It is done

I sat there and went blank for a moment. The questions stunned me. I was not prepared, at least not in the way that was expected. But strangely I did not feel much fear or apprehension... Just a strange calm, and acceptance of the reality, and just picked up my pen and began to write something.

I had read through the materials, know the facts and deciding factors of major cases laying down major legal principles, but the exam was in essay form, asking us to connect dots where I did not see dots, to provide critical analysis where I sort of skimmed through looking for grand principles and not minute details to be compared and contrasted. And all that material covering aboriginal rights, the "whiteness" of the law, and protections of human rights and freedoms (all the interesting stuff!!) did not come up...

At various points during the exam I found myself just writing anything... Anything remotely related I could pluck out of my notes to fill the pages. The invidulater was very friendly (gay) man, who knitted while he watched over us and smiled every time I looked up. He even gave us a head start as soon as everyone was in the room. The exam can be harsh, he said, and he'd like to help balance out that harness.

I left the exam room, in Vancouver Public Library, feeling down. But it did not get to me as much as it normally would for some reason.

Do i realise what this exam really implies? Is it I've somehow become so complacent I don't really care about this? If so, why am I doing it? Why am I putting myself through 10 more exams for a recognition to practise a profession I'm not even sure I really want to practise? Or perhaps the knowledge that I only have to pass (50%) is enough to 'assure' me that I don't really have too much to worry about?

Within minutes of leaving the exam room, I was hauling my suitcase on the crowded streets of downtown Vancouver. It's such a bizarre feeling. I know these streets yet I've never lived here.

Just two years ago I first came to the city to transfer on my way back to Montreal. And now it has become like a focal point of my travels, and I think this is probably the five or sixth time I've been here. This city has somehow an attraction in my life, and that attraction does not seem to wane.

By this time tomorrow I will be gone, but I know I will be back here again very soon.