FIRST EVER BODY MASSAGE CLASS

A fatigued me learning theory

Dear, oh dear, two posts in one day!

I won't make a post giving a detailed description of absolutely every class I attend, but what I'm doing now is just giving my readers a run down of the first class for each subject and then a bit later in the trimester, hopefully I can really launch into the fun stuff and have more videos and cool facts to show you.

As I mentioned in my last entry, today I had Body and Aesthetic Aromatic Massage class. It wasn't the most organised situation from the get go and there were a few mishapps throughout the day. We entered the class at 9am and spent at least 20 minutes sorting the role out. Girls from the other group on another level were coming back and forth unsure of which classroom they were supposed to be in because their timetables were misprinted. Then once that was all out of the way and we were all seemingly settled into the right class, our exceptionally passionate, animated and very energetic teach launched into a PowerPoint presentation.

First was more housekeeping and common sense. We were informed that there would be a uniform check in week two and of a system they call the 'red dot system', where if we don't follow the various rules set out by the college (such as dress code, attendance and lateness, success in exams etc). It's all quite strict. My understanding of the exam system is a bit loose but I believe you get three attempts at your practical exams, and if you blow them, you pay about a $200 fee to resit the exam during the trimester break. I'm not sure yet how many attempts you're afforded for workbooks (printed activity booklets that you get for some classes which is mainly homework), theory exams and online quizzes, but I know there is also a fee associated with re-sitting them.

The rest of the lesson up until lunch time was theory about body massage - general stuff like all the different types of massage and what they're purpose is and contraindications. Then we learnt about the importance of clients filling out a medical form, then we were required to fill out our own. You have to note a lot of personal information about ANY medical condition you suffer from and it is going to pretty much be shared with all the other girls in the class and the teacher. I seemed to have sat next to the least shallow girl this particular class, but the others seemed like they would have been pretty icked out that I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, ha!

After we got back from lunch, there was more chaos - the teachers realised they had the wrong students so we swapped teachers and rooms and had to play a bit of catch up with the new teacher. The new teacher was also new in the sense that she only just started at the school too and admitted to not being familiar with muscle names (which the students are expected to learn throughout the course), so hopefully she will be a knowledgeable enough teacher. She was very kind and down to earth however.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with our new teacher learning how to set up our massage table and then she demonstrated some movements of the Swedish massage on one of the students. Next week, I envision we'll probably play a bit of catch up and be a little bit behind and then practice on each other - so I'll be wearing my best bra!

Still no uniform or student card - a little bit concerned with organisation at CNB, but hopefully they'll get it together next week. On Tuesday I'll be off to Lash and Brow Fundamentals class.