Training course - day 1

Yesterday was the first day of 4 of our preparation course. It was a good day, but there were a few surprises:
There was a bigger range of people on the course than I expected - some of them had almost finished their home study, only a couple had yet to start and one had already adopted (an international adoption)
A large proportion of the people on the course already had birth children. I knew that adoption wasn't just for people who couldn't have their own children but was surprised by how many were there (probably about 50%)
The course wasn't as intense as I expected. I'd heard people saying that I could expect the course to dig into some quite unpleasant topics and that I was likely to find it harrowing. Although we spoke a bit about neglect I didn't find it as shocking as I'd expected, maybe because I was expecting it and because my life experiences have already exposed me to some of the horrific things that life throws at people. That said, quite a few people on the course commented that they would be in bed by 8 o'clock as the course was so exhausting. In contrast we had friends round for a game night (How do you cope with the stress of the course? Decapitating unconscious half ork barbarians. Maybe not the answer a Sw is looking for!)
It wasn't as detailed as I expected - again, this maybe because we have done a fair bit of reading and are already aware of the effects of FAS etc already (at least on paper)

That aside it was a good day - its nice to meet and chat with people in the same way situation a day to share stories of the journey so far and useful, though shocking, to read some of the children's backgrounds.
We are currently on our way to day 2 - I'm sure it will be just as useful and thought provoking