The Paper Chase

One week in and so far I’m not behind on my reading. Knowing myself that’s actually pretty good. And trust me, there is enough reading for me to be behind already. For those interested, I’m taking Contracts, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Torts and LRW (Legal Research and Writing). And if you thought (like myself) that I’d be ahead in most of the classes (especially Civ Pro) because I’ve been working at two big civil lit firms the last five years … well, you’d be wrong. At least so far. Yeah, maybe I have some terminology down and am not shocked when I hear Latin terms for legal concepts, but other than that I’m basically Joe Schmoe.

Been here two weeks and I think I’m pretty settled in alright. Having Target, Costco and Trader Joe’s all within 10 minutes drives has helped a lot (though its killed my budget). I have a one-bedroom loft that’s fairly small but gets the job done. Its quiet and right next to a golf course though I don’t think I’ll be getting any tee shots into my back window any time soon. Its about a 10 minute drive to campus via two bridges and a couple of left turns so I’m not that far. I wish I would have found a place closer to campus so I could actually walk to class, but to be honest my place is really well set up for studying so I can’t complain too much. I’ve put my embarrassingly small TV in my bedroom and downstairs only has my desk and couch so I’m not tempted to watch TV instead of read. Its works.

I don’t have a great sense of the city yet though its easy enough to maneuver. Haven’t found the great late-night eating place, though I did go to Pita Pit on Friday night … I wish I could give a review, but I don’t remember what I ordered or that I actually ate anything. I knew I ate something because I had a strange taste in my mouth the next morning and called my new friend Joe (Oregon State grad) to ask if we had indeed eaten. “Oh, I’m guessing you weren’t the only person to not remember going there last night … and anyway, most people don’t remember their first time there.” Good times. I’d like to thank the law school for throwing a welcome party at the school with 8 kegs and people stumbling down drunk in the middle of the commons around midnight. Yes, they get drunk at school here in Eugene.

I wrap up this first (and terrible) post with a couple of things I’ve learned about Oregon, Eugene, the school and the fans.
- They really REALLY love those yellow uniforms. Actually, they love everything about all of their uniforms and are insulted that someone could think otherwise.
- Don’t make fun of Joey Harrington unless you want to fight someone.
- What do they love even more than those uniforms? That “O”. I’m not joking, its on EVERYTHING. Its on the window of every dorm room in alternating yellow and green. And driving around Eugene its on more cars than you could imagine. There are more “O”s around than there are “SC”s on cars on gamedays at the Coliseum.
- Prefontaine … learn to love him. Part folk hero, part running god, don’t knock him.
- Though I haven’t stepped into one, the people of Eugene DEMAND Hawaiian plate lunch restaurants. Its no joke – I’ve seen at least five of them.
- Going to Ikea in Portland was like going to Disneyland on a Saturday in late June. These people were NUTS about the Scandinavian modular furniture. One girl told me they had been waiting “for years” to get one … wow.
- I’m truly in the Mecca of great beer. Not Eugene per se, but Oregon and the Northwest in general. Its going to be hard to drink every night.

I’ll write more interesting and funny things later. Future topics to include: fifty-cent movie night in Springtucky; the benefits of all-you-can-drink-night at a single A baseball game; a discussion on SEC v. Pac-10 with a cool guy from Appalachia; why its great to make friends with a guy who has been a pharmacist the last 7 years before going to law school; and how to spend hours on end customizing every single part of your new MacBook Pro. Until then.