Emily's Most Excellent Adventure
This weekend I went to NYC with Anna, Wendy, and Minara to participate in a trademark moot court competition. This was super exciting because it was my third moot court, but my first competing against non-UBers. We had only been able to meet three times to write our brief, go over our notes, and practice our arguments (which we barely even did and actually all four of us wrote our oral arguments on the way and/or whilst in NYC). From what we could tell all the other teams had been practicing furvently for months and I wouldn't be surprised if a number of them had coaches. In fact, at least two of the teams we saw there had entourages with them. We, on the other hand, piled into Minara's car at 5am on Friday and drove to Queens where we all slept on respective New Yorker's couches and then gave our arguments more or less off the cuff.
One of the teams we argued against was really amazing. They had obviously worked hard and had excellent sportsmanship. They placed second overall and we were so hapy for them. The other team we argued against had really terrible attitudes and made a few nasty comments. They were more prepared than we were, but ultimately were not awarded any prizes. Apparrently there is some justice in the world. Though we did not place, we actually did very well against our opponents, which makes me really proud of us as future lawyers who will have to often balance a number of responsibilities and occassionally go into situations less prepared than one would like to be.
I spent two nights at my cousin's apartment and he was super generous with his time and very patient with me. Not only did he make sure I was fed and safe, but he also made sure I got to my competition on time on Saturday and that I had a good time. He took me to dinner and drinks with some of his friends and showed me around a few of the neighborhoods. It was a really fun and surprisingly low stress weekend.
I've been getting really excited about possibly doing the UB Law in NYC program next year, but also somewhat apprehensive because of the overwhelmingness of the city. After this weekend and realizing that, while the city is big and can be a little scary, it's one of those places where there's always something to do and always someone to meet. So after getting over my initial fears I think I'm going to have a really great time (assuming my application to participate is accepted). I've also added the general New York City area to my list of cities I might be willing to live in, depending the job of course.
One of the teams we argued against was really amazing. They had obviously worked hard and had excellent sportsmanship. They placed second overall and we were so hapy for them. The other team we argued against had really terrible attitudes and made a few nasty comments. They were more prepared than we were, but ultimately were not awarded any prizes. Apparrently there is some justice in the world. Though we did not place, we actually did very well against our opponents, which makes me really proud of us as future lawyers who will have to often balance a number of responsibilities and occassionally go into situations less prepared than one would like to be.
I spent two nights at my cousin's apartment and he was super generous with his time and very patient with me. Not only did he make sure I was fed and safe, but he also made sure I got to my competition on time on Saturday and that I had a good time. He took me to dinner and drinks with some of his friends and showed me around a few of the neighborhoods. It was a really fun and surprisingly low stress weekend.
I've been getting really excited about possibly doing the UB Law in NYC program next year, but also somewhat apprehensive because of the overwhelmingness of the city. After this weekend and realizing that, while the city is big and can be a little scary, it's one of those places where there's always something to do and always someone to meet. So after getting over my initial fears I think I'm going to have a really great time (assuming my application to participate is accepted). I've also added the general New York City area to my list of cities I might be willing to live in, depending the job of course.