After three months of soaking up the sun at the beach, watching Suits for hours, and not having to worry about opening a textbook, the new, exciting and scary world of law school lay ahead. Following the typical law student cliché, highlighters were packed along with the 100kg law textbook that was bound to break my back by the end of the semester.
As the lines for the university busses stretched on for ages, and I had the terrifying thought that I would be walking into my first lecture late and then be stared at by the whole class. I had to run.
Thirty minutes later and I was on campus. I scanned my unfamiliar surroundings, searching for the law building, which was nowhere in sight. I felt disoriented and bewildered.
Passing the law library, I realised that I must be heading in the right direction. I got the feeling that this library will become my second home, the place where I would spend my days buried under books, sleep deprived and over caffeinated.
Contrary to my expectations, the law lecture was tiny, with only 30 students in the class. I was convinced that I was in the wrong place. The whole time I was worried that I was in the wrong lecture because unlike my commerce class, which had over 100 students, my law lecture was interactive and very small.
With no friends in my law lecture it was pretty daunting, and I had no clue who I was going to talk to. I was placed in a group with five other students to discuss the relationship between justice and the law, which was a bit scary, but I guess most people where feeling the same way, right?
Things soon became even more overwhelming when I was asked to express my thoughts on the article that was handed out – this felt like a classroom scene from How to Get Away with Murder. Once I had expressed my beliefs on the rule of law and separation of powers and breathed a sigh of relief, I realised that maybe this course wouldn’t be so bad after all.
I’m not 100 percent sure how I survived the two hour influx of new Latin words, but hopefully it will be all worth it in the end.
Tired, stressed and exhausted describe my current feelings. It is 8pm and I have just finished my last lecture for the day. I’m thinking that I might as well sleep on campus considering it is so late. It’s only my first day of law school but I have a mountain of readings already, so I’d better get back to it. Best of luck to my fellow first years!
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