I remember dreading my first day at law school. I don’t know anyone and there was only 10 months of studying to look forward to.
I arrived at school thinking I was late but it turned out I was early. It was a hot day and I was getting grumpy because I have been walking back and forth the corridor trying to find the classroom but to no avail.
In front of the door of a room that looked like a converted storage space was a thin girl with long straight hair. I was about to ask her if she knew where room 13-O is but someone bumped into me. The “bumper” was a curly-haired girl who looked like she was totally familiar with the place. She loudly said goodbye to some guy who looked like an upperclassman. I don’t remember much about what happened next except that other people started coming and that I somehow figured out from the conversations around me that the storage looking space was to be our classroom for the rest of the semester. I was disappointed. The place was dismal.
To take my mind off the dismal place, I tried to have a conversation with the thin straight-haired girl but she responded to my questions with clipped answers and I somehow got the impression that she doesn’t want to talk and so I decided I better shut up. And besides, I wasn’t much of a conversationalist, I had probably bored her. But I am a good listener and the curly-haired girl was talking non-stop, I decided I’d listen to her instead.
We were the first ones in the room and we get to choose where to sit. I chose a seat near the wall because I was planning to be inconspicuous. The thin straight-haired girl who was now talking to a pretty looking girl with very white skin was seated at the next row. The curly-haired girl sat beside me, and I was surprised that she was still talking. It was obvious she was excited. I remember envying her the enthusiasm. At that moment I would have gladly exchanged everything just to feel anything aside from the dread I was feeling.
The place started to fill-up and I started boy-hunting but only two were worth looking at and so I abandoned the activity. I remembered being annoyed at a couple (a Chinese looking girl and a cute-looking boy with a somewhat broken nose) at the back because they were a little bit noisy.
Then the facilitators were there and announced that public introductions were necessary. I remember listening attentively to everyone, observing the people who would be my companions for the next 10 months. A tall guy in front who was openly gay, a girl who was a bit too small and who reminded me of a former classmate, a mature looking woman who looks a lot like a second cousin of mine, a girl with a weird name that sounded like a greek alphabet, a man in slacks and polo and a girl with a scarf were the only ones that caught my attention, probably because they were different.
Then I remember nudging the curly-haired girl when I heard the girl with a big front say she was from UST and was a Psych major. True to form, the curly-haired girl at the earliest possible opportunity started chatting her up. She included me in the conversation and then I found out we had common friends and we all got fascinated by the connection and then before we knew it we were talking continuously. And just like that I made my first friends in law school.
I remember thinking that if I get to spend time with people like them then perhaps I could learn to love law school.
That was the only day that was slow, every day that followed was fast, busy and filled with stressful recits to prepare for, numerous cases to read, thousands of pages to absorb and hundreds of provisions to memorize.
And I know I wouldn’t have made it through each day without them.

After 10 months of being buried in law school books, photocopied cases and post-it notes I am here writing a very long blog post and crying like a baby because it’s the last day of school and I am going to miss them terribly.

So here’s to the shared laughter, the many sleepless nights, the beauty talks, the cam-whoring moments, the bad recit days, the mean girl comments, the kart-racing nights, the corny jokes, the go-go balls, the impromptu foodtrips, the spontaneous activities, the failed going-out plans, the political lectures, the many presidential debates, the KFC meetings, the dinners and lunch at Mcdo, Mang Inasal, Chowking, Jollibee, Mang Pepe’s and first Strip, the FB addiction, the pouring out of love problems, the helping out during recits and exams, the Gabriel-stalking incidents, the many overnight at Meg’s, the numerous nonsense conversations and the countless text messages.

Thank you guys for making the 10 months bearable!
I’ll see you next sem! =)