Arriving in Edinburgh

So.

After an exhausting 12 hour Singapore-London flight; a near nightmare at Heathrow immigration involving an absurdly anal and thick-headed officer; a 1.5 hour domestic flight which ballooned into a 3 hour affair due to the fog, subsequent delays and general airline ineptness; and of course, after a half-hour journey to the city centre which saw me tottering precariously around Waverly Bridge, with all my luggage, trying to hail a cab - I finally made it to Pollock Halls to check in for a good night's sleep on 10th January.

And believe me when I say, that is an extremely pleased me up there, standing in my dormitory taking this picture of myself well-fed, alive and happy! (albeit jet-lagged)

Woke up today to rather depressing weather. My damp clothing bears testament to that! It was 10 degrees celsius outside which is actually alright by itself, but horrible when combined with rain and extremely strong winds. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was almost swept off my feet more than once today. But no matter; life goes on, and so do I heavily swathed in my winter togs, and plenty of Crabtree and Evelyn hand salve.

Had a very hearty breakfast this morning, which I am told (by the menu) is a very 'traditional' Scottish meal - potato scones, 3 huge slabs of bacon, fried tomatoes, 2 pieces of buttered toasts and black pudding! For what is essentially a sausage made out of congealed blood, black pudding tastes quite good never mind the rather ...gruesome sounding main ingredient. It looked like a rather large oreo cookie to me.

Headed down to campus for orientation day afterward. The talks were pretty informative. Trips around Scotland/England organized every weekend on the cheap! Have made a mental note to grab any opportunity to go to Inverness. I can't help it - even though I know the monster doesn't exist, Loch Ness (the lake and the surrounding region) still has an irresistable draw.

After Orientation, walked around the city area with some new friends. We went around Princes Street which is sort of like the ...Orchard Road of Edinburgh? I took pictures here and there, but I'm still so new in the city that I wasn't sure what I was taking pictures of. Haha. Will have to verify my photos later on. But in the mean time, here are some people shots and those I definitely recognize!