Into the wild

Alaska, The Great Land. It's pretty great. We made it back in one piece. That's even greater.

Seward, Harding Ice Field Trail

Lows:

Before we left Anchorage for Denali, we provisioned, as there are no grocery stores in the Denali area. So we spent a good 2 hrs doing that, and then about 1 hr outside of Anchorage, one of the windshield wipers just FLEW OFF. On the highway. So we shrieked and then realized that thank goodness, it's now just stuck under the other wiper. Meanwhile, it's still raining and we have to keep the wipers (or actually wiper, singular) moving. So one is wiping, the other is just scratching a semicircle into the glass. Ok ok. Pull over into a gas station, put the wiper back on. Get on the road again, cursing our crappy car.

About 10 minutes later, Em goes, "What's it doing?" Now the rubber blade part of it is slipping off, so it's all floppy. Pull over again, slide it back on. 10 minutes later, again. Ok, we can't keep doing this. We have maybe 3.5 more hours to drive. So we decide to just buy a new wiper. But of course, that doesn't work either because it's not the right size or something. So THEN we ask the gas station for duct tape to TAPE the thing on. Realize that it's still raining while we're doing this. Wonders of wonders, the duct tape works. And it held up the entire time. All hail duct tape!!

Highs:

We took the bus into Denali National Park to go hiking and saw lots of wildlife along the way. Caribou and moose and bears, oh my! So right when we get there, we're inundated with bear warnings. We're warned by pamphlets, guide books, rangers, and then our bus drivers. What to do in case of an attack. Only they don't call it an attack. They call it "an encounter." As in "if an encounter is imminent." Emily read me an excerpt that said, "if the bear begins to feed, fight back vigorously." You bet if a bear begins to FEED UPON ME, I shall fight back with particular vigor. They stress that your best protection is to not suprise a bear - one should warn it of one's presence by talking, clapping, and/or singing.

So, after spotting two grizzlies on our way into the park, we were then dropped off to WALK AMONGST them. Ok, we're more than a little wary of this now. And Denali's a "trail-less wilderness," which basically means we wander around willy-nilly completely alone, did I mention amongst the bears?? We took the warnings to heart, singing hours and hours of songs and loud-talking. Ok, we yelled at each other. We had meaningless conversations at the tops of our voices (henceforth known as our BEAR voices, ask Em for a demonstration). I learned the 50 states in alphabetical order, in verse. Also, Emily doesn't know any words to any songs. Except for the 50 states songs. That one she knows, oh she KNOWS.

Due to our efforts, we spent a couple days there spotting no more than some harmless caribou (which high-tailed it away - what, you don't like our singing?) on our hikes and discovering a true wilderness.

In Seward, we hiked along Exit Glacier up to Harding Ice Field, which feeds into a bunch of other glaciers. This was maybe the most miserable, best hike I've ever been on. We ascended 1,000 ft per mile. This was an 8 mile hike, but it took us 8 hrs! And it was pouring and the trail was extremely roughly cut. If one could call it a trail. I call it rock climbing. But it was FUN.

On the way back down, with Emily engrossed in song (I think it was "The Ants Go Marching"), I suddenly spotted a mother black bear and 3 cubs maybe 100 feet (we had also learned that a safe distance between you and a bear is 300 yards) in front of us. Ironically, Em was too involved in the aforementioned song to notice. I SAVED HER LIFE by grabbing her and pulling her back. She promptly DESERTED me by scurrying away to the other side of the stream we had just crossed. Thanks, Friend. To her credit, I think she tugged gently at my jacket before leaving me. We then stood there for 30 minutes watching the bears meander along our trail, finally deciding to cut across a valley instead, loud-talking the entire time, as we didn't want to come up behind them. Pretty amazing stuff.

I took pictures. Oh also, we're both wearing the same clothes all the time. Turned out, we each had ONE Alaska-appropriate outfit. Well of course we WASHED them. Sheesh. And I'm pretty sure I changed my shirt everyday.

Really? Really??

I met this girl last night at a small get-together. About 10 minutes later, someone mentioned my name and she goes, "Who's Audrey?" with me sitting pretty much next to her. Which is fine, it's easy to forget. So I reintroduce myself and she's like "Oh, right."

Then, a couple hrs later (after I've had a one-on-one conversation with her), we're all talking again and somone else mentions my name and she goes AGAIN, "Who's Audrey?" AGAIN? It is really too much to ask for her to remember this time? Or, at the very least, remember that previously in the evening, she asked the exact same question and met Audrey?!

And THEN ...

I bought a textbook off of Half.com from this guy, who later e-mailed me and asked if I went to SCU Law. Turns out, this guy was in my first year section! What a coincidence. So I'm thinking, cool, I'll save $3.70 in shipping.

He e-mailed me back this morning setting up a time to meet (before or after his class) and then says that he can refund me $1.50 of the shipping charges because he's keeping the rest of it to pay for "gas, time, and storage."

Is this normal? First, it costs more than $1.50 to ship a 3.5 lb book. And gas? You mean the gas it takes him to get to school in the same manner he does every day? Time? The time it takes to hand me the book?? STORAGE?? Storage of a BOOK??

Now I don't really like him. And I'm writing about him. Is THIS worth $2.20 to you?!

3L

Today was my first day as a 3L. When I woke up to my alarm this morning, I couldn't figure out why I was awake. My first thought was, "Am I supposed to go to work today?" Then, "What's weird about today? Am I working in SF?" Then, "OH! School!" Then I went back to sleep.

When I finally actually got up, it was 5 minutes before I was supposed to leave. So then, I arrive, slightly late for my first class, Estate Planning and Taxation. Good start! Thumbs up! We proceed to go around the room, everyone explaining why they're taking the class. And it seems like everyone has worked in an estate planning firm and wants to work in this area. Me? Intellectual property litigation. Um ... yeah. Ok. I say my thing, sounding a bit out of place.

Next class. Chinese Trade and Investment Law. Basically, I want to take an easy class. I heard this was. Again, going around the room explaining why. People saying they want to work in China, etc. Me, no idea what to say. I lamely say something like "It sounds interesting." INTERESTING. Always the fall-back.

Last class, Drug Abuse Law. Same story. People with career goals of being a prosecutor or a public defender. Um, not so much.

Hm. Curious. Turns out, I have no good reason for taking any of my classes. How nice to find that out in a public setting. I wonder if they'll make us do this tomorrow.

Oh yeah. And then I got a parking ticket. On the first day of classes. WHILE I WAS BUYING A PERMIT.

Last firsts

Tomorrow is my last first day of school. (I think. I don't have any real plans to continue with school, anyways.) I've had SO many first days of school. Starting from kindergarten, it'll be 22. 22 years spent in school!

It's kind of nostalgic, in a way. Sigh ... Wait, no. I can't wait to be done. There are no more classes I want to take! Why oh why is law school 3 years??

I'm gonna go get my backpack ready! And pack my lunchbox! And lay out my school clothes! For the last time!