the bar, albany, and my new post-bar life

The Bar's over!!!!! It was an awful experience that's very difficult to explain but it entails very little sleep, lots and lots of stress and no clue whether I passed or not. I was lucky to have a good testing site but my bar got off to a bad start with a busted pen and a computer telling me that it was recovering from a fatal error in the 10 minutes before the bar exam. Fortunately my computer did not break during the test.... In any case, I'm glad it's over and I really really hope never to have to take it again.

Just before leaving to go take the bar. These two guys were my rocks during the bar exam. If I passed it's thanks to them.

I drove up to Albany with my good friend Tara and we shared a room close to where the bar was being administered. Here's Tara's still smiling before the bar started....

I never did learn most of the things on these flashcards... At least I'll still have them in February if I need them.

Both exhausted after day one... but somehow still smiling.

Our hotel. The theme was turn of the century New York. We were hoping for butter churning classes but all they were offering was cross-stitching.

The sustenance of bar takers

We were marked for two days. I think the bar examiners wanted to give Albany residents a fair warning that they were about to deal with crazed nerds and tell them to stay far far away.

Right after the bar with Anne and Ben (former roommates from Costa Rica and Washington).

One of may outdoor concerts going on in Albany. I think I saw four in the two days I was there but we specifically went to listen to this one.

NY statehouse. While Anne and Ben were at work I visited it and it's beautiful inside and out. Later that day I saw Governor Patterson walking around Albany.

Inside the statehouse.

A mural in the statehouse.

Rockefeller Plaza in Albany. Apparently this was a dilapidated part of town when Rockefeller was governor of NY and he converted the entire area into office buildings surrounding a walkway with a pond in the middle. The egg looking building is a performing arts center

The newlyweds furniture shopping.

almost over....

In less than a week the bar will be over. In the meantime, I've been studying a lot and playing a little. Here's the last week in photos:

If only I could remember all the information on these flashcards!!!

Last weekend my co-ed GW team was in the quarter finals of our league. We won! Hopefully they'll win again this weekend so I can play in the final when I get back from the bar. Here I am running.

And here I am not running. This is the norm...

Max had a great time rolling in the sand at a baseball field. I couldn't wash him for a few days because he had medicine on his back so I had an orange dog for a weekend. Several people told me they'd never seen a dog of that coloring... I guess that's better than saying they'd never seen a dog that dirty...

Finally a bath! I love wet puppies. Puppy likes wet puppies slightly less.

Sit

Be cute

Smile for the camera

a diversion from bar studying

The bar review has basically taken over my life.... But last weekend I got a few great breaks. First there was a wine tasting a Sarah and Barney's and then a wonderful Persian lunch. I also played a soccer game so I guess I can't complain too much but there were way too many flash cards for my taste.

Sohail and Sarah discussing wine... hey, that's not wine!

Barney - host and excellent chef

Boston - host and taste tester

Yes, we posed...

Sohail made this Persian lunch (a celery and mint stew) to keep me going through my review.
It was delicious.

Mad Max!

Although I've spent lots of time with Max at my Mom's house, I never realized how different the world is when you live in a city with a dog. In just one week I've gotten into more random conversations than in a year of living here sans Max. These people include:

• several eight-year-old kids
• a woman who is my education representative in DC, who coaches soccer and who is trying to get a new turf soccer field put in by my house
  
• a little old Russian lady who just moved to the US and is looking for a place to live
  
• lots of fancy pants Georgetown women at the dog park in the morning
• lots of young hip couples having cocktails at the dog park in the afternoon
  
• some basketball playing teenagers who told me I had a "sick" dog (Maman - don't worry, that's a compliment...)
  
• and the list goes on...

Plus, most of the people who used to walk past me without even noticing me now smile at me (actually they're smiling at Max but I just pretend they're smiling at me). It's like everyone's happy in DC all of a sudden. And we've run together every day since Max got here. At first we had a little disagreement about how many bushes were were going to stop running in order to sniff them but we sorted that out (in my favor) and now the runs are wonderful (Maman, again don't worry - it was actually a compromise; on our way to the dog park we stop at every bush to sniff it). Hopefully Max is having as much fun as I am...

This is Max extremely annoyed that, after waiting at least 20 minutes for me to get ready to go to the dog park, we came back to the apartment to get the camera...

Looking for playmates at the park. He eventually found lots of doggies.

Napping while I study

Checking on me to see how the flash cards are coming. Today I was working on my flash cards for trusts and Max was relieved to learn that anyone can create a trust for a pet so if you want to leave your pet lots of money but don't trust him/her to spend it wisely, you can leave it with a trustee to manage it for them (yes, that's really true)!

good friends and a new roommate!

The past two weekends have been filled with visits from out of town. Last weekend Deena was visiting so four USC girls made dinner with the help of a few non-South Carolinian guys and even one guy from Clemson. No we didn't make grits.... Then my Maman was in town with my little "brother" / new roommate Max. He's staying with me for the summer while our mom is in Ecuador. This weekend I saw a high school friend I hadn't seen in about 12 years! Fortunately she'll be in DC for 6 months so we have plenty of time to catch up. And yesdterday, Spain won the Eurocup. Ole! ole ole ole....

With Luna

Sarah and Barney - Come live in DC with us!!!

Deena, Luna, Sarah, me

Enjoying the summer weather with Deena, Sarah and Barney

Barney, me, Julia (my HS friend), and Sarah

Welcome to DC Max!!! Now that he's a city dog he likes to dress up a bit ;-)
Actually I read that putting a tight t-shirt on a dog helps calm them during thunderstorms but I think it was more comic relief for me than therapeutic for Max... I'm accepting any suggestions from dog owners or vet students on the issue.

Derek's Back!

This weekend Derek was in DC. It was the first time I'd seen him since September and it was so nice catching up after so long. Here's the weekend in pictures:

Finally! Together again...

On Friday, before Derek arrived, we went out with Sohail's and my good friends from childhood (different ones obviously).

Alicia, a friend from law school and Sarah, a friend from USC.
Sarah and Barney have been in DC all summer for internships and sadly haven't made it on the blog yet. But that's not because I haven't loved having them here or seeing them regularly. Maybe I was just saving the best for last....

Sohail's friends from elementary school

On Saturday, after Derek arrived, we surprised him with a fun event. He had to guess what it was... It didn't take him long so I'll let you guess as well. Here are Derek, Sohail, Sarah and Barney at the start of the event.

Barney and Sarita
And different they were...

The three of us waiting for the next float to arrive.

If you haven't guessed yet, it was a gay pride parade. It was fantastic. In typical DC fashion, the first 10 or so floats / participants were political candidates running for reelection including our mayor and "representative" in Congress. They were followed by about as many church groups and family groups. Then came floats like this one with dancers and the like. It rained on our parade (literally) but it was still a blast!

Sunday, Derek and I visited museums and the National Aquarium. Here he is feeding a duck. By the end of this feeding session we were surrounded by about 20 birds of all different types and one ate out of Derek's hand...

The aquarium. They even have a man fish on display...

One of the best exhibits we saw was of "hidden treasures" from the national museum in Kabul, Afghanistan: http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/afghanistaninfo.shtm
Click here for a video: We also saw the Imaginary Invalid at the Shakespeare Theater. It was hilarious: http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/plays/details.aspx?id=117&source=l

I highly recommend both to anyone in DC.

The three Ss...

What have I been up to the past few weeks... mostly Studying, Swimming, and also Soccer. I've also been doing a few other things but they don't start with S...

Some of my teammates from my GW alumni team

My other teammates beating U Penn or maybe it was Penn State...
In any case, the field is on the tip of an island in the middle of the Potomac river so we have a beautiful view of water and sailboats on all sides!

Dinner with good friends from Charleston.

This is where I've started studying. Not so bad....

The view from my roof. In the background is the national cathedral. I love spending time here in the summer.