AmandaOT

First Day of School

So. I went to school today. I only made one wrong turn getting to school. I got on the 101 instead of the 10 where the 101, 5, 10, and 110 all smash together near downtown. Oops! No biggie. I left at 6:45 AM for my 8:00 class. Even with my detour, I got to campus at 7:15. What did I do for 45 minutes!?!?! I walked all over the daily park lot looking for a ticket dispenser that worked. One in the whole lot. Pretty crappy. Then I walked around campus because I couldn't remember where the building was. So I got there at 7:15 to show up at class at 7:50.

Today I signed my life away to get grant funds for school. Then I paid my tuition and got my student ID. After lunch of California rolls, we started learning something. Today I started learning Human Guide Techniques. I learned how to lead a blind individual through open spaces, close spaces, and crowded rooms. I also learned how to make basic and about face turns. I learned how to take a person through 4 kinds of doors: open away and to the left, away and to the right, open toward and to the left, and toward and to the right. I also learned how to cue someone to switch sides during guiding in different circumstances. We learned how to navigate elevators also. That was less than 3 hours of training. Tomorrow we learn stairs and begin leaving the building. Apparently, one of our practicums will require that I am blindfolded and then I am driven to a location (still blindfolded). Then I will have to navigate myself back to a designated location (still blindfolded). For anyone that knows me, if I survive that, my instructors deserve an award. I can't find my way around with vision. Yay!

All in all it was a good day. I came home, did my reading, and bought plane tickets. I didn't find myself overwhelmed today, however, it's my first day. We'll see how I feel next week.

posted by amanda @ 10:41 PM