My First Week!!

As of Monday night, I officially completed 5 whole days of law school. Since classes started on a Tuesday, I wanted to wait until I had a full week of classes before I wrote this post.

Throughout the past week and the following days, I have been getting more accustomed to my new home, friends, and school. I have a better sense of how much time that I will need to spend studying and have even worked out a homework schedule. As mentioned in my last post, my workload is busier in the beginning of the week, but slows down on Thursday and Friday.  The first half of the week, I spend most of my time studying. Then later in the week, I have more free time to relax and hang out with friends.

Some of the highlights of my first week of law school include:

A girl’s night on Saturday!  Some girls in my class went out to get drinks and dinner together. We went to a nicer bar, one that many students don’t go to. It was a nice treat, and it gave me something to look forward to. On top of good food, I got to know my classmates in a more personal way. It was fun to debrief and have a good time with some girls after our busy week.

Organization Fair on Monday! My school hosted a law school organization fair on Monday to introduce 1Ls to the numerous clubs and groups we could join. By going, I have a much better idea of what groups I want to join. I think I will limit myself to two or three, just because I don’t have nearly as much free time as I did in undergrad. I also got to meet 2Ls who offered great advice on managing law school.

Wellness Fair on Wednesday! This was similar to the organization fair, but had businesses and groups centered on whole body wellness. There were gyms, kickboxing clubs, massage salons, yoga studios, mental health groups, etc. all there to promote their services and maintaining a healthy life balance. One group brought a stress relief dog! After going to the Wellness Fair, I am excited to explore more ways to workout and maintain balance in my life.

The biggest lesson from this week is the importance of time management. I am very good at managing my time, but law school requires even more planning than I’ve ever had to do before. For example, if there is something fun going on that you want to go to, you have to plan ahead so you won’t fall behind in your reading or forget an assignment. The last thing you want is to look like a fool when a teacher cold calls you because you didn’t do the reading and went out instead. Going along with time management, invest in a planner! I use one that lists every day individually and includes a schedule and a to do list for each day. I even color code my schedule to make it even more organized. The most important thing in a planner is finding on that works for you. I personally like daily spreads, but a lot of my friends prefer weekly ones.

Overall, it was a great week and I am really looking forward to the next semester and few years!  Next week, I will switch gears to LSAT prep advice, since the fall LSAT is coming soon.