The sun is too bright

I still don't believe all the talk about Scottish weather being dreary all the time. Today was absolutely beautiful. Blue skies all day, I even had a t-shirt on outside all morning without a jacket and was completely comfortable (I put on a light jacket later and was fine for the rest of the day). The sun was literally too bright for comfort because it stays on the horizon all day, so even at noon it's right in your eyes. That made it very difficult to take pictures.

Nevertheless, I took many pictures this morning. Since it was such a beautiful morning, I decided to hike up Calton Hill. It's a hill kind of in the middle of the city with a few monuments and things on top. It has a lovely view of the city and the shore, so here are a few pictures and videos. There are more pictures on my facebook, as usual:

Dugald Stewart Monument with the castle and city in the background:

Looking toward Arthur's Seat:

The half-finished Parthenon:

Nelson Monument and Parthenon:

Palace

Here are a few videos from different vantage points on Calton Hill if you're interested:

There's a graveyard with a lot of famous people buried in it right below Calton Hill, so I went in there too:

Some graves with Calton Hill in the background:

There are more pictures of the graveyard on facebook, like of David Hume's tomb for example, but I don't feel like uploading anymore.

After that little excursion I went to the library to try and figure out how it works. It took about an hour to figure out exactly where everything is, how to login to the computers, how to work the book checkout/return machines, and stuff like that, but eventually I figured out enough to get the books I needed from the HUB (High Use Book section) and do the reading I need for class tomorrow. I spent a few hours at the library, then went grocery shopping, then went back to my flat to try to get some more reading done.

At 5 I tried to get a ticket to go to St. Andrews with the International Student Center but there were already so many people lined up that I didn't bother. A bunch of my friends didn't get tickets either so we're going to go somewhere else this weekend, maybe Rosslyn Chapel or Glasgow. We also decided on a 2-day tour of Scotland that we're going to do in a few weeks. I wanted to do the 3-day tour, which includes the Isle of Skye, but it's cheaper to do the 2-day tour. Plus the 2-day tour goes to St. Andrews so that worked out.

I tried to get more reading done after the ticket fiasco but I was too preoccupied with making alternative plans for this weekend so I gave up on work. At 7:30 Lauren and I met people and walked over to small group. It was fun, and we're looking forward to going back next week for Burns' Night, which is a big celebration of Robert Burns. Basically everyone sits around, listens to Scottish music, eats haggis, reads poetry, and gets drunk if you're into that... So it'll be nice to have a place to celebrate without having to drink.

So overall it was a good day. Not really looking forward to class tomorrow or the massive amount of work I have to do tomorrow night and Wednesday to get ready for tutorials and class on Thursday (I have to have a proposal for my major research project in Society and Politics done by Thursday...).