First full week, first full weekend

One of the orientation activities was a speed-dating “meet the profs” session, where we ran between rooms every 15 minutes to meet each of our six new  professors. I was not the only one impressed with the teaching calibre. Many profs are authors or editors of our course texts, and  all have spectacular professional backgrounds. At least two of my six – that we know of – have clerked for the Supreme Court. At least one has made a movie.

After O-week, we jumped right in to our classes, and the professors held true to expectations of calibre. It’s interesting to note that the classes I thought I’d like the least – criminal, for example – are taught by some of the most engaging professors, which makes them that much better.

Readings were assigned promptly. Six courses of 20-30 pages per class, per lecture, adds up quickly. Never have I seen such social people work so hard during a first week of classes, but we rose to the challenge. Our work ethic was surely helped by the course material itself: each and every course opened up a whole new path of thought, information, and perspective to explore.

Classes weren’t the only thing that filled our time. We’ve already had two law firms (Boughton and BLG) host social events for us to attend after classes. Lunch hours were packed with info sessions for extra-curricular activities, often with overlapping schedules. And the Law Student Society‘s “Clubs Fair” was surely the end for many of us: from the hockey team to the Law Review, many of us walked away over-committed, as there were simply so many great things to get involved with.

Thankfully, following our first full week was our first full weekend. The UBC Law schedule gives us three-day weekends every weekend, and our first was certainly a godsend. It was kicked off by a giant class social at a bar on Granville Island on Friday night, but many of us spent the rest of the weekend individually re-grounding and re-connecting, getting ready for the times ahead.

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