Name: Simon Boendermaker
Age: 20
Year: 4th
Studying: Law
HC Aberdeen has had the pleasure of chatting with this year’s mooting society president and 4th year law student, Simon! Let’s hear about his experience at uni and some advice he gives to those starting out.
HC: Being in 4th year, what have been the biggest struggles you’ve faced throughout your studies?
SB: Thursday morning lectures? But seriously, it has got to be the exams by now. I never thought I’d say that I wanted to go back to doing my A-Levels, but by second year I would’ve loved to have been doing something that easy again. Now that I’m in fourth year I probably spend more time in Taylor Library than my flat and that’s before I’ve even started writing my dissertation!
HC: What advice would you give to anyone thinking about, or beginning to study law?
SB: 100% don’t avoid doing the reading, get into the habit in first and second year because when you get to third and fourth year missing one day of reading takes more than one day to catch up on. Don’t tell the medics but we do actually work pretty hard!
HC: What attracted you to the mooting society?
SB: In first year we were in a lecture and two members of committee came in asking for a first year rep, and of course most of us hadn’t made it to Societies Fayre, so we had no idea what mooting was, but I felt bad so I came down to the front. I’m glad I did though, because since joining I’ve discovered the society is really active socially and has a really accessible committee for first and second years. There’s also some boring stuff about it looking good on your CV and past presidents getting training contracts in London, but no-one really pays attention to that, do they?
HC: What is the best and worst thing about being the president?
SB: The best thing is having a good committee that gets stuff done, if you feel like you can give someone a job and know they’re going to do it without you chasing them up all the time, it means you can put your feet up a bit more! The worst thing is stuff going wrong at the last minute, because all of a sudden it becomes an issue for the president to sort out, so I get to have a mad couple of hours running around with my hair on fire. We usually sort things out though. Usually.
HC: For how long have you been a member of the hockey society, and how often do you usually train?
SB: Training? That’s a thing? Me going to training is about as rare as me not going out on a Wednesday night, but as long as you put a shift in with the 4s boys on a Sunday no-one seems to mind too much. We are very much the social team but that’s probably why I’ve been involved since first year.
QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS
Favourite food: Can’t beat fish and chips
Favourite Aberdeen Nightclub: Institute (is that even a question?)
Pet Hate: Slow walkers
Guilty Pleasure: Made in Chelsea, even without Spencer