Stranger in a strange land or welcome visitor?

As I sat in my last seminar class, I experienced the strange mixed emotions of both joy and curiosity. On the one hand, I have learned so much from taking a comm studies class and from my new committee member, Steve May. Just when I think I know a thing or two about corporate social responsibility, he introduces a whole host of topics, books and articles that completely open up new worlds for me, which is why I'm back in school. I love that feeling of learning new things and discovering how they fit into my existing framework of knowledge. Even though the class is hosted by comm studies, there were a few of us from the J-School, and they all made us feel like welcome visitors.

There were times, however, that I realized I was in way over my head--I was definitely a stranger in a strange land. When the comm studies students started talking back and forth to each other, I could do nothing more than observe in awe at their level of analysis. In those times, I feel a little lost, but very glad for the opportunity to have taken that journey.