First Day of Law

by Andrea V., roommate

On September 4, 2007, I started the most expensive and challenging venture of my life (so far). I walked from Langdon Street to Bascom Hill in Madison, Wisconsin, to attend my very first day of law school …

It was time to take my seat in my first class: Contracts I. Wow, look at all the people in here! I scanned the classroom and wondered what everyone else was thinking. I wondered if these people were smarter than me, harder working, better prepared. When the professor came out and started talking, everyone started typing on their laptops at once. My nicest casual outfit was getting sweat stains under my arms, fast. I started my nervous habits of pinching the skin on my chest and pulling on my necklace. The teacher was talking, and I was still busy scanning the crowd and doing my anxious rituals. Stop it! I said to myself. This is it. This is the real deal, and the one and only chance you are going to get at this. I vowed right there in the first class of my law school career that I would stop comparing myself to other people, stop doubting my abilities, and simply work as hard as I possibly could. If I worked as hard as I possibly could, I would know that I did the best I could when it was all over …