Everyone has a different experience in their first year of law school. I spent a lot of my first year comparing myself to everyone else. This was the biggest mistake I made. Someone will tell you that they were in the library all night until close, but will never tell you that half the time they were binge watching Game of Thrones. The best thing I learned was to do my own thing and not worry about everyone else.
That being said, as the saying goes: “First year, they’ll scare you to death; Second year, they’ll work you to death; Third year, they’ll bore you to death.” In a way there is truth in the saying, but its all what you make of it. The style of teaching and new way of thinking is something you've never experienced before. On my first day of my 1L year an older student told me that at the end of the year I will think differently. I laughed it off as the opinion of someone crazy about law school, but he ended up being right in some ways. When you come out of your first year you have a new way of looking at things, although your own experiences still shape your opinions, you have a more critical and informed mind.
The horror stories about the dreaded
Socratic Method are . . . true. At least to the extent that its still alive and well, although its definitly not as bad as in the movies. Even if you feel clueless, (I know I did) everyone is in the same boat with you. No-one will remember that you got the answer wrong and on the flip side no-one will remember if you go it right. Everyone is so focused on not being called on that they could care less about someone fumbling over an answer.
A post done by a student a few years ago summed up perfectly what it is that you learn. She said "you’ll be introduced to the language of Legalese, a mixture
of made-up words and archaic Latin phrases; you’ll be asked to figure out how a
myriad of seemingly unrelated cases culminate into a legal idea; and you’ll have
to combine problem-solving with ethical considerations to decide how you would
wear the shoes of a lawyer." Allison Roso. In a way that complex statement can be summed up to mean, you won't get it the first day, but at the end everything will fall into place.
At the end of the day the work will get done and you will live to see another day. Make sure you keep a balanced life. Watch tv, go to the park, eat good food and relax every once in a while. Although grades are important, It won't be what you look back on in 5 years. For me law school will be remembered by that time a girl in my class helped me pay for my Fall Ball ticket and later became my very best friend; the time when my friends and I spent to much time in the library basement that we ended up discussing in detail a fictitious country we will rule in the future; and the best was that time I decided I'd go on a softball trip (I'm not athletic at all) and it lead me to a group of friends that will last a lifetime. 