I think so too. I was so nervous in the first lesson, I couldn't do anything right but scales and basic technique demonstration. I'm hoping I get a chance to noodle around a little more next week, just to get a feel for the grand, especially dynamics and pedal. On my electric, I can often fall asleep on the pedal, and the sound isn't jarring, but you have to be precise on the grand or it sounds like a big mess. For next week's lesson, I'm working on a short and undemanding Scriabin prelude I learned years ago during covid. After an hour's practice yesterday, I pretty much rememorized it, so now I can focus on details.
I also am a delicate player, so a deeply ingrained muscle memory wasn't really working on the grand, and what is normally dynamically nuanced was pretty much quiet and on the same dynamic level. Scales that I usually fuss over to try to get perfect were far easier, on the bright side. Maybe if I'm having trouble adjusting to this instrument I'll change the touch sensitivity on my electric to something less sensitive. This prelude (op. 11 no. 4) is really dynamically nuanced, with a main voice in the left hand a subsidiary voice high in the right, and accompaniment chords/thirds in the right that have to be played more quietly, so I think it's a great piece to get accustomed to the instrument, if I can only get over the nerves. Thankfully also, I'll have the score with me, in case I develop anxiety amnesia again.
The lesson was definitely a shock for a perfectionist like me, and I have to learn the feel of the instrument and gradually hopefully conquer my nerves. But my reaction to this kind of experience is to work harder. I have a PhD and have taught at the university level, and I had similar experiences teaching for my first semester--I was intensely anxious, and felt as if I was forgetting and miscommunicating so much at every class, at times even freezing and becoming flustered, but gradually it became natural and smooth.