Written a while ago but now posting!

After spending 2 months at Gallaudet, I’m now finally going home to Florida. It is so strange how times have changed, and so fast too. I can barely remember what’s happened the past few weeks except for class stuff (fortunately!!!) The days and nights blend in together making it harder to remember which day it is. Today is October 16th, the last day of midterms and only one week left for homecoming. And let me tell you…whoo!! Dang, the midterms were pretty tough! It was unlike high school exam week where the teachers would only test on one or two chapters. But in college, they test everything they’ve taught throughout the semester into one test. I enjoyed the challenge though, it was something different. I made a fairly good grade on my government test, which is a huge accomplishment for me. Before, in my senior year, I took college level government class and all the test grades I made were either D or below. At the time, I was having difficulty with life and with school. I ended up failing the government class, so this time, I’m determined to make a good grade on the class and get it over with. I’m actually enjoying my time here in Gallaudet, despite my personal obstacles. It is definitely a great place for the deaf people and the hearing people as well. There is definitely diversity in the deaf community that I never knew of before. Before coming to Gallaudet, all I had known was oral deaf people, low academically driven deaf people, and preppy deaf people. But here, there are…well…let’s just say, the diverse dressing style, personalities, opinions, and social rules that are new to me. For example, if someone has your attention but they wanted someone else’s attention and that person is right next to you. The person would ask you to get that person’s attention for them so they could go ahead and talk to each other. The concept makes sense but in real life, it’s so strange to me to experience that because, I don’t know the proper social cues if I were to tap someone for another person so they could go ahead and talk.

Second week underway!

So with the NSO week and the overwhelming first week out of the picture, I’m finally feeling more settled. The dorm life is hectic…and always will be hectic! But with chaos, comes fun too. So I suppose there’s a balance there! But let’s talk about the class schedule first.

I have…GSR 101 (First Year Seminar), GSR 103 (ASL and Deaf Culture study), GSR 104 (Quantative reasoning with math), GOV 110 (Basic American Government…once again), and PED (swing/latin dance). 5 classes? Not bad. I got waived from GSR 102 (English) because I had taken ENC 1101 my junior year for dual enrollment. I already have 12 hours credit from dual enrollment, so I think that means by the end of this semester, I’d be considered a sophomore. Sweet, right?! So on Mondays and Wednesdays, I have 4 classes (103, 104, 110, and PED), Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have GSR 101. Friday, only GOV 110 and 104. Not bad! I love that about college…Most of my classes are in the morning, and if there’s time gap between classes, I use that time for naps or to study or to socialize. Very nice!

The class I’m currently enjoying is the ASL class because I feel like I’m learning fairly enough about ASL and vlogs and such things like that. Not much has been accomplished yet but our first assignment is on Monday, we’d be doing autobiography vlog. I’m so nervous! ASL hasn’t really been a huge part of my life up until recently, so it’d be interesting to see how it goes for me. The teacher is pretty wicked too! I also am having fun in Government…tough work but very cool people in there.

But as for GSR 101, I’m sort of struggling in it but I suppose I would get the hang of it by next week. The teacher has been giving us insane amount of homework that is graduate school level so it’s like…AHHH!!! But the class talked about it today and so..I assume the teacher realized she was putting too much work on us, so we’ll modify the class course by next week. At college, communication is key if you have a problem. If you don’t communicate, well then when consequences come up, too bad. That’s what I’ve been learning in the time I’ve been here. That’s the major change from high school to college. You are heard as an adult….t’is a great feeling.

Another accomplishment I’m quite proud of is joining the Rainbow Society! Yaaay! I’ve been wanting to get involved with gay rights for so long but didn’t know where to turn to in my hometown. So I joined…competed for Public Relation position…and got it! Public Relation is basically advertising through internet, posters, word of hands, and etc. So basically, this position would force me to get out and meet more people as well as come out of my shell.

I have a feeling this is gonna be a great year, even with the challenges and frustrations I would come upon…but that’s all part of the journey, right?

New student

Well, hey yall! I’m gonna start with some background info and then go on with my adventures at Gallaudet.

My name is Morgan Eastman, I hail from the good ole Florida. I graduated from FSDB in the spring of 2009. Really, I was in a mainstream school from sophomore-first semester of senior year, then transferred to FSDB. Freshman year, I was in FSDB. But anyway, I love to do photography, study cultures and the people, meet, try out new foods at local ethnic restaurants with friends, and more.

I have a hearing family with history of hearing loss after 40s, but I’m deaf because of genetic “blessing”. So from the age of 2, I got an implant on my right ear. All was good up until my 7th grade year when it broke. It took me and my mom three months to figure out that the internal implant had broken, so I had to go get surgery to replace the implant on my right ear. At the time, there was an uproar in the cochlear implant community about bilateral implants. So we figured….why not? If we could get insurance to pay for everything, then why not? It was a scary thought at first, but I suppose mom and I knew that it would really pay off at the end (and fortunately, it did!) Anyway, so we convinced the insurance company to pay for everything…I got it done on my dad’s birthday. First, they replaced the right implant and then added the left implant. It was a long surgery and it took a long time to recover but now I really appreciate having bilateral implants.

Having implants has not stopped me from having deaf pride. I love being deaf. I love being able to hear. I love being able to sign in my native language. Being deaf is a blessing to me. Ever since being at Gallaudet University, I’ve started to really appreciate the diversity of language methods, hearing levels, and different signing skills. The international students just make Gallaudet a lot more fun place to be at! And the best part? The campus is in DC!!!!

The honors program retreat was very interesting. I had mixed feelings of dread, not wanting to leave Gallaudet….but I also felt excitement to meet new people there. And I ended up having a pretty good time! I learned a little bit about the expectations from the program, and Joshua Swiller’s book on Africa, and how putting a group of leaders can lead to loooong debates (hehehe, always fun to watch)

It’s going to be a very entertaining journey of emotional development, social development, intellectual development. And the fun part is you guys will get to read it all!