After I had transferred universities, I didn't feel the need to make more friends. All I wanted to do was to go to class, get the participation marks, and get on with my day. This resulted in a landslide slip of my grades, you know the one where you lie in the foetal position and think bar tending for the rest of your life couldn't be that bad. So I forced myself to spend this year making friends, in and out of law.
It started with little concessions, such as studying in a friend’s biology lectures rather than my bedroom. Instead of staring out my window calculating the minimum grade I would need to pass a unit, I was instead using my constitutional textbook as a shield, out of sheer terror of the gory YouTube videos that were often played in the lectures.
I also took up social sports, giving myself a better reason to come to uni than just participation marks, though relearning hand eye co-ordination was not as fun as it sounds. After a few weeks of this not only did I feel more energised and engaged with my friends, I started to actually enjoy going to uni.
After making a few changes to my social life, I saw that my grades changed as well. I was more interested in coming to uni and I enjoyed classes more. I found law friends through this new engagement and we ended up egging each other on to law society social events, though I can tell you dressing up as a cow in the middle of Darling Harbour for law drinks will possibly not be my finest moment.
Ever watched The Good Wife? They don't just shake hands and walk away to their separate lives. They knock back a beer together… and plot the judge's demise (ironically a certain lecturer brought together a few of my friends together at the uni bar as well). Granted, as law students we don't have that level of pressure upon us yet, that doesn't mean that we should just leave class and scurry home to our Thursday night readings.
Little things like joining a study group, finding a bus/train buddy for your uni commute, or having a weekly pre- or post-lecture coffee with your friends can all help to make the law school experience that bit more enjoyable, and a lot less lonely.
It’s very easy to get into a routine of going to uni for classes and then heading straight home to study, but a bit of social interaction can be just important as a good study session.
Social interaction with your cat? Possibly not great. Commiserating with friends over losing your last moot? Much better.
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