Hello faithful reader! I'm surfacing for a little while just to post some updates and give a brief progress report. Not much progress to report, so this post will be brief!
I graduated (yay!). It was a very nice ceremony. My parents made it to New Jersey without creating widespread panic, and it didn't rain. All in all, not a bad day. It was weird, though. At all my past graduations I remember feeling this pang of anxiety and anticipation, like I couldn't wait to get out of there and start the next chapter. Graduating law school is very different, because you know you have the bar exam looming, only 2 months away. It's kind of a sickening feeling. It turns into a full-on malaria outbreak once you see the size of the prep materials.
But was it a Graduation or a Commencement? According to dictionary.com Commencement is defined as: –noun
1. an act or instance of commencing; beginning: the commencement of hostilities.
That definition could not be more appropriate - since commencement, I have been pretty hostile. The studying is incessant, the material is overwhelming, and all the while you have people telling you not to worry, you'll be fine. (TIP: If you're dealing with someone studying for the bar NEVER EVER SAY THAT! In fact, just back out of the room slowly - there is no "right" thing to say).
I guess my handy tip to people coming up on this chapter in their lives would be to just embrace it. It's coming. Sleepless nights, rote memorization, stress, hives, anxiety, self-doubt. It's coming. Just deal. This fraternity of lawyers demands that we be hazed, so if you want to be a part of it, you do what's required.
Make sure that you do whatever you need to do to free up your life (take off from work or quit your job, hire a cleaner, give your dog to a friend - whatever it takes to minimize distractions), and take in as much material as you can. And every once in a while hang out with other people that are in the same boat and commiserate. I would have said hang out with friends, but by this point in the process you don't have many left, so let's not kid ourselves.
2 comments:
hello. i recently stumbled onto your blog. i am a part time law student with full time work. currently in my 2nd year - so 3 years more to go - yikes! very interesting blog you have here. guess am bit late as you already graduated! congrats.
Thanks for taking a look! Not to worry, I'll keep the blog going. There is still a lot that I wanted to share but didn't have the time during school. If you have any particular questions, I'd love to hear them!
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