N is for novella

Novella - n - a short narrative tale.

I hope that you all had a good Christmas and I wish everyone who reads my latest novella a very happy New Year. I would have also included 'prosperous', but that's taking things a bit too far in the current economic climate!

Well, I came back from London yesterday a little bemused and a lot relieved that the first study weekend of 2009 is over. The workload for last month was huge and I just about got there with it all, but BVC is throwing up all sorts of surprises. I crashed and burned in both Conference and Advocacy and would like to say that I took the tutor's criticisms firmly on the chin, but what with all the homework and hard work I've put in, I didn't and instead committed the most cardinal of sins - arguing with the teacher. Today on reflection I realise that it would have been wiser to have kept my big mouth shut, but they are (or were) my favourite/best subjects and I was hoping to do quite well.

On the other hand, I received the results for my mock Legal Research paper and passed! I had expected a 30% - 40% mark, but did quite a bit better, so I'm hoping that the real thing will be okay. I also had my first Drafting classes and the second class, taught by the head of Civil Litigation, was incredible, so much so, that I actually quite like drafting now. Although I believe that teaching skills can, to a certain extent be acquired, truly great teachers are naturals and just instinctively know how to get the point across and instill confidence in the most nervous and hesitant pupil(s).

So today is a time for reflection (and sorting out the mountains of washing, mucking out Bar-Os's stable, sorting out my chaotic house and drinking coffee), to take stock of what I need to do studywise in the next 4 weeks and to then panic because it's all getting a bit 'real' now. BVC carries with it a total of 13 assessments and a few hidden/continual assessments too, so from now on, each month will include preparation for some sort of test. Legal Research is first (at the end of January), followed by the first Civil and Criminal MCT at the end of February. My Legal Research paper is once again on Family Law (everyone gets a different subject) and I'm unsure whether this is a good or a bad thing, time will tell, but at least I'm vaguely familiar with the topic - sort of...

As a mature student I need to do very well in BVC in order to stand a chance against the 'young uns', when it comes to pupillage. In a funny sort of way I'm really pleased with the outcome of this last weekend, not least because it appears that academically, I'm not quite as thick as I first thought. I have classmates who (unlike moi) have received the very, very best of British education all the way through their lives and at times the thought of keeping up with them is, quite frankly, daunting, but I'm hanging on in there and by sheer hard graft hope to do quite well. I think that I have relied on the Advocacy and Conference a bit too much because I'd assumed that they would be the ONLY subjects that I could be good at, but it seems to be the case that I can be quite good at the other subjects too if I graft really hard.

My group are worth a mention, cheesey though it sounds, they are all extremely nice and are such a diverse bunch that it makes for a really interesting mix of personalities. I'm very fond of all of them and it was really good to catch up with everyone and have a collective moan about BVC. With much of part-time BVC involving solitary, distance learning, it's very re-assuring to discover,when chatting with the others, that everyone has the same or similar difficulties, doubts and 'blonde moments'.

Anyway bloggers, all this chatter won't buy baby a new bonnet, so I must get some work done.