Matthew
Touchdown! Greaser!
I filed both directions for my commercial solo xc. I probably learned as much about the IFR real world in that flight as I did in a lot of my IR training even though it was about 90%+ VMC. There were a lot of unexpected ATC instructions, but plenty of time to think them through. And I was the only one there, so I had no crutches. That was an awesome flight, and I realized that I actually had learned something in all those lessons.That's absolutely right. It's not even about the oral. It's the unexpected stuff that happens,
Be aware of that, do more cross countries, hit more types of airports, ask questions, keep your head on a swivel mentally, be flexible, even watch YouTube (find people who seem to know what they are doing (and learn to recognize those who don't), and realize you might never know everything. The learning will come.