I should admit that I did not think PFF would bring me much in my academic/teaching life before I joined it. I thought it would be like those routine seminars and presentations. However, my experience with PFF proved what I thought was wrong.
To begin with, the PFF introduced me to an environment that is completely different from my studies/teaching at the department. I feel this environment is like a family. Together, we go to the partner institutions and attend meetings and conferences. We have discussions. We give presentations. We share our knowledge and experiences. We provide solutions. I should say that this different environment is not only enlightening and informative but also entertaining. I have been inspired and impressed by many things from PFF. Here I give only two examples.
The first example I would like to mention is my presentation to the PFF fellows and to people at our partner institutions. Though I have 9 years of teaching experience, I should say this presentation has left me with particular things. I spent more than one week collecting relevant information about my presentation. I read old newspapers. I talked with the professors at the department about some issues that I did not understand or with which I was unsure. I discussed with my colleagues how to organize the presentation and what I should put in my presentation. I rehearsed it. After I presented it to the PFF fellows, I got many good suggestions from them. Also, I found many places in my presentation that I had to modify. I rewrote many parts of it and then I presented it in the partner institutions. Since this was a new environment, I got new feelings and experiences that I would not have had in the department. I still found many places that I had to improve. The lesson I got from this presentation is that there is always room for improvement.
My second example is the mock interview held by the PFF. I felt quite nervous about job interviews. I did not know what questions would appear and how the interviewers would ask them. Through the mock interview, I got the solutions to the questions and my nervousness was relieved. What is more important is that I benefited from it when I was interviewed. Thanks to the mock interview, I got a job that I like.
I should conclude by saying that if I knew the PFF was so good, I would have participated earlier. I hope my experience will help others not repeat the same thing.