Cardozo the Law School Shark ~ تخت سارا

Shark besos!

Ever since I was a 1L spending some long nights of studying in the reading room, I wanted to come up with something special to celebrate being done with final exams as a 3L. Once I knew that I was going to Geneva for my last semester of law school, this meant that I would finish with all my official law school exams in December 2013.

On one of my first visit to Michigan Law, it must have been around finals period as well because I saw that some students had taken fishing line and inflatable pool toys and strung them across the light wells above the subterranean levels of the library. I thought it was hilarious. Apparently, the pranksters even left a funny, polite note for the custodial staff explaining that they made it easy to clean up but asked if the staff could please leave the pool toys up for at least a day or two. I thought I had my own pictures of the event (and I remember there being an inflatable alligator and orca whale), but there were some other pictures available on Google that I managed to find instead.

A few years ago, there were commercials on TV about a remote control helium balloon toy called "Air Swimmers."

I thought that if the toy works how the commercial makes it seem, then it would be pretty fun to put on my shark mask (left over from a game with my 9 year old cousin) and fly a shark around the Reading Room. Since the Air Swimmers are quiet, it would be a fun thing to do that would not really disturb other people studying and might provide a bit of comic relief during stressful finals.

Cardozo in the Reading Room

So, after finishing my last law school final exams ever (even with some pretty tough ones), I grabbed my Air Swimmer Shark, who had been sitting in a box for almost a year in preparation of this event, and booked it over to Party City to inflate it with helium. Luckily, I read the instructions ahead of time and tied a string to the balloon part ahead of time so that it wouldn't fly away. The air was so cold that the balloon was its full size inside the store, but shrank instantly in the car, and needed a couple minutes to regain its original size once back inside my apartment for assembly.

Cardozo in Hutchins Hall

My roommate and I assembled the shark and named it "Cardozo," after a famous judge we studied our 1L year. Plus, Cardozo just sounds like a sharky name. Then, we packed Cardozo into my car and managed to get him inside the law school. We lost a fin in the process because of some intense winter winds outside. The ceilings inside the law school were obviously much higher than those in our apartment, and coupled with changes in temperature, it was a bit difficult to fly Cardozo. We managed to do it and not get caught, so I put the video below together. Here is Cardozo the Shark, wishing everyone the best of luck on their law school final exams!