Putting the Pieces Together

Tonight was the first night of one of two offered Admitted Students Weekends at the UW School of Law. While I do not have a natural gift for random small talk, I feel as if tonight's dinner conversation was worthwhile and left me feeling more than comfortable with my decision to attend UW Madison. Tomorrow morning there will be a set program where we will meet different members of the School and begin to put more of the pieces together. I am most looking forward to taking the official tour and getting a sense of the spacial elements of life as a student. If you've never seen it, UW's School of Law has a very industrial design, which seems cold to me upon initial entrance. However, I have spent enough time in student spaces to know what matters most is how those spaces transform into community gathering spots.

The most important decision after choosing an institution was figuring out where to live in Madison. Unsurprising, I ended up signing a lease on an apartment which does not meet any of my original criteria, and I didn't even think I had that many. My intention was to find a one-bedroom apartment with laundry in the unit and garage parking for all those winter days within walking distance to campus. Instead I am going to be living on the sort of near East side of Madison with laundry in the basement of the house and a parking spot outside in front of the garage. Yes, on nice days I could walk if I was willing to spend the 45 minutes it will most likely take. And without a doubt I should be able to ride my bike most of the year...yep, it's possible in Madison even during those snowy months. Being reasonable, though, I verified it was near moe than one bus route which run fairly regularly and take only 10-15 minutes depending on the route. You may not know all UW Madison students, faculty, and staff receive free bus passes. So, even though I will be commuting, at least I won't be spending money to do it.

And finally, it looks like I have some summer employment plans. I'll be returning to work at Sundance when I return from Guatemala, probably putting in a few more hours. I've also signed up to work on a farm, which offers CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares to more than 100 families a year. My original intention was to join a CSA where I would be able to volunteer on the farm just to get myself outdoors and reconnected with the earth on a more regular basis. When I was given the opportunity to work for food, well, that sounds like a good way to live within a student's budget. I'm pretty psyched about having a less conventional summer before law school begins.

If you are in the neighborhood come to visit!