'The universe is a big place. Perhaps the biggest.'

Another week flown by here in the good 'ol UK. It's hard to believe I've been here for almost a year. Jesus.

I graduated from college exactly a year ago last month. Unbelievable.

Last night my housemates and I stood in the kitchen discussing what one would call 'philosophical' topics; those mostly pertaining to things we regret doing from this past year quickly moving to things we simply learned from our new environment. The consensus, however, of the one thing we all learned from our year of teaching in MK was that, in the profession of teaching, one cannot expect to be perfect, nor on top of everything at all times. It simply cannot be done. Point blank. I quickly remembered my mentor from my high school rotation telling me that and, even quicker, remembered myself not believing her. How naive was I? I have learned so much from one year alone. The basics of teaching, for one, have become second nature to me (classroom management, to name one); of course I still have much to learn, but that's all part of teaching--once you say you know everything, it's time to pack it up and leave.

Looking back at where we (Sue Hanson's cohort) were this time last year, thinking that we had just conquered Mt. Everest, and to some extent we had, it's hard to believe how much I, and I can assume many others from that group, have learned in this past year. Someone told me, about this time last year actually, that graduating from college was a huge culture shock, largely explaining my spontaneous crying fits for the first month following graduation.