ive been working with canon my whole i guess photography life (only 3 years) but its really personal taste. i personally have the xti and really enjoy it i picked it because of the reliabilty i have with canons since the two other cameras i worked it was film and found out to be user friendly and the 9 focus points do come in handy when i want to focus in on something different. but i would say it really depends on what kind of photography you want to do, than that would determine on what kind of lenses you need, having a different variety of lenses could really make photography enjoying. but just a word from a broke college student that lenses do cost pretty heffty on the wallet, so obviously when you are in the field for one shop around HARD but always try to get lenses that are from your cameras manufacturer.
recently taken over this past weekend for the SF car show. i have nothing special though pretty much how the camera came in the box and ran with it for now. hope it helps could think about what you want to do but just play with it a bit and you'll get used to it either any respectable camera brand you cant go wrong. its not like the person who is seeing your piece knows what kind of camera you used just something to think about.
EDIT:: i hate the left side of that picture just because i got that one guy in it haha and it was totally accidental since the flash went off and usually that really makes it look fugly but this one came out nice. but also on that note it makes photography really random and enjoyable because you never knew when that picture perfect thing might pop up. in the end just have fun with whatever you picked.