Trying to Find a Place to Live... and a Million Other Things

The school dorms were full :-( There is a company that runs private dorms that look really nice. They are furnished and have gyms and laundry in the buildings. Sadly, they require the entire semester payment right away to reserve the space. Until I sell my car that is just not an option. So I've turned to Craigslist.

I have found 1 fantastic option in Brooklyn. The place is super nice and the girl I would be living with is in her 20's and seems pretty cool. It would take about 30 min to get to school on the subway. She has someone coming to look at the place on January 1, but if that girl doesn't want it, it can be mine. Cross your fingers this girl doesn't want it!

I have 1 other pretty good option in Brooklyn as well. The place isn't quite as nice and the rent is the same as the other place but it includes utilities. The people I would be living with are a married couple. The wife is an architect and the husband is an engineer. At this point, it seems to be a good fallback option. The other plus is that they are moving out in June and I would have the option to renegotiate a lease with the landlord and then Sara and Victoria could move in! That timing isn't perfect, but it might work.

There is also a place in the East Village. Its much more expensive than the Brooklyn places, but still within my budget. The guy who lives there is also in his 20's and a PhD student at NYU. The great thing about the place is that it is pretty close to my school. The major downside is that it is a 6th floor walkup. I'm thinking this place would be a last resort.

So I'm still looking. Trying to find a place without being able to meet the people or see it in person has been challenging. Lots of people don't even respond because they want to meet me, but obviously I can't afford to fly out there to find a place to live.

I'm also still trying to sell my car. Besides my BBQ, it is the only thing that I haven't been able to sell yet. I had a couple come see it this morning but then totally lowballed me and wouldn't come even close to what the car is worth. There is a possibility that someone from Redding will come buy it this weekend. We've spoken on the phone and he mentioned a price he would be willing to pay. Its closer to what I want but I would like to see if I can get him to pay a little more. He asked me a bunch of questions about the car and I sent him a picture of the dent, so I expect to hear from him in the next few days. I've also emailed the woman who saw it last week. She has been out of town but I think she was coming back today. She seemed to like it when she came to see it and drive it. We never talked price though, so who knows. Cross your fingers for me!

Packing and downsizing is a nightmare! I borrowed my parent's suburban yesterday to take a huge load of stuff to goodwill. The entire back was full as was the middle seat. I still have a lot of stuff. Even after going through all of my clothes and getting rid of a bunch that doesn't fit or that I don't love, I still have more clothes than I realized. I've got my suitcase full as well as my old high school dance bag. I'm planning to check both of those on the flight. Then I have 2 boxes full of other clothes that I'm planning to ship. Other than that I have 1 box of some miscellaneous things (books, electronics cords, dvds, etc) and I'll probably have 1 more box with my printer and shoes. I'm planning to tackle the shoe issue today. I want to fit as many as possible into those 2 boxes and maybe my carry on. I don't want to have a 5th box but I might have to.

I'm moving out of my little house on New Years Eve. The plan is for me to take Kitten and stay at my friend Laura's apartment while she is out of town until January 4th. She is going to be taking care of Kitten this semester for me until I can get into a more permanent living situation and find a place to live with Sara and Victoria where I can have a cat. After she gets back, I'll be living with my parents in their apartment and possibly in the new house depending on when they move.

The plane tickets have been purchased and we are leaving on January 12th! Amazingly we are going to be flying out of Eugene at 8am so we don't have to get up ridiculously early that morning! I'm starting to get excited but it hasn't really hit me yet. I just have so many things that I still need to take care of before we leave. I can't wait to get to the point where I can enjoy the process and get really excited. I'm thinking that will happen once I nail down a place to live and move out of my current house. Selling my car would be icing on the cake.

Registered!

I'm all registered for classes! This is what I'm taking:

International Copyright

New York Practice

Discovery in Civil Actions

Antitrust

Cyberlaw

I'm also going to get on the waiting list for Cultural Property and IP Business and Transactions. If I can get into both of those, I'm planning to drop Cyberlaw.

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Its Official... I'm Moving!

I got an email from the financial aid office today informing me that my loan was approved! Its now 100% official and I'm moving to NYC!

I'm so relieved this all worked out! Now I have a million more things to do in addition to 2 more finals...

Financial Aid Freakout

I'm extremely on edge right now, but not just because of finals. I can't make final preparations (of which there are about a million) until my financial aid comes through. I'm still waiting to hear about my Graduate Plus loan which I applied for on December 1st. I'm supposed to leave in a little over a month and I have to sell all of my stuff by the end of December when I officially move out of my house. I also have to sell my car and I have no idea how long that will take. I need to buy plane tickets. I need to find a place to live in NYC. There is so much to do. This list is endless! I just need notification that my loans came through.

I sent an email today to the financial aid office at Cardozo. Hopefully I get a response. I think the woman I have been talking to is slightly annoyed with me because I am always contacting her to ask questions and hurry things along if possible.

On the housing side of things, I've applied to live at a place called The Markle. I was preliminarily approved and they say they have a place for me. It requires a $200 fee to reserve it though, so I'm not going to do that until I know for sure that I'm moving. Also, my friend Sara knows someone who lived there before and that person didn't like it, so now I'm hesitant. This girl said that its a bunch of really low-income people. I still think it might be better than finding some random roommate on Craigslist. The real solution that I want is to get into the Cardozo dorms. The application fee is $300 though so I won't apply there either until my financial aid comes through.

It all comes down to the financial aid. I need to hear soon! Its driving me crazy!

1 Down 3 To Go...

I took my bankruptcy final today. I think it went alright. There were 9 essay questions. I'm pretty sure I was on the right path with 8 of them and I put in as much info as I could. The other question I skipped at the beginning and went back at the end. I just couldn't figure out what the professor was after. I finally chose 2 topics that I think were correct. I talked to a couple of friends after the exam and they both ended up with the same stuff for that question. That makes me feel a little better.

Up next: Patents on Thursday, baby shower on Saturday, Admin Law (ugh) on Monday, Trusts and Estates on Tuesday then done!!!

I just need to push through this and stay focused.

It All Comes Down To This

I have officially finished my last class at the U of O! Now I need to study like crazy to get ready for finals. This is what my crazy schedule looks like:

Today: Study for bankruptcy then go to the Civil War game to watch the Ducks kick ass!

Friday: Study for bankruptcy

Saturday: Study for bankruptcy

Sunday: Bankruptcy study group

Monday: Bankruptcy final then studying for patents

Tuesday: Study for patents and admin law

Wednesday: Study for patents and admin law

Thursday: Patents final then study for admin law

Friday: Study for admin law and trusts & estates

Saturday: Baby shower for Linzie in Portland

Sunday: Study for admin law and trusts & estates

Monday: Admin law final then study for trusts & estates

Tuesday: Trusts and estates final

Deep breaths! Once all of this is done on December 15th its time to sell all of my worldly possessions and get ready to move to NYC!

How It All Begins

On November 16, 2009 at approximately 2:21pm (it was a big moment ok!) I received the news I was hoping for. It is always a great thing when news begins with "It is my distinct pleasure to congratulate you..." A mere 11 days after I had sent my application materials I was in! I'm hoping that is because I am a perfect match for the program and not that they just want my tuition money. Anyway, I'm going to be getting my Masters in Law for Intellectual Property. The program is two semesters long and I start in January. This means that I will be completely done with school (this time I'm serious!) in December 2010. The school is called the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and it is part of Yeshiva University in New York City!

The school is ranked 9th in the country for its IP program so I think I'm making a good decision. My options really were (1) to graduate in December, take the February bar exam in some state, and hope to get a job, (2) to continue at the U of O through the spring even though I could graduate in December, take the July bar exam in some state, and hope to get a job, or (3) go to more school. I chose option 3 because the program is great, New York is where I really want to be and it seems to be pretty impossible to get a job there from Oregon, and this way I am postponing entering this horrendous job market another 6 months while continuing to work on a clear path to my ultimate goal.

I've never been to NY before but it is the place to be for the type of law I want to practice. My ultimate goal is to be doing IP work for a fashion company or at least a firm that has a lot of fashion companies as clients. I got a small taste of it this past summer in San Jose and loved every minute of it! The thought of moving somewhere I've never even been before is terrifying, but I've done it successfully once before and this time I'm working toward my dreams.

So now I have a million things to do in addition to studying for finals. It is extremely exciting/terrifying/awesome/overwhelming. My goal with this blog is to keep all of you (my friends and family) up to date on what is going on with me as I move across the country.