A Low Key Week

I've realized that I only update this blog after big trips, and that doesn't seem right because that's only a small fraction of how I'm spending my time here.

This week was pretty low key. I had my normal classes, lectures and tutorials. I had my bagpiping lesson on Monday. I'm learning how to play grace notes which are used when a note is supposed to be played multiple times in a row. I've been trying to practice but since it's loud I'm only able to during the day which causes some problems when I'm at class and out of my room.

My Archeology class is starting to talk about the Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age and pottery and graves and ceremonies and stuff. It's pretty cool stuff. I especially like learning about the graves and burial rituals, but at the same time I feel very weird about the idea of a bunch of archeologists going and digging up people's graves and studying them. These people, years and years ago, buried pottery, tools, and other artifacts to bring with them into the afterlife and now they're being put in museums. It just doesn't seem completely right.

I don't have classes on Wednesday so I spent the morning in a cute tea room with Julia enjoying scones and porridge and the afternoon skyping with friends (including the future Mrs. Couillard).

Today I had my bagpiping lecture. The teacher explained different types of marches and the structure of the march (A B A C). He also played the lowland bagpipe which, unlike the highland bagpipe, has a pump instead of a mouth piece for getting the air into the bag. It tunes to an A instead of a B flat so it can be easily played with other instruments.

Later tonight I met up with Megan and Colleen to make our plans for....wait for it....our trip to Paris! We also got tickets to the Isle of Skye through the International Student Society, so October will be filled with adventures!