The Final Bend

Its Sunday evening and I’m sitting at my desk with my Natural Resources text in front of me, clicking between course webpages on TWEN (Westlaw) and Blackboard (Lexis). In between my readings and outlining I figure its a good point to add a quick note to the MELP blog.

For my Thanksgiving break, I was able to get home to see family down in Connecticut. As I headed south on I-91, hitting Springfield, Mass. was an eye opener for me. The lights, noise, and advertisements are all somewhat overwhelming after being in South Royalton for 3 months. I was reminded how wonderful VLS, and this little enclave of Vermont are. Being away certainly helps to appreciate what this small town has to offer. It makes coming back it a lot easier too.

Now its down to some serious work…

Frosty Morning!

Today I went outside to leave for my 8:30am class and everything was covered in a thick layer of frost! The world was sparkly and white – so exciting! What was less exciting was seeing my car was also covered in ice, meaning I needed to scrape off my windshield. I’m beginning to see the value of a remote car starter, ha. Still, it’s exciting for this Cali girl to see a frosty white world. Can’t wait for real snow!

We’ve only got a few weeks of the semester left, and it’s time to write drafts of my final essays. My open memo is a bit rough around the edges, but I’m working on it. I also have a 15 page single-spaced paper for Parenteau’s Extinction course. I’m pretty excited about the topic I chose, but it is difficult finding solid information on the way climate change is affecting the oceans, since its still a fairly new area of research.

I am attending a VLS Fighting Swans hockey game tonight – apparently the team has won their last two games, so it should be fun. Saturday I’ll be heading to Montreal with a friend from school to see a Canadiens game – its my first visit to Canada so that will be awesome. It’s great that VLS is within driving distance of some exceptional destinations such as Canada, NYC, and Boston. Even though we’re all busy busy with reading and writing papers, it’s nice to be able to get away for a weekend to explore the Northeast.

I’m one of the students not heading home for the short Thanksgiving break. With only the tail-end of the week off, it’s just not worth the cost or hours spent flying. Luckily there are a few options for students like myself who are stuck here. There’s a Vegan Thanksgiving put on Monday by the student animal rights group, SALDF. There’s a community service Thanksgiving that students can pitch in on the food cooking and delivery to needy families, then join in the meal at noon on Thanksgiving day. Lastly, I will be attending a dinner put on by our Dean of Students, Dean Jefferson. She opens her home to students for a dinner in the afternoon on Thanksgiving day. While it’s not the same as being with family, I’m very glad to have a place to go to spend the holiday  with some good people from VLS =)

So close and yet so far

Its Tuesday night but feels like it should be later in the week than it is. Maybe that is a result of me doing homework every night since Saturday. I know that sounds truely thrilling. Trust me. I’d rather be doing other things than study on a Saturday night however, tis the season to make sacrifices.

There are less than 3 weeks left to class. I have a draft for an open memo due (you’ll learn to love these), a draft for a 15 page single spaced paper for my Extinction and Climate Change class due, and the increased amount of readings assigned for class as a last effort by the professors to get all of the material covered. Good times. To try and offset the panic I have finally given in and gone to the gym since its too dark and too cold to run in the evenings anymore. I’m not sure how the 2Ls manage their Appellate class in addition to their other courses. I am pleased to know that I do not have to deal with that.

Although Thanksgiving break is next week, I am positive I’ll spend 2 days of the break catching up on sleep and doing what I can to write and outline the rest of the time. I know the reading days will fly by just as the rest of the semester has. In fact I talked to a friend about someting I thought happened last week when she reminded me that it was actually 2 weeks ago. I’m not sure how I managed to have an entire week just disappear but, it did.

So, let the good times roll. Back to reading, writing, and not sleeping. Its worth it. All of the sacrifices are completly worth it. The work now, play later ethic isn’t so bad when you can see the end of the semester around the corner.

Just another Friday Night…

This past Friday night was Specific Performance.  It was AWESOME!!!!!!  There is another one next semester also, I am already planning on attending.  If you are like me and do not know what it is, well basically it is a Talent Show.  Yes, I know what you are thinking, “A Talent Show at a Law School?”  Yes I was thinking the same thing, but I could not stop laughing during the whole thing.  It was SPECTACULAR!  Students danced, played instruments, sang, jump-roped, there was also some comedy acts sprinkled it.  It all just blew the audience away.  I cannot believe the amount of talent here at VLS.  I was worth the $5 to get in.

Also on Friday night, there was a mixer at Crossroads with Dartmouth Medical Students.  This is a bi-annual event, so you incoming MELPs will not have the opportunity to meet the Med students.  I would suggest going to Hanover though and hanging out somewhere downtown and you can have your own mixer.  From the look on some of their faces, I think they could not believe how tiny SORO was.

To all you current and future VLS Students, ” Avoid DUI’s!  Metabolize!”

Wonderful November Weather

It’s raining today, but for the past week, we’ve had wonderful sunny warm weather. It’s actually been very pleasant, and has really felt like fall. I’ve managed to get out on some bike rides, runs and hikes — though sometimes it’s a little hard after class because it’s getting dark sooner now. Now we’re getting some of the rain from the storm that was south of us near the Delmarva peninsula for the last several days. But, it looks like it’s supposed to be warmish and sunny next week as well.

I think one of the most important things about being here in the winter is to get outside as much as possible. I think it really helps with the short days and the cold as well. If you’re outside and aware of the light and the sun, then it’s not as bad when it gets dark before you’ve even had your dinner! And, even though the leaves aren’t on the trees anymore, it’s fun to walk through them, making loud swish swish sounds. The same is true in the winter — if you get out and enjoy the snow, it’s hard to mind it as much.

One thing to remember, especially at this time of year, is that there are several hunting seasons happening. In fact, deer season starts today, so if you do go out, you definitely want to be wearing something bright, and avoid big white clothes or hats that could be mistaken for the back end of a white-tailed deer. It was turkey season a few weeks ago, and one hunter shot another hunter who was up in a tree. He thought it was a turkey. So, definitely don’t dress like a turkey and sit in a tree during turkey season!

Vampires at VLS

Yesterday the Red Cross came to VLS to take blood from the students and local residents of South Royalton. In the past I’ve avoided giving blood because I didn’t meet the minimum weight requirement and I am terrified of needles. Yesterday I decided to suck it up and donate because each person who gives blood potentially saves three lives. I’d like to say that the images of small children and ailing people held me through, but in actuality it was a pretty rough process for me. I was shaking as I completed the history, luckily the Dr. taking my history had a great sense of humor and put me as much at ease as was possible given the situation.

When it was finally crunch time, I got onto my lawn chair, and turned my head away while another volunteer tried to keep me distracted by talking horror movies with me. I was nearly done when I got dizzy, and apparently as soon as you mention that word to the volunteers, you’re immediately considered a near faint situation, and they promptly lay you back and place a fan blowing cool air in your face. So I didn’t quite sail through the process, but I finished and filled a bag of blood, which she afterwards let me see and feel (it was so warm!). I think it’s great that VLS brings things like the blood drive or flu shots to our campus. I felt a sense of accomplishment for doing something good for people, and it can’t hurt that it’s sure to bring me some good juju come finals.

12th Annual Takings Conference

Yesterday Vermont Law School hosted the 12th annual conference on Litigating Regulatory Takings Challenges to Land Use and Environmental Regulations. That’s sort of a mouthful, but a takings claim is one where a private property owner says that the government has essentially taken the property without properly compensating the individual. Essentially, the person is claiming that the government regulation placed so great a burden on the individual that it was like the functional equivalent of eminent domain, and therefore the individual is entitled to compensation for the lost property. That might even be more of a mouthful, but if you aren’t sure what a taking is, you can go to the Regulatory Taking entry on Wikipedia for more information.

The conference was excellent. I went for the entire day, and listened closely to all but one of the sessions. Each of the speakers was well prepared, and spoke eloquently about his or her subject. I was surprised that I was as interested as I was, but the subject matter was really fascinating. It probably also helps that I was able to follow along because we’ve been talking about takings in two of my classes — Land Use and Water Law — so I knew nearly every case that was referenced. That was a nice feeling, especially since I haven’t even finished one semester, and I was able to understand nearly all of the presentations at the conference.

It was also neat to see so many experts come all the way to South Royalton, VT for the conference. Most notably, Joseph Sax, who authored my water law textbook and many other books, was there. His talk was one of the most inspiring. He talked about rising sea levels that will come about as a result of global warming, and how this will impact beachfront private property owners. Takings challenges are largely about private property rights, and he said that it was important to realize that the public is also a property owner, with rights just as legitimate and important as private individuals. There are those who fiercely protect private property rights, and I felt like his was a really important point that is often overlooked.

Anyways, it was a really neat thing to have such an important group of people come to VLS for this conference that directly related to two of my classes. I’m so glad VLS made the effort to make it happen, since it seems that conferences like these are normally at bigger schools located in bigger cities. And, I’m excited to talk with my professors about some of the issues raised during the discussions.

I’ll throw my hat in

It seems like a great number of MELPs have applied for the PMF. I admit that I am one of those MELPs as well. The competition last year was significant, as we were told by Abby Armstong in Career Services. The applicant pool will only be larger this coming year with the unemployment rates as high as they are. Two applicants were selected and made it through the rigorous interview process from VLS last year. Its hard to predict what my odds are in relation to anyone else. Abby also said that some students she anticipated to be chosen were not. That too throws a wrench in trying to guess what the program administrators will be looking for. As a favorite motto of my father’s, you can’t win if you don’t play. I agree with the other bloggers. Apply to the PMF program. Keep in mind though that you only have one chance to do so for each graduate degree, so make sure you put in your best effort with the application.

As for those make up classes. They certainly are a trojan horse. Make ups are not worth the extra time you initially receive when the class is canceled. I have had two make ups already for one class and have another this afternoon for a different class. I am anticipating three more that will be split between two other classes. Its already November 4th. Time is ticking and with the holiday and finals are quickly approaching it only means that much more work crammed into a small amount of available time. The best advice I can give and hopefully follow myself, is not to procrastinate. Do the outlines, do the research, and begin writing drafts of the papers while you aren’t stressed. Meltdowns take away from your productivity. Also, they just aren’t any fun in general.

Tis the Season

For cancelled classes. In the last two weeks, I’ve had about 5 of my classes cancelled due to sick professors, conferences, and last minute events. Because the ABA requires a certain number of hours per course, this means make-up classes to make sure we meet our hour requirements. It’s also the season for illness – I was one of the lucky students who received the free flu vaccines that were offered on campus a few weeks back. I haven’t been sick since the first weeks of school (all the stress from moving and starting a new school of course). All the same I’m taking precautionary measures like drinking plenty of tea, trying to get on a regular sleep schedule, and cooking with superfoods like kale.

I cannot believe it’s already November. Still no snow – I’m so excited for it, though all the native Vermonters keep telling me we will have it soon enough, and I’ll be wishing for these 40 degree days in no time. We’ll see about that

Midterms are finally over as well, for some reason I had a sort of drawn out “midterms week”, but it’s done. We had a period last week where we could adjust our spring schedules, which we had set upon arriving in August. I chose to keep mine as it was – I’m looking forward to the Watershed Management class especially, since I was living next to an area where the surrounding watershed drained into – a local estuary back home in CA.

I’ve been thinking about what to do with my summer schedule. Since I’ll have fulfilled all my requirements except for the units, I’m debating about doing an internship somewhere else. I love living in South Royalton – it’s been quite an experience – but I don’t plan to stay here after graduation, so a transition to an internship elsewhere might be a good move. So much to think about. Time to make an appointment for the Career Services office. Speaking of which, I wanted to second the recommendation made by another MELP blogger about applying for the PMF. I definitely sent in an application – the government is a great place to work out of school, it’s valuable experience, not to mention good benefits. I’d definitely suggest applying for it next year because it never hurts to create options for yourself.

Career Services Visit

About a month ago I sat down with someone in Career Services to talk over the options I had. I wanted to utilize both my BS and eventually MS degrees. My BS is in Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, basically OSHA, EPA, ergonomics, safety management, etc… can fit under that major. The MELP also has some similarities since we go over specific EPA acts, such as CERCLA, Clean Water, and Clean Air. So my idea is to go into Brownfield Redevelopment areas and work as an Environmental Consultant doing the testing for hazardous materials that might be located on the ground. I would also complete the Environmental Impact Assessments.

Now that is one option… Another option is to complete a Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF) with the Federal Government. I would seriously considering applying for this fellowship. Even if you are picked as a finalist you still do not have to go through the program, but if you want to work in a Federal Government Agency, this is your way in. My other options are to work in a company doing general occupational safety tasks, maybe with an emphasis on Environmental; going to Oregon State to complete obtain my PhD; or stay at VLS and complete my JD.

I know that this seems early to think about, but what can I say, I am eager to get back out in the workplace. I would start looking for your ‘perfect’ job now and sitting down with Career Services to talk about the possibility of volunteering or completing an internship in the Spring or Summer semesters. This is another reason why I did start early.

Suggestions… Find your ‘perfect’ job and look at the tasks and responsibilities that you will be asked to complete.  Bring these with you to your Career Services visit.  I would also suggest making a folder of all of these ‘perfect’ jobs and just keeping adding to it.  These jobs descriptions will help Career Services know where you want to go and how you want to use your degree.  It is okay to go there with no clue, but try to think about what excites you about this degree and how that translates into a job.

Last Thoughts… Think about what you would like to do and find your ‘perfect’ job description(s).  Think about volunteering or completing an internship.  Apply for the PMF.  You have options and just do not stick with one, have backups.