A New Language and Culture

 I know these last few posts have been college related but please bare with me for at least one more post (although I can't promise that I won't write about college again). To make this more interesting I thought I would give you more insight in to the school which I attend. While I won't tell you where its located I will tell you a little bit about why its unique (actually I bet you will be able to narrow down what school it is).
  First off, I've mentioned a few times before but I am hard of hearing. I grew up in a mainstreamed environment, meaning I was surrounded by hearing people and not immersed in the deaf culture. However I chose to attend a college where deaf, hard of hearing and hearing students were all united as one. Their are a lot of deaf/hard of hearing (hoh) students in my school which is a very new experience for me. The last time I had been around this many deaf/hoh kids was in preschool. So you can imagine it was a bit of a culture shock for me. Since I don't sign very well its taken a little time getting used too being around so many who do. For the first time in my life I don't have to explain to someone why I have a hearing loss and I can have in depth conversations about how we discovered our hearing loss and growing up deaf/hoh. I'm not going to lie, it does boost my confidence knowing other people who have been through similar experiences to me. So now, all I have to do is pick up sign language and I will be totally in the loop with all my classmates! Also the picture which goes along with this post is the ASL (American Sign Language) alphabet and how to count the numbers one through ten. If you are interested in learning sign try taking a sign language class (which is what I am going to do while also learning from my friends) or practicing on your own, you never know when it could come in handy!
Jem