The UK has claimed its first umbrella

My red umbrella died today, which is not entirely the UK's fault, as it was a piece of crap anyway. But anyway, I bought a cheap one that absolutely screams "I am a tourist!!!" It's got like names of important places around Edinburgh written all over the top, but that's ok. Whatever works right? Besides, I see people walking around with Pikachu umbrellas, so mine is definitely not the worst out there.

Today I wandered some more around the city, but again not many pictures were taken because it's foggy and rainy and misty out, so you can't really see anything good, like Arthur's Seat is consistently behind a cloud. But I did snap a couple, so I'll post them here! I haven't met anyone yet in my program, or met anyone at all actually. But it's nice to explore and get to know the city by myself in my own time, rather than having to worry about what anyone else wants to do. So I'm perfectly happy to wait until Monday when classes start to meet people. It's just easier that way.

Firstly, the Aer Lingus plane I took over, complete with rainy window, very appropriate. (Click for hi-res)
My room in Pollock Halls, my home for the next 5-ish weeks. It's quite small, but it'll do for now. It's messy in the pictures, cause I was unpacking, but it's mostly clean now. Only downside is there's no internet, which is lame.

A view of the North Bridge, and the south side of the city from Princes Street. Again, very foggy and misty.

And lastly, a monument, that at the moment I can't remember what it's for, but it was pretty neat looking. It's right on Princes St. *Edit: it's the Scott monument, which is a Gothic spire built in memory of Sir Walter Scott (the novelist).

So anyway, that's all for now in terms of pictures. Tomorrow it's supposed to be nice out, so I'll hopefully get to be a bit more touristy, although my feet are hurting from so much walking, so we'll see. I may take a lazy day. :)

After browsing the city and getting some important things done like registering my bank account to my address so I can get a mobile, and buying all my clothing for vet school, I found the nearest Starbucks, where I discovered why I should never get Starbucks in the UK (4.50 GBP for a coffee and croissant.. that's like $10). But I suppose I have to get used to that. If I try to think about how everything's twice as expensive, I'll drive myself mad, because to them it's actually quite reasonably priced I suppose. Sooo in any case, I don't think anything would make me stick out like an American quite so much as walking around with a Starbucks coffee cup in hand, so I'll try to lay off the caffeine for now.

Anyway, I'm off for now, gotta get ready for dinner and potentially more exploring!