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As we welcome a new semester and most excitingly, a new cohort of you guys from all over the globe, I thought I’d like to peek into my Pensieve and share with you all how my first ever lecture at uni went.

Mind you, this was about two years ago so my memory of what truly went down has become pretty blurry but I’ll try my best to piece them together as accurately as possible.

I don’t quite remember what I felt as I woke up and got ready for my first day of classes. I’m pretty sure it’s a classic mixture of nervousness and excitement. Actually, maybe I was more nervous than anything because my first ever lecture was led by a lecturer who made quite an impression on me during our induction day.

I remember he had told us that he wants us all to be fully prepared before every lecture because he will cold call us to answer his questions. This I remember quite clearly because it got me spending the whole day prior highlighting and reading through every page of my required reading. I don’t even think I’ve been as thorough and focused on my readings as I did on that day!

So with some knowledge of the law stored in my hippocampus and a spring in my step, I walked past the Barr Smith Library and Ingkarni Wardli to the Braggs theatre where my lecture was to be held. I had to scan my card on the reader to enter but it wouldn’t let me in for some reason so naturally, I panicked because classes were going to start in a couple of minutes. 

Thank goodness a girl saw me struggling and helped me in – turns out she was also in the same class! I was so relieved that I met a wonderful classmate right off the bat, saving myself from the trivialities of choosing a strategic seat. Charged with the unspoken solidarity of being clueless first years, we sat together in the theatre and got to talking. 

I’m quite sad we never really got the opportunity to hang out enough so a bond could be created given that a couple of weeks later, we went into lockdown and never shared a class again. I hope she’s doing well and if you’re reading this by any chance, I hope you know that I’m eternally glad you were one of the first people I met in law school!

Anyway, the lecturer walked in, and everyone quieted down in an instant. Somehow, seeing a law professor rock up to class in cargo shorts and a t-shirt helped calm my nerves. Then the lecture went on and it wasn’t even that scary. I mean, it was an introductory lecture anyway, so we didn’t have much content to cover yet. I think he did ask some questions, but I never got picked and even those who did and got them wrong didn’t face the humiliation of their life as my brain told me they would. 

I walked out of that theatre feeling good and hopeful about my journey in law school. I had survived my first lecture! Two years and a load of getting answers wrong in classes later, I still haven’t faced that horrifying humiliating moment my brain kept telling me I would face if I made a mistake. Trust me, I did embarrassingly bad on my first moot practice and that wasn’t even as horrendous as I thought it would’ve gone. 

I know as first years you might feel the same way. Man, I still feel that way sometimes even now! Just remember that everyone else is in the same boat as you are and that no question is a dumb question. Trust me, there were so many times I was so thankful for my braver classmates who would ask questions that I was too afraid to ask.