What I learned from online learning

Chris Girardi says 🥺👉👈 about missing everyone, and highlights how important it is for us all to make the effort to stay in touch during lockdown 2.0.

I’ll say from the outset that obviously my lockdown experience will be TOTALLY different from yours. Yours will be different to your friend’s. Your friend’s will be different to their partner’s etc. We’ve all experienced a whole bunch of challenges and won’t be able to completely understand everyone else’s experiences. This piece talks about our common thread of studying the law™ and hopefully highlights the importance to being there for each other. That said, if you’re keen to write about your experience over the past few months – get in touch with purelydicta@mulss.com!

I think my cautious optimism for Zoom uni has somewhat dwindled over the past however many months we’ve been stuck at home. I can remember thinking that it’d actually be quite good – getting to sleep a bit more, not having to commute etc. etc. And to be honest, I didn’t even end up disliking Zoom classes – no hate, but I actually found myself getting into a bit of a rhythm over semester 1 meaning, personally, I felt reasonably on top of what I had to do. 

What I realised pretty quickly though was that the part of a Zoom seminar I enjoyed the most were the (admittedly somewhat medicore now I look back) memey moments we all had with our teachers. And wouldn’t you know it, then I realised I actually MISSED EVERYONE. 

In particular it made me think of the small things that have made me enjoy being in the law building. Think random conversations in the lift with someone you half remember from that one time you were paired-up for an obscure hypo mid-class, or the awkward bump into someone when you’re trying to wash out a KeepCup after that delicious 10am class break Seven Seeds trip. That’s the sort of stuff that I’ve found I genuinely miss, to the extent that I even found myself ludicrously googling if Seven Seeds deliver, because I actually don’t think I can stomach another minute of this instant shit.

But see, in a way a lot of us, despite difficulties elsewhere, had it pretty good. In having already had a year or so at law school, we’ve been lucky enough to get to know a bunch of people in our cohorts. For me, that’s meant that I’ve felt really supported during this time at home. The same unfortunately can’t be said for a lot of our first years. 

You’re promised a new degree that’s pretty small and will help you meet a really close-knit group of people, but then not 6 weeks after you start, you’re all sent home. And then, on top of that, you’re studying a degree that’s hard and definitely has a steep learning curve in the first few months. That’s tough. 

Obviously the circumstances of that change are not our beloved law school’s fault. In fact, it’s hard to think of ways to ‘soften the blow’ the pandemic made to being able to meet people, particularly when you still have to be taught what negligence is, how to form a contract and what in the actual fuck delegated legislation is. 

I don’t say all of this to point out that some people are having a rougher time than others, but to point that it’s very easy to feel isolated at the moment – isolated from friends, family, baristas (sp. ?). That’s particularly so for people in our MLS community who haven’t had as much of a chance as the majority of us to get to know everyone around them. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer to that problem, but I do have a suggestion. No doubt we’ll all be busy again soon with whatever spicy subject semester 2 has in store but, particularly now that we’ve been at this at home business for so long, it’s so important to make sure you check in on your friends and ask how they’re doing. In fact, maybe even try to make some new ones. 

I was pretty hopeless at that over the first half of the year but thinking back it’s not too hard to imagine how just checking in with someone can really make this whole situation better. So have a chat! Schedule a Zoom! We’ve all got plenty of time…