Reflections: One Year Called to the Bar of England

It was the best of times…It was the worst of times…

As I sat down yesterday, I soaked in the fact that I had been called to the Bar of England and Wales for an entire year. As I reflected on my time on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), I couldn’t help getting emotional because it was honestly one of the most difficult times of my life and I actually survived it.

Many people see the glory in the end result but don’t fully understand the struggle it took to get to that point. This week’s blog is a reflection of some of the stressful times I had on the BPTC.

Visa Issues: The struggle began even before the course did. There are only a few appointments per month to apply for a visa to go to the UK. In order to attend the interview with the British High Commission, my school needed to send a confirmation letter. The school gave me the run around up until the day of the last visa appointment before the semester began. I called and called and the morning of the appointment I got the letter. Obviously because the appointments were that day it was too late to book an appointment because people usually booked those appointments weeks and months in advance. I prayed and went to the location of the appointment anyway. After waiting for a while and seeing everyone else get served, they finally decided to take me in for an interview. It was only God that allowed me to get that letter in time and be accepted in to the interview.

Housing Problems: Moving to Birmingham, I had a difficult time finding a place to stay. I searched and searched for weeks to no avail. It came to a point where I had to stay with a friend until I could find a place. I even went to my school to find out if they assist with finding homes because most schools do and they told me that I was an adult now and I needed to figure it out. Yip, that’s what they told an international student who pays international fees to their institution. Despite the setbacks, I eventually found a place and someone was willing to be my guarantor. It was only God.

Loneliness: When I first moved to England, I adapted really well to the new city and made friends at university and church. However, moving to this new city was extremely different. The people weren’t friendly and it took me a very long time to make one or two friends. I felt all alone and it was a time that took a tolll on my mental health. Eventually, I found a community and made friends on my course. It was only God.

Being the only black girl in a class: I can remember counting how many black people were on the course on the first day of orientation and I could count all of us on one hand. My large group session had people from different races so that was fine but in one of my small group sessions, I was the only black person and they definitely made me feel that way. They would sit together and I would be at a desk all by myself. It was like segregation all over again. I can remember my teacher critiquing me during one of our advocacy classes and they laughed. I dreaded every class I had with them. But I survived. It was only God.

Struggle with Workload: I can remember crying in the bathroom because I felt so overwhelmed with the course then having to pull it together because I had another class to attend 10 minutes after. I can also remember a day I sat in the library with my gigantic Blackstone’s book and as I began to read, the tears flowed from my eyes and I had to go in the bathroom because I didn’t want anyone to see me crying. In the bathroom, I started to hyperventilate how much I was crying. There were many days ahead where the tears continued to roll down. It was such a difficult time but I survived. It was only God.

I could go on and on about the difficult times but the gist of it is that I survived the most difficult time in my life and I can look back a year later and say that I was called to the Bar. Things didn’t always go as planned. I had many struggles along the way but I survived. I made it. It was only God.