I spend a lot of time alone on campus sitting in corners, stuffing food into my face, catching up on emails, reading for my course and other such things. It’s been my experience on all three of my courses that the other students regard me rather strangely at first. On both previous courses, they warmed to me eventually and I found by the end of the course that I could count many of them as friends. I hope to have the same experience this time, although the feeling that I stick out like a sore thumb is still very real and very current.

As I sit, I try to look around and “see” more than the blinkered view of the routes between tuition rooms and lecture theatres. There is a surprising amount of art on display and some of it is rather beautiful. This gorgeous piece is tiny in size – the image above is about one third of the whole piece and the whole thing measures about 12-15” tall and about 4-5” wide I suppose. There are three of them on a small platform in front of a window, all made by the same artist, Jasmin Arkison. I’ve googled her and now think she’s a student at the University so the pieces are not commissioned by local artists, they’re made by people studying here. All three pieces are exquisite. I hope that she is very proud of her work because she certainly deserves to be.

Glass art is something that fascinates me – I am in awe of glass artists, like Jasmin and pbase’s very own Gail Davison. One day, when I am better off and when I have more time, it’s something I’d like to do myself but I suspect I may have to wait until the cows come home before that day dawns.