1L, Day One

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" - Shakespeare's Henry IV

No, this is not the first of a series of my everyday activities as a first year law student. I am sure the days to come will keep me away from frequent blogging (if I care about doing well at school). But the first day at Osgoode deserves a mention.

I woke up about 40 minutes later than I intended, but was still able to reach school in time to catch the 8 o'clock breakfast. The whole orientation bit was rather a drag, but it was good to have second year frosh leaders around to answer questions and spread some cheer.

Law school looks like it's going to be very different from undergrad. For one, the people are different. There's a number of older and mature students who are starting out in 1L, and even those in their mid-twenties (like me) are from different academic and professional backgrounds.

It seems everyone is trying extra hard to get to know the others. I'm not one to shy away from social interaction, but I'm not particulary fond of being forced to start and carry a conversation with every new person around me either. It's a bit tedious, and while the first few outstretched hands with a "Hi, I'm So-and-so" might come as pleasant overtures, an entire day of that is a trifle overbearing! Besides, it seems like you're not really getting to know anyone at all, because the minute you've exchanged a few words it's time to move on to someone else.

There's already talk of summer work placements and extracurricular activities like competitions, public service volunteering, editing law journal submissions etc. Looks like a busy next three years ahead.

Come lunch, I was one of the first few in line (purely by accident), so I had a lot of time left over (or so I thought) to get books. Not so. I stood for almost two hours in the lineup for books and lockers. Then, some three-hundred odd dollars poorer, I made my way to the ongoing information sessions (of which I had missed one due to the aforementioned length of wait time). I'm sure it was much of the same "You're privileged to be part of the law community" pep talk.

We got to go downtown to visit Osgoode Hall on Queen Street, home of the law school until 1969 I believe - a pity, it would have been something else to go to school there. Then, what was billed a 'light dinner' but was mostly hors d'oeuvres, at the Sheraton Centre across the street, with quick speeches from Ontario Chief Justice and Osgoode alumnus Roy McMurtry and other bigwigs in the LL world who are also Osgoode alumni. I was just about tired of standing and walking by this time, and quickly made my exit as soon as that was over.

On the way home on the subway, an old man sitting across from me noticed my orientation sack and squinted to read the name of the sponsor law firm on it. "Carswell", he looked at me and said, "I worked there until four months ago", and gave me the thumbs up when he found out I was starting law school.