Initial thoughts about practice training

Cable cars in Jakarta

After all that hullabaloo of law school, I think I should be pardoned when I say that starting work at the law firm has been an anti-climax. It takes more skill navigating round the people in the firm than the law itself, which I suppose is saying something about how anti-social this long break from any sort of interaction with so-called strangers like customers or new associates has made me. Or maybe anti-social is not the word. I still did meet up with friends and acquaintances during this time after all. I wonder if working life is lonely for everyone else too, despite the intense chatter in the office.

I am -learning-, which is a good thing. But not very comforting, since everything new is a learning experience, and it's only been about two weeks. I feel constantly that I am searching for something, that I think will make everything I'm doing make sense, but for some reason I doubt that everything falls into place magically once you are called to the bar. What worries me more is that I'm right about it.

I suppose not everything is bad about not being on holiday. For starters, I'm probably working a lot less than other counterparts in bigger law firms, so I really shouldn't complain about being exhausted. My new friends are down to earth and unpretentious. They have gone out of their way to include me in stuff like lunch plans and gym membership plans and the like, which is a kindness I definitely do not deserve. The after-work drinks on Friday went well, and I could see myself speaking to most of the people there on a more-than-colleague basis. I'm not sure if these things melt away only after some alcohol though.

In the meantime, I'm trying not to be the stereotype new lawyer that devotes her entire life to passing the bar and whatnot. I'm finally taking up driving and hope to be vehicularly mobile by the end of the training period, and also finally learning sewing so in a few months the problem of not having enough clothes to wear will not be something that affects me any more.