It's certainly a stressful time. As a 2L, I have the opportunity to choose my own classes and to be involved in as many different extracurriculars as I can palate. Add to the mix OCI and the (hopeful) subsequent callbacks, and you've got yourself a molotov cocktail of potentially explosive scheduling conflicts.

It's exciting, though. A little bit of pressure is off, since grades are in and interviewers have seen them. And, like the Pollyanna that I am, I can't blog without gushing about my classmates. Despite never asking for the favor, a couple of really cool, atypical things happened during OCI.

The first thing happened during interview week. Interview week takes place in a hotel and interviewers are sprinkled throughout in different rooms. They see 20-30 students a day for 20-minute interviews. This means you will see friends, foes, and everything in between as you pass in and out of the interview rooms. More than once, someone exiting the room (acquaintance, friend, etc.) passed on a few pointers before it was my time to enter, e.g. "She's got a lazy eye, look at the left one!" or "He speaks pig latin, you must trump him with double talk!" or something equally helpful that may have otherwise been unnerving without notice. How marvelous! What a fantastic thing to do, given the undeniable fact that I was that person's competitor! I think it happened across the board. I know I let someone know similar details.

The second cool thing that I experienced was that rising 3Ls, acquaintances of mine, passed on information about me and others to their recruiting departments. Did it necessarily work? Well, in some cases. Others...there was no helping me.

Generally speaking, I found that during OCI, information about firms, passed on by word of mouth, was readily available. I felt comfortable contacting students who have worked at firms that I'd like to work for this summer to ask them questions I may not be able to ask an interviewer. Maybe it's so easy because UMLaw students want to establish small Michigan cults in their prospective cities. I'm cool with that.

Before I moved here, I knew I was in love with Ann Arbor. There was no question. There is something to be said about packing up a car and checking out something new, however; I was at a loss as to what I could do besides drive out of state.

Canada is an option, Chicago is a stone's throw away, and there's an entire country south past the tip of the Mitten. But for those weekends when a four hour drive isn't feasible, I decided that I was going to make Detroit my target.

My first excursion was to the Magic Stick off of Wafford Ave. My favorite musician, Sia, performed there. The Magic Stick is an eclectic, intimate venue above a bowling alley. Immediately outside of the alley is a 1960s-style bar with pizza and tasty bar sandwiches; adjacent to the bar is a quirky, upscale cafe with late-night dining. The crowd was predominately mid-to-late 20s and diverse. Without a doubt I'll be going back. http://www.majesticdetroit.com/stick.asp

Last night I returned once again to Detroit, but this time to check out Baker's Keyboard Lounge. Established in 1934, the tiny bar boasts a shiny black facade, complete with an art deco marquee sign. The first thing I noticed when I entired the candlelit lounge was the large, quirky keyboard bar. We paid a $5 cover and then were ushered to a small table next to the piano. The bar was even tinier on the inside--a total gem--and was filled with couples and groups from all walks of life. I don't recall seeing a "no smoking" sign, but the bar was smoke-free. The libations list was extensive; it was clear that this was a place to get a good lowball-something-or-other and to take in the scene. My friend and I each ordered a platter from the soul-food themed menu.

I did a little bit of research and found this blurb about the lounge's history:

The fifties through the seventies proved to be the club’s golden era. Everyone who was anyone in the world of jazz made an appearance: the young Dave Brubeck; the man who turned jazz upside down, John Coltrane; the era’s premier pianist, Oscar Peterson. There was Krupa and Corea, Calloway and Betty Carter. There was Gerry Mulligan and Sonny Stitt and Kenny Burrell, Barry Harris, Donald Byrd, Earl Klugh, Pepper Adams. In short, we had the finest musicians in the world under our roof. The names go on, especially the local musicians who symbolize the impressive array of extraordinary musicians who played at Baker’s. Equally as exciting as the jam sessions have been the unexpected surprises, like the night Nat King Cole came to the club and sat in on the piano, or the time Ella Fitzgerald stopped in to see Tommy Flanagan and stayed to sing. Or the time when Liberace came in to see the famous keyboard-shaped bar and rushed home to his Bevery Hills Mansion to install a piano-shaped pool in his backyard.

The first set was incredible, to say the least. There were three total but left after the first, at around midnight. Again, this is somewhere I'll be sure to visit again. It'd be excellent for a date or just for a break from the norm. http://www.bakerskeyboardlounge.com

Next on my hit list? Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum.
http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=5301