Snow!

With only two days left I woke up to the most amazing beautiful snow this morning. Everything was covered in white and it has been snowing since last night; I have never lived somewhere that snowed so I am very excited!

I also dyed my hair last night, which I have never done before! I decided I should take advantage of having a friend here who is a cosmetologist and try it before I leave. Its just a couple shades darker but I really like it! 

Everything is starting to wind down here, finals are over, schedules are less busy and people are already starting to leave. I am very lucky to be in DC for a week without anything I need to do, we have been to the Christmas tree near the capitol and the one by the white house. We have been on adventures around the city and trying to take advantage of our final days here. I leave on Saturday and my friends start leaving tomorrow. It is crazy to think that our time here is almost over, it almost doesn't seem real. Just as it did not sink in when I was leaving AZ to come here, it does not seem like I only have two days left here in DC. I have really enjoyed my time here and would not trade this amazing experience for anything. I have a lot of exciting opportunities to come home to, but I will definitely miss both the hearing and deaf friends I have made and the community (and beautiful campus) here at Gallaudet. 

So now I am just trying to enjoy my last days at Gally and in DC. I really like the city, especially the public transit. There is so much to do and see that after four months here I have yet to run out of things to get excited about. 

Here are a few pictures of my last couple days here:

waiting for the shuttle bus I think

Jill, Reema, me, and Sarah in front of the national christmas tree by the White House

Daniel and I in the snow! (not today)

Jill, me and Reema "workin it" on the way to Eastern Market

Reema, me and Daniel 

I will write another blog entry next week updating you all on my flight home and my adjustment to speaking life. I will also try to post some pictures of the snow from today, there were about 2 or 3 inches! So do not worry, this is not the end of my rambling blog entries. 

Thanks for reading!!

Kaleena

new sign of the week: impressed/impressive

most used phrase of the week: what are we doing tonight?

Two weeks...

Yes, I am a bit late in posting this entry, things have been pretty busy after Thanksgiving break. I only have two weeks left here at Gallaudet, and only one week left of classes so things should definitely start winding down. It is crazy to think that I have already been here for so long, and I will be back to constantly warm Arizona shortly. Speaking of temperatures, it is in the 40s every day here, which is definitely cold for me but I really hope it snows before the 18th! I love the snow and would love to live somewhere (even shortly) where it snows! And my friend Reema just told me that it might snow tonight, a 30% chance :)


It is hard for me to think back to before I was here at Gallaudet. I have matured so much through this experience and am so grateful to have had this opportunity. There was a time when I was, of course, afraid to travel to a new city, be immersed in a new language, and not know anyone around me. Proving to myself that I am able to survive and thrive in this situation has allowed me to learn a lot about myself and what I am able to do. Being at Gally has shown me just how important ASL is to me and how much I want to incorporate it into whatever I do in the future. 


Something that I realized when I was at home for Thanksgiving, is that I really take for granted the environment here. It is a unique opportunity to be able to constantly communicate in the language you are trying to learn; you pick things up more quickly, and are constantly forced to practice with every conversation that you have. In fact, I learn so much so quickly here that I didn't even realize how important that was until I went back to Arizona for Thanksgiving break. Although my family and friends fully support my interest in ASL, they do not know the language and I feel like once I return, I will not be able to have conversations in ASL that are constantly challenging and expanding my knowledge of the language. Although anything will be vastly different than the all day every day practice I have here at Gallaudet, I hope that once I get back to ASU, I will be able to find people in the deaf community who I can just have conversations with to help maintain and further my skills. 


Since I will be back so shortly, I am trying every day to take advantage of the opportunities here, and will keep you all updated on my last weeks at Gallaudet!


Before publishing this post I realized that I don't have any pictures or videos from this past week to upload to keep your interest! So...I will post this picture of Lost. I just recently started watching this show with my friend Angelica (who has seen it before), and we're pretty obsessed. If you like mysteries I suggest you check it out, there is always a lot of crazy stuff happening!

Thank you for reading :)
Kaleena


new sign of the week: a new sign for 'jealous'
most used phrase of the week: are we going to the Rathskellar (a late night bar-type restaurant on campus)

Thanksgiving

Hello!

So I waited until today to write a new blog post because I surprised Briana for Thanksgiving!

About a week after I arrived at Gallaudet for the semester, my dad bought me plane tickets to fly home for Thanksgiving. I originally thought I wouldn't be able to come home because of the cost, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to visit my family before the end of the semester. Since getting my tickets three months ago, however, I have kept my trip a secret from my girlfriend, Briana. My family and friends helped me keep this secret even while she visited me in DC. As it got closer to the break, I had to come up with a story of fake plans and an excuse for why I spent four hours not talking to her while I was on a plane. Although I was very stressed about how all this would go, I successfully kept it a secret and when she thought my mom was going to spend the day with her, I showed up at ASU on wednesday to pick her up. We got to spend the day together and go to the dog park, where she took these cool pictures!!

It was great to see how happy she was, all day she could not believe that I was there! But it was so hard for me to keep it all a secret, especially when it got closer to the trip I had to be careful with everything I said. It was all worth it though, and we had a great day together yesterday. There is nothing like seeing all the people you care about after such a long time!

Since I have been able to relax since surprising Briana, I have had a very nice Thanksgiving! :P My grandparents came to eat with us before they leave for China in December and it was good to spend time with them before they left. After eating we went on our traditional Thanksgiving hike on the mountain by our house, and then we just saw the movie Megamind! It was funny, I think my whole family liked it.

It is very weird to be here, using cars instead of the metro, and having everything pretty much the same as when I left. And no signing. I definitely miss practicing my ASL every day and want to take advantage of my three weeks left at Gallaudet and with my new friends when I get back on Sunday. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and happy birthday to Bradley on Saturday!

:)

Kaleena

new sign of the week: i learned a different sign for the word 'impossible'

most used phrase of the week: Happy Thanksgiving!

A Tough Week

Hello people reading my blog!

I have felt somewhat stuck with my ASL this past week. I have been improving at such a fast rate up until now, and this week I saw just how much I still do not understand. There have been a couple times during classes this week (or the end of last week) when I could not get across my thoughts. I know all the signs of what I wanted to say, but for some reason I was not able to place them into a coherent sentence. Another thing I have become increasingly frustrated with, is my fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is an integral part of American Sign Language, using ASL handshapes to spell words borrowed from the English Language. Deaf people are, of course, very skilled at both reading and producing fingerspelling and it is often hard to understand them. For hearing people it is often difficult to produce smooth fingerspelling, and lately i feel like this has been more of a problem for me than usual. I don't quite know what the reason is for my frustration with my signing, I would like to think that it is because i have improved so much since my arrival here that I am now able to pick apart specific things about my skills, but I am not sure that is the case. All I can do is keep practicing, using my ASL as much as possible and soak up all of the good signing habits and deaf culture I can. And I will make sure to do that during my limited time left here in DC.

Nothing extremely exciting has happened this past week, my friends and I did get to go to a free chocolate sampling in Dupont Circle. We felt pretty fancy (or at least I did) and free is always good for college students!

I did get a new sign name this week. Although I do still like my original sign name, this one was given to me by one of my friends and has a much more personal meaning. I made a video in ASL to describe what it is and how it was given!

English Translation:

Hello everyone, thank you for watching my vlog! Hopefully you remember my last video when I introduced my sign name. My old sign name was (name sign). This week, my friend Damien(name sign), Damien (fingerspelled), gave me a new sign name. Damien is always teasing me, and I always tell him "oh stop it". This motion means "stop it" or "finish". Damien noticed that I always use that motion when he is teasing me and decided to give me the new sign name, (handshape K in the exaggerated finish motion with one hand). So my new sign name is (name sign)! Thank you!

I hope you all enjoyed my video and blog this week!

Kaleena

new sign of the week: cover

most used phrase of the week: when is it due?

Briana!

This past week my girlfriend, Briana came to visit me in DC! I had a lot of fun introducing her to my friends and showing her what I have been doing here. We did a lot of sightseeing and eating and just hanging out.

On thursday afternoon Briana got here and we all went out to dinner and a club for my friend Angelica's 21st birthday that night.

On friday we went to the smithsonian american history museum and walked around the national mall, which I always enjoy. We also ate at my new favorite restaurant in DC, Vapianos. I have been there probably four times so far, it is always my first suggestion because it has really good pasta. :) That night we also went to one of our dorm room dance parties so I could show Briana what we do on the weekends.

me and my favorite statue lady

briana at the navy memorial

On saturday we went to the Newseum, an entire museum of news! I have been before with my dad, but it is impossible to see everything at one time. They also have a lot of amazing photography stuff which Briana really liked!

my amazing photography skills

On sunday we went to Georgetown for cupcakes! We also ate crepes, shopped, and walked by the water there. I always love going to Georgetown, its very cute and fun to just walk around. We also met up with Briana's friend Derek that night for dinner and got to catch up with him.

Briana's picture skills of our yummy cupcakes

by the Potomac river

Briana and I by the Potomac river!

Monday we just hung out and relaxed on campus, I gave Bri a tour of campus and she taught me how to use her fancy black and white camera. I even have a black and white roll of film of my own that I need to develop. I hope I am a good photographer!

But that was pretty much my week...it was great to see Briana again and to have her come out here and support me in DC. My time here is ending so quickly...it is hard to think that it was so long ago when I felt like my time here was going by so slowly, and now I only have about 6 weeks left. I hope I am able to make the most of it :)

kaleena

new sign of the week: shrimp

most used phrase of the week: are you going to play sims?

Restoring Sanity and/or Fear

This past weekend was the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on the national mall as well as all of the halloween festivities. I had been awaiting the day for quite awhile, I'm surprised everyone put up with my excitement! Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central were hosting the rally(s) and they are both very funny and clever. There were about 100,000 people expected and it was packed when we got there about an hour before it started. One of the first things we were very excited to see were the signs...these fans are very clever and since the rally was not about any one specific issue, there were so many different topics to draw from. Here are some of my favorites, which Angelica took:

I just thought this was a cool picture Daniel took at the rally

Once we found our way into the rally we were surrounded by people, and it was very hard to see. We tried to make our way closer to the stage as a group, but it is hard to get a line of five people anywhere in a crowd of what we later learned was 215,000 people. Or as Stephen tweeted, 6 billion. Eventually we decided to separate with the goal of reaching the ASL interpreters at the event. By luck, I made it to the interpreter section of the rally but without my friends. Because there were so many people at there, our phones didnt get good service if any at all. Although we weren't all reunited until after the rally ended, I had a great time. There were so many special guests there and both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were great. Most of the rally was very lighthearted and comedic, but Jon Stewart did wrap it up with a great speech about bipartisanship and the importance of working together. The whole experience was very exciting and it was inspiring to be around so many people who were excited about the same things that I was.

Saturday night we went to the homecoming bash here for halloween. We all got dressed up and my friends Daniel and Angelica put together a lady gaga costume for me in about an hour...it was impressive.

Angelica's picture of me as Lady Gaga

The bash was pretty cool, although it is hard to dance in heels :) The music wasn't loud but it was very base heavy, we could feel everything. On sunday, which was real halloween, we got dressed up again and went to Georgetown where people go to walk around and show off their costumes. It was insanely crowded, we felt like we were at the rally again! But we did go to visit the stairs where the exorcist was filmed and took some pictures.

our group on the exorcist stairs!

Other than that I have just been getting ready for Briana to get here tomorrow...I'm not quite sure exactly what we will go see or do but I'm sure I will have plenty of stories for my next post no matter what we do :)

Kaleena

new sign of the week: towel

most used phrase of the week: how are you?

Friends

When I was first thinking about coming to Gallaudet, I was afraid of being in a new place alone, having trouble connecting with deaf people and not knowing how many visiting students there would be. But since arriving in August, I have been pleasantly surprised by how well I have connected with people here.

I have always had trouble making close friends; not to say that I dont have friends, I know so many great people and am so thankful for the friends I have made. But it is often hard for me to make new friends in new situations. Since coming here I have not had any of the negative "hearing" experiences some people promised me. I have met so many nice people and this school is so small that chances are if you meet someone, you will get to have many more conversations with them around campus; It seems natural here to have a conversation in the hallways with people from my classes. It seems ironic that it is much harder to meet friends at a school with 60,000 people than one with 2,000 but it has proven to be true. Going out with friends from school on the weekends, movie nights, and dance parties are things I never enjoyed at ASU. Being here so far has shown me how important it is to be meeting new people and make the effort to hang out with friends and I need to do more of that at ASU.

Both my parents got to meet my friends, my dad dropped me off so I didn't know anyone as well when he was here, but when my mom came to visit she made the comment that I seemed to just fit in here. I think that it is funny that I connect better with people at a school where I communicate in ASL a lot of the time. Although I don't think it as much the place as the people here. I have gotten the opportunity to meet some pretty cool people here and make some good friends both hearing and deaf. I have a great roommate who stays up late to talk about how crazy life is, and friends who always want to hang out with me. Nothing that exciting happened this week, so I thought I would post an entry about some of my thoughts about experiences here. Oh and my friend Daniel also introduced us to the show Pretty Little Liars yesterday, and we are all pretty much hooked. This week is also homecoming week, halloween and Stephen Colbert's rally so I'm sure I will have plenty of new exciting adventures to write about next week!

Reema, Angelica, my best friend the Cat in the Hat, me, Daniel, and Jill

at the Book Festival

Thanks for reading :)

Kaleena

new sign of the week: cheat

most used phrase of the week: what's up?!

My New Name

It is customary in Deaf culture to be given a sign name. Because many names are long to constantly fingerspell in ASL, deaf people are given a sign related to their personality and signed in the handshape of their name. It is a name unique to the person, and when you introduce yourself you fingerspell your first name and then give your sign name. Although people will know your full name, they will use your sign name in every day conversation. If you are hearing, a deaf person who grew up in deaf culture should give you a sign name when they know you well enough or feel like they can give you one. Last week, I met a guy named Bradley and after introducing ourselves, I told him that I did not yet have a sign name. He asked me about myself and what I like to do, and after I told him he gave me this sign name.

In the video, I say "Hi, my name is Kaleena(fingerspelled) Kaleena(name sign)". My name sign, the letter K brushed against the side of the chest, means that I like theatre. The ASL sign for theatre is using both thumbs to brush both sides of the chest, and by changing the handshape to a K and using one hand, it becomes my name!

My family was very excited to learn that I had a name sign, because it can be seen as a symbol of being included in the deaf community.

Other than that, my week was filled with midterms. I did not exactly stay on top of everything I needed to do, which left me with some pretty late nights/early mornings. But in the end, I got everything done and had a pretty lazy weekend. We did go to the Eastern Market today which I think is the oldest flea market. It was impressive. They have jewelry, fresh produce, and even funnel cakes! And they do it every weekend.

My friend Angelica's boyfriend is here visiting for the next few days and although he is pretty hott, I am definitely looking forward to Briana coming to visit in November! It will be exciting to see her again and show her around DC; it has been so different without her living right down the hall, but she has been taking good care of Tucker (my dog) for me and I have been missing them both quite a bit.

Hopefully this next week will be pretty relaxing after a crazy one last week, but I will keep you all updated. Have a great week!

Kaleena

new sign of the week: bar

most used phrase of the week: not true!

mommy!

This week my mom came to visit!! She got here on Tuesday and got to see Gallaudet and meet my friends here. It was so fun to see her again and I was proud to show her around DC! She did a lot of sightseeing on her own and with my aunt Christi who came down from New Jersey during the week, but on friday I (did not) skip class and go to Alexandria to spend the weekend with her.

We had a great time visiting the city on Friday and Saturday, and staying in Alexandria at night; a nice break from dorm life. We got to go to the Holocaust Museum, eat crepes, have free Georgetown Cupcakes, meet up with family and see the Vietnam War Memorial.

On Sunday, my mom and I had the day to ourselves. We went to Mount Vernon, and even though the bus took quite awhile to get us, it was fun to visit. Although, we both agreed that Jefferson's house was cooler than Washington's. And in honor of his cool house, we went to his memorial! There is not a metro stop next to it, so we had to walk a lot to get there, but we got to see both his and FDR's memorials which I hadn't seen before. But by the time we were done, it was raining and we needed to meet my friends for dinner. So we took a taxi, which just happened to be driving by and we actually flagged it down...like we were naturals. I was impressed! And we got to dinner just in time :)

My mom left on monday and we got to tour Ford's Theatre before she left but it was pretty weird seeing her leave and not going back to Arizona with her. Here are some pictures from her trip!!

At Gallaudet (Chapel Hall)

My Mom and I at Mount Vernon

Next week I have midterms; that means I am just about halfway through my semester here at Gallaudet. At first my time here moved so slowly, never in a negative way but it felt like every week was a month. But I guess those weeks added up because now halfway through feels as if only a week has passed. My time at Gallaudet is proving to be a great experience; I have met many new friends, taken new classes (even Chemistry!), and started to understand deaf culture.

And I was very excited to tell my Dad something I just realized today: I do not translate what I want to say in to ASL, I simply sign it. Instead of thinking a sentence in English and then thinking how to sign it in ASL, I just sign my thoughts. Although I do still need to translate what other people sign into English in my mind, I am pretty excited about this small improvement. I don't know how long ago this happened, but it is not something I could do upon my arrival here at Gallaudet. These are the kind of experiences and improvements that I came here for and would have not had in such a short time back at home.

Thanks for reading!!!

Kaleena

new sign of the week: spicy

most used phrase of the week: what did you say?

pictures!

Let's see...this entry will have some pictures in it, because apparently some people think that blogs are boring without pictures! But first a couple things about my week...

on Friday a bunch of people (including me) went to a deaf poetry slam. There were a lot of people there - I think it was sold out! But it turned out to be more of an open mic night than a poetry slam. There were still some pretty cool performances and it was interesting to see so many people I recognized from Gallaudet show up to the same place.

Saturday we decided to go to the National Book Festival. It wasn't a fair, there weren't any funnel cakes. So that was a disappointing start, but we did get to watch an interpreter there (they had an interpreter or two for every speaker or event), get some free stuff including temporary cat-in-the-hat tattoos! We also had time to make a quick visit to the air and space museum. We rested on some grass and taught my roommate Jill how to do a cartwheel, which are where most of these pictures were taken.

Daniel checking his pictures!

Reema!

Daniel and Angelica giving Jill some moral support for her cartwheels

someone said something funny...it was probably me

So thank you Angelica for letting me use your camera to show everyone my photography skills :P

Ok so I said I would answer questions on this entry and I have a couple that people have asked me:

-Is it hard when you want to say something but can't sign it? Yes! I feel like when I am walking with some of my friends, a lot of times we walk in silence because I don't really know how to sign everything I am thinking. It's getting better though!

- is it quiet in class? I suppose so, I don't really notice it because I am paying attention to the signing but it is much quieter than a hearing classroom. The dorms are a different story.

-Are your deaf friends from hearing high schools, and how would that work? Some people are from deaf schools and some people are from hearing schools, if a deaf person goes to a hearing school they have access to services like interpreters or captions depending on the school.

If you have any other questions for me, let me know! My mom is coming to visit me on Tuesday, so I am sure that I will have plenty of awesome stories to post for next week!

I didn't take this picture (Angelica did), but this is me and my roommate Jill!! I thought I should put a picture of myself on here, since it is my blog after all.

Thank you for reading!!

Kaleena

new sign of the week: kidding

most used phrase of the week: what did you say?

Let's Try This Again...

On Sunday I stayed up very late, into Monday morning, to finish writing a blog entry about my past week. But as soon as I was finished and hit the "publish post" button, my entire entry was deleted. So I hope you are able to forgive my late post for last week!

My week (last week) started off with an email. About a month ago, I had come upon a contest put on by Phoenix PRIDE and OUTday. The contest was to write your coming out story in 1000 words or less. I had used the topic of my realization of my sexuality for my college application essay a year and a half ago, so I didn't even have to write a new paper. I edited this essay down to 1000 words and submitted it. And then a month later, I received an email congratulating me for being one of the top 7 winners! As a winner I would get to read my story at OUTday in october in front of 500 people, I would get to meet the celebrities taking part, and I would get to ride in the gay PRIDE parade in april. However, I will not be in Phoenix in October, and since I would not be able to take part in those events, I was disqualified from being a top 7 finalist. Although I will no longer be a finalist, it was nice to be recognized.

On Friday, I volunteered for the first time at the Child Development Center here at Gallaudet. It is essentially a daycare, providing instruction and play time to little kids...ages 1-5. And I worked with the youngest kids, the 1-3 year olds. Many of the teachers are deaf and those who aren't, sign to the kids almost all the time. It was very interesting to sign with such young children, asking them what color something is or if they liked what we were playing. All of them are hearing, but many of their parents are deaf, and most can use ASL very well. If they are sad they will sign MOMMY instead of say it, and they all know their simple name signs. I will be volunteering there every Friday and it will be interesting to interact more with them using ASL.

On Friday night, we made our first attempt to go clubbing. There was a huge group of us, both deaf students and hearing visiting students that got all dressed up to go to a popular club in DC. It was discounted and we were all very excited to go. However, slowly our plans had to change. In order to ride the Gallaudet bus at night, you need your Gallaudet I.D. which about 10 of us didn't bring. So the group that went in the bus got to the metro quickly, got to club and were waiting in line. The group of 10 however, had to walk to the metro. The station is quite close to the school, but once we were there, the metro was severely backed up. We waited for the trains and in stuck trains for about an hour before we got to the club (normally a ten minute ride). Once we were there, everyone was already inside and the line was down the street. Instead of waiting for hours, the (now 5) of us decided to go to another club that someone had recommended. However, once we got stuck back on the metro heading to the new club, we made an executive decision to give up on clubbing for the night. Instead, the 5 of us went to McDonalds and had some late-night snacks. I hope we have better luck next time!

Saturday was Gallaudet's first football game of the season. A few of my friends and I went to the start of the game, and although we only stayed for about 20 minutes into the game (my friends are not big sports fans), I did notice a few changes from any football game I have seen before. First, the cheerleaders signed the national anthem, and during the game they did choreographed cheers but did not say or sign anything. The Gallaudet coaches were speaking and signing to the players, which made me think of my Uncle Matt! And finally, the other (hearing) team's fans seemed to be completely terrified to speak while surrounded by so many deaf people. And it was crowded-many Gallaudet students were there, so many that when I tried to come back to watch the game later, there weren't any seats left!

This entry is proving to be pretty long, so I will try to condense the rest of the weekend. Also on Saturday, a few of my friends and I went to the mall. We had to take the metro to get there, and in DC there are some of the longest escalators in the world. Im not exaggerating, the longest working escalator in the world is somewhere in the DC metro. We had to go up one of these escalators to get to the mall, which would be fine except that it was broken. People were walking up this broken escalator you could barely see the top of. We started walking, and although we had to pass many people who had stopped to take a break, we finally made it up about 15 minutes later. There were many stores at the mall, but like true college students we only actually bought anything at Target.

On Sunday I got to eat lunch with my cousin, Christine! She goes to George Washington University, and since I normally only get to see her once every two years, it is great to be living so close for the semester!! We had plenty to talk about from our first few weeks of school, and I'm excited about some possible road trip plans in the future! :)

Only about 5 days until my mom comes to DC to visit me, and truly see what I have gotten myself into here at Gallaudet! We will be doing a lot of sightseeing, and I will finally get to go to the Holocaust Museum which I have heard is amazing!

I will update the blog again this weekend, even though this entry is so late from last week, so if you have any questions about Gallaudet or deaf people or me or...anything, let me know or post a comment and I will answer them in my next blog entry this weekend!!

Thank you all for reading this even though it is so late...don't worry, I will get back on track :)

Kaleena

new sign of the week: function

most used phrase of the week: what's that?

Zoo and dancing

Last weekend was pretty exciting, on Saturday my visiting student friends and I went to our first Deaf dance party. I was expecting a lot of signing, of which there was actually very little, but didn't know what else to expect. The party was held in an apartment-style dorm room and they surprisingly fit some huge speakers, a DJ and about 30 people in the room. People came and went and the flashing-light doorbell was sometimes distracting to me since i am not used to it. But the party itself was great, loud because many hard-of-hearing and deaf people can hear lower registered sounds, and can of course feel the bass. But everyone was having a great time, and almost everyone was a great dancer!

We also went with a bigger group of friends to the zoo this past weekend!! In DC almost everything is free, the zoo included and the National Zoo is also one of the only ones with pandas! I'm sure we didn't get to see half of what was there, but we did see birds, reptiles, elephants, cheetahs, and of course the pandas! They were very cute :) Then all of us went to Georgetown and some of us waited in line for Georgetown cupcakes. I have to say, the cupcakes were amazing and I know how to navigate the metro system pretty well now!

The week was not that eventful, I did change one of my classes. I am now taking child psychology instead of interpreting. Although both professors are hard to understand, I find child psychology much more interesting and I am excited to add onto the psych 101 class I took last year. I am also taking an ASL III class to learn the most I can about the language.

This weekend will be a little different from last, as most of my friends are going out of town already! But I will hopefully be able to get some homework done, and spend some time outside. It is only 78 degrees here today, I love this weather!

I feel as if I have been here for months already, although it has been only a few weeks. I miss everyone from home, but I am having a great experience and truly enjoying myself here. Have a great week everyone, I will update you all on mine next week!

Kaleena

new sign of the week: development

most used phrase of the week: what are you doing?

First Classes

This week was/is my first week of classes. Last Tuesday, I arrived at Gallaudet with my dad and started using my ASL. I had a few days of orientation, and met my roommate and the rest of the Visiting Students. My roommate Jill and I get along well and its nice to be able to talk(voice) in our room after being bombarded with new signs. I felt like 2 months should be over already, not two weeks. But I have not had the huge let down that I had been dreading. There is definitely a culture shock when coming to a new environment, especially one so dramatically different in its very nature. My hearing friends and I are slowly getting used to these changes, there are times when we walk in "silence" because we do not know how to put all of our thoughts into signs just yet.

I am taking 4 classes (which isn't a lot, I know. But I also have a lab!) All the classes are taught completely in ASL of which I am understand more and more. Some people are easier to understand than others, just like in English when some people use more slang than others do. Here are my first impressions of my classes--

Chemistry Lecture: This class has only 7 people in it!! That's a big change from my 450 person classes at ASU, but the important information is all on the PowerPoint and in the textbook, so I won't miss too much even if I can't understand the teacher.

Chemistry Lab: I had this class for the first time today, it is once a week, but for THREE HOURS! I actually really liked the teacher though, he is very nice and very easy to understand. There are 5 students in the lab, and since it is a more interactive class, it is a much better environment in which to practice my signing than lecture.

Theatre: This is a great class. The teacher is pretty difficult to understand, but he is a great storyteller, and uses his entire body to sign. The class is officially called "Introduction to Gestural Communication" and our first assignment is to express our name, hometown, favorite food, and favorite hobby without using ASL, English, or writing. It is such an interesting idea and I am so excited to learn more of what my professor is already so good at, and bring this new way of communicating to all the theatre I do.

Linguistics: This is officially called "Sign Language and Sign Systems" but it is a linguistics class and that's what everyone calls it. This teacher (and most of the other students in the class) are easy to understand, but my eyes hurt after paying attention to so much information. It definitely felt longer than the hour and 20 minutes it is, but we are exploring very interesting concepts such as "what is a language". Oh and there is a girl in my class with a service dog who looks just like a black version of Tucker (who is my chocolate lab) and it makes me miss him very much.

Interpreting: My interpreting professor graduated from ASU with a justice studies degree, so I already like him :) The class is very full, which means more than 20 people here. I am not quite sure what I think of the class yet, an interpreting class could be a very interesting opportunity, so we will see!

My mom comes to visit in about a month, and I am planning to see my cousin Christine (who goes to George Washington University) sometime soon! So far all of my experiences at Gallaudet have been positive and I am so excited to continue to expand my ASL knowledge.

I have done a bit of sightseeing with my dad, and will do a bit more with my mom, but if you know of anything I should definitely do while I am in Washington, DC let me know!! I would always love more suggestions :)

Kaleena

new sign of the week: lettuce

most used phrase of the week: see you later!

Packing!

I have spent the last few days packing and getting ready for my trip on Tuesday. My dad is going with me, and I am only allowed 3 suitcases! Although I have been pretty efficient, it is much different packing for a trip across the country rather than a 20 minute drive to Tempe. I am sure that I can survive without all of the stuff I bring with me to ASU, but it definitely feels weird to have to sort through to find what I really need. But that isn't nearly as difficult as packing for the fall and winter in D.C. I have never lived anywhere with seasons before, and I don't own any winter clothes. I have been on ski trips before, but I can't really go around D.C. in ski clothes in November. So for the past couple weeks, I have been looking around for things I need and have come up with what I think will be warm enough (and stylish enough) for a D.C. fall. I am extremely excited to spend time in D.C. and especially someplace with changing seasons!

Although I am leaving so soon, it has not quite sunk in with me just how much time I will be away from home, and just how much I will miss everyone in Arizona. Briana and my family (my mom especially) have all started getting sad and not wanting me to leave. Although I cannot imagine leaving them as well, it seems more like a week-long vacation in my mind than a semester away from everything I know. I just hope when it sets in, that it is not too hard of a hit to take.

I will keep you all updated on my first week in D.C. and all my orientation events once I get there! Thanks for reading :)

Kaleena

24 days...

Hello Everyone!

It is less than a month until I leave for the fall semester. I have never been away from Arizona for this long, never away from everyone and everything i know. It is a scary thought, to live in a new place with a new language. At the same time, I know it will be a great experience. It is exciting to live in a new place where no one knows you, if even for a few months. I know that I will appreciate the people I love more from being away, but I will also learn new things about myself to bring back to them. I have never been to Washington, D.C. and seeing as I love visiting historical things, I am really excited about seeing the city. The scariest thing is the Sign Language. Although I have taken two levels, I still feel unprepared. I have heard that when people are immersed in a foreign language, they learn it quickly out of necessity. I am counting on this and my love of the language to help me learn quickly enough to be able to understand my classes (which are all in ASL). My roommate seems great, she is also a Visiting Student and is hearing so we can help each other with our ASL. She is very accepting and is from New Jersey, she has never even been to the west coast! :) but she is very nice and it's nice to have someone I will already (somewhat) know going into this experience.

I leave Arizona on the 24th and move into my dorm room on the 25th. I have about 4 days of orientation before classes start on the 30th, but during those days I will also have time for exploring with my dad (who is helping me move in). Since I have never been to D.C., I have been given many great suggestions of places to visit and things to see. It's been hard to remember all of them though, so if you have been to D.C. and have a suggestion of something great to see or do there, I would really appreciate comments with those suggestions!! It would be great to have an inside scoop about the city before my trip.

I will also try to post a blog entry once a week about my experiences once I arrive, so please check back when you can to see what I'm up to. And I would love to hear from everyone while I'm away as well!!

Thanks for reading :)

Kaleena