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I flew a Cessna 172 for the first time yesterday. The flight had two other firsts, my first flight with the local instructor and my first flight out of the local airport.
Middlesboro is in the middle of a bowl, and that's even more apparent when you see it from above. Taking off from runway 10, unless you have a very fast climb, you need to fly a very tight pattern or you're going to run into a hill. I understand why the airport doesn't have lights and it's listed as "no night operations".
I was really surprised by how heavy the control forces were. Most of the flying I've done with the C-150 I did without adjusting the trim through the whole flight, and I could still control the airplane with basically fingertip pressure. I have to haul back on the yoke pretty hard on the 172 to get it to flare right. That took me a couple of landings to get used to; the first one the instructor had to grab the controls so that I didn't bang the nose gear down hard.
I did pretty well in my flying. The instructor had some notes for me and things to correct, but nothing bad.