It's alright. It's not really cool to talk about this stuff with non-magic users back home, but I think this place might be a major exception to the rule.
When I went to school we had to memorize so many circumstances per spell. For instance, if I do what's called Dempsey's Silent Thermogenesis but don't take in account that it's seven in the evening and not seven in the morning then I'll use the wrong word to indicate it and call upon a power dependent on the sun being in a particular position in this particular part of the Earth's hemisphere on that particular day and month and season.
It took five years to be considered a master of the basics and one discipline of several disciplines that exist and that isn't even touching on the fact that one could certainly create their own spells and have to figure out the best way to utilize the energy conversion so the spell doesn't backfire or eat up the energy or cause it to spiral out of control and swallow you whole.