Why I would do law school again ...

Is this really happening?! I registered to take the California bar at the end of July. I can't believe law school is coming to an end. As I'm writing this, I just started spring break (my last one EVER!). When we get back from break, I will have basically one more month of school left. I know it's going to go by so fast and I'm trying to savor the next month as much as possible. There are a ton of events the club I am in charge of has planned, I have 2 papers that I'll need to write, and there's a trip to the US Supreme Court thrown in there as well. I take my last final ever on May 2 and then I graduate on May 13. My entire family is coming down to watch graduation and I couldn't be more excited.

After graduation, I will have 10 days to RELAX. My bar class officially starts on May 23. I don't know what I am going to do in that time period yet - probably head to the beach, workout, do some DIY things, and read lots of books for fun. But before I get to those 10 days of relaxing, I want to savor the last month of school because I know I will look back on it later in life and miss it.

But this realization that I have 1 month of school left has really made me reflect back on my time at law school. It honestly feels like yesterday when I packed up my bags and drove my little car out of Seattle - 2 days later I pulled up to my apartment in LA and moved in. B moved down 1 month later. But oh how our lives have changed since August 2013. For starters, we're getting married and planning a wedding. But even on a smaller scale, our lives are infinitely different than they were back then. We have a ton of new friends in LA who we never even knew existed back then. We've seen SO much of this city (but we still have so much more to see). We've taken road trips and seen much more of the United States than we did before we got here. We've been to an endless amount of sporting games and I've grown more fond of sports that are not named football. We've gotten into hiking and outdoor activities. I've actually learned to experiment in the kitchen a bit more than before. We've run a 1/2 marathon - something I NEVER thought I would do. And those are just things in our personal lives; professionally, we've both grown much more than we thought we could have in such a short time.

[my first week in LA]

Looking back, I would never change going to law school. Before I got there, so many people told me it was hard, it wasn't worth it, it was a rip off, if they went back and did it again they would just choose not to go. I remember sitting on an international law panel my senior year at UW and all three of the lawyers that were there said that exact thing! It was so discouraging to hear, especially to a room full of students who were thinking about law school or careers in law.

[Only picture I took when visiting UCLA during admitted students day]

But I disagree. I wouldn't change it for the world. Was it hard? Extremely. Were there times it made me question my academic abilities and intelligence? Yes. Was I stressed? More than I'd ever been before. Did I have a few meltdowns? Yep. But out of all the bad, I am coming out of it so happy and so proud of what I've accomplished and how far I've grown. I've met some great people who I know one day will be leaders of this country or who will use their abilities to change this world for the better. I am honored to know them and learn from them. My work ethic was changed immensely. I've learned to deal with stress in a healthy way. I can speak my mind more eloquently and clearly than I could before. I've faced my fears head on. There were times where it was terrifying (aka networking), but I got through those times. I've learned how to balance my personal life with my professional life - there was a time where my family was going through something extremely hard but I had to learn how to stay focused on school. I've learned how to deal with rejection (lots of rejection), but I've also learned how to persevere. These are traits that I will use in all aspects of my life - not just as a lawyer.

So if you would ask this girl to redo the last three years, she would say 'bring it on'.

[sidenote - no idea why I don't have shoes on]