Orientation for new students begins at Useless Law today. I really can't believe that I'm already done with law school. While I was in law school it felt like it would never end. By the end of my 1L year orientation seemed like it had happened a decade earlier. I definitely changed a lot during law school, and that first year in particular. And yet, now that I'm finally on the other side of it all, orientation seems like it was yesterday. I remember that I was nervous and anxious to meet my new classmates, worried that I wouldn't fit in, and scared that I wouldn't make it through the first semester alive. You hear a lot that first impressions matter so be yourself at orientation but also try not to be standoffish, rude, etc. If you would have told me on the first day of law school orientation that Fashionista and Ms. Fabulous would become 2 of my best friends in law school I would have thought you were crazy. They were soooo unlike the girls I was "usually" friends with. And in fact, we didn't become fast friends. I wasn't really friends with Fashionista until second semester of 1L year, and didn't get to know Ms. Fabulous until second semester of 2L year when I started my internship with her at the DAs office. But I'm so glad they are my friends, I don't know what I'd do without em, they made law school bearable and even fun at times. The only piece of advice I'm going to give to 1Ls here is this: if you leave orientation feeling overwhelmed and stressed because you don't have any friends and don't really see how you'll make friends or even fit in among the people in your class, don't fret, everything will be okay. As for the rest of the 1L advice, browse my past posts, there's plenty of rants, ramblings, advice, etc already contained in this blog. And besides, Lawful Lady said it best a few days ago:
Bottom line - everyone has to stumble through this experience and figure out things fo they damn selves.
And she is absolutely right. So to all of you newly minted 1Ls out there starting this crazy journey, good luck!
For all of you 2 and 3Ls out there try to make the most of the time you have left in law school. Don't be afraid to have some FUN, I know it sounds totally cliche, but it really does go by faster than you can imagine. Soak it all in and know that there is absolutely a light at the end of the tunnel.