It's much harder than I thought it was, going back to school. I've been studying continuously since I can even remember, from kindergarten to the day when I graduated from University. When I started working, I never thought I'd need to write another exam ever again, nevermind waking up in time to make the attendance list.

Now, I'm back to the daily grind, hitting the books before I go to bed, memorizing numbers which, for all I know, will probably be forgotten by the time I wake up. But it all feels so different. It's only been five years, but it almost feels like fifty.

Going to school is a skill, actually. For the older ones here like me, it's been quite a challenge to turn on that tap again. Almost like teaching a dog to do new tricks, it's taking us almost twice as long as the younger ones (most of whom fresh out of university or high school) to absorb a similar amount of information.

But the difference is that we 'old hags' have been through different careers already, and have been exposed to the life of 'working like a dog to make sure the credit agency won't come looking'. In many instances, you can see the malcontent some of the younger students have to the 'things' that are going on here. Taking things for granted, some of them are, when they've never even tasted the perils of unemployment.

I'm not that old, really. And I don't profess to be any smarter than they are. The truth is, I was like that once also, and still am, in some respects. But if you asked me how much this was all worth to me, I'd wouldn't know how to answer it, because I don't even want to imagine what the 'otherwise' is.

So it is our job to guide them through the program, we're told. Ha.

They'll get it on their own. Sink or swim...