Where?!?

One January morning I was sitting in my office, relieved to have survived a snowy drive from Chicago to Hammond. A forwarded email popped up from my Judge that immediately caught my attention--because it confused me. The email was from the Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau, seeking applicants for its three "court counsel" positions. In the interest of not sounding like an idiot when I followed up with my Judge, I googled "Palau" and found out that it's an island nation in the south Pacific close to Micronesia. Here's the first image that came up:

Just to give you a little perspective as to how this image affected me, here's what I was dealing with in Chicago and Hammond:

Needless to say, I wanted to hear more. So, armed with an extremely vague sense of where this place is, I talked to Judge about the position. He mentioned that a former colleague worked there for a year and had an amazing time. He also said that this tiny country has the best scuba diving in the world.

Without much more consideration, I sent in my application the next day and promptly stopped thinking about it to avoid torturing myself. I'd told some friends about it, and "Screw it, I'm moving to the South Pacific" became a running joke. So when I learned that I might get an interview, I started learning more about this little known country. Here are a few facts that caught my eye:

1. The population is 21,000 (Chicago's population is almost 3 million).

2. It's comprised of over 250 islands.

3. Palau was a trust of the United States up until 1994, when it entered into the Compact of Free Association with the U.S., under which the U.S. agreed to provide Palau with its military defense for 50 years.

4. Because Palau has been an independent nation since 1994, it's one of the world's youngest countries.

5. Survivor: Palau, which aired in 2005, was filmed there. And several other survivors have been filmed on the islands.

6. One of the attractions in Palau is "Jellyfish Lake," where visitors swim in a lake filled with stingless jellyfish.

7. During World War Two, battles between the U.S. and Japan were frequent on Palau. As a result, it's common to come across remains from those battles on the islands.

8. It's tropical.

I realized that the opportunity to work in such a young country where the law is constantly developing was intriguing, intimidating, and rare. And it didn't hurt that the temp rarely dips below 75, and that I've never turned down a water activity. So for the next year, my workplace will change from this:

To this:

It's no wonder that my nickname in the Hammond courthouse became Island Girl! During my clerkship, I'll be working for the four Supreme Court Justices. I'm looking forward to learning Palauan law, and contributing in a small way to the development of this country's body of law. My clerkship starts mid-October, so I've got about a week to soak up the midwest fall. Then I'll be flying from Chicago to Houston to Hawaii to Guam and finally to Palau.

There's plenty that I'll miss about Chicago. I have a fantastic group of friends, family close by, and this city had a ton of fun things to offer. I know I'll be happy to return next year and that I'll struggle having to read about the Packers' road to the Super Bowl, but in the meantime, hopefully I can entertain with stories, pictures, and videos about learning Palauan law, scuba-diving, fishing, kayaking, and hanging out in the jungle. I'm excited to find out all the ways that life will be different living on an island, and I'll add new Palauan facts to every blog post.

Take care everyone!