How To Survive Juridic Park

The short answer? Your goals.

First impressions…that last

So you graduated high school, most probably with a good enough grade given that you got accepted to the great, first of its name, mother of d..  oops, I got a little carried away (only GOT fans would probably get that any way). All I meant was, you got accepted to one of the most prestigious law schools in Tunisia.  And congratulations for that !

You came in the first day, expecting your journey to be one of the hardest you’ll ever face. And so it was. I mean, which one of us, started thinking or talking about applying to law school and didn’t get all these comments about how hard and long the road was gonna be ? Which one of us said the word « juridique » and didn’t get that questioning are-you-sure eye laid upon him or her ? Which one of us came in with a simple wish to find a wild Mike ross galavanting around on campus with a Harvey Specter look-alike as a Professor and just..didn’t.

Not the way we expected it to be !

Although most of us came in expecting the worst, we were faced with what’s even harder and more challenging. Some of us came from small towns where one’s biggest problem was a 10-minute walk home on a rainy day and found themselves struggling with hours of undignifying (yup, I mean that) transport. Some of us came from schools and high schools that were actually bigger and more diverse foundations, to find themselves in the smallest university ever with an architecture that looked closer to one of a psychiatric hospital than one of a university (And I know you heard the rumor, but no, It wasn’t a hospital but a vocational school specializing in mechanics). Some of us came in expecting to find a completely different educational system, you know, one that doesn’t test your memory, but your way of seeing things and reflecting on them. One that looks a lot like miss Keating’s criminal law class with actual thinking and action about actual cases, and found themselves with subjects, the only way one can pass them is by basically learning what the professor wrote by heart, because.. because nothing that can actually convince your logic to be honest, but that’s what « should be done » ..

A full time job

Some of us started their college journey with so many expectations and dreams of becoming a better person, a better citizen, a better version of him or herself by investing in so many more activities and community work, to unfortunately find themselves drowning in TD papers and countless course hours that basically make the student spend most, if not his entire day at university. Courses that shell the student out and make him live and read and study things he can barely relate to. Some of us came in expecting to find powerful conversations around the university about books and philosophies and current events, to find.. to find nothing I’m afraid. To find the majority of conversations to be about passed tests, or coming tests (because that’s all we ever do apparently.. I mean.. 3 weeks of exams.. just.. why ?!) or conversations where one is complaining about how hard his or her life is, with the other responding with an even more depressing answer..

Special in its own way

Most of you readers might be nodding your heads right now, making me feel like Eminem in a Rap gig.. But I’m afraid I’m going to wake you up from your little depression/dream and slap you in the face (very tenderly though) with the truth.

Yes it’s hard being a law student. And yes it’s even harder to be a law student in FSJPST with a system that we all wish that one day will be radically changed. But NO that’s not an excuse for letting go, being lazy or simply not working. No, it is not an excuse to make petty excuses. It’s law school, I’m not saying it’s supposed to be hard just for the sake of saying that, but right now it’s supposed to be hard because we all have so much work to do.. we all have so much forming to do for ourselves and not just wait for a professor or an assistant to give us all the information.

Yes, some of us came in expecting the worst and found it.. but many others came in ready for it. Many others came in well aware of how hard the path was gonna be and that didn’t frighten them at all. Many of us came in ready for all the challenges and predicaments and exited to prove that they can conquer them. Many of us came in as fighters, with goals and dreams bigger than to be jeopardized by a simple transport problem or a simple I-don’t-like-that-professor or a senseless I-don’t-like-the-time or I-don’t-understand-the-language excuse. Some of us came in hungry for law and impatiently waiting to finally be called « jurists » and doing what they aspire to do most. Doing what they’ve always dreamt of doing..

A big dream

We all chose Law school for a reason. And if that reason is strong enough, and if the dream behind that reason is big enough, anyone can achieve it ! No matter how many years it takes and no matter how many troubles we’ll face during the process, we will do it.. I know this sounds so much like a Clinton’s campaign (you choose the gender, they both have the same language anyway) because it’s all pink and dreamy, but that is the truth. That is the truth that most of us chose to neglect because it’s a lot easier to whine and complain rather than to actually get to work (It is a lot, I’m not denying that !). It’s a lot easier to look at the bad and dark sides of things rather than to defy the average and reach for excellence.

All you need is a little organization mixed with a little self-confidence on which, you will add perseveration and decorate it with your beautiful, beautiful dream, and you will then eat your magnificent « I made it » cake and be proud of who you are and what you did and how you did it ! The key to your success is between your own hands and not that of a parent or a governor or a system. No one knows your struggles more than you do. No one can give you an advice more precious and more suitable for your situation, than the one you can give to yourself. No matter how hard your life is right now, or how unsatisfied you are with one aspect or another of it or how much you’re struggling, you can get through it all if you think of strategic ways of surpassing all that and shining above whatever tenebrity laying around you.. And most importantly, if you keep reading my segment on this blog.

See you again very soon !