5.51 pm

Right. I've survived the first two weeks in New York. I have not yet been mugged, nor threatened, nor even looked at in a hostile manner. My apartment might be in East Harlem, but it is definitely not the worst neighborhood I've lived in. Nobody seems to believe me though, when I tell them that it's really ok for me to walk from the subway to my building in the evening. Don't get me wrong - if it's midnight, I'll be taking a cab home. But there are a ton of people still out and walking around, and regular patrols of both the actual police and the church brothers up the block. Oddly enough, I feel safer around the church guys.

You probably want to know if the law firm is wining and dining us extensively. Not so much. That's not to say that they haven't taken care of us. We went to Cirque d'Soleil the first week (it was totally fabulous) and had cocktails and hors d'hourves at the SoHo Grand this week. Plus there was a wine tasting at a partner's house and lunch with our office mates. But that's pretty much it for the official events. The theme around the office seems to be that if associates want to take summers out for lunch, they should. But I'm rather glad to find that I can bring food into the office or grab a quick bit to eat at one of the restaurants downstairs.

Everyone at the office is super friendly so far. A bunch of us went out for drinks and then dinner last night to say goodbye to two of the summers who will be in the Hong Kong office the next ten weeks. The associates got word that we were all going to be hanging out after work and invited us to Papillion. Papillion, so far as I can tell, is a French restaurant run by a couple Irish guys. They've got Leffe beer on tap, along with a ton of other imports, but there's a full wine list as well. It was packed Friday night, mostly with the law firm/midtown types.

6.10 pm
I'm trying to motivate myself to do a few hours of reading. I don't know that I really have to - certainly nobody will be giving me a pop quiz on Monday morning. If I get through it all, however, that will make my life the rest of next week that much easier, since I'll be able to go straight into the research. And while I suspect this case will take up most of my week, I'd really like to get time in on the two pro bono cases I have, both of which are absolutely great cases.