So you’ve gotten into the law school of your (or your parents’) dreams, and you’ve already done the dance of joy to The Killers’ ‘Human’ (or, like in my law school admittance fantasy, to Justin Timberlake’s ‘Sexy Back‘). If you’re not currently in work or in school, you’ve got four months to kill before they lock you in and throw away the key. What do you do?

In the tons of the articles I’ve read regarding the summer before your 1L semester, law school students and administrators have pretty much the same advice: relax homeslice. So, I will. But I am also of the mind that these next four months will be the stuff of fantasy (like chocolate cake that subtracts calories as you eat it … mmm) six months from now. As a result, I’ve compiled something of a 0L Bucket List: a list of things that I or other 0Ls may want to do before we take the plunge.

1. Learn a new language. You may not achieve full proficiency (or even be able to ask for the women’s loo) before the end of the summer, but it may be fun to take a language class at your local community college. Or you can take a gander at the BBC’s Languages page, which has some snazzy interactive videos to help you learn French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portugese, Chinese and snippets of other tongues.
2. Go on a trip. If the price tag for college hasn’t already sent you looking for pennies underneath your sofa cushions, and you can bring yourself to part with several C-notes, you may want to consider taking a trip. And since you’re going to law school with the hope of changing the world someday (yes, I read your personal statement), it might be fun for you to go on a volunteer vacation. There are several programs out there that recruit people for one to three week stints for projects stateside and abroad. Through GlobeAware, which offers programs to 15 countries, you can take a one week trip to Brazil for about $1400. Or you can volunteer in the good ol’ U.S. of A with the Sierra Club, which lists dozens of volunteer trips on its Web site.
3. Read a book. If you’re a bibliophile like me, you may want to knock out a couple of those quick reads. Judging from Boyfriend’s account of law school, most of your reading in the fall is going to be dense and done either at home or in the law library, so why not take that book tote outside to the local arboretum or park? You may also want to read some law school related books, like Scott Turow’s ’1L: The Turbulent Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School.’
4. Spend time with the people that matter to you. Time is to law school as fabric is to a hirsute, male, thong-wearing beach goer in Brazil: There is never enough of it, and you hope it stretches out enough to cover all the, ahem, ‘material’. Which is why it is all the more important to bank as much good will as you can by scheduling outings with your friends, family and significant other, or even going on a summer trip with them before the time leech that is law school sucks all the time away.
5. Start a blawg. You’re going to be writing a lot in law school, so why not brush up on subjects, verbs and dangling thingamajigs by starting your very own blog. It’ll get you into a daily habit of reading and writing something, and could turn into a fun little hobby when the fall rolls around. This blawg is powered by WordPress and hosted by a hosting company, but you can get a WordPress-hosted, out-of-the-box blog at WordPress.com, or at Blogger.com, for free.

Watch for future blog posts on the 0L Bucket List!

Photo: I Can Has Cheezburger