It really sunk in after we sorted through the myriad of administrative emails and news updates: our experience in the MSL Program, at the Northwestern Law School, and in the city of Chicago would never be the same. We suddenly found ourselves Zoom-ing through our last quarter, in an unprecedented way, with the heavy support of reliable Wi-Fi and headphones.
At first it was bleak. The self-isolation in our apartments, and the daily updates of students moving home, morphed Chicago into a gloomy grey space – no longer looking like the bright city we had happily called our home-away-from-home. However, just as we started to feel the effects of increased silence and social isolation, there came an abundance of support from MSL classmates. Whether it was Gio’s virtual happy hour, Eric’s “social-distance” friendly party(s), or, Justin’s morning coffee check-ins, we soon found ways to stay just as involved with each other as we had been before all the changes. It became easy to see that this pandemic was affecting all of us in different, but overlapping, ways.
With every technical difficulty a professor had on Zoom, or purple letterhead email controlling our academic fate, there was also an array of messages from classmates, GROUPME’s, or Netflix party extensions inviting us all to watch a man from Oklahoma and his exotic cats.
Our everyday routine had metamorphosed from seeing each other in the hallways of McCormick, to seeing each other in virtual breakout sessions. What used to be a glimpse of our classmates’ personalities through in-person interaction had become a glimpse into their personal living spaces, bedrooms, and kitchens.
Our week used to start off on Monday morning with the Health Regulation class. We still have this class, but it no longer starts everyone’s day at a leisurely 10:00 AM – now, west coasters have class at 8:00 AM; folks on the east coast are getting ready for lunch when class meets, and classmates in China are in this class when the midnight hour strikes. After class, we have a quick break before we are back on Zoom for a 3 hour class on Business Torts, followed by our group discussion on the different scenarios presented in the Business Torts class. (Again, quite a chore for people in other parts of the world.) The rest of the week is similar, with Project Management in Regulated Industries on Tuesdays, Business Combinations on Wednesdays, and Regulatory Compliance: Product Approval and Lifecycle Issues on Thursdays.
Between classes, we have group meetings for various classes (over Zoom, of course) or we have Zoom calls for the different student organizations that each of us is involved with. Besides some technical difficulties around screen sharing and self-muting, the day-to-day rhythm has remained pretty much the same – booked to the minute, filled with class activities, group projects, and extra-curriculars. The only thing that differs is that we no longer need to change out of our pajamas or even leave our bedroom to do most of these activities. This does have its benefits; because we have to schedule so many calls and meetings with classmates who are scattered all over the world, I think it is safe to say that most of us have become experts in world time zones.
Although logging onto Zoom for a lecture is no longer as bizarre as it was at first, it is still hard to wake up every day and realize that we aren’t going to be walking through the halls of the Law School as MSL students.
We still struggle with all that is lost and gone – for example, our graduation ceremony – the celebration of completing a journey together, as a cohort. At the end of the day, we all are dealing with the same disappointment, anger, frustration, and sorrow, but we are working hard to not let this detract from the MSL experience we all worked very hard to have. Despite the changes, we have come together, to support, to initiate, and to ensure that we remained just as involved and driven as before – whether that means scheduling group meetings that are mindful of the different time zones, sending each other links to different Zoom calls, organizing virtual hangouts or check-ins, and even sharing funky Zoom backgrounds to keep the mood light and fun.
There is an “us” in virus (h/t Andrea Solis) and it only took the MSL cohort a short bit of time to find it. Don’t get me wrong… this situation still sucks, very much. No amount of memes, Zoom jokes, or virtual FaceTimes can make this situation fine or normal again. But I find comfort in knowing that there are about 180 MSL-ers who have my back, just like I have theirs.
