So I took the bar.
Aug. 2nd, 2013 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragojustineI did it. It is done and I have done it. Dear God please let me not have to do that again.
I wouldn't wish the entire process on my worst enemy.
Studying for the bar not only makes you crazy, it also makes you really really boring to talk to or be around. I apologize.
Five thousand bar takers in New York City. Have never felt so much like a head of cattle in my life.
You'd think a convention center in Manhattan would be better at crowd control.
Five thousand people taking a six-hour long test with one very short, strictly enforced lunch break... is like an illustration of potty parity. I know a couple girls who spent their entire lunch breaks in line.
On much the same note, the cab stand basically looked like the Hunger Games.
On day two, when I finished the morning a bit early, I actually had a really good lunch. I walked up to the Empire State Building, and got cart hotdogs, and walked back down to the Hudson River Park and wandered around, and sat and ate watching the water. And then walked to the subway afterward and went past my favorite subway art. I know other people love their cities- really, I do, I know I'm not the only person in the world who loves her city- but sometimes it just blows me away that I'm lucky enough to live here.
Perhaps the oddest thing about the entire damn experience is how NICE people are to you. Everybody taking the bar is identified by a bright green wristband. You see anybody you recognize in a wristband? "Hey! Good luck! You're doing great!" Anybody recognizes you in a line? "Hey! Almost over, hang in there!" The proctor, walking down the row and getting us all to sign in? "You guys are doing so good, you're almost done!" The guy behind me in line at Subway? "Hey, you're taking the bar? My aunt took it a couple years ago. My aunt's kind of a moron, so if she can pass you definitely will. Good luck!" Random people on the street? "Hey, you're one of the bar people- chin up! You can do it!" A woman in a flight attendant uniform going to the airport shuttle stopped when we were in line to tell us her son was taking it in California right now, and then she went down the line pointing at each person individually yelling "You're going to pass! And you're doing to pass! And you're going to pass!" until the shuttle honked. Seriously, I had no idea this was such a cultural Thing. Probably never again in my life will so many random strangers be so nice to me on one day.
And yet, despite everybody being REALLY nice, and the fact that I had wine and cake waiting for me at home, I still don't want to do it again.
Nest up: major medical shit, giant fights about money, job I am in no way prepared for. This couple month stretch is shaping up extraordinarily unpleasant.
I wouldn't wish the entire process on my worst enemy.
Studying for the bar not only makes you crazy, it also makes you really really boring to talk to or be around. I apologize.
Five thousand bar takers in New York City. Have never felt so much like a head of cattle in my life.
You'd think a convention center in Manhattan would be better at crowd control.
Five thousand people taking a six-hour long test with one very short, strictly enforced lunch break... is like an illustration of potty parity. I know a couple girls who spent their entire lunch breaks in line.
On much the same note, the cab stand basically looked like the Hunger Games.
On day two, when I finished the morning a bit early, I actually had a really good lunch. I walked up to the Empire State Building, and got cart hotdogs, and walked back down to the Hudson River Park and wandered around, and sat and ate watching the water. And then walked to the subway afterward and went past my favorite subway art. I know other people love their cities- really, I do, I know I'm not the only person in the world who loves her city- but sometimes it just blows me away that I'm lucky enough to live here.
Perhaps the oddest thing about the entire damn experience is how NICE people are to you. Everybody taking the bar is identified by a bright green wristband. You see anybody you recognize in a wristband? "Hey! Good luck! You're doing great!" Anybody recognizes you in a line? "Hey! Almost over, hang in there!" The proctor, walking down the row and getting us all to sign in? "You guys are doing so good, you're almost done!" The guy behind me in line at Subway? "Hey, you're taking the bar? My aunt took it a couple years ago. My aunt's kind of a moron, so if she can pass you definitely will. Good luck!" Random people on the street? "Hey, you're one of the bar people- chin up! You can do it!" A woman in a flight attendant uniform going to the airport shuttle stopped when we were in line to tell us her son was taking it in California right now, and then she went down the line pointing at each person individually yelling "You're going to pass! And you're doing to pass! And you're going to pass!" until the shuttle honked. Seriously, I had no idea this was such a cultural Thing. Probably never again in my life will so many random strangers be so nice to me on one day.
And yet, despite everybody being REALLY nice, and the fact that I had wine and cake waiting for me at home, I still don't want to do it again.
Nest up: major medical shit, giant fights about money, job I am in no way prepared for. This couple month stretch is shaping up extraordinarily unpleasant.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-04 05:28 pm (UTC)it's that whole "millions and millions of people packed into 34 square miles" thing. what most out-of-towners think of as 'rude' when it comes to manhattan is actually "adaptations for getting along without killing each other that often". (you see it in a lot of large, densely-packed cities across the world.)
my ex-girlfriend (born and raised in south texas) used to complain about how unfriendly people were in NYC and environs, because nobody ever made eye contact, you weren't allowed to talk to the person you were sitting next to on the subway, and people waiting on you in, like, the bodega or the Dunkin Donuts or whatever would take your money and get you out the door as quickly as possible. i kept trying to explain to her that wasn't rudeness, that was PRIVACY and EFFICIENCY. she wasn't buying it!
no subject
Date: 2013-08-04 05:50 pm (UTC)Weirdly enough, intruding on someone else's personal space bubble, or impeding their progress from point A to point B by making conversation, is considered aggressive and kind of rude.
I can completely understand her feeling of culture clash, though. I grew up in Manhattan, and I lived down south for a few years after college. It took me a good chunk of that time to absorb the idea that people being polite does not necessarily mean that they like you...
no subject
Date: 2013-08-04 11:57 pm (UTC)The times I was down in South Texas with her, she at least found it entertaining to watch my head explode when people tried to make conversation at the fast food places or whatever. :)