Where am I?

My experience under blindfold today was, excuse the pun, 'eye opening'. When we went into the Rovetta building I thought it would be easy to keep my orientation. As we walked down there were a lot of changes in sound, but for the most part it seemed fairly simple. I felt like the hallway was sooooo long, we just kept going through a doorway and another doorway. I know there were probably only 3 or 4 doorways, but it felt more like 10+.
Something I noticed that was really weird was when we went into a more narrow part of the hallway, even through I could not see any light through my mind fold, I felt like it was getting 'darker'. Maybe this was just my brains interpretation of a diminished amount of sensory information.
When I was walking with Katie under sighted guide I felt safe, confident, and because of that I think I was not feeling the slight angled turns we made as the hallway curved. Even when we got to the bathroom at the end of the hall I felt like I knew exactly where I was and could get back easily. The way back was completely different!
So that you can see what was going on in my mind, here is what I felt like we did on the way to the bathroom:

When I went into the bathroom I lost all idea of where I was. I think it's because that bathroom had a weird doorway/entrance and you had to go in and turn before you got to the actual bathroom door. If the door had been right off the hallway I do not think I would have gotten turned around. Once I came back out of the bathroom area I was still pretty determined I knew how to get back. That's when I realized I was facing the completely wrong direction. I felt lost, and I kept trying to go over it in my mind. I remembered what Micky said, about when you are so sure of something you'd make the rest of the world change so that you would be right. I was sure those doors where were I pictured them. But I realized I needed to move on and not be stubborn, since there were 3 sighted people telling me the same thing.
So I started trailing. This was when I began to realize how much I had missed when walking down the hall with Katie. Before I was focused more on sounds and feeling things on the ground with my feet, I did not notice the curves in the hallway. I know Katie stopped and pointed this out to we a few times, but I really could not understand it just by feeling the turn in a wall. On the way back to the doors at frist I was excited to explore the area on my own. But the further I went the more confused I became because my original idea of where I was was totally wrong. I also did become a little hesitant after hitting my knee on something, and then catching a wall with my hand a few inches before my face would have hit it (of course I trust you guys would have stopped me). It was weird when I put my hand up, I don't really know why I did, and it wasn't a gradual lifting of my hand as I walked, it shot up in front of my face. I remember a few weeks ago in the Stone building when Micky was talking about 'face vision'. I didn't really experience it that day, but today, wow! It was like I wasn't even in control of my hand, on some on unknown level my body sensed it and I protected myself. It was really neat.

So going back to my first idea of the hallway and the route I took with Katie, here is was I felt my route was as I trailed my way back:

I felt like I was all over the place. There was one point when I swore I made a U-turn.


I am really thankful for this experience. Even though it was frustrating that I got lost I now know what that feels like. I was weird to be so sure you know where you need to go, just to find out you are completely wrong. I also liked getting to experience the same area once with a sighted guide, and again trailing on my own. I really see what Micky means about tuning out when you have a sighted guide. Also, after experiencing that trailing can be challenging (like running the back of your hand across a brick wall, ouch!) I am looking forward to using my cane and seeing how it can help me travel safer and with more confidence.