The Beginning of the End
I write this from the beautiful NYU Law Vanderbilt Hall courtyard, in my second last week on this amazing campus.
I start my exams in 4 days (!!!) and I finished classes last week. It’s hard to believe!
A lot has happened since I last posted. I finished my classes and my externship, got vaccinated, made many more LLM friends who started in the spring and JD friends, and I was interviewing at a few firms in the US. I’m very happy to report that I got an associate role at a firm last week! More on that in my next post, because I know many of you are probably looking for positions in the US after your LLM.
I went to my first baseball game - Yankees vs Orioles at Yankee Studium, and I had a lot of lunches and coffees in the sun at Washington Square Park with LLM and JD friends.
I took about 1 million photos of tulips and other flowers around the city...
And I was also able to meet with a few of my professors for coffee and drinks (yay for the US’s roll-out of vaccinations!). This might seem trivial, but it’s been so nice to be able to meet professors and my work supervisors at the DA’s office in person for final drinks - it feels like the world is semi-normal again in NY. 🌞
On that note, I just want to take a moment and say that I know that many of you in your home countries (especially India and Brazil) are really struggling right now. Many of the students here have had family and friends that have contracted COVID, and if this is the position you are in, I am truly sorry. My thoughts are with you, and I hope you will still be able to travel to the US to undertake your LLM later this year if that is still your goal.
It’s so strange knowing that my time here is nearly up. I’ve loved this year, but it really has gone by so quickly. And even though I’m so glad I came to start the LLM in the Fall Semester, and I made very firm friends with the small group that started with me, it’s sad leaving our new Spring starter friends behind knowing most of them have a whole semester to go! At least I know I will come visit them, as I’ll still be in the US next semester.
Even the quad has changed so rapidly - from the beautiful magnolia buds above in March, to this equally beautiful summer green of the moment in late April:
Our graduation is coming up in May, and *very* sadly, it won’t be in person. However, you had better believe I will still be getting photos in my cap, tassel, and gown! And we LL.M.s have planned some informal celebrations, especially as we will all be fully vaccinated by then.
I now am going to drag myself into the library instead of procrastinating, but look out for my upcoming posts:
1. How I got a law firm position in the US (in litigation), and what my other LL.M. friends are doing for jobs post-graduation;
2. Making the most of your LL.M. (there’s a million ways to do it, but this will be some tips from my perspective); and
3. Some of my favorite places to relax and decompress in NYC from my year here. 💃
