First of all, trying to get enrolled in Sign Language classes in itself is a struggle… but you feel extremely lucky once you finally do get in.
Once you are enrolled, you find that the classes are 99% female.
Facial expressions are some of the first things you learn.
You go to your first Deaf Event completely intimidated by everyone around you, because you’re a beginner signer. (It’ll be okay.)
But now you are immersed in the culture, and know so much more than you did before.
You know deaf people can do anything hearing people can do.
Looking back at 101, you realize weren’t as good as you thought you were and your professors were probably thinking this…
People may even ask if you are becoming an interpreter. (Answer, no, it takes more than a minor – that’s a whole separate degree!)
Some people may even ask if you know how to read braille…
You will meet the occasional person that thinks they ‘know’ sign language because they know a few words… yeah, okay.
And these same people are then the ones to ask you to teach them Signs.
But then they look like this
You want everyone to realize that they don’t need to yell at Deaf people.
And they probably don’t’ realize that ASL has it’s own grammar.
And that Sign Language isn’t the same in every country (There’s French Sign Language, British Sign Language, Spanish Sign Language, etc.)
You try to explain to people that ASL is different from English and it is not interpreted word for word English, but people just don’t get it.
You may or may not eventually have a dream where you are using ASL.
There also may be a point when you interpret daily conversations in your head into Sign Language… but you love it.