Feels like home.

Well, it has been a few days since I last posted. I am now through my second week of classes. I started my art classes at the Glasgow School of Art this week. I'm really, really excited about them, especially my Rendering the Human Form class. I keep calling it my drawing class, but I know that we are going to be painting as well. My teacher is someone that I feel like I can relate to. Her name is Debra. She's very down to earth and easy to talk to. I have a feeling I am going to learn so much from her. There are only 5 people in our class, making it easy to get to know one another and have more one on one time with her and also the others in the classroom. The other class that I have at GSA is Black and White Photography. The teacher doesn't seem to be as personable as Debra, but he sure does know his stuff. We are all going to be given fob keys to get into the buildings of the GSA... I love that, I feel like I'm important and it's a privilege to be attending that school.

Yesterday morning, I had my first bag piping lesson. My tutor's name is Chris. I have talked to the other people that have his as their tutor as well and we all get the feeling that he doesn't really want to be there. Hopefully it was just that he was having a bad week or something. I kind of wish I had Finlay as my tutor instead. He seems so relaxed and likes to have fun. In our class today, we learned so much about the bag pipe itself, including all of the components that make it. We also got to hear him play some tunes. I love the way the bagpipe sounds, I don't care what you all think, it's pretty freakin' sweet. Anyways, we all have chanters to practice with. We will have the opportunity to play the bagpipes but, we need to learn the fundamentals first. I have now learned how to play the scale. :D I felt at first like I had some standards that I would have to live up to because I used to play the flute, but really the chanter isn't anything like it. Oh, I guess I should explain what a chanter is.. A chanter looks sort of like a recorder. It's black and comes in three pieces. A top, bottom, and a reed. The reed goes in the middle of the two pieces, you don't actually blow on the reed directly like a clarinet. The chanter is also a part of the bagpipes. It's basically like just putting the mouth piece and the part where you place your fingers together. It sounds like a muted bagpipe. But, because of the poor quality and cheapness of the ones we have, it tends to squeak and sound like a duck. :P You have to clean it out like every 15 minutes of playing... and I guarantee it's one of the grossest things. There's so much spit. lol. Anyways, I can't wait to get home and impress you all with my amazing chanter playing skills!

I also found out that the GSA and the Piping Centre are only about a 30 - 40 minute walk from MSSV. Which is nice. I will save lots of money on taking the tube. Walking has been a great way for me to get exercise and I love all of the little things and places that I would usually take for granted or miss completely if I were to just drive by. I'm starting to really find my way around the city and it's definitely starting to feel like home. I like it here, a lot. But, don't you worry I'm not going to move here, I will return to the States. :)

Love you, miss you, wish you all were here,
Ashley
xoxo