Don't get me wrong, it is nice to be home. It's great to see my friends and family again. Trees are also an extremely welcoming sight. It's just different is all. I've been spending most of my time getting ready for university. In approximately one month I leave for Chicago. It is all very exciting. It also keeps my thoughts from straying to sadder notions.
Since my duration abroad is over I feel it's time to say goodbye to this blog. I am strongly considering to start a new one where I can keep track of all my exciting college adventures in the windy city. As soon as I have set it up I will post a link here. I hope you all enjoyed my many musings on the ice! For all of you readers and commenters your feedback and encouragement was greatly appreciated!
I never even imagined me getting to this moment, but yet I find myself here.
Tomorrow I leave my host family...indefinitely. We're going to the AFS "forest" to plant a tree and from then onwards our paths may not cross. I have slight worries about my luggage. I barely have anything in the one but it is so close to being overweight. If I have to pay I just have to pay. I think I'm just fretting about it because I really don't want to think about other things. Like getting on that plane in less than 48 hours. It is however something that has to be done.
I am going home.
I figure it's time for an update. So my week on the farm went by very well. I stayed with a very nice icelandic couple out in the east fjords. I helped feed the sheep, mark the new born lambs, and even helped a few enter this world. It was actually kind of enjoyable. Slow paced, simple, a tad smelly...but nice. They didn't speak any english which was actually kind of great. I came back by car with a friend of the family, Þráinn. It took us around 12 hours to drive from Egilsstaðir to Sandgerði, but it was nice to see more of the country. We stopped at quite a few places on the way home. One of the coolest stops was at Jökulsárlón, the glacier lagoon. It is literally this lagoon that is full of icebergs that break off of Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Iceland and all of Europe. It is a really neat place.
Last week my mom came to Iceland for a quick 4 day visit. I showed her around sandgerði and keflavík. Of course we went to reykjavík and the blue lagoon, a place I would love to go to again. It's a good thing she wasn't an exchange student here this year, I don't think she would have ever been able to pronounce anything in Icelandic right (just joking mom :Þ). We drove up to akureyri for a one night stay. We even found the christmas house! It's this shop that looks like a big gingerbread house and sells christmas stuff all year round. It's fun and full of candy. We spent sunday night in reykjavík and went out to eat with some other exchangers: Ann-Sophie, Ollie, Rebecca, Bilge, and Taylor. It was nice to see them one more time before our departure camp. Then monday we shoved as much of my crap into her suitcase as possible before she flew home. It was a weird feeling saying goodbye. I don't really have an accurate way to describe it. It was confusing. I almost cried. I don't really cry much, not in these types of situations.
And so, on thursday my family and I went on a little trip. We spent a night in Þjórsádalur at my grandparents summer place. And then we went to Þykkvabær, a little town where my uncle owns a summer house that he let us borrow. We drove quite a bit and visited a couple interesting places. A ghost center among many other things. It was nice to spend some time with my host family before I leave, you know all of them without appointments and engagements getting in the way. We got home today.
I have already sent a box (weighing in at 14 kilos) home by ship. And am going home with two suitcases (both may be up to 23 kilos); for some reason icelandair flights to america allow economy class to have two bags where passengers to europe may only have one, doesn't make sense but doesn't stop me from taking advantage of it (shipping is expensive!!!).
The next days are already planned. Monday, technically today, I'll probably sleep in a bit and try to pack some things. Decide what clothes I'm throwing out or giving away and figure out what all fits in my big black suitcase. Tuesday is the 17th, or sautjándi júní, which is Iceland's Independence day. Much celebrating to be had! Wednesday is obviously more packing and possibly saying goodbye to some people. I am also hoping to possibly meet up with alessandra and manu for dinner. Thursday my host family is throwing me a goodbye dinner. We're going out to eat at a well known Indian restaurant in reykjavík. Víst ætla ég að gráta. Friday is the longest day of the year and the sun never sets. I think we'll be staying up and watching the sun not set nor rise. Saturday is the beginning of the end (one of my favorite oxymorons). All exchangers meet at the AFS forest in Heiðmörk at 10. We plant a tree, families are welcome to stay for that, but then we leave and they are forbidden to see us again (could prove difficult for me, alessandra, and manu, considering the camp is in keflavík). Sunday is the last day. Most of my friends have morning flights and have to arrive at the airport around 5 (except for Bilge, who has a flight out at midnight the day before). I don't depart until 17:00, or around there. The waiting will be frustrating.
I am, honestly, ready to go home. Ready to have my friends, non-bland food, my room, my dog, real trees, thunderstorms, my family, and everything again. But it doesn't stop me from hating having to talk about going home, or trying to deny it as much as possible, or being quite sad about it. I am going to miss this place soooo much, miss speaking the language, miss my host family, and a ton of other things. I know when I say goodbye to them on saturday morning I will cry, or try so hard not to. I won't be sleeping much friday night (longest day of the year and all) nor saturday night (what sleep? and miss all of my friends going to the airport for their early morning flights to europe? no effing way!!) and probably not much sunday night (get home 3 am iceland time, 11 eastern, for a 3 hour drive home) and monday i have to go out and buy some essentials (a phone and some new clothes to make up for the bunch that I'm not taking home). I am going to be tired, emotional, happy, sad, confused, and will probably accidentally speak icelandic to people. I look forward to it.
So, Eurovision is next weekend. It's a huge music competition and this year it will take place in Serbia. I'm hoping I get to see it, but I'll be out in the country on a sheep farm. It's the first Eurovision that I have ever gotten involved in and I hope not to miss it. Iceland has a strong entry this year and I think we'll make it to the finals. Crossing my fingers. We have some good competition though.
My 4 favorites:
TURKEY: Mor ve Ötesi - Deli
CROATIA: Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents - Romanca
SLOVENIA: Rebeka Dremelj - Vrag Naj Vzame
They wouldn't all fall under the category of what I normally listen to, for sure, but I like them. I should note though: Eurovision is not for musicians, it's for performers. Those may be my favorites but the song that I think will win is Ukraine's and a lot of others feel the same way. I'd love to see Iceland win, no doubt, but it'll be tough.
So since I've last written life has been moving forward, per usual. The saturday after Söngkeppni Framhaldskólanna I went to see the Iceland Symphony Orchestra with the family. A friend of the family, Silla, plays the violin in the orchestra and she invited us to the performance. They performed a bunch of different musical scores from movies. It was enjoyable. Then on sunday, I went horseback riding for the first time. It was...awkward. We went to mamma's cousin's stables. He was nice and gave me some pointers, but I was still pretty iffy (as you can clearly see from my face in the picture above). I was on the horse for around 10 minutes and then decided that I had had enough. I am a chicken.
On the 24th was Sumardagurinn Fyrsti, the first day of summer. In Iceland it's treated like a holiday; everything is closed, there's no school, etc. On that day we had one of Júlíus' birthday parties. I made one of those dragon cakes for it. They're becoming another one of my specialties (if anyone wants the instructions just ask, it's on wikihow). It was a fun day. Then that friday at school was dimission, the last day for the graduating students. They all dress up funny and hold special ceremonies. That saturday was the horseback riding trip with AFS, so I got to go again! And I definitely know for sure now that horseback riding is not my thing.
We went to this horse place outside of Sellfoss. We were on the horses for about an hour. It was one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever done. I never really found the rhythm or whatever. I just held on for dear life. I'm sure I looked like an idiot, I most definitely felt like one. I just really wanted to get off. After that we went to Hveragerði, this tiny town about 5 minutes from the horse place. Most of the exchangers went swimming but a couple of us, Jelena, Bilge, Manu, and I, decided to just bum around. There was this tiny shopping center where we hung out and bought candy. It was fun. We just chatted and tried not to move around too much.
On the 30th of April school finished. I find out my final grades on the 20th I believe. I worked pretty hard this semester, although near the end I got a tad unmotivated. I think I did alright overall. Rebecca came south the day after and stayed with me for the weekend. We met up in downtown Reykjavík. Thursday was Labour Day, or May Day, here in Iceland which meant that downtown was full of protestors. There were some other exchangers downtown as well to join in the march down Laugavegur, Bilge, Kok, Karen, Taylor, Andrea, Juho, Mod, and Jelena. We all got pink flags since it was International Woman Day or something like that. Tons of people were handing out flyers and t-shirts and such. It was really fun. After the march Bilge, Rebecca, and I went to find a place to eat. The weather was really great so we ended up going to a bakery, getting some sandwiches, and eating outside. Then we just hung out for a bit. Friday we went shopping. We hit up Kringlan, Smáralind, and all the downtown shops. We were both extremely tired when we got home. Saturday we hung out at cafés and played cards. Rebecca was supposed to fly home on Saturday but the weather was bad so she stayed an extra night. Then Sunday we had a little trouble with the buses but Rebecca made it home. It was nice to see her again as well as the other exchangers.
Now I'm on summer break. I am trying to find ways to keep myself busy. Next thursday, the 15th, Mamma's sister, Bergey (she lives in Denmark), is visiting with her baby. Then on the 20th, the day Bergey leaves and the day I get my grades, I'm flying out to Egilsstaðir, a city on the east coast, for my farm visit. I get to spend one week on an Icelandic sheep farm. I think it'll be a neat experience but I honestly don't know how much help I'll be. And then a week after that my mom is coming to visit. And then 12 days after that I go home. It'll be here before I know it. These next two weeks are really the only down time I have left. The thought of going home is an odd one. I believe that in 46 days I'll be ready to go home but not quite sure if I'll be ready to leave. Iceland is an amazing place. I've grown to love this country. I honestly don't think that I could spend the rest of my life here, but I feel the same way about America. It's kind of a limbo feeling. A lost feeling.
So today I went to Reykjavík for an art field trip. I just found out about it yesterday. I love that. We went to this gallery in Hafnarfjörður and then we went downtown for lunch. My friend Berglind and I went to Asia for the lunch buffet. It was okay, but a tad European not so much Asian. Then we had spare time to look around the shops and we bought some ice cream before heading to the Listasafn Íslands (the National Gallery of Iceland). I had already seen all of the exhibits. I went there with Ollie when he visited two weekends ago. But, it was still fun to look around again.
This weekend I'm going to Akureyri for the söngkeppni framhaldsskólanna, it's the song contest between all of the secondary schools in the country. I'm going up tomorrow by bus and am coming home Sunday. It's going to be so much fun! Akureyri is going to be full to the brim with framhaldsskóli nemendur (students) and a lot of other exchangers are going. I'm going to stay with Ollie for the weekend. The contest is Saturday and after it is a ball, which should be packed and tons of fun. I can't wait!!
I'll begin this post with my fantastic Easter break. In Iceland there is a national religion, it happens to be Lutheran, so Easter break is quite nice. I had over a week off from school and decided that it would be a good time to visit Rebecca. Every year over Easter Ísafjörður, the "capital" of the West Fjörds, about triples in size, for good reason. There is a big skiing festival there, called Skíðavikan, and of course the rock festival Aldrei Fór Ég Suður. I had a flight scheduled for thursday the 20th but due to some inclement weather I didn't make it north until friday. The first thing I noticed when stepping off of the plane was the mountains. They were everywhere. This probably shouldn't have surprised me, since Iceland is full of mountains, but it did. "My Iceland," in the south, does not have mountains. Yes, they are there, but in the distance. You never actually get up close and personal with them. It is not quite the same in the north. Up there they are scary big. After getting settled at Rebecca's house in Bolungarvík we went to the pool. It was so nice to sit in the hot pot and be surrounded by big mountains and piles of snow. After that Rebecca's dad, who works as a news man (I can't think of the exact word in English), came and picked us up. He was heading to the Skíðavikan to interview some people so we tagged along. It would have been more interesting if we could have actually gone skiing, but it was still fun. Then we had a nice dinner with some of the family and after that we went to Aldrei. Aldrei was held in this old fishing warehouse on the harbor in Ísafjörður. That night we saw Morðingjarnir (actually got one of the cds they tossed out into the crowd), Skakkamanage, Hjálmar (great reggae band), Megas, and Mugison (the whole festival came into existence because of him). It was quite awesome. Becca and I managed to be quite close to the stage the entire time. Around 1 we went home, watched some movies, and ate some delicious Swiss chocolate.
On Saturday we woke up not having any real plans for the day. We thought maybe we would go down to the beach but other than that nothing definite. Instead after breakfast Rebecca's dad and uncle decided we would go snowmobiling. It was pretty much the most amazing thing. Ever. We spent around three hours going up and down mountains and around fjörds. The West Fjörds were carved out by glaciers so the tops of the mountains are all flat. This makes it quite easy to get around by snowmobile. It's hard to tell that you're on top of a mountain because it just looks like a big icy, tundra field. I wasn't really all that scared. It was just really really fun. I have a DVD of the whole thing, thanks to Rebecca's dad, if anyone's interested. It's actually quite funny to watch. My legs were so sore after the fact though. That night we went to Aldrei again too. It was the last night and stopped at 2 in the morning. We stayed pretty much the whole time. We saw Sprengjuhöllin, Eivör (an amazing Faroese singer), Dr. Spock, and lots of other artists that I can not remember off the top of my head. The place was packed, but it was still quite awesome. We didn't make it home until around 4 and by then we were pretty beat.
On Easter Sunday we woke up quite tired and sore from the day before. The morning began with a search for our Páskaegg (Easter egg). In Iceland they don't have easter baskets, instead they have easter eggs. Basically it's this big chocolate egg filled with candy. And basically I got way too many of them. I already had brought two with me, one from the parents and one from the grandparents, and then Rebecca's parents got me one. I was very appreciative, but really it was too much chocolate. We spent the afternoon walking along the beach. It was really nice and relaxing, but a tad smelly. We had a really good dinner and then jetted off to Ísafjörður to see Menntaskólinn Ísafjörður's production of Rocky Horror. It was really hilarious and I wanted very badly to sing along but I didn't know the words in Icelandic. That night there was a ball downtown but I decided to be responsible and not go. My flight home was really early the next day and I knew I would need my energy. Instead Rebecca and I watched movies and ate more Swiss chocolate. Early Monday morning I drove to the airport with Rebecca and her dad. There were tons of people flying that morning and luckily I reserved my flight beforehand. Mamma picked me up from the airport. It was good to be home in the flat flat flat south.
That Friday my friend Ollie, from Australia, stayed the night. He was in Australia over Easter break for his sister's wedding and he needed a place to stay before getting his flight to Akureyri. Around 1 am we picked him up from the airport. He had spent around 40 hours in different airports the past two days and was understandably quite tired. We woke up Saturday morning and drove into Keflavík to catch a bus to Reykjavik. We spent most of the afternoon wandering around, shopping, and drinking coffee. We went to Hlemmur to catch a strætó to the airport where we ran into two other exchangers Mod (Thailand) and Jelena (Germany). I thought we needed the 15 bus but Ollie said we needed the 19, which was currently driving away. After a quick check at the sign he started running after the strætó and I of course followed. We made it, laughed quite a bit, and got to the airport safely. We exchanged quick goodbyes, as we would be seeing each other the next weekend, and then I left to go the bus depot. The next day I was really sick with a stomach virus that I got from Gunnar and I ended up not going to school on Monday. Ollie apparently got it as well.
Last Wednesday I went on a school trip to Geysir and Gullfoss (I'll post pictures tomorrow). It was fun but the weather was kind of icky. Then this past weekend was Menningar Helgi (AFS culture weekend). We got to do lots of cool things that I'll be updating about tomorrow. It was great to see everyone again, but it's also a little sad because the next time we're all together is the departure camp. This weekend I'm going to Akureyri for the framhaldsskóli söngkeppni (the high school song contest) that Manu is competing in. It should be a lot of fun. I'm going to try to update about the AFS weekend and my trip to Geysir and Gullfoss tomorrow.
This entry is a short teaser for the update that is to come. I need to fill all of you in on my amazing Easter break, most of which I spent up north visiting my good, Swiss friend Rebecca. We had a pretty good weekend, I'm not gonna lie. Chock full of snowmobiling, rock festivals, and receiving way too much chocolate. Then this past weekend my Australian mate, Oliver, visited me for a bit and we managed to have a fun, adventurous Saturday in Reykjavík. After that I need to share with all of you lovelies how I got the stomach flu and spent most of Sunday tossin' my cookies. Fun, fun. I promise, an update is coming. Soon.
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