What have I learnt from my time at University?

With graduation happening shortly, I’ve been thinking about my time at university and how beneficial it has been for me.

At the outset, I should state this fact: I am the first one in my family to go to university. None of my grandparents, my grandparent’s grandparents, or even their grandparents even went beyond a secondary school education. Accordingly, I was also the first in my family to go to college; which is, of course, a lesser achievement, somewhat.

The above, in a way, makes redundant any chance of me concluding that my time at university has not been beneficial. As is to be expected, my family is very very very proud of me. I cannot count the number of people that have congratulated me after being told by members of my family that my university education has been successfully completed. Its all quite overwhelming actually.

Now, enough of that. This state of affairs was always going to be the case, no matter who was the first in my family to graduate from university. Be it one of my children or my children’s children’s children. What have I actually learnt?

Obviously, the results that I have achieved in the respective areas of the law I have studied speak for themselves.

Aside from this though, I have been thinking about what else I have gained from my time at university.

Firstly, as always is the case, there are the people that I have spent a lot of time with. I have had the privilege of making some great friends. I can’t say for sure whether they will last throughout my lifetime. Nonetheless, it has still been a privilege to study alongside these people; and this, itself, warms the heart.

I will not go as far as to say that all of my relationships have been successful. They haven’t – and this fact will haunt me in years to come, I’m sure. Principally this is a case of Love’s Labour Lost. What I thought would turn out to be a long relationship of friendship and then some; in fact turned out to be a calamity. My heart was torn from my body and stamped upon by the high-heels of someone whom I thought of very dearly. The way girls are inclined to do, I have since learnt.

Perhaps the greatest attribute I have developed at university is that of maturity. I can say with 100% certainty that I have matured a lot over the past three years. I can’t really describe in specific details how I know this or why this is the case; but I am very certain that it’s the case. I can’t also add what part of university has allowed me to develop in this way: it wasn’t part of the syllabus, that’s for damn sure. Perhaps its somewhat due to the level of independence that one has over their studies and way of living.

Aside from that, the other skills I have developed are all part-and-parcel of studying Law at University level. Undoubtedly, the soundest, the bestest and the hardest thing one can study at undergraduate level! I do think a lot more than I used to; I do analyse things more than I used to; and, I do understand things better than I used to.

I am sure that I will have that same feeling going through my body that I have had at a lot of many junctions in my life. That is: if I had my time again, I’d do it different and I’d do it better. However, I hope that this won’t be the case this time. I hope that with my new found mature level of thinking, I will be able to say that I did my best and my damned hardest. I am inclined to think that its better if my performance wasn’t the peak in my life – that there will be times in the future when I can do better and times after that when I can do even more better.

I hope that I realise that graduation is only the beginning and that bigger challenges await me in the future.

My Week.

What a great week it was! We British were conquered by the French and felt good about it! A very unusual situation, non?! Whilst Beckham and the boys were getting beat at the Stade de France, Monsieur and Madame Sarkozy enjoyed a kiss and a cuddle at Windsor castle (and a few other public places).

I have to say though: I watched highlights of the England match and I thought France were lucky and that England, on the whole, performed rather well. As is customary after the England team lose a match, the national press go after the manager (for no other reason than he’s the manager) or the manager (because he used the wrong players). Well I can’t find fault in Capello to be honest. I think he’s doing his best to learn about English football and England’s players. Any lack of effective preparation that may have been demonstrated during the match, for me was only because there was not enough time for the team to train together as a whole. Some parts of the press chose now (out of all times) to bring up the language barrier that prevents Capello from effectively communicating with his team. A load of tosh if you ask me.

In an earlier entry on this blawg, I listed some important tasks that I wanted to complete before the end of the holidays. Revision hasn’t gotten off to a fantastic start which is quite disconcerting as I am now (officially) half way through my Easter break.

With respect to my dissertation, on the other hand, there is good news and there is bad. The good news is that I am feeling quite confident about the arguments that I am making and am pleased with how my dissertation could shape up. The bad news is there is very little of that feeling on paper – which is what matters. I received some comments from my tutor from an earlier draft that I had written of quite a substantial section of my dissertation and, on the whole, they were very positive. Some parts of it were ‘excellent’ (hurray!) other parts of it were….well…..lacklustre.

In other bad news: I am actually pretty ill at the moment. I haven’t been able to get an appointment with my doctor until late next week (by which time I’ll be able to tell you what it feels like to ‘hang’ with your GP because I’ll have recovered by then). A lack of medicine therefore may prevent me from adequately being able to perform my work. Although, more likely, I will ‘rough it out’ which will make it more painful and tiring.

Oh…by the way…I can confirm that I have been successful in gaining my first mini-pupillage (hurray!). This will take place during the summer. With this under my belt, I am considering applying further-a-field. Whilst the chambers that I am considering are geographically less convenient, I am adopting the: ‘what the hell, I’ll bunk on the streets’ mindset – something which Legal Lass says is very important for all pre-BVC students.

Earlier this week, in an entry on this blog, I argued that the American news outlets should go after Clinton for ‘misspeaking’ about the brief period that she spent in war-torn Bosnia as First-lady. My prayers have been answered. The following clip on YouTube has been played endlessly on the news networks in America:




During the course of this week, there have been growing calls for Clinton to step aside and let Obama go on to win the Democratic nomination. She hasn’t and probably won’t. But to top it all off: Obama is adopting the ‘bring it on’ approach and has actually called for her not to step aside. Good on you Obama – kick some Clinton ass!

Elsewhere, my university has confirmed when my graduation ceremony is due to take place. Before university, graduation seemed like such an important landmark in time. It seemed like a time that would mark the end of my official education years. And, it seemed like a big deal – an opportunity to party. To be perfectly honest: I feel quite deceived and not in the mood to party. I feel that just as I am getting to grips with something (the law) it doesn’t seem worthwhile anymore. My family has really been looking forward to my graduation. All of them want to attend – that means 5 people in total. However, I have had to inform some of them that this may not be possible because of university regulations that limit the number of people who can attend. Obviously, parents are to be given priority over siblings who have less valid reasons for wanting to attend!