Answers to your questions!

Hello!  Greetings from Gallaudet in October!!!!  So far the weather is about the same, days with temperatures in the 70s and 80s, nothing too muggy or too cold.  I am 1/2 way through my semester, and my classes are going well. Last week was my big midterm week so I was buried in work, but now things are a bit better but I still have lots of projects to work on and things to do.  

In my last post I said I was curious what you all wanted to know about my life here in DC at Gallaudet, and if you send me questions I will try to answer them.  So, for this blog I am going to attempt to answer the questions I received.  PLEASE send me more questions, it is a great way for me to know what to tell you about & what you are interested in hearing. 

1) What are classes like?

Classes here at Gallaudet are very interesting. In some ways they are a lot like my classes at UCSD, but in other ways they are very different.  One of the big differences is size.  Gallaudet is so much smaller than UCSD.  I can walk from my dorm on one side of campus to my department building on the other side of campus in 5 minutes.  At UCSD it could take me over 15 minutes to walk to class.  Also, class size: here at Gallaudet my largest class is 20 students, and my smallest class is 8 students.  At UCSD my largest class was in the 300's, and my smallest class was 15.   Another major difference-the obvious one: Language!  All my classes are taught in ASL.  At UCSD I had a few classes in ASL, but here EVERY class in ASL.  My 3 graduate classes are about 50/50 hearing and Deaf people.  The bigger of my 2 prereq classes is at least 75% Deaf, and my other prereq class I am the only hearing person out of 8.  All my classes are signed, which is very fun. Sometimes it gets a bit tricky for me to both understand and attempt to respond all at the same time-but I feel that I am doing pretty well. 

2) How is signing all the time?

If there is any way to increase your skills in a second language it is to use it all the time.  For sure living here has been a crazy experience of signing...in the cafeteria, in class, walking to class, hanging with friends, I am practicing and learning all the time.  It is a very new experience for me, but I am enjoying it!

3) Do you talk, ever?

Yes, I do talk.  There are a lot more hearing people here than I expected, and I do talk with them sometimes.  We try to sign as much as possible, but when I am in my dorm I am not signing 100% of the time, I talk on occasion. I also talk to my parents on the phone. But when I am out and about on campus I am signing. 

4) Do you listen to music?

Before I moved here I listened to music all the time, the majority of my time walking around UCSD I was listening to my ipod.  My roommates and I in San Diego always had music playing in at least 1 room of the house.  Here at Gallaudet I rarely listen to music...what makes me laugh is when I hear a song in a commercial, or in a store, and it gets stuck in my head forever because I don't have anything to get it out with.  I do occasionally listen to music in my room on my laptop--but its a few songs, a couple times a week thing, not an every moment of the day thing like in undergrad. 

5) Do you ever miss talking?

Nope!!!  I love signing and I honestly wish I signed more.  I feel that if I had absolutely no opportunity to use my voice my ASL would improve even more quickly.  Yes, it does get tiring working on a second language all the time, and it does feel great to be able to chat in English with my roommate...but I am here to learn ASL---and am enjoying it greatly!

That's it! If you have more questions for me, just press "COMMENT" at the end of this post and leave some for me! :) Nicole