Today we went to a panel discussion where a corps member who had just completed his first year told us that at the institute (where I'm spending the next 5 weeks) does not in fact, teach you how to teach. Instead, we will struggle everyday with trying to figure out what the hell we are doing, and we will indeed fail regularly. At that point, the room went silent and we all looked terrified. The moderator tried to lighten the tone and reassure us but at this point it's clear: we're fucked.

On the plus side, everyone is ridiculously absurdly insanely nice. It's strange going back to a setting where you don't know anyone and you're constantly reminding yourself that your first impression is all you have. It's hard to be that self aware all of the time.