Back in town, posting from my newly wireless-equipped laptop (thanks again, Tony!). It was a great trip, and I like Duke Law School a lot. Really a lot. In fact, before I went there, I was thinking of choosing Cornell if I'm accepted to both. Now I think I'll choose Duke. The schools themselves are basically equal in reputation, academic standards, etc., but Duke has several distinct advantages, at least to me. First of all, Duke has one of the only programs in the country where I could get a JD (the basic law degree) and an LL.M (a master's in law) in three years, and it's in international and comparative law, which is one of the things I'm most interested in anyway. I think I'd have a good shot at getting in, too. After all, I already have four years of international study experience. Plus, I'd get to take part in a summer institute in Geneva as part of my degree.

Secondly, Duke is in Durham, North Carolina, which for those of you geographically-impaired readers, is in the South. Lots of people would put this in the minus column. Not me. I love Southern heat and humidity, I love the accents, I love the food (biscuits n' grits!), I love the proximity to family in Georgia and Tennessee, and most of all, I love the low, low real estate prices. Yes, that's right. If I go to Cornell, I might buy a house, but if I go to Duke, I most definitely will. I could be a homeowner less than a year from now. Considering that my major financial goal for the next five or ten years is to buy a house, this is pretty good.

Thirdly, Duke has a lot going on in terms of after-school activities, so to speak. One of the things I've missed in the last few years is the ability to participate in a good choir, and Duke's is renowned. The law school even has its own little choir (called "Public Hearing." Heh.). Durham is a medium-sized city with all the trappings thereof, so if I want to see a major theatre performance or the like, I don't have to drive for hours. The state capital, Raleigh, is about half an hour away, and the mountains and the beach are equidistant from Durham. Lots of recreational opportunities for me to take advantage of when I'm not studying.

Now, the downsides. Durham is a lot more diverse than I expected... I saw just as many "Kerry-Edwards" as "Bush-Cheney" bumper stickers, and there's a pretty decent ethnic mix in the city. However, it's still the South, and the South tends to be pretty conservative, republican, and Christian. This is more apparent in some areas than others, and Durham seems to be pretty mild on the Bible-thumping scale, but it's still something that I'd need to keep in mind. Also, Duke's law school is very non-Mac friendly. I'd have to give up my beloved little iBook and get an IBM laptop or the like. Really, though, if these are the only real downsides I can think of, that's not so bad.

We shall see. I have to be accepted to some law school or another first, which may be a rather difficult task if the little orange stripy fucker who lives in my house doesn't stop eating my recommendation letters. (Where was this cat when I was actually young enough to pull "The cat ate my homework, teacher!"? I ask you.)