Getting With The Program

‘True education is the realisation that we know so little’ – Jayesh Shah

I am settling in. Getting used to this new environment. First was the euphoria of passing the pre-bar exam. For me the euphoria lasted quite a while, about 3 weeks. I guess it did for most people. The first week of orientation, I was hardly at my new school. I got sucked into a couple of forums.
I last talked about the internet in a serious way when I had just started my last year of my undergraduate studies. That was during the ICT law and policy elective class. To be honest, I took that class out of curiosity. Like, really, what serious legal principles can there be for me to opt out of this one? That’s what these forums were doing. I was learning in a relaxed and fun environment, one where I don’t have to actually study. And of course, being a knowledge junkie that I am, this got me thinking, ‘I could do this, I could actually pursue something along internet policy while I do my bar course.’ This was starting to make alot of sense to me. You see I had diligently chosen to research on Media law and privacy rights for my undergraduate thesis. And you can see how that merges with internet policies and all things ICT.
That was until about 2 days ago. The reality is, the bar course is a heavy one. Not only do I have to prepare for the weekly workshops, I have to be ready to study the entire topic for the weekly exam and also keep up with the other subjects.
Life is different here. Very different. Not just the whole weekly workload increase. Listen to this: This morning I had my first class which started thirty minutes late. I thought to myself, not so bad for a start. But here I am again an hour and fourteen minutes into waiting and I am stuck. I am used to two operational ground rules: 1. Communicate early enough if you are going to be late or a no-show; 2. If there’s no communication, give a 10 minute wait, no more than 15. But you see that’s really a big issue if you have places to go and movies to watch. Right now, all I have on my mind is how much more prepared can I get by maximising these time lags.
I remember after results were out, one of the key advices I got was, ‘when LDC starts, everything else stops’. For me now, everything else seems to be receeding to the very back. Everything now must adjust accordingly. Over the last week Kampala City Council was celebrating it’s annual Kampala City festival. Normally I would be the kind to stop by and check it out. That does not happen with me anymore. So no, I will not be stopping by.
The thing about learning the law is, you learn alot. And when you’ve earned your degree you sort of assure yourself that you know alot. I dared to think, ‘what more can LDC teach me?’ I guess there are some that, like me, thought so narrowly. Before day 1, I was already bewildered by everything on my plate. But that’s the thing I have come to love about law. The learning never stops. You can not at anyone moment know everything, have everything at your fingertips. There’s always something more to learn, to discover. This gives me hope, that as I deal with the fear of failure, as that fear tugs at me I have hope. That I can learn everyday to love learning and with that commitment carry on to the end. Nothing can prepare you enough for the LDC experience. You just have to live it.

PS: LDC stands for Law Development Center. The only Legal Practice training centre in Uganda.