By Joyce Bun
My only international travel started on June 21st. So pretty recently. I joined Lex Fellowship because it was a unique study abroad program, one I hadn’t hear of before blending law and studying abroad. I took on the London and Washington DC multi-country program to 1. Better understand law in a global context, 2. Travel outside the United States, and 3. Delve into the programming of the study abroad to reference/keep in mind for future pre-law activities.
Already in on the 3rd day of the program (London is 5 hours ahead of Eastern time so it’s been a doozy trying to balance texting, calling, and managing student organizations’ meeting amidst my time in London), I feel I gained so much. The itinerary itself wasn’t too bad; weekends were free for you to explore. But during the weekdays is where the fun is.
From the different law firms, case law readings, LSAT questions reviews and workshops, city tours, court hearings, I found myself delving far more into what law is like in an entirely different context and infrastructure than in the US as well as seeing it in practice in the UK versus the US. It feels both very disorientating in that it’s a lot of information at once per day but also enlightening because I know I wouldn’t have gotten to personally explore these topics and these fellows and attorneys without this program. And especially thinking of my cultural environment, I definitely think it’s a whole new community. Multiple at that.
From the fellows (all of whom are new to travel which excited me since to be honest I didn’t want to be the only one left out on that regard) to my city managers to the legal associates to the attorneys to law firms, each one felt like a different community I was shadowing. Not walking in on, but observing and shadowing because I got to ask questions, take notes, engage in coffee chats. It felt more than just walking in a tour and expected to just watch. I got to know these people, fellow undergraduate students and more in a deeper way than I would’ve thought of. Easily, this summer redefined how I viewed community because it was such a hands-on experience and an international at that too.
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