When I first entered law school back in 1999 (ok guys, get ready for a pre-historic view on how dinosaurs lived, hahaha), to tell the truth, I did not know what to expect. It didn't help that my father, who was so proud having a daughter reading law, had been telling his office mates all about me. Poor me, sitting there, looking so blank, but blinking profusely, listening to him, "Along, my whole office knows you are reading law. So don't ever think of quitting!" Hmmm... it sure sounded like getting a warning from the Mafia Chief at that point of time, hahaha.
I honestly felt so small after I get to know my coursemates. Majority of them were from boarding schools and half of them had many more As in SPM than I did. Not to mention, I suddenly realized that a handful of them are from families with legal background. Back then, I was so sure that the closest encounter my family had with the law was when we received speeding tickets on the road. None had ever been to court, as lawyers or as the accused, hahaha.
And there I was mingling with friends who happened to be the son of this judge or the daughter of the most prominent lawyer from this law firm and that legal department. Yes, I felt so intimidated. They must have heard about statutes, cases and sections so often that they should have just skipped the Foundation in Law programme. I mean, some of these words would have been mentioned while they are having their family dinner right?
Even though I am now very particular and would make a big fuss if my students use the word statue instead of statute, I myself, did not know the difference until I entered my first year as a law student, hahaha. Sorry guys!
During the first semester, the lecturer would recommend some textbooks and of course, some of my friends can easily just picked any of these recommended textbooks from their fathers' library. My father is also a collector of books and we do have a small library at home but they are mostly related to corporate finance since that is his metier. (Do not ask me why I am having trouble studying corporate finance for my ICSA now despite the fact that my father graduated from this course and taught this subject for years. An apple does fall far from the tree sometimes, hahaha).
An incident that I still remember until now was when I asked to borrow one of my classmates book which of course was taken from the father's library, to photocopy, and lo and behold, the dreaded face I got. Still remember the face until today, hahaha. Well, not a big deal. I dragged my lazy bum to the library and found the book myself. I took it as a challenge, that although I was not born into the legal fraternity by chance, I will eventually prove that I am part of that legal family, by my own hard work.
Second semester in my Foundation in Law. I was told that we had to take Economics as a subject. I know my limit with calculations and I was very worried with this subject. And even after studying all the theoretical parts, I was still in a confused state. I remember once I asked my father (because he holds a Double Degree in Business and Economics), why is the book saying if there are many employees in the factory, there would also be less production. Shouldn't it be more? Since you have many people completing the task now? The answer I received from my father, "It should be less, because with many employees, are you sure they would be doing their job perfectly or would they be chit-chatting with others and start to abandon their job? That's why sometimes, even with many employees, there would still be less production." Ok, I admit, even lawyers do not have this kind of creative thinking, hahaha.
It did not help that I had a roommate bragging everyday that she had studied Economics before, during SPM and she proudly told me, all she had to do now is to translate what she had learnt in Malay to English. So this subject does not bother her much. Hmmmm... If I had a dollar (USD, not RM) for every time she had mentioned this, I would be a millionaire by the time we finished second semester of Foundation in Law.
I was so afraid by this that I would spent all my free time studying Econs. At all times being angry at myself too, "Why didn't I take Econs as one of the subjects for SPM??? I wouldn't have suffered now. I can be like her, she knows she can pass the subject." So imagine my surprise when she told me in Semester 3, she had failed Econs. I was like...what??!!! And her grade was E, not just a mere C- or D+. Me??? Of course I passed! If not, I wouldn't have written this story for you to read, hahaha. The lesson for this is that never under estimate yourself and do not listen to others because we will never know our strength until we try it ourselves!
Entering Semester 3, I was a bit nervous because this was my last semester for Foundation and soon I would start my Degree in Law. By that time, I am already familiar with the word plaintiff, defendant, case law and statutes. We had to learn Introduction to Law III and I really enjoyed learning this subject. We were exposed to real case law and this was when my interest in Law grew, day by day. Remember, I did not choose Law, my father chose it for me.😕
I would spent hours in the library reading cases and I felt like I was so immersed with the parties involved while reading them. You know, reading about other people's life is interesting, hahaha. For me, it was just like reading magazines full of gossips, which is already my forte.😋😋
Unfortunately, I had difficulties learning this subject because I couldn't catch up with what the lecturer taught in class. Well, if he DID teach anything at all. All I can remember was just empty conversations we had in class. To tell the truth, when I became a lecturer myself, I vowed to avoid this lecturer traits in class. It's like, footsteps that you shouldn't follow...😓 It was such a wretched experience.
I passed the ordeal. Well... after hours of crying to my mom on the phone, hahaha. Like seriously! I didn't even know what we learnt in class and because of that I couldn't gauge the area that's important for exam. Luckily, I passed.
*On a side note, if you are a lecturer, please do read my suggestions here (Are you really a Lecturer?), if you want your teachings to be commended and remembered, for the rest of both the lecturer and the students' life!
Waiting for Semester 3 result was full of anxiety. I knew I couldn't lie about my result because my father was part of the university. He could easily confirmed with my lecturers. I mean, I wish I can use excuses like my students give to their parents nowadays, like... "Well, the university decided not to release the exam result this semester due to the NZ shootings" or maybe "The VC said that the system was attacked by virus and hence, all our results just disappear." Oh, how I wish...
The postman came one day to deliver my result. (Yup, during that time our result was posted by the university. You could not check it online like present). As I am writing this, I am thinking that maybe I should have placed a murderous Rottweiler in front of the gate so that the postman wouldn't even think of going anywhere near my house, then my result would not be delivered. Aha! Another excuse! Hahaha.
My heart pounded and made the thumping sound exactly at the same time my auntie was pounding sambal belacan in the kitchen. As I opened the letter, my brain was getting creative in creating excuses to give to my father in case I failed to pursue to Degree that semester, hahaha. Alhamdulillah, I passed! Even Introduction to Law III which I had no idea what I was learning in class.ðŸ˜
Yay! I managed to continue to Degree as planned. So far no subjects repeated during Foundation, hahaha. I was so relieved. Imagine if I had failed, then what would I tell my parents? Errr, not to mention my father's office mates too.😵
So that was the story of me dying during my Foundation in Law. Looking back, I admit that Law was not my first choice for my tertiary education. I just followed what my father instructed asked me to do. My interest and passion for law grew as I was going through the programme itself.
To sum up, do I regret reading law even though it was not my initial interest? No! I love it! And I'm glad that I just followed what my father had told me to do. Ok, don't tell him that...😆♡
0 Comments