3 Courses Down, 2 to Go

What a whirlwind.

So ... I finished my tax class on March 22nd (accelerated due to prof going on leave), finished Gender class on Tuesday (with the last class, and the handing in of my paper), and finished Natural Resources yesterday (with the last class, my presentation, and the handing in of my paper).

That means that I have a remarkably shrunken "to do" list before I'm officially a 3L and my focus changes to finding myself an articling position (of course, assuming that I pass everything):

• Write Professional Responsibility Exam
• Write Oil and Gas Exam

So, so, so much better than a couple of weeks ago!

Presentation went OK yesterday, but not great. As the last person giving the presentation for the day, when I began, it was already 9:00 PM (official end of class time), so I tried to motor through my material in a bit of a hurry, which of course was a bad idea. I really should know better than to try and pull moves like that. I knew the stuff, but my delivery was a bit of a gong show. Hopefully that came across, but if not ... it is over, which really is a huge load off of my shoulders.

Also, before this year I really had no idea what to expect from seminar classes, even though I registered for two this semester. For anyone that has yet to take one, here's the Lisa take on seminars, so you know what to expect:

• Seminar classes seem to be a great deal smaller than regular classes.
• They are more theory focused; as opposed to going through a systematic rendition of what the law is, the law is questioned and conceptualized on a theoretical level.
• Seminars require that a major paper is written rather than a final exam. This results in seminar classes being one 2 hour class a week as opposed to the regular classes at 3 hours a week - really frees up your schedule (although Gender and the Law was two smaller papers).
• You have to talk a lot more in seminars than in regular classes, which wasn't a bad thing for me, since classes are really so much smaller.
• Both of my seminar profs treated us right at the end of the semester; in Gender we were treated to snacks on the last day which was an informal and casual wrap-up, in Natural Resources we were treated to beers after class.

So ... I'd be inclined to take a few more seminars next year, but it really will depend upon the marks that I get on my papers. As I've mentioned, writing papers isn't my strength just yet. I'd like to work on that, but we'll see. I think I've wrapped my head around legal writing, it's just the academic writing that I'm still working on. I've definitely made progress this semester, so I think it would really be good for me to keep trying it out.

Sigh. And now, to prepare for the season premiere of Battlestar Gallactica tonight ... ahem ... I mean my Professional Responsibility exam. Sigh.