It's my turn to blog, as I've been delinquent. This weekend we went to a wine and cheese party in honor of ONU's LLM students. All the LLM students are international students that have been practicing law in their country, which must be an emerging democracy. Brian and I went with Brian's friend Randy. We were told practically the whole school goes, and most of the school - including faculty would be there. Brian and Randy ended up being some of the only first years there - so they didn't know much of anyone. I didn't know anyone.
When we first got there we ended up meeting someone's husband, Lance, who is from New Orleans. He works on a ship that basically maps the ocean's floor looking for oil. He's home every other month and told us some ship stories. Then I got to meet Brian's property professor. She's new to the school this year and is from Indiana, and brought her son. She was very nice. After that we started talking to one of the LLM students, Austin from Malawi. He has travelled more in the US, than most of us probably have, and has a very sincere appreciation for the US government. He even named his son after Jefferson, because of his political writings. When he told us that he named his son after the 3rd president, Brian said Jefferson, and Austin said that Brian is the FIRST American to get it correct!!! Isn't that horrible? So, anyway we talked more and it was very inspiring to just go home and learn more about our government, which we often take for granted. And of course, to learn about other countries. We also met Fred, from Kenya, who invited us to someday visit him. He left before we could talk too much with him. But Kenya has taken in a large number of refugees and has worked hard to keep fighting in Somalia from coming into their country. Both of these issues have caused a big strain on the government and resources. Again, a reminder of how lucky we are. We also got our pictures taken with Fred and Austin which may make Brian one step closer to his ultimate goal of being one of the "models" on the giant ONU outdoor billboard on the way into Ada.
