Amblikai, My experience is that the learning was part of the fun- it is not just a 'tick-box exercise'. Ok, I slightly lied- I found the bookwork hard work, but putting what I had learnt from the books into practice was fun. Of course I had really good instructors too
Why do you think its a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? It doesn't have to be an intensive course. I did mine over 10 or so months, which was often enough that I didn't have to re-learn what I had learnt in the last lesson, but not too frequent that it seemed like a chore.
Good luck, however you decide to do it
