Eugenio's Blog!

The longest semester of my life has joyfully come to a halt.

The semester started with a bang – getting to Iowa City a week before class to help with 1L Orientation and to write a ten-page paper for Journal. On the bright side, I had my last final Saturday morning, and I feel that I just lost twenty pounds of stress. [Aside: Can you weigh stress?]

So, where do I begin to update you? Let’s see . . .

My 97-year-old grandfather passed December 9, so I headed back to Chicago for the services in between finals. Gratefully, the law school was very accommodating to fit my final schedule needs. The services were as good as services can be, I guess.

[A moment of silence for Nonno Mariano.]

I have been victim no. 8,327,387,398,439 of credit card identity theft. I don’t want to advertise for the internet address that corruptly stole $1,000 from me, but let’s say that it’s a gambling website. I was really surprised when I checked my statement on-line, but the bank has reimbursed me all my funds.

I stole two people’s drinks at the Starbucks counter. After H and I said “Gosh, these lattes taste horrible,” a Starbucks person came up to us and said, “Yeah, those aren’t your drinks.” Completely embarrassing. Oh well, it happens.

This was the same night as the infamous political spectrum diagram that I devised, which has later been called the “Why-is-Gene-such-a-political-radical-and-why-is-he-my-friend? Chart.” D was pretty excited about it, and I think it will soon become part of the public domain. Looks like I’m never running for office . . . except maybe in the U.S.S.R.

I went to the Amana Colonies in Amana, Iowa Saturday after the final with my roommate. We ate at this old school authentic German restaurant and sampled a large selection of local wines. After, I accompanied a friend to her work Christmas party at a restaurant downtown. I sat across the most annoying person in the world. I don’t think anyone has ever annoyed me this much – he slurped (not rolled in a fork) his fettuccini alfredo. I was disgusted.

What else . . .

Oh yeah . . . I have recently accepted my summer position! As fate has it, I have chosen to work at a place that will pay the least out of all my offers. I will be working for the Farmworker Unit of Legal Aid of North Carolina in Raleigh! The program fits all of my main desires: (1) Labor connection, (2) Immigration connection, and (3) Spanish-speaking clients. Similar to a priest calling, I have been asked to take vows of poverty and celibacy. I start the first week of June and will be there for ten weeks. I expect regular weekend visits.

I’ll write more over break, hopefully . . . have a safe holiday!