I am just starting to settle into the daily routine here at Middlebury at Mills.

Fourth year class is the most advanced level here at the “undergraduate” level and class time is very tough. We use Al-Jazeera clips as our listening exercises, newspaper articles as reading activities, and the last half-hour or so is spent in class discussion over various topics. Tomorrow I get to look forward to discussing the effectiveness of the UN. Needless to say I am already having to psych myself up for class and am trying to control the feelings that come along with academic insecurity.

It is revitalizing, though, when I consciously notice my improvement. Every Wednesday evening all students attend a lecture that is usually given by a guest speaker or a member of the faculty. This week my professor spoke about the Koran. Though I am accustomed to his way of speaking and it was the first, and therefore easiest, lecture of the summer, I was encouraged to notice that I understood the entire lecture.