Thought I was done for the day didn't you!

I thought I was done doing cool Scottish things for the day, but Jessica and I decided on spur of the moment to climb Arthur's Seat to break in the new boots. Let me tell you, SO gorgeous. It was fantastic, beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, and a great workout, haha.

Anyway, I'm posting a few of the best pictures here, but they'll all be in albums here (and the link will exist forever more in the links to the right).

So here are the better ones. I'm going to do them a little bit differently and put the captions under them, because it seems to look a little better than the way I was doing them before, so just be aware :)

Beautiful sunset on Arthur's Seat.
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Edinburgh skyline. That boxy thing slightly to the left of center is Edinburgh Castle.
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We thought we were near the top.. Not so much.
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Pretty wildflowers. I'm not sure what kind they were, but they were so gorgeous.
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Probably the highlight of the climb (besides the summit, obviously), was the 3 Scottish teenagers we met who thought our American accents were really cool and wanted us to take a picture with them. I love Scottish people.
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I think this is Dunsapie Loch, but I'm not positive.
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Jessica and Me at the top! We made it!
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Skyline at nightfall.
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That's all for tonight. For the rest of the pictures, see my gallery. All in all, a very good day! :)

The Sun appears!

It was nice out today, which meant that there was actually sun for a good few hours, before the cloud cover returned. But it was also warmer and much drier, so I didn't have to carry my umbrella around with me. I brought a U of Ed parka just in case, which I bought this morning, and think will come in useful when it's drizzly out.

I explored from about 10-ish until 4 or so, which my feet are sorely regretting, but it was good to see everything from somewhere other than the underside of my umbrella. :) I also took advantage of the weather to buy all my textbooks, and only looked through them for a minute, because they scare me a bit. I read a paragraph and got really nervous cause there was just so much new information in that one paragraph, that I don't know how I'm going to learn it all, but somehow I will!

In other news, I have met my first vet student! Her name is Jessica, and she is very nice :) We're going to dinner right after this.

Anyway, on to pictures!

A view of Arthur's Seat from Pollock Halls. I haven't yet made it up, but once my feet recover from the last few days exploring I'll hopefully have a nice walk up.

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Baird House!

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Queen's Hall, which is the headquarters of live music in Edinburgh. Haven't yet been in, but hopefully I'll get a chance at sometime during the Fringe.

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A Police box, which may or may not double as the Tardus. (For those of you who don't know, google Dr. Who & the Tardus, and you'll see what I mean)

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So far this is my favorite part of town. the Street is West Bow, which comes off Cowgate Head, and doubles back. At the end of the street are a few Joke shops, where they sell such things as gigantic Tam-o-shanters and silly wigs.

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First view of the Fringe! Haven't explored too much of the Fringe yet, but I enjoyed the touristy shops, and bought my first pair of wellies and a tartan scarf (cashmere, mm)!

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Inside of St. Giles Cathedral. This picture doesn't do it justice at all, cause you can't see the stained glass, but there was a 2 pound charge for a "picture license" so I had to be discrete :)

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Bellevue Rendezvous, a really cool acoustic group that was playing in the cathedral. The instruments are a fiddle, a nychelharpa, and a mandolin (L-R). Very cool.

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A view of the North Bridge from down below. It's a very nice bridge, but unfortunately hard to see over while you're on it, so I think you miss out on a lot of really cool pictures because of it.

Anyway, that's all for now, I'm starving, so it's off to dinner!

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!

In Transit!

The Dublin Airport is I'm pretty sure the most confusing and annoying airport I have ever been in. And the customs guy was rude to me because I accidentally forgot for a moment that I was in Ireland and not the UK. He asked me if I'd like to be referred to as Canadian.

Frankly, I wouldn't care. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Canadians or being Canadians. And Ireland is on the same freaking island as the rest of the UK. They need to get over it.

Anyway, it is raining out (big surprise), and I'm sitting in a hot and humid room waiting to be called for my next flight, which takes off at approximately 13:45. I wish I could just get there, so I can take a nap and a shower. I'm tired of this travelling. And if I get stuck next to a screaming baby on this next flight I'm going to cry.

Other than crying babies and rude customs agent, the travel is going well. The plane ride was uneventful, the dinner was ok for airline food, and the dessert was alright (the tea was phenomenal. I LOVE Europe, haha).

Anyway, My wireless is going to cut out soon I'd imagine (5 Euros for an hour of wi-fi... ridiculous!). Blah. I may update when I get there, or I may just pass out. Sooo tired!

Tomorrow begins my last 48 hours in the US of A.

I have my visa, I have my bank account all sorted out, I've read through my guidebooks, I've said goodbye to almost everyone I needed to say goodbye too, I've got everything I need, now all I need to do is shove my life into my suitcase and be on my way.

It's still so surreal. I can't believe that 48 hours from now I'm going to be on a plane. I'm not sure it will hit me until I actually step off the plane in Edinburgh. In the last month I've gone back and forth between trepidation and being really excited, and now that I'm about to leave, it's just all excitement. I can't wait to get there and see everything and meet people and explore a completely new place, and go to classes and everything else.

Anyway, good luck to everyone else making this move, and I can't wait to meet all you other GEPers!

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!

Get Set...

So tomorrow I'm embarking on a trip down to North Carolina to see my good friend Sarah. I haven't seen her in almost a year, so I am very excited. On the way back up I'm stopping to see my other friend Thomas, whom other than a brief chat at the Colby 2008 graduation, I haven't seen in a year. I know that the next week while I'm away is going to fly by, and then it's going to be one whirlwind of activity from then until I actually leave on August 5.

In terms of getting ready, I've started organizing my clothing and necessities to take with me, and I can tell you it's going to be a tough experience to try and tote my gigantic suitcase (that I swear I can fit inside quite comfortably), along with my carry on and a backpack. I also think it's going to be weird to live without all the stuff that I'm used to living with. At college I could just cram stuff into my car and my parents car, and I really could take everything that I did and didn't need. But this time it's going to be down to the bare essentials, and maybe a few extra things to keep me happy. On the other hand, I think the experience could be good for me, and help me figure out that I really don't need all the stuff I have. Plus, I'm not going to have time for much other than studying, and hopefully what time I do have will be spent socializing so I don't go insane.

I am going through a whole range of emotions about leaving right about now. Half of me is so excited to get over there and get started, but then the other half of me wants to stay with my family and friends and remain in my comfortable bubble that I've got. But, for sure, it's going to be a great experience, so it's more going to be about learning to keep in touch with my old friends while making new ones.

It's kind of neat to think about the fact that I could be a completely different person when I go over to Edinburgh. Ok, maybe not completely, but I can start over. When I started college, I was a completely different person than I am now, so I'm kind of excited/nervous to see what kind of person vet school is going to make me, much less a vet school in a completely different country.

I've been talking to a few people I met online who are currently in Scotland (although not at Dick Vet), and I've already learned some important tips, such as:

1) Do not offer pie to anyone, unless you specify it as a baked good. Otherwise you will be offering something of a much more personal nature.

2) Meals are Breakfast, Dinner, Teatime. At teatime you do not necessarily have tea. Or something like that. This one still confuses me.

3) Scottish men do not (traditionally) wear anything under their kilts. Kilts are only for formal events, and anyone wearing one in public is either going to such an event, or is part of a tourist attraction, or is an old fart who refuses to change with the times.

4) The Official Animal of Scotland is the Unicorn... Seriously...

More will come as I learn them.

Anyway, I gotta get up early, so I should sleep. Goodnight everyone!

The Final Day

So tomorrow is my last ever day at Neponset. I had some good times, and some bad times. But I've honestly come to appreciate Neponset more than I thought I would when I first started working there. I really did learn a lot, and met some amazing people whom I will truly miss. Here are some pictures of some good times and good people.







Silvana with one of my favorite patients, Sandy (Sooo cute!)









Me (really awful pic, ugh) and Anne chilling with her dog, Nigel








Mandee and Misty with Kris Kringle









John taking a dance break during a procedure. :)










Joanne and Pudgy





So, while yes, 90% of me is thrilled and ecstatic that I'm free as of tomorrow evening, the other 10% of me will miss it. I realized when I was saying goodbye to certain people that I really am sad that I may not ever see them again. I'd like to say that I'll go back and visit some day, but honestly knowing how awful I am at keeping in touch, it's going to take enough of my energy to keep in touch with my best friends, much less my ex-coworkers, however much I do like them. But who knows, maybe going to Edinburgh will force me to learn to keep in touch, because after all, if I don't keep in touch with people, I'm going to have no friends when I come back.

Anyway, I wish I was just leaving for Edinburgh right after I leave work, but the waiting is killlling me, and I'm afraid that in my "vacation" of sorts I'm going to get bored. But, as of right now, I'm looking forward to having time to be sufficiently bored :)

Anyway. I should sleep, so I'm not suffering through my last day. Night all!