Trick or Treat?!

We are in the middle of a severe drought. And yet it rained quite heavily last night. In fact, there has been a couple of rain storms this week, and some the previous as well, whose occurrences, along with my observations that Virginia’s plentiful vegetation are green and the soil is still a little damp, has served to teach me a little more about my adopted home: apparently, it doesn’t actually have to be dry for there to be a drought in Virginia. But maybe the problem isn’t so much the lack of rain as much of it being that the moisture comes in discrete bursts; you know – when it rains it pours.

And speaking of a sudden deluge after weeks of relatively little activity, on grounds interviews have begun here at UVa Law. And for those of you who don’t know what this it about, what happens is that hundreds of Law firms come to the school from all over the country to interview us second and third year students in 20 minute intervals for summer positions. This humble author will have at least 23 interviews by the time this week is done, with as many as 8 occurring on the same day. But I, for one, will not join my similarly situated classmates in complaining of the long hours and numerous firms to keep straight, because really, if you look at it in the right way, OGIs can be fun. Yes, I know you may be shocked to read the phrase “OGIs can be fun,” probably for the first time in your life, but hear me out:

OGIs are a lot like Halloween. Although I have previously compared law school interviews to speed dating (and I do not retract this metaphor) this time around I have come to the shocking realization that OGIs bear a striking resemblance to everyone’s favorite pagan celebration. I make this comparison because, just like on the 31st of October, us interviewing students get all dressed up and go from door to door collecting treats from people who we do our very best to win over without making fools of ourselves in the process. That’s right, as far as I can see it, the main objective of these short meetings of forced geniality is to give us students on last chance to collect treats, which include in this case, handfuls of branded trinkets of varying usefulness: highlighters, mini-staplers, flash drives, decks of cards, key chains, note pads, pens, light-up bouncy balls, and of course, candy (the most halloweenish of all promotional items). And at the end of the day, I come home and dump out my computer bag so that Theresa and I can check out my loot and add it to the growing pile. Now if only there was a crotchety old firm (who would probably represent the dental lobby) giving out toothbrushes instead of candy, my Halloween memories would be completely reenacted. All that will be left is for a group of frustrated Law students to attack a particularly unpopular firm’s interview room with eggs and toilet paper. And being at UVa, this wouldn’t even be too surprising.