Although my first year of law school was difficult, it was also the year I made some great friends and created wonderful memories.  One wonderful thing that Capital did was to make an email group for all incoming 1Ls.  Someone, I’m not sure if it was an administrator or student, created a questionnaire and sent it to all the new students.  One of the first people to respond was Katie Fuller (now Zvolanek).  She said that she was living at Water’s Edge Apartments in Bexley and asked if anyone else planned to live there.  When I emailed her back and said that I was moving into Water’s Edge the next week, she offered to make me brownies.  It was a match made in heaven.  Katie and her roommate Jeremy (also a 1L) quickly became two of my closest friends.  Lucky for me, they were both in the A section!

 

The incoming 1L class is split into two sections, A and B.  It’s completely arbitrary, but whichever section you are in will determine which professors you have for the first year.  I was an A, and that meant that I had all of my first year classes with only other students in the A section.  It’s funny because the sections don’t really matter after first year, but it’s something you will just always remember, whether you were an A or a B.

In your first year your classes are predetermined, and scheduled so that you are typically at the law school from 8am – 4pm during the week.  I think I had a one hour break between most of my classes, which was perfect for doing reading in the library or grabbing a snack downstairs at the People’s Court.  So basically, you are with the other 1Ls all the time, and it’s just very easy to connect.  In spite of the fact that you spend all week together, they are the people you want to hang out with when the weekend rolls around. 

 

Even though I had other friends living in the Columbus area, I spent almost all my free time with my law school friends.  Inevitably, we'd talk about school, but we also talked about everything else. Since the first year of law school is so intense, it can be difficult to relate the experience to anyone else not going through it with you.  Even now it's hard to find a practicing attorney who won't crack a smile and tell you a funny story about their time as a 1L.  Everyone's first year is different but similar at the same time. It's truly a wonderful experience that is tough to go through, but it will provide you with many lasting memories.