First, relax and have fun at the class and don't expect to be good at it the very first time you try. LAing takes practice, a LOT of practice. My 1st exposure to LAing was like you describe, a class at a not so LQS (a little over 1 hour one way drive for me). But the class was good, they showed me how to load a quilt sandwich and get the feel for the machine. I did free motion, wrote my name, followed a design with a laser light (like a panto only it was a small pattern and I was at the front of the machine) and Groovy boards. I loved it and knew I wanted to LA, but I realized quickly the shop was too far for me to get the needed amount of practice to get any good so I scrimped and saved and bought my own LA about 2 years later. In the mean time I drew, drew, drew and tried to get better at FMQ on my DSM. I think the drawing helps a lot more than practicing FMQ on a DSM.