Day 1

Today, I traveled from Indiana to Washington, DC via the Pittsburgh airport.  I took a cab from the DC airport to the hotel (approximately 15$).  I checked into the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel and had an hour or so before the welcome reception started.  The Thursday before the program was to begin, I received a packet of reading materials in the mail, including The Federalist, so I spent the time before the reception doing some reading.

The reception and following dinner were very nice, and since there was a relatively small group (about 30 students), it was a good way to get a feel for who was there and how the program would take shape.  As it turned out, about 1/3 of the people attending the program had been accepted to law school.  The other 20 or so people were undergraduates ranging from rising sophomores to rising seniors.  There were 11 men and 19 women, 2 non-American citizens, and the group was very diverse racially/ethnically/religiously.

I actually met two other girls from IUP, one a recent HC graduate, so I had some ready-made traveling companions for the week.  Pennsylvania students seemed to be more than amply represented, so beyond the classroom learning gained from the trip, the program was a good way to interact with PA residents who are all soon-to-be law students.

Day 1 ended in a flurry of cramming in readings, unpacking, and scoping out the hotel.  Most of us made it to bed by 1 AM, but we still had an early start the next day!