-bay (this girl was looking for dresses online) and others exchange messages online. Me? I didn't have my laptop with me -- but I certainly would not be bidding for stuff on ebay! (I can imagine some of my friends doing that -- but I'm not pointing fingers.... :p)

Prof Milhaupt was really gentle and patient and it seems like he's gonna be a great teacher. *fingers crossed* I thought he might go alphabetically in putting people on call but I'm put on call next week! "On call" means that I have to be prepared to answer questions next week cos he's gonna call on people whose surnames start with S - Z.

But the class I really enjoyed today was Legal Aspects of China's International Relations. Haha -- it was really absolutely fantastic. At first I was really nervous. Didn't know what to say when asked why I wanted to take up the course. I think I just mumbled something about it being "interesting". Didn't score many points there with the prof obviously. But then I warmed up and really felt that I could contribute opinions and engage in the discussion. Which was quite a good feeling when the Prof agreed with what I said and referred to my opinion a few times during the session. Haha :D I know this sounds really silly because I mean -- first of all, most of you would think that I would have no qualms volunteering responses in class, and second of all, why would anyone be pleased that his response in class was taken up well by the prof? So un-cool right? But I guess I was warned back in Cambridge that I would be out-talked by the American students in law school and that I should be prepared for that. So I was surprised that they hardly spoke up. Perhaps it was about China and they didn't have much background knowledge to aid them in understanding the reading. But I hope this keeps up. I'm quite excited about this course and am so glad I'm taking it up. It's like going for conference workshops -- except that I have serious work to do. Although there's a lot of reading to do, the reading material Prof Liebman chose was really quite interesting and the course involves our critiquing the opinions expounded in those articles. And it's a lot more than just plain law -- it's seeing how law permeates the salient issues dominating the media and the world scene now: China's relations with Taiwan, US, Korean (North and South), Europe and so on. And I find that much more my cup of tea than just reading up on what section 2812 of the Model Business Practice Code says about breach of fiduciary duty (OK I just made that up -- don't quote me on this.) And since I'm not taking an exam on this material -- I'm writing a 10-12 page final paper instead -- I don't have to take notes on the material. Just have to understand where the writers are coming from and so on. Cool. Hope I do well on this paper.

Then Iva (previously from PSC) came to visit us and we had dinner at this Greek restaurant along 113th. It was quite fun -- she's always a joy to talk to -- although I did embarass her or her Korean boyfriend by asking him whether he was willing to convert to Islam (cos she's Muslim). But I guess that was like big faux pas on my part -- oops!

After that I went back to law school to print out some stuff. (Well it turned out to be around 200 pages or so...) Then I met Shuhei in the library and we went to grab some dinner (well, he had dinner-- I just had a fruit smoothie) at JJ's place (JJ = John Jay) -- the underground late-night eatery at John Jay Hall. Which reminds me -- I have to sign up for dining dollars so I can eat tax-free in any of the campus eateries. JJ's place was full of these young kids who looked like they were still in high school. OK -- I have to give them a break cos they're fresh out of high school, being only freshmen. But they were SO YOUNG. Haha -- I felt very old next to them. But then Shuhei's 31 so I really shouldn't complain. He's a Japanese prosecutor who was sent by the Attorney-General to the USA on a scholarship for TWO years (even though the LL.M programme is only 1 year long). We were just discussing what he should do for the next year after the LL.M. I suggested going to Cambridge for a Masters in Criminology from the Institute of Criminology. He's doing a class on Sentencing this semester and they're using a book by Andrew von Hirsch -- my supervisor for my Criminal Law & Ethics dissertation! Haha -- how proud I was when I told him I was supervised by von Hirsch. And Shuhei now really hopes to go to Cambridge next year. But persuading the Japanese government to let him go seems like an insurmountable task. Well -- who knows?

Ah must invite Shuhei to ABSK Grad this Friday. He said he was interested. :)

*yawn* going to sleep soon. Evidence class tomorrow -- but he hasn't set any reading assignment! *scratch head*