This year we won’t be running a fall semester course for the first time in six years, as I decided a month ago that it was time for a sabbatical.  My apologies to all of you who applied only to have the course postponed for a year, but it was time for me to take some time and focus on family (new baby in the house, son starting school, etc.).  We’ve had a long run of extended semester courses (14 in a row) and it’s time to take a break for a season.  Think of it as the break between the end of stage 1 and the beginning of stage 2.

As a result of running 14 semester courses, I’ve learned a lot about how people learn and how much they can assimilate at one time.  By casting the critical eye of a pathologist upon our programs, I’ve also seen what hasn’t worked as well, both for the students and the instructors.  There is no teacher like experience, and the second generation of our long term programs will take all of this experience into account as we design the new courses, and plan the new trips, coming in 2010.