Lonely at the Top

*Warning: this is a distinctly "moany" post. Proceed with caution*

As another of my friends gleefully announces that he/she is moving to Thailand/having a baby/getting married I can't help but wonder why I feel like my life is at a stand still. I am a 23 year old woman, succeeding at most of the things I am putting my efforts into, and yet I still can't help but feel like I am stagnating. 

It made me wonder whether this could be one of the big downfalls of pursuing a career in law. After all, even if you don't take a year out, you study everything full time, and begin your TC immediately after you have completed the LPC- you still have 4 years of study before any sort of gainful employment. As most of you will know, I have had a year out AND I am studying the LPC part time so for me that has been extended by 2 years.

On top of that, of my lovely friends from school only 1 of them decided to go to university. So among the 11 of them that I still regularly see, I often feel like the odd one out *cue teeny tiny violins*. They all have 5 years of career-ladder climbing, house-buying and relationship-progressing on me. 

When one of them announces the next big event in their lives we all "ooh" and "ahh"- clearly understanding the importance and magnitude of these huge life milestones. But their days of exams and lessons and late night cramming are all but a distant memory so that when I proudly announce I passed the latest round of hellish examinations, they congratulate but can't really understand what it means. When I moan about TC applications, work experience and the neverending pile of work to be done- they all nod in agreement but can never turn around and say "ohhh I know- what a nightmare!"

At university, I had distinctly separate groups of friends. Uni friends. School friends. It worked out perfectly. Now that my uni friends have all graduated and sadly gone back to their original homes, I am left with a group of friends in which my role is "The Student". 

And the LPC has not yet helped to fill this void. Being part time, the vast majority of us commute and have jobs sandwiching our 1 day per week in attendance. We text, email, FaceBook- all the usual long distance forms of communication, but I still miss the regular face-to-face contact with students! 

With the LPC having most of it's study outside of the classroom, I spend a good 20 hours per week alone, in silence, reading and taking notes. With breaks this can amount to almost 3 working days!! I am genuinely worried for my future sanity.

I wondered if any one else studying law feels/has felt like this? Where the only thing that seems to be progressing in your life is the LLB or LPC? And if so, is law a lonely pursuit? 

To sum up todays moan:

• I have been studying for almost 5 years and am utterly fed up
• I have been perpetually 'broke' for almost 5 years and am utterly fed up
• My contact with real life human beings has been so reduced that sometimes, after a particularly long and lonely studying session, I can be found checking BBC News for word that the apocalypse is upon us... and I am utterly fed up.
• The thought of marriage and babies right now makes me want to run screaming for the hills... but  if I have to be bridesmaid/godmother one more time.... you get the picture. I am fed up. 

Bring on the glorious 9-5 working week I say.