Welcome back! How were your exams? Were they what you expected? How was your winter break? Did you do anything pertaining to the law? Were you able to have some down time and reconnect with family and/or friends?
I am very excited to have completed my first semester of law school and am pleased with my academic success and the work ethic I have developed so far. Although many weeks of the semester felt agonizingly long, the semester as a whole flew by. By the end of the semester, I felt much more comfortable maneuvering around the law school material. I knew what to look for in court cases and had a much easier time deciphering the important information for exams.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it; exams were not fun. However, there were parts of the experience that were easier for me than my finals weeks in undergrad. Throughout the semester, I put in the work to make sure I was understanding the material for each week, and asked questions when something was unclear. This was different from undergrad where I felt I could coast for stretches of time and then cram at the end; because of this, studying for law school did not feel like cramming, instead, it felt much more like a detailed refresher on things that I had already learned. I am very happy to have seen this progression, and I am confident that this upcoming semester will be less stressful and much more efficient as I continue to better understand how law school is taught.
Following exams, my winter break was unfortunately a bit of a colossal disaster. My community back home experienced a COVID outbreak resulting in social distancing and isolation measures wiping out much of the reconnection I hoped to do with my family and friends. If there is any silver lining, it is that I and all my loved ones were very fortunate to have experienced mild cases of the virus and bounced back quickly, while still getting some much-needed relaxation from our professional lives while recuperating. Over break I took a much-needed hiatus from law related activities, but I did find myself able to apply my new knowledge to real world events in the news very frequently. I was able to conduct some analysis on legal developments from Supreme Court abortion rulings to professional athletes facing criminal charges, which I thought was a cool way to see how far I have come. Also, my parents were excited that I had actually managed to learn a thing or two, so that was cool too.
Beginning this year on Zoom has been challenging, especially after such a rewarding classroom experience last semester. However, I am grateful for the support the LLS community is able to offer virtually and look forward to getting back to campus as soon as it is safe to do so.