inevitably...
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.
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Comments
I've really enjoyed reading about Iceland; thank you for all your interesting posts!
I'm trying to convince my son, who's leaving in a couple weeks for a university semester in Brisbane, to blog about Australia.