Revuelvo al blog!

So here I am, one year out from graduation... and returning to a blog I created as a senior project in a Spanish Composition class. Funny too, that its topic is once again relevant.

I've spent the last year sitting at a desk in a windowless room working as a legal assistant for three attorneys affiliated with a domestic violence shelter. I listen to women tell their stories of abuse, translate documents and client meetings, attend court procedures, and spend a lot of time staring at an imaginary spot on the wall to the upper right of my computer screen. Hours outside of work have been spent studying for the LSAT, testing, reading about different schools, completing applications, talking to young attorneys, applying for financial aid, going on campus visits, and slinging my charm to unsuspecting tables in a waitress job.

I wouldn't say I'm depressed, though I certainly don't feel the same way I felt about a life a year ago. Maybe it's part of growing up, realizing that life isn't quite what you expected it to be. I'm meeting so many young law school graduates that are laden in debt and without employment, or that are accepting positions that pay little more than what I make now. Owing more than a small house in student loans. Having made three years of sacrifices in their young adult lives to achieve this education.

I've decided that as much as I admire education, and crave professional success, law school is not for me, at least not at this time. When I think about the joy, the creativity, the possibility I've known in other arenas of my young life-- composing motions and attending hearings doesn't quite stand up. I worry that I might be giving up opportunity for financial stability, for personal career achievement, etc. etc. but... here we go.

I am moving to New Zealand in twelve weeks, where I will ... well, I'm not sure. Pursue a career in wine? Tourism? Wine tourism -- i.e., drive smashed tourists around while using words like "earthy" "loam" and "mouthfeel?" Sounds infinitely better than staring at the spot on the wall!