Bar Review Diaries: Into the Great Law Yonder

Our final installment of the Bar Review Diaries. Where are Andrew, Jeanette, and Nathan going next?

Well, it’s that time. This is the final installment of the 2012 Bar Review Diaries. It’s been a wild-ish ride.

But we’ve reached our last check-in with Andrew, Jeanette, and Nathan. And then we must set them free to the wilds of post-bar exam life, urban Chicago, and… South Dakota?

Yep, that’s right. Jeanette is on a cross-country road trip.

Greetings from Custer National Park, South Dakota. I’ve been on a cross-country road trip for the past week and it’s been amazing. Two of my best friends from childhood and I are driving from New York City to Portland, Oregon. We’ve made sure to stop at as many hokey roadside attractions as possible. Today, we saw Mount Rushmore. We’ve also had the pleasure of being just a few miles south of the 72nd annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. All in all, its been a fantastic and much needed getaway from studying, from thinking about the bar, from talking about the bar, and from the fast pace of the city. I feel like a totally different person.

Jeanette, a word of advice: no quest for the heart of American kitsch is complete without a stop at Wall Drug. Trust me. The hundreds of signs along I-90 don’t lie.

After seeing the country and moving into a new apartment, I hope to be able to go into full relaxation mode (“starfish status”) and get a few facials, eat way too much Thai food and catch up on my reading. By the time fall rolls around, I’ll be nice and ready to start work at my law firm. But in the mean time, I hope I get through this night camping (its my first time…)!

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I’m going to sidestep your relaxation comments and skip straight to: you have a job? A REAL JOB? Nice work Jeanette. You may be a unicorn ’round these parts.

Nathan is in Chicago and still on the prowl for cold, hard cash:

Right now, I’m currently living in Chicago and hoping to earn some gainful employment as soon as possible. I can definitely report that the entry level hiring market at Chicago firms has gone from nonexistent to existent over the past several weeks. I had two interviews last week and I’m hoping to have some good news by the time the next rent check is due. Optimism is definitely higher than its been in a while on that front, though.

Good to hear Nathan. Many of our readers can relate. It’s good that you’re staying optimistic.

The rest of my time has been very easy to fill. I’m watching a lot of the Olympic action. Indoor cycling has definitely become my favorite weird sport, and I’m starting to think swimming is not nearly as exciting as everyone thinks it is. I’ve unfortunately had to say goodbye to a lot friends in the past week, which has been sad, but often when an old friend leaves your life a new one enters it. That new friend has been Hulu Plus and specifically its set of Criterion Collection films and the first four seasons of the Real World. Hulu Plus is no Netflix but it supplements Netflix excellently and I think two cheap streaming video services are an absolute must-have for any of the newly unemployed out there.

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I concur. ::Stamps computer screen in red, official-looking ink::

Last but not least, what’s cracking with Andrew?

Dear Diary,

Some people work for fancy big city firms and go on European vacations after the bar… I’m on a bit of different path.

I spent last week in the mountains of Appalacia, and this week, I’m visiting the Jersey Shore. Then, in a few weeks, I start my new job in the booming metropolis of Cleveland, Ohio. And I’m loving every minute of it.

Fantastic! Another employed law grad. In the meantime, Andrew is working on improving any potential damage supercharging the Bar Review Diaries may have done to his Google footprint:

The Bar Review Diaries have been quite the experience. Judging by the results that pop up on Google when I search my name now, I’ll probably never be able to run for political office, but hey, at least I did it for the right reasons. Plenty of would-be politicians have trashed their career for less than $1,300 of free bar prep.

And may the Bar Exam Gods bless America.

Bar Exam bless us, everyone. Until next year… this is the Bar Review Diaries, signing off.

Disclosure: This series is sponsored by Themis Bar Review, which is an ATL advertiser.