Career Change: Wishing I Were Home!

Yesterday, I had the strangest experience - that of homesickness.  Our calendar here at institute is so jammed packed that we barely have time to breathe, let alone miss anything. Yesterday (the 4th of July) was a slightly slower day, with having only a half day of sessions and no school.  I ended up with almost too much time to myself. Due to the amount of work that I needed to get done, I spent the entire afternoon huddled up in my dorm room and quickly discovered that I am really missing being home. Being away for nearly 6 weeks is tough, I can't imagine how people who have significant others and/or children are doing it. Mostly, I'm missing my cat terribly and just in general being able to sleep in my own comfy bed and walk around town, see friends, etc. I know it's not much by other people's standards, but it is my life and it's really, really difficult to be away. And there are more issues than just the homesickness (which is huge in and of itself).  It's also really difficult being around 800 22-year old much as I like them. Additionally, the TFA model is not very well done and there are big gaping gaps in the curriculum that they're trying to teach us, which is why now I'm questioning my decision to do a teaching corps. I spent a portion of yesterday doubting whether I made the right choice, that perhaps I should have gone the traditional route of a 2-year teaching certification, but what's done is done. For anyone considering going the TFA route into teaching, think long and hard about your decision. Yes, it's a quicker way to career change, but it's way harder and much more infuriating than I thought it would be because TFA hasn't really been supplying the tools we need to teach our content area. Although, I now know tons about diversity - not really all that helpful when you're facing 17 students and you're not sure how to teach your objectives for the day. Adding to all of this is the fact that I've gained 4 pounds because of the really bad choices of food available here and that nearly nothing we are served is healthy.  Okay, enough complaints. I just have to push through the next 23 days and then I'll be homeward bound and I'll have to hope that in the fall if I need help in my class, I'll have a ton of experience professionals in the school who can be of assistance. In the meantime, I hope my kitty remembers her mommy. <sniff>

Awww.  What a sweet girl I have!!