Some dreams never go away. They just wait for the right moment to come true.<\/p>\n
More than 10 years ago, I came to the U.S. from Venezuela, where I earned my law degree. Throughout this time, I\u2019ve had the opportunity to work as a paralegal, always hoping to practice my profession here someday. For different reasons, I hadn’t had the opportunity to go back to school until, as it is said, the time finally came.<\/p>\n
The first step: getting past my fears about applying<\/p>\n
I started looking for the best options for me and found the University of Houston (UH), where I learned about the opportunities it offered for foreign-trained lawyers.<\/p>\n
I decided to pursue the LL.M. in U.S. Law because I saw it as the ideal and most comprehensive option for gaining a thorough understanding of the U.S. legal system.<\/p>\n
One of my first obstacles was thinking that the admissions process would be too complicated, that I\u2019d have to gather an overwhelming number of documents and answer endless questions. But the reality was completely different.<\/p>\n
Everything went much faster and smoothly than I\u2019d imagined. I simply gathered the required documents, submitted my application and took the chance.<\/p>\n
Then came the wait, with all the nerves and mixed emotions, until I finally got the news: I\u2019d been accepted!<\/p>\n
I was so excited that I wanted to go out right away and buy my notebooks, pencils, and bag. But at the same time, a question kept running through my mind. What will it be like to go back to school at a university in the U.S.?<\/p>\n
The beginning of the adventure<\/p>\n
And in the blink of an eye, the first day arrived.<\/p>\n
Feeling excited and nervous, and having barely slept, I got up to go to the university. When I arrived and walked through the door, I met people whose stories were very similar to mine.<\/p>\n
They were foreign-trained attorneys from different countries and cultures, each with their own dreams. Being around people who could understand my journey was one of the many ways UH made me feel welcome.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just your classmates. Everyone at UH makes you feel like you belong from the very first moment. It feels like your new family. Even before the LL.M. officially begins, you can see the university\u2019s real commitment to preparing you for this new journey. They give you tools from day one, including specialized preparatory courses and orientations to help you get a very clear idea of what\u2019s ahead.<\/p>\n
You might ask, isn\u2019t it normal for a university to help you? Maybe once you\u2019ve started, but I\u2019m talking about the support you receive even before you begin. It made a huge difference for me. I felt that I already had an institution that fully understood our needs as foreign attorneys and wanted to give us everything we needed to succeed. And the best part is that this support doesn\u2019t end when classes begin.<\/p>\n
Community, professors, and your constant companion<\/p>\n
As I got to know my classmates better, I realized they had the same fears, doubts, and concerns I had. Little by little, you build relationships with people who will become your support on this learning path.<\/p>\n
Then, it\u2019s time to meet the professors and learn their teaching styles. Sometimes, because of what we see in movies, we get the wrong impression that there\u2019s a big distance between professors and students. But something that has pleasantly surprised me is how approachable they are and how much they truly want to support you and help you progress in your learning.<\/p>\n
If I could give just one piece of advice to anyone about starting this journey, it would be this: Always keep your syllabus nearby! Believe me, it will help you stay organized, review, and know exactly what\u2019s coming next. It\u2019ll practically be your best friend!<\/p>\n
Getting involved in university life<\/p>\n
UH also encourages you to fully take part in university life. It\u2019s not just about going to class and spending long hours studying; there is hardly a day when there isn\u2019t something interesting to do on campus. There are constant invitations to gatherings, talks, and panels where you can explore and learn about new areas of law, connect with new people, and hear advice firsthand from lawyers, judges, professors, and graduates who have so much to share about their professional journeys.<\/p>\n
My LL.M. journey is just beginning, but I can already say that it has been an experience of deep learning, peace of mind, and confidence. No one says it will be easy, but I\u2019m certain it\u2019s not impossible either.<\/p>\n
Because, in the end, UH doesn\u2019t just teach you to understand the legal world: it teaches you how to find your way in it.<\/p>\n
Addys Rojas Villegas is a Venezuelan foreign attorney currently pursuing an LL.M. in U.S. law at the University of Houston Law Center. She has a particular interest in corporate law and is working toward her goal of practicing law in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some dreams never go away. They just wait for the right moment to come true. More than 10…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-471427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}