Behind Closed Doors East End Press

- Catherine Coyle

When Ellie Hodesdon moved to Glasgow to go to art school, she only knew one person north of Birmingham – and that was someone she’d fallen out with when she was 18. “We were in Goa,” she recalls, partly recounting the night in question, partly realising just how dangerous the situation had been. “My friend and I came back to our room. It was late and I don’t think I locked the door properly, because I woke up a few hours later to find three men in our room stealing everything we had.” She ran after them, fuelled by alcohol and naiveté, but to no avail. Her friend blamed her for the loss of their belongings and cut the trip short. They’ve not spoken since. Ellie, now 28, is philosophical; she had been rejected by her first-choice art college (Edinburgh) and believes that the Goa trip made her realise that her place at Glasgow School of Art was, in fact, a privilege and not something she should take for granted.