Intro to Elder Law

I'm hoping that no one is surprised that this is the first class I signed up for last spring. After a year of basic 1L classes, I was so ready to start the classes that I was actually interested in. I've had more than a few people tell me that since I came to law school for elder law, I would definitely not be interested in it once I graduate. I don't know about that since I haven't graduated yet but I can tell you how the class went.

First of all, let me explain my survive class method. I sit in the very front row on the side because I'm basically invisible to the professor when he/she feels like cold calling. I'll talk up a storm before or after class but during? No. I never volunteer and I've probably been cold called 4 or 5 times (not counting this class that I'll explain in a bit) in the entire year and a half I've been in law school. My friends who sit in the back get called on 4 or 5 times in a month.

This class . . . I sometimes volunteered 4 or 5 times in a DAY. I turned into "that person." To used the dreaded word, I was a gunner. UGH. But I just couldn't help it. For one thing, they kept teaching about nursing homes, assisted living homes and in home care. I've worked in all three! And I came to the field with oh so many questions about Medicare and Medicaid, it wasn't even funny. It was a tiny class of about ten so even when I tried to not speak up, I got called on anyway! I was so ashamed but also, I had so much fun in that class. What a conundrum.

To make matters worse, my professor was writing our textbook as the class was going on and she hired me as her research assistant about halfway through the semester. It was awesome because I literally got paid to read the same material we were going to cover in class, and sometimes she would assign the cases I found for her. What wasn't awesome was that she apparently decided that since she knew I had read the materials, she was going to call on me ALL THE TIME.

I'm pretty sure the class hates me.

Out of all my classes, this was the one exam I wasn't too worried about. And I walked out of there feeling the same way. Then as soon as I got home I started panicking because imagine the horror if I had bombed the test in Elder Law. I would never be able to show my face again!

Luckily, she's the only Professor who turned in grades before Christmas so I now know I didn't bomb it. (I didn't 4.0 it but I didn't embarrass myself either) But it really showed me that just because I'm a jaded 2L, I still have the potential to spaz out like a terrified 1L. I didn't sleep for two days after that exam. Good grief.

Now I just have to wait for my other grades to come out. One thing I've noticed is that Fall semester of last year, the professors really hustled to get our grades out before Christmas. It didn't seem like it at the time but looking back, I can tell that they at least tried to hurry. This year, my first exam was on the 3rd of December. It's now the 28th and still no grade. UGH. And half of the questions were multiple choice!  

Come on already!