The Pressure Cooker

Yesterday morning, as my dad was driving my brother and I down the five freeway on the way to the airport, we passed by UCLA. Even though I graduated 5 months ago and only moved from Westwood 3 months ago, it feels like an eternity since I was there.

Out of all of the analogies I've heard about law school, the most apt is comparing law school to a pressure cooker. Not just because there's a lot of pressure, and there sure is, but the pressure gives you the effect of a lot of time passing when only a short amount of time has actually passed. (For you non-foodies, pressure cookers can reduce cooking time by 3-4x, read more here).

The amount you've learned (hypothetically) in a few short months of the semester seems like more than you learned in your 4-year undergraduate career. The short amount of time in law school can age your body years, or at least impair your vision that way. Not seeing your family for a few months seems like an eternity. And from the amusing stories I've read on facebook, having a relationship survive a few months of law school deserves a medal because it seems like much longer. I guess we law school students are hard to handle, maybe because we reach our boiling point more quickly...yes, I just made a bad cooking pun.

I'm sure the further I go along in law school, the more time will fly by much more quickly. But for now it seems like I've been this little law studying machine for an eternity.