I took a break from law school over the Thanksgiving holiday. A real break. From Tuesday evening to Friday evening I was in New Jersey visiting family. I didn’t bring a single law school book with me. It felt wonderful. On Wednesday I spent the day with my cousin’s new baby and Thursday the whole extended family gathered for dinner. When I wasn’t getting career advice from my uncle or getting beaten up by my 12-year-old cousin, I played with the kids and pretended I wasn’t a big deal serious law student. It was awesome. Friday I lazed about all day watching movies with the parents and eventually boarded the bus back to the city. I definitely needed the recharge.

This coming week is the last week of classes for 1Ls at CLS. Legal practice workshop ended last week so my classes are finished on Thursday. After that begins Finals Hell. This semester I only have three exams spaced apart by five days each so it won’t be too bad. I think my civil procedure exam is a four hour in class final and my other two are both eight hour take homes. I confess I haven’t really done too much to study for them just yet. I outlined one chapter of torts but that was only because I had to for my study group. Other than that, my outlines for my classes consist of syllabi split up by cases with no actual content in any of them. I keep intending to start but then classes get in the way. And now jobs.

There are four summer jobs that I really, really want. They’re all in government. If I don’t get any of them then I don’t care what I do so my plan is to apply all over the map. I’m doing well saving my student loan pennies so with that on top of the guaranteed summer funding from CLS (which I still need to apply for) should enable me to survive an unpaid summer internship.

I had meetings last week with my writing instructor and a career counselor. I wanted to make sure my first memo was in writing sample shape and then get my resume reviewed. Other than a few minor changes, both memo and resume are in good shape. If grades were no issue (as opposed to THE issue) I’d be sailing into this job application thing with something approaching total confidence. I’ve not only been in the working world, but I’ve successfully transitioned between two completely different jobs midway through. I think I’m pretty great at interviewing (boys’ parents love me), and I’ve been on both sides of the interviewing table which is an added plus.

But I keep hearing that all of that would only be icing on the cake and that it’s the grades that are really determinative. And who the hell knows about grades! Like all other 1Ls, I have absolutely no idea how I’m going to do on exams. And since I can only study to the best of my ability, I’m not going to spend a whole heck of a lot of time stressing about that fact. Although, it might comfort other CLS 1Ls to know that I do not plan to kill myself studying, that I plan to sleep at least eight hours every single night all through finals season, that I don’t plan to set foot in the library, and that I might just not bother finishing my torts outline at all. Chances are, whatever you’re doing to prepare for finals, you’re doing more than me.