On Wednesday, after I turned in my 8-hour take-home crim exam, I felt stupified and unable to muster the energy to party, so I went to my room, crawled into bed, and watched "About A Boy," which cheered me up tremendously. When I emerged around 7 pm, I found others in various stages of drunkenness.

I sort of regretted not being part of the drinkage, but I don't think I could have managed -- and I probably would have ended up crying after a drink or two, seeing as how I was in that sort of state.

I did go out around 9 that night, to a quiet little restaurant with Joiner, who despite her cava-induced headache, rallied and went with me.

The next night, though, I made up for it. The Destroyer called me up and asked if I'd be interested in getting some people together for drinks at some bar another classmate of ours wanted to go to. Sure, sez I, and pleased was I -- I was feeling pretty lame about not having partied it up, and the Destroyer is nothing if not charming.

Anyway, it ended up being only me, the Destroyer, and Clark, and it turned out the bar, which was really a restaurant, closed at 10, and so we wound up at a typical Irish bar with an atypically outstanding Irish barman, who commented variously on our choice of drinks (they were having scotch - ew), politics, working as a bartender in the Middle East, his African girlfriend, and his tattoos. He called me girl. As in: "An' what'll you be havin', girl?" Hee hee.

So the three of us drank our way through a total of four scotches, six beers, and some Chambord-and-vodka concoction that the barman gave us for free (and drank with us), and man, were we happy by the end. The Destroyer declared a need for fries, so the barman called us up a cab and we went to some greasy spoon .... er, place (calling it a diner might give it airs) and scarfed down fries and pizza. (I must mention that I was outside for a smoke when they got their orders and they came outside to keep me company, which was sweet.)

We then considered going dancing, but the place we looked at had a line, so we went to another bar, where Clark ordered me and the Destroyer to share a beer, if we couldn't drink a whole one by ourselves, which -- dang, Clark. Should the room be spinning like that? And then it was 2 am, and we went home, which means that in the cab ride back to the dorms, the Destroyer and I made a bet about something in Casablanca, and then we had to view it and I was wrong, which means that I have to come back to law school next year. Or something like that.

Ah, good times.

I went to sleep around 3 am, and woke up 6 hours later (still drunk) to do mediation an hour away. (Funny, one of the parties was an Irish man.) Everything's better when you do it drunk! Yeah! Or something. I went out for lunch afterwards at a beloved burger joint around school, and then Joiner and I went shoe shopping (she got two pairs) and clothes shopping, where I spent all the money I got from selling my books back to the school. What with the drinking and the shopping, I have spent way too much money this week. But the good lord knows you gotta have fun.

Today I start the law review competition, which means I make my way through a 6-inch stack of materials they gave us, write up a comment about a Supreme Court opinion, and edit a 30-page piece. Is it going to be boring? Yes. Is it my duty to do it? Yes.

So, the next week will be filled with doing this competition and packing. Most of the hall has left already. After this weekend, only 4 or 5 of us will be here, doing the review. I can't believe the school year's over, but the empty dorm rooms, doors propped open for the cleaning crews, look exactly the way they looked -- stripped, bare, devoid of personality -- when I arrived here nine months ago.

I ... I don't know about these past nine months.They were hard to get through. And I'm not sure what I gained, or if I gained anything (besides the 10 pounds). I think of my 2 years in Korea as hard too, but among the best years of my life, and filled with valuable lessons and memorable people. I like my friends here at Crimson. I've had some good laughs, some jolly times. But compared to being abroad, it all seems a little dull. I guess that's just the way it is when you come back to your regular life.