The MJur/BCL: Saying Goodbye

By Oxford Blogger 2015 in LLM GUIDE Student Blog: Oxford MJur/BCL 2015-2016 on Jul 09, 2016

At some point, we all experience it: the feeling that life is actually quite short, certainly shorter than we imagined when we were young. Well, these days I feel pretty old. My time in Oxford is coming to an end. I will keep the remaining lamentation to myself. Instead, I will reflect on some issues that have made this year especially great. Maybe you young people with all your MJurs, BCLs and LLMs still ahead of you might benefit from this. Let me first start with a commonplace: “It was the people I met here that made this year so wonderful”. But it’s true, they played a huge part in this respect. And Oxford is special here: Due to the collegiate system, you not only meet an incredible number of people, but also from all kinds of backgrounds. In fact, I probably hung out more with friends from college than with lawyers. Second, I am grateful that I was given the opportunity to learn something totally new: rowing. In hindsight, I cannot appreciate enough that I have not only used the year abroad to make academic progress, but also on a personal level. I highly recommend prospective Postgrads to find something that they might have never considered to do while at home – try to stretch your boundaries a bit. To those who might fear for their future employability: Isn’t it a bit cooler to say you learnt how to do Improv / played Quidditch (it is a real thing, guys) / went hillclimbing than to brag about your “Distinction” in Trust Law? To be fair, however, the MJur/BCL gave me the amazing insights into my subjects of choice. I would have never imagined – honestly – that I could be so intrigued by studying the Law. I feel that this year has greatly expanded my horizon even in subjects I thought I knew about fairly well. Should you take something totally unfamiliar to you? Yes, but only if you are genuinely interested in the subject and not because you are afraid to appear boring. I actually enjoyed the more familiar subjects more than the other because I had something to build on. I hope (and I am sure) you all have a great year, wherever you will go. Thanks for following this blog! Many thanks also to those who have given me the opportunity to blog about my experiences in the first place. It was great fun. Best, Lukas or xxx (as the British do, although I am still unsure about the appropriate number of X for the varying contexts)