Good morning and happy first week back from spring break! It has been a while since I posted so there is a lot of catching up to do.
First off, I have to talk about our mock trial competition the weekend before spring break. So much happened in the days leading up to the competition and at the competition itself that I could never cover it in a single post. I will try and be brief: I know I have been competing basically every weekend since I arrived at Wellesley in September, but going to ORCS felt like my first real mock trial competition. For one thing, it was all in-person which is a completely different experience than online. I got to break out of that tiny little zoom screen for the first time and really interact with the other team, with the judges, and move around the room. It was the first time we got to travel as a team and, just when I thought I couldn’t get closer to the people on my team after spending 14 hours straight working together the day before, I found myself leaning on them and learning from them more than ever. The kind of bonding that happens when you are trapped in a tiny hotel room together hopped up on caffeine cannot be matched virtually. We didn’t make it out of the competition, but I am still so freaking proud of what we were able to accomplish and can’t wait for next year!
The mock trial B team
The week before competing, I did nothing but mock trial. I am talking all day practice, dreaming about the rules of evidence, high heels permanently affixed to my feet while I practiced my statements day in and day out. And then it just stopped. We all left the competition site in our separate cars and went straight into spring break.
My spring break was exceptionally lazy. The most exciting part of my week was driving to the beach and napping by the ocean instead of in my bed. My only activity consisted of catching up on textbook notes and watching old mock trial rounds to feel something. Now that I am back on campus, life has gotten moderately more interesting but is still light years away from my life before break. Last night I watched a movie. In my room. With non-mock trial people. And, that movie was not an old national mock trial round. It feels like being back in the beginning of the first semester before mock trial got too intense. I am back to just working on school work and hanging out with my friends like a normal college student instead of pretending to be a lawyer all day.
So on the agenda for the coming weeks: a lot of figuring out what life looks like in a post-mock trial world. What do typical college students do with their time? I will still be going to Hillel Shabbat dinners (after a brief break for mock trial practices on Friday nights), still volunteering at the child study center, and still taking my actual classes. Maybe I’ll join the debate club? Maybe I will take up running? Probably not running, but some fun and interesting hobby to occupy the gaping holes in my schedule. Or maybe I will just take a lot of naps. Who knows?
With love,
Jessie