Dear Charlotte, Nice to See You!

Charlotte is the largest city in North Carolina (18th in the United States). This winter break I visited Charlotte twice. She is a charming little girl, not as fashion as NYC, smaller than I thought, but nice and fit.

The City and its Skyline

US cities are actually quite different to Asian ones (except NYC). People live in suburb, and the downtown area isn’t usually quite large. Charlotte has beautiful skyline, but not as big as I thought. The high modern buildings are gathered in about 10 blocks, I would say probably even smaller than Xinyi District of Taipei City in Taiwan. However, as a financial center in southern US. We saw lots of fancy cars and well-dressed people here. Charlotte is not a wild girl but definitely very neat:)

Panthers and a Lovely Sunshine Football Afternoon

The first visit to dear Charlotte is for my first NFL game ever! Carolina Panthers lost badly to struggling defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. In fact this game sort of cost the Panthers’ playoff hope. You felt like you were actually in Pittsburgh in the end of the game. But who cares (I am actually a Packer fan), I enjoyed the atmosphere of football game a lot. Lots Steelers fan traveled down from Pittsburgh, families gathered and BBQed before the game. Winning or losing, you enjoyed a lovely Sunday afternoon. That’s what it all about:)

Kobe scored 58 in a 3OT thriller

The second trip to Charlotte was for a NBA game (you can now tell i am a very big sports fan). My beloved great LA Lakers paid their annual visit to Charlotte, how can I miss the great Kobe Bryant in this sense.

Kobe did not let me down. He scored 58 points (third most in his career) with some super dunks and heroic shots. He’s really the best. However, the Charlotte Bobcats did not let local fans down as well. They fought hard and forced the game to the third overtime! (How lucky I was, I enjoyed 15 more mins^^) And the Bobcats eventually upset another strong team and gave Charlotte a joyful night.

See You Soon, Dear Charlotte

After both games, I enjoyed nice restaurants and bars in Charlotte. It’s comfortable to walk in the downtown there. Compares to where I live, the middle of nowhere or the center of the forest, it’s quite nice down in Charlotte. I think I will see her again pretty soon:)

DLS Found New Dean in New Year!

First of all, happy 2007 to everyone who is reading this not-really-updating-little blog! I wasn’t updating b/c I was trying to survive the final exams. After that, I had a lot of fun in my winter break so far, traveling from hot Florida to cold ski resort! Will have some report before the kickoff of the spring semester:)

Federal Judge David F. Levi is our New Dean

Today President Brodhead and Provost Lange announced Judge David Levi will succeed Dean Katharine Bartlett as the Dean of Duke Law School from July, 1, 2007. Dean Bartlett choose to return to teaching and scholarship after seven years as the Dean. We thank Dean Bartlett for her contribution and legacy toward the DLS, and look forward to the deanship of Judge Levi.

The Dean Hunting

Dean Bartlett is one of the three deans stepping down at Duke this year, joining Douglas Breeden, dean of the Fuqua School of Business; and William Schlesinger, dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. The University and the three Schools quickly formed dean search committees to hunt for their successors nationwide.

This process impressed me a lot. Unlike the US, academic deanships in Taiwan are usually coming from the faculty members in the department/school. The general scenario is that faculty members elect the dean, usually from senior faculty members in this case. But I do think a dean search committee is necessary and healthy to the academic environment. I heard of some political collisions in Taiwanese academic society in dean election.

First, the dean should be deemed as a “manager” of the school, outside expertise could be as good as, if not better than, the in-house counterpart. They can bring in some fresh experience, and in this case in-house candidates are not ruled out of course. The point is to find the most capable and suitable person. Second, current faculty members do not need to “choose a side”, ie. no political pressure, especially for those junior faculty members. Third, becoming a dean should not really be seemed as a “promotion,” of course it is an important position, but the more important part of the deanship is the administrative leadership rather than academic recognition.

Finally, as a member of the Duke Law community, I welcome Judge Levi to our big family, and look forward to his leadership:)

ACC>Big 10 !

ACC/Big 10 Challenge! Indiana @ Duke Nov. 28, 2006

Just came back from the game! More reports to come later:)

Midnite in the Law Libraby

It’s quiet but still dynamic.

The Westlaw printer is busy working, generating documents after documents.
You hear the sounds of typing. The sounds of quick page-turning surrounded.
It’s not crowded but you saw familiar faces. Focus and hard working.
The Memorandum is in the making. Future attorneys are in the making.

I experienced the midnight scene in the law library, thanks to Mr. Lanham.

Natural Rivalry

Could you think of the best way to punish someone?
Here I have some ideas FYI.

How about make your “good friend” wear the nice baseball cap with a cute “BlueDevil” sign,
and a gorgeous Blue T with big “DUKE” in the front, and huge “UNC sucks” in the back.
Let him enjoy walking on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill on a lovely Friday night outside lots of fine bars and clubs.

Then you sit back and enjoy the show.

This is based on my own experience with only a “D” sign on my basketball shorts. Trust me, you will feel the intrastate natural rivalry^^

Red October! Cardinals top the World!

2006 St. Louis Cardinals, the World Champion!

Congratulations to the best baseball city, your mighty Cardinals won their 10th World Series title. After 24 years, we don’t have to wait anymore. After heartbreaking 85, 87, 96, 04, 05 losses, we no longer one step shy for the title.

Impossible is nothing! Anything can happen!

That’s why baseball is so attractive: you never know what will happen. 2006 Cardinals are the underdog all the way in the playoff, and they went through them all. This team never undermine themselves, and they never count themselves out. I am so proud of them!

My October at the Bryan Center

Thanks to National Blackout Policy (Telecommunications Law…..mmm:P), I can’t watch Major League Baseball playoffs through my MLB.tv. Therefore I spent most of my evenings in October at the great Bryan Center TV room, sitting on the big sofa, with unlimited 24-hr McDonalds (of course you have to pay), to enjoy the Fall Classic.

The Fall Classic

As a baseball fan, you always feel the seasons according to the game. When you hear the first strike call, you know spring comes officially. You feel the heat of summer by one homerun after another one. And in fall, heroes stand out and the champion will be crowned.

The World Series made me aware of the fall, and the cold wind outside the Bryan Center everynite after the game made me really feel it. It’s literally the Fall Classic.

The Windy City

After struggling with tons of readings and assignments, the fall break finally arrived. Some travel off the forest is necessary. Except poor 1Ls mostly travelling between the Law Library and their living room, upperclass students travel a bit farther^^ For me my short trip begins at the windy city.

The Metro

After landing in the ORD airport, i found the way to take a metro to downtown! A METRO! Wait a minute, what’s so special about a metro system? Ladies and gentlemen, you gotta know that after spending abour 2 months in a forest, where you can barely survive without a car (and i dont have a car). You can’t imagine how excited I was when I finally saw a public transportation depites the facts that it’s super old and not that clean. (I highly recommend everyone to visit Taipei’s metro, super clean, best one I’ve ever visited)

The Architecture

Chicago is famous about its skyline and great architectures. I enjoy the Chicago Tribune Building, the John Hancock Tower (Great night panorama scene), the City Hall. (Again I was probably too excited to see so many high buildings in a real city and hence probably biased) As a huge baseball fan, i also visited one of the oldest ballpark in the US, the Wrigley Field. The Cubbies are our biggest rival (Go Cardinals!), but it feels good to hang around the traditional place with Cards cap on my head^^

Walking along the lake side under sunshine

I think I can claim myslef “the sunny buy.” Chicago was cold b4 I arrive, and had a very early heavy snow after i left the town (similiar situation happened in Philly and Durham, no snows but definitely get much warmer and sunny when I arrive). It’s so great to walk in the lake side and enjoy the sunlights. Totally relax and throw all memorandum away to the skyblue. I guess I did not really feel the windy part of the City this time, will try to figure that out some other time^^

U of Chicago

I visted my firends studying at Chicago Law, and met a Duke alumni there. We enjoyed nice dinner and talk. Chicago Law is one of my favorite law schools in the US. Richard Posner, Cass Sunstein and many other renowned legal scholars are there. Law and economics is one of their best and i am really interested in this field.

Northwestern

I also visted my college classmate at NW. Compares to U of Chicago, NW locates in a richer community. Campus is nice but buildings are a bit normal. I took a look at the famous Kellog School, a pity that i can’t visited it inside.

The Magnificent Mile

Its name says all. The Magnificent Mile is a great avenue with lots of great place to shop. A big Nike Town, a fancy Apple House, and many department stores and brandnames here, along with the John Hancock Tower standing in front of the avenue while it goes all the way down to the Chicago River. It ain’t the Champs-Elysées, but i definitely love the atsmophere here as well. However I don’t dare to stay for too long, or my green bills will all leave me for good.

Chicago kinda reminds me what a City look like before heading back to the forest for more studying. Next time here i will take the cruise into the River and the Lake, and hopefully get to feel the chilling windy part of the City.

Blue Devils Fever

The season hasn’t begun yet, however the fever is already spreaded out. Basketball campout is probably one of the crazist events for graduate students & professional students. All we want is the season ticket to the Cameron Stadium, the access to the madness!

Thirty-Six Hours Marathon

The campout is like a festival and big party. All campers must be presented during random check (1 absence allowed this year) in order to be eligible to enter the lottery. People run from the tents and RV to the checkpoints after the whistle. More than 25 whistles will make you feel nuts in the 36-hr span. You will see camper cursing with their drunken body and sleepy eyes. Dude, party is just on!

Big Festival

Endless alcohols ( We suppose all grad students are over 21, go and drink!), Beer-pong (A cool American game, but I consider the purpose of the game is to drink all beers), dancing, pokering, BBQing, sleepless. Yes, party all nite long.

Best Tent!

I am so lucky to team with my Japanese coleagues, they are so organized. Without question, our tent should be honored The Best Tent @ 2006 Campout. Lawyers can’t simply state the conclusion with no reasoning. We have the best food, Japanese shabu shabu, Well prepared BBQ, Thai food, Korean Food. We also have endless alcohol, American beers, French Redwine, Japanese Sake. For recreation, we have full set of Slam Dunk, boardgames and poker games. All law students visited this tent and had great chats. This tent deserves the award, and I don’t expect any dissenting opinion here.

Courtesy to Nori, you really organized a wonderful campout team!

Season Tickets

Our team has an agreement to share all tickets won (I told you we are very organized). We won 7 out of 20 members (it’s about average winning rate). Another fight will be for the Duke-UNC ticket, that will be another story…

Debut!

Due to the extreme laziness of this blogger, and too many external distractions, such as endless assignments and BDay parties, nothing has been posted in this blog. As you might agree, the first step is always the most difficult part. Once you started, it’s easier to follow up. Based on this theory (and excuse as well), I’d love to wrap up some general impressions of school in the first month in this diary rather than trying to write detail reports of everything happened. I wish it would be a good first step.

First Impression: Duke Blue? It’s GREEN everywhere!
After the crazy flight from France to Taipei and then to the east coast, banking tons of frquent flyer mileages (what? still not enough for a free ticket!), I arrived the school in the forest. I mean the FOREST literally. North Carolina is a great state with beautiful natural scenes, and the University is located in a quiet, comfortable, beautiful, small southern town, which is great for academic studies. Translation: kinda boring.

This is totally new for an urban guy like me. But you know, it will probably benefit my body and clean my minds. Yes, I will become a philosopher and THINK a lot. Thanks to the power of nature.

Special thanks to Hans, who picked me up in the airport in early morning:)

Roomie is the key to survive

First classmate I met here is my roommate. He really helps a lot to get me familiar with the school, especially in the situation that I arrived late. Having a wonderful roomie is probably one of the most important thing to survive here. A warm home is always the best place to go.

My roomie, who will share the great five-star resort (after the experience at Chapou in France, I am thinking about upgrading here to 7-star, that’s another story. i hope i can get to it later in this blog) with me this yr, is a great guy from Thai. Not only easy-going and friendly, he’s also a Michelin-TWO-star chef. You know what? This guy deserves a full post, so i will stop here for now.

The DLS

Duke Law is without any doubt one of the most prestige law school in the States. I rushed to the orientatin shortly after my arrival to school. The International Dean is very nice, every one is willing to help you. Great faculties, and great students here.

The size of the school is medium compares to other leading law schools. It’s a great fit for me since I don’t really want to go to huge schools andnot able to know people well. We integrate with American students well,that’s another plus.

Gothics

This campus is famous of its Gothic buildings. The landmark in the campus is the Duke Chapel. The statue of Mr. Jame Duke stands in front of it. Wanna get married here? Better get in line fast:)

Walking in the Forest

In a lovely sunny morning, it’s just perfect to walk through the Sarah Duke Garden to the Law School. However, you want to make sure that you have plenty of time ahead. The campus is BIG. We are already used to a high density of population in Asian cities. Here it’s totally a different story.

Living at Duke without a car is just like handicapped. You can’t go to the supermarket, you can’t go to the baseball games, you can’t go to the restaurants off campus. You will live in your warm cottage happily ever after for GOOD.

I wish I will start another post with “driving in the forest” very soon!

Still so many happen this month, but I think it’s good enough for the debut. I hope I will write again soon.

Coming soon!