Sunset on the Horizon

Thankfully last night I had an adequate amount of sleep to refresh myself for what lays ahead of us. I didn't wake this morning to review anything from our prior assignments, and instead made the decision to simply rest as much as I could before heading off to breakfast. Therefore, I woke up at 8:30, took a shower, and headed downstairs towards John Jay's dining hall.

My day was very typical in regards to our classes, activities, and schedule. The only situation today that differed from yesterday was the fact that we had a guest speaker in our first session today. The speaker was a student attending law school that assigned reading to us last night and prepared a moot court exercise for us. In preparation for the activity, we read two course information sheets and were asked which one we'd like to argue for. One of the information sheets I read was Sangria v. Belding. The situation is mainly about a school search performed by nearly a few members of the school after hearing about a potential threat on campus. Ms. Sangria believes the search was a violation under the 4th amendment regardless of a potential threat. Just for the challenge, I chose to work in favor of Sangria because it seemed like the harder case to support in regards to this situation. I have 2 other partners for this debate session and they are Rowland and Hayley. They asked me to do the rebuttal so I will be the second speaker, following after Rowland's introductory speech. I didn't really mind which order I went because regardless of my position, I'm very experienced with debating and public speaking so I am both confident and comfortable regardless of which position I speak. However, I was chosen by my group also for another reason, rebuttals are the most intense segment of the argument thus I can present my items very effectively.

On a different note, our second session seemed like it finished a lot earlier! I was really productive and worked really hard today in our research seminar. I feel like my goal to finish my paper on Saturday is a little too unrealistic, but I'm still determined to truly stick to my word an try hard enough to succeed (or at least make it close to my personal deadline).

After the session, I stayed with Rowland and Hayley to discuss our topic and key points of our arguments. We will probably meet up again or at least keep in touch tomorrow in regards to our debate in order to make sure we are properly prepared.

After our group discussion, I rushed to my room and organized a few of my research documents. As soon as I did my work, I went to the dining hall to enjoy a last meal before heading of to the Circle Line Cruise. It was such a breathtaking experience to witness all of New York around you. Just like Lucas said to me when we were in between Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, "This feels so surreal."

The cohort engaging in a serious debate regarding technology.

I planned to sleep earlier upon arrival back to the dorms but I'm not too ashamed to say that that plan actually failed. I decided to maximize the use of my time and conduct more research for Thursday. After contributing more to my paper and preparing more for my course, I began writing this blog to summarize my day with you all. I must say, I'm entirely exhausted but tomorrow is yet another big day for us all...

Stay tuned to hear more about us tomorrow!