This week nothing too out of the ordinary occurred. Tuesday, I filmed my “Day in the Life” video. It felt so unnatural to carry a camera around with me, but I wanted to share with you what my everyday looks like. If you have a chance, you can watch the video (if you haven’t) on my Youtube channel. I have a link to my channel Friday, I had the opportunity to go to Prague on a school trip to a Blind Exhibition. I went with the youngest class in our school, and it was a great day! We went to the exhibition and we got to spend one hour in the dark. In small groups, we went into a dark room. It was created so that you wouldn’t be able to see anything, not even some shadows. We had a guide that spoke English. We found out that she also speaks Spanish! She did the tour completely in English because Maeve, Nick, and I were in the group. We went to several rooms in a “house” in the dark. We had small tasks like finding the fridge or just feeling for other objects. We had to hold onto the wall and have our other hand in front of us. After the house, we went out to the street. It was very difficult because the ground was so uneven and we didn’t really have any idea where we were. There were some small shops on the side and we had to guess what they were. One was a vegetable/fruit stand. The other was something like an information center. After, we had the challenge of crossing the street. There was a car that we were able to feel and if you touched it in honked very loudly. In this exhibition we could hear the sounds of the street and it felt very realistic. At this part, it was actually very eye-opening to experience being blind at an intersection. Afterwards, we went outside and we were in a forest. In the forest, it was slightly cooler and we could hear the sounds of birds and other animals. There was also a stream with real water. Our task was to find the bridge and then cross it. After crossing the bridge, we arrived to a pub. In the pub, our tour guide offered to make us some drinks. She could get us Fanta or Cola, Hot Chocolate, Energy Drinks, and Coffee. Nick and I both ordered Hot Chocolate and it was very good. We then had some time to ask our guide questions. She was born blind and has been working at this location for maybe seven years. She studied Czech Literature in University and can speak three languages. I was very impressed with her patience because we had to travel through the exhibition very very slowly. Also, it was frustrating because it was easy to get lost! I noticed that when I couldn’t see anything, I could hear and feel a lot better. The ground felt uneven in many places, which was something I hadn’t noticed before. We also learned to follow certain sounds to where we needed to be. It was truly a mind opening experience! Of course, I couldn’t begin to understand the daily struggles of being blind, but it was a very interesting experience for me. I certainly learned a lot!
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