thinking outside the box

Hey all! The countdown is finally in the single digits. In nine days I will be hopping on a plane to Germany to visit my wonderful wife! Unfortunately, the trip must be a short one (the law school hasn't fully embraced online education yet), but I am grateful for any amount of time I can spend with Brenda. By the way, her rehearsals are moving along nicely. The final piano rehearsal is tomorrow night. It is the performers' first opportunity to run the show in costumes and makeup. After tomorrow they will move on to orchestra rehearsals. The final dress rehearsal is next Wednesday.

Life in law school is going fine. I'm enjoying my classes this semester and am finding my Immigration Law course particularly interesting. Recently we've been talking about the different ways foreigners can apply to become lawful permanent residents of the US. The two biggest ways are through family members that are already in the US and through employment. Of course, some employment qualifications are more desirable in the eyes of the US government than others. For example, physical therapists and nurses are apparently in high demand in the US so foreigners with those skills will have a much easier time getting a visa than, say, an unskilled laborer or an out of work opera singer. To help us review the material, our professor did an exercise with the class today where she presented herself as an educated but unemployed journalist trying to get a visa to live in the US. As a class we had to try to figure out the best way to apply for a visa for this hypothetical person. Some people suggested she marry her fiancé, a US citizen, as quickly as possible. Others thought she should try to prove how outstanding of a journalist she was so she could qualify for a category reserved for people with "extraordinary" skills. Still others thought she should try to get in through her brother who already had a US visa. I raised my hand and asked if she had ever considered becoming a physical therapist or a nurse. Based on the professor's laughter I don't think that was the solution she had in mind.

Apparently our week amounted to an update on Brenda's rehearsals and an anecdote from law school. I'll see if I can't come up with something a little more interesting for next week. Until then, have a great week!