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Post by jackcarleton on Apr 25, 2022 7:00:02 GMT
_Peter picked me up near the De Neve crosswalk around 11:45 am. We had previously discussed lifting together at Wooden that morning, but, surprising no one, I slept through my alarm and missed our meeting. To be fair I have been battling Colton’s mystery illness from hell for the last week, so I’m not sure a trip to the gym would have been amazing for my body anyway. I’m going to say that’s why I needed the extra sleep that morning. After Peter picked me up he started driving me towards the Beverly Hills area, and yanked the phone out of my grasp when I inquired further about our destination. Eventually it became clear to me that we were going to Melrose, as Peter and I had discussed on multiple occasions our shared love for thrifting. Peter took me to a few of his favorite stores, as well ones he thought I would enjoy. After hours of searching, however, we couldn’t find anything that we liked. As Peter himself said “The heat is not here today.” We did make one purchase that afternoon, however. We got matching blue sunglasses, as pictured in our mirror selfie below. I was a bit apprehensive of our purchase at first, but they have grown on me immensely since purchasing them. We are planning a "something blue" themed outing sometime next weekend, and I am very excited to wear them again. After we got the sunglasses, we had lunch at an Italian restaurant. We were seated outside, and the atmosphere of the place as a whole was very pleasant. I could tell Peter had gone all out in planning this date. I know Peter selected our venue because of his love for his native land of Italy, as he told me multiple times during our meal together. I ordered penne alla vodka, and it was one of the best meals I have eaten in recent memory. I hadn't eaten anything for breakfast due to my sleeping in, so I was famished by the time we sat down to eat. We also got dessert, and I had a delicious cheesecake. Peter did ridicule me for taking a few of the excess oranges they put on my cake off, but he picked up the check so I don't have much room to complain. After lunch Peter drove me to Target, and we had an eventful shopping trip admiring the legos and other various toys the Westwood Target had to offer. Peter and I discovered that we are both Ravenclaws, and have a shared love for both Legos and Nerf guns. After picking up the more mundane items on my shopping list, Peter dropped me back off in front of my dorm, and we said goodbye. Overall, my date with Peter was amazing, and I look forward to spending more time with him in the near future. Our date taught me a lot about the value of mentorship. At lunch, Peter and I discussed his own journey as a rushee and pledge, and it was very enlightening to hear about his own experiences with what I am going through right now. I really look up to Peter as someone I both trust and respect, so it was really insightful to hear about him at one time being in my shoes, and finding his own mentor. I don't know how I would get through pledging without Peter, honestly, and I am very grateful I got him as my big. He is a really cool dude, and I really like spending time with him. He also gave me a lot of good tips on a good work/life balance. Attachments:
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Post by jackcarleton on May 2, 2022 6:38:13 GMT
I want to go into corporate law. I don't actually really have any passion for corporate law, but I want to be able to make enough money to support myself and my family in the future, and corporate lawyers seem to make a lot of money. I don't actually know if I will end up choosing corporate law. I am more so hoping that I find a passion for a different field of law before I get my first real job out of law school. I am already feeling pressure to choose a field, however, as in every internship interview I've done so far they ask me why I'm interested in whatever field of law their practice covers. I am either going to intern at a personal injury or gaming law firm this summer, so maybe that will help me narrow down exactly what field I want to pursue. I also want to look into environmental law, and public policy or being involved in politics in some way. I don't know I guess this question is really hard to answer for me because of how little I know about the field of law, and how many different paths there are out there. Talking with alumni at the alumni/pledge mixer was really helpful for me, however. A lot of the alumni I spoke with interned at a variety of different types of law firms throughout undergrad, and didn't end up pursuing any of those fields of law. That gave me hope since I also don't know what I want to do, and talking with my peers who are either my age or only a little older who already have a solid idea of the field of law they want to go into is pretty intimidating. I also decided after the pledge/alumni mixer that I will most likely be taking a gap year or two before law school. This is another thing that takes a lot of stress off my shoulders, since it means that I won't be applying to schools and studying for the LSAT while I'm graduating from UCLA. I want to really enjoy my senior year, especially since I never got a senior year of high school due to covid, and it would have been tainted with the stress of applications without a gap year. I want to travel during my gap year, but I know it would look the best for law school applications if I worked at a law firm instead. I am really intimidated to get a real job after undergrad, however. I feel like once that happens, I'll feel like a real adult, and a whole new chapter of my life will be underway. The scary thing is that this chapter will likely last until near the end of my life when I retire, so where I work and the connections I make have lasting repercussions. I used to only care about making money from the job I would get when I was older, but now I really want to enjoy what I do. What is the point of making a ton of money if you're constantly unhappy and have no free time to spend the money you make and really enjoy yourself? That's why I hope I can find some middle ground of a job that does make me happy, without sucking the soul out of my body. I guess that's the field of law I want to go into. Whatever field makes me feel fulfilled and happy at the end of the day, but still pays well enough to support my more expensive tastes.
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Post by jackcarleton on May 9, 2022 6:51:57 GMT
I am interested in a lot of different law schools right now. My initial dream school was Columbia law school. I have always been on the west coast my whole life so I think living on in New York on the East Coast would be really cool. I looked into the Columbia law application and it really intimidated me I am not going to lie. I didn't think that law school applications cared as much about essays as they do. I thought that they only really cared about your LSAT score and you GPA in college. I don't know if I have the mental stamina to write a whole other slate of essays for law school, especially since they are even more high stake than undergrad college applications. I also want to apply to New York University because it is also in New York obviously. I don't really know much about their program other than it is top rated. I also want to apply to Georgetown. I got rejected from there for undergrad, but I still want to apply for law school. I think that living in the District of Columbia would present a lot of unique opportunities that other law schools cannot offer. Internships in politics would be a lot easier to get because of the proximity to the hub of the federal government. I also think the Georgetown campus is beautiful, and it would be cool to see the seasons change. The University of California Los Angeles law school is also one of my top options. I don't want to live in Westwood for that long, but it is a really good school and I feel like it's a little easier to get in since I already went there for undergrad. I feel like I'm going to be really sick of this area of Los Angeles by the end of my four years, however, and will want to branch out more. If I'm still going on fat sal's runs at 2am when I'm 23 I feel like that's just depressing. I also want to apply to USC because it is still in LA, but it would be a completely different experience. I think the USC campus is beautiful, and I wouldn't have to deal with the obnoxious undergrads as much since I would be in grad school. I also wonder how often you even interact with the campus life of a school once you're in law school. I've only met one guy that goes to UCLA law since I've been here. We were both in Powell at like 3am and he came up to me and started talking about his classes. His paper that he was working on seemed really hard, and it made me intimidated to go into law school. He also ended up being a pretty creepy dude, since he touched my shoulder or leg like every other sentence he said to me, which made me really uncomfortable. I came back to Powell the next day and saw him again and dipped because I didn't wanna talk again. He honestly made me wanna go to UCLA law less than I did before just because of how weird that experience was. I also want to apply to Berkeley law because they also have a really good program, and I have always wanted to live in the bay. I feel like I wouldn't be as bothered by the academic culture there as much as a law student, since then I'll be more focused on my studies. I would never go there for undergrad though, since everyone seems really serious all the time.
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Post by jackcarleton on May 23, 2022 6:46:42 GMT
The non governmental organization I have chosen to write about is called Naturefriends International. NFI is one of the largest NGOs in the world. With 350,000 active members, NFI advocates for environmentally and socially just tourism, and protects natural and cultural heritage sites. They provide activities and materials for experiencing nature and climate justice, such as an informative quiz about sustainable tourism. NFI stands for: environmentally and socially just tourism and leisure-time activities, protection of our natural and cultural heritages, and internationality and solidarity. NFI promotes free access to nature for all people. They promote inclusive nature experiences by organizing specific activities and campaigns. They do this by working with different countries and regions of the world to make sure their tourism isn't harming the environment. I think the main reason NFI is super cool to me is that it focuses on international cooperation. Climate change is such a daunting issue because it is such a struggle to get America to adopt adequate climate regulations, but after that the American government has no real ability to regulate what other countries do in terms of their own emissions. Instead we have to rely on a sense of shared fate, and compassion from people all around the world. The issue in a lot of cases is that countries that aren't as developed or may have a a struggling economy will cut corners environmentally to lower production costs and save money for companies that choose to set up shop in their borders. This isn't even a choice I can criticize just because I don't know what it's like to be in their shoes. I live a privileged life in America so I have more financial flexibility to make choices that help the environment. That is why I think NFI is so cool because they don't just condemn countries for having unsustainable tourism practices. Instead, they work to make specific suggestions and changes with different countries to ensure their tourism industry can still thrive while still being sustainable. I think this is the kind of problem solving that will actually get us on the right track in terms of saving the environment. When we work to transition away from fossil fuels, there need to be new jobs created in renewable energy. If you don't have measures like this in place the political repercussions are too great to enact any real change. Climate change is in my opinion the largest issue facing the world today, and we need more organizations like NFI to tackle it. I don't know if I will end up working for a climate focused organization in the future. While I was picking an NGO to write about for this prompt, I saw a lot of really cool organizations who are doing really important work. I guess the thing I'm worried about is feeling like my work isn't actually changing anything. Like I spend all my life fighting for these issues, and nothing actually changed. I guess that's the price of caring for stuff is that it might all be for not. I think I would also feel a real emptiness if I just end up working in a field of law where I'm doing it just to make money though. Like I don't know if I'll be able to feel fulfilled in life if I don't at least try and make a change. I don't believe in an afterlife or anything so I want to feel like my life had a purpose. I'm getting really stressed out thinking about what field of law I want to go into. I feel a lot of external pressure to pick something soon, but I don't feel ready yet.
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