I had forgotten the length of time it takes to research for an essay and to write an essay. It brought back memories of the time over 20 years ago when I first studied. Despite the fact that I have over 20 years of teaching experience I felt like a novice again, and was continually questioning my abilities. I found that you really need decent slabs of time to read and do some serious preparation (which is not easy working and having a family). I did spend a lot of time thinking and processing in my head what I had read and what I wanted to say. This was in addition to the time that I had spent actually sitting and working on the task. Lots of new discoveries about learning and about myself in the process.