11 posts tagged “reykjavik”

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.

Goðafoss

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 it goes

Hjálmar

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.

1959

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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.

Beach at Bolungarvík

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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.

Tilbúin!

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. 

So on the 8th, the day after my last post, I went into Reykjavik on a field trip with my Art History class.  Field trips are handled quite differently in Iceland.  No permission slips for parents, no checking with your other teachers, you can take your own car, not always teacher supervision...you get the idea.  It's kind of nice.  It cuts through all of the bureaucratic red tape and you get some respect.  We were supposed to go to the Listaháskóli Íslands (Iceland's Art College), their one main campus and their architecture department, a photo exhibit, and in between grab some lunch.  We ended up spending around 2 hours in the restaurant so we never made to the photo exhibit.  I was surprised by how many foreigners there were at the school.  So, if anyone out there is interested in getting an art education and has a yearning to visit this country, look into it.  Another thing that surprised me was that our waitress at Hressó (the restaurant) only spoke English.  American I'd guess, by the accent, or lack of one.  I mean, it kind of bothered me.  Like, if this was in America and a waiter came up to someone and just spoke Spanish or Italian people would be a little upset or uncomfortable.  I realize it's English, the world's lingua franca or what have you, but it's the principle of the matter.  And honestly, how hard is it to learn the phrase "Are you ready to order?" 

Anyway... Truthfully, I don't remember what I did on the weekend following that day.  It's been dubbed "the lost weekend" a la "the lost colony."  The following Tuesday, the 12th, I had to watch The Shawshank Redemption for my Movie History class.  It was quite an embarkation.  I must say here, before I continue that: Wow, has my English gotten awkward.  What should have taken around 2 hours turned into 5.  I really do not feel like going into the whole story, so let's just say that it was a frustrating evening.  In the end the movie was watched and I was tired.

Wednesday, the 13th, was the school's Hljóðaneminn, or song contest.  It was really an entertaining evening.  I heard a marilyn manson version of Tainted Love (not something I'd like to repeat), one group stripped down to their underwear, and there was one kind of pathetic rendition of the song from the movie Revenge of the Nerds.   At the end of the evening though, there was only one winner...my good friend, Manu.  He sang Total Eclipse of the Heart and by the close the audience was pretty much on fire.  I have a video I'll be posting sometime soon.  Pictures can be seen here.

Thursday evening there was a ball up on the old US NATO base.  It was rather fun.  I arrived around 11:30 and got home around 2:30, dead tired.  I literally cursed the walk from the bus stop to the house, literally.  Quite a few people had been drinking.  My one friend was amazingly drunk.  I couldn't stop laughing.  She's usually quite tame and quiet; not that evening.  She wouldn't stop speaking English with me; normally it's just Icelandic with her.  I guess alcohol really does improve your foreign language skills.  Or at least your inhibitions about practicing said foreign language.  Or perhaps that's just the excuse other exchange students use to justify their alcohol consumption.

Friday I didn't awake until noon.  Quite unintentional.  I was supposed to be at school at 10.  Obviously didn't happen.  I only went to school for one class.  While I was in that class the teacher of the class I had slept through walked in.  And noticed me.  Oops.

Saturday I went ice skating with Júlíus.  I...well, it was awkward.  I haven't been skating in about a year.  The last time was in Quebec with my French class.  Some of you know how productive that was.  It wasn't.  I fell and was laughed at by some snotty French-Canadians.  I am in no way implying that all French-Canadians are snotty, most were very nice, just not the snotty ones at the ice rink.  Well, on Saturday I only fell once and it was not on my bum.  I'd say that that's some improvement.

I also now pronounce all j's as y's.  The other day I caught myself saying Yapan.

Yesterday at school we began Þemadagur.  Theme Days is what it basically translates to.  On these days instead of having classes you choose an activity to do.  Yesterday from 10-12 I watched Pan's Labyrinth.  It was a little difficult to understand considering the Spanish speaking and Icelandic subtitles but I think I got the general idea of the movie. After that from 13-15 I designed a mosaic wall.  These people are planning on putting up a mosaic downtown and they had a contest of sorts to design it.  Maybe mine will win, we'll see.  It'd be cool to have a huge mosaic that I designed in Keflavik.  This morning from 10-12 and 13-15 I was learning how to knit.  The Icelanders do it a tad differently from Americans so I've been told but I really have no idea considering this was my first time.  It was a little difficult and my final product was by no means fabulous, but it was enjoyable.  I now have enough knowledge to knit a pot holder or a scarf.  I'd actually like to knit a scarf for myself, so I think I'm going to look into getting my own supplies.  Who knows, by next winter I might have it finished.  Other activities that you could do included photography, jewelry making, calligraphy, creative writing, hair styling, makeup, art, collage, music, etc.  I think the whole idea is actually really cool.  Tomorrow is the last day.  In the morning there's a teacher vs. students sports match and then there's something in the cafeteria.  After that, I have plans to take the bus into Reykjavik and just look around.  The weather's been rather nice lately and one of my favorite stores Ósóma (the shop where I got Kathy's xmas present) is closing and having a sale.  I could also use a shopping trip.  And I haven't gone into Reykjavik for myself in a while!  Seriously I got so used to going at least once a week.  Tonight there's a dance at school with Páll Óskar but I'm not going.  I don't really feel like it, I don't think any of my friends are going, and my parents are in Reykjavik until late.  And it'd be nice to get to school on time tomorrow.

Today I got my haircut!  LOKSINS, ég veit.  It's been like, what, 7 months since I've stepped foot in a hair salon?!  It was needed.  Trust me, my hair was just...blegh.  And now it's funky.  And I like it.  And there are pictures, just for all of you inquiring minds and possible stalkers.  Haha, nice hair brings out my small amount of narcissism.  I swear, normally it's just microscopic.

I'm a fish.

That about gets you all up to date.    

Only 3 to go

I am indeed counting down.  Only 19 more days!  It is quite exciting.  It would be ten times nicer though, if it started to snow.  Even a light flurrying would suffice.  I have a feeling that this year will be what Icelanders call a "red Christmas."  Meaning we'll have a Christmas without snow.  Last Saturday I went into Reykjavik and finished up my Christmas shopping.  It was a long day, I spent a bit more than expected, but it's finished and that accounts for something.  On Sunday afternoon Mamma, Júlíus, and I went to this Christmas craft meeting thing.   We painted ceramic Christmas decorations.  It was kind of fun.  My snowman came out rather cute, if I do say so.  On Monday we all decorated gingerbread cookies.  It was rather enjoyable.  My gingerbread man had a tie.  He was classy like that.  I even managed to create a Jackson Pollock Christmas tree.  Although, my first attempt turned into a 60´s psychedelic type tree.

My Psychedelic 60s and Jackson Pollock Christmas trees

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Yesterday I mailed all of my Christmas packages.  It was a tad hectic and extremely expensive, so hopefully all of you back home who get something from me appreciate it.  Today I´m going into Reykjavik with Mamma and Gunnar to the AFS office.  It´s the International Volunteer Day, or something of that sort, and AFS participates in it.  So, we´re going down there to thank the volunteers and just chill. 

On Saturday there´s another exchange student thing going on.  In October Yoko Ono gave this Imagine Peace Tower to Iceland.  It´s basically this really big light column in the sky.  Well the 8th of December is the last day that it will be lit this year, because that was the day John died.  So all of the exchange students were invited to join in the festivities on that day.  It sounds pretty cool. 

Wintertime

I also have some exciting news.  On the 30th of December I'm going to Denmark!  It's Pabbi's birthday gift to Mamma.  We're going to visit her sister and celebrate her birthday there.  We're coming back home on the 7th or maybe the 6th, I'm not exactly sure.  We'll be staying in the town of Vamdrup which is actually a part of the city of Kolding.  I think it will be quite an enjoyable time.  We'll be there for the New Years celebrations and of course we'll have a birthday bash for Mamma.  I'm not quite sure what we'll be doing in between these festivities, but I'm sure Pabbi has some ideas bouncing around inside his head.  I just hope I get the chance to eat a Danish danish while in Denmark. 

These past two weeks have flown by.  Unfortunately not much of interest has happened.  Last week was Thanksgiving, but besides calling my mom not much celebration occurred.  Last Saturday I baked all day.  I made Swedish Tea Rings and brownies.  The tea rings turned out pretty well I think, considering that it was the first time I had ever made the dough.  Normally my grandmother makes the dough and then I finish them.  I don´t think the dough was warm enough during the rising process because they didn't get that big, but they were still quite tasty.  On Sunday I went to an AFS volunteer´s house for a get together.  Manu, Alessandra, their contact persons, and their host families were all there as well as my contact person and host family.  It was fun and the food was good.   I think Alessandra's host brother ate most of my brownies. 

This week has really been rather uneventful.  I've been slowly waiting for the end of school, which was today!  It´s nice.  I finally don't have to get up at 6 anymore!  But, now all of my attention is on Christmas (eða "Jól" í íslensku).  Sadly for my poor, unfortunate, American-citizen soul I have until Dec. 4th to get all of my Christmas gifts in the mail if I want a guarantee that they'll arrive before Christmas.  This means: emergency shopping trip [this weekend] for my procrastinating self (it's not even real procrastination considering it's not even December yet).  If only the majority of my relatives and friends called Europe home I'd have a good week more.  Woe is me.  But, not really.  I rather enjoy shopping...and Christmas, so if you put the two together it's bound to be a jolly good time.  Even I'll brave the 16 meter per second winds (totally don´t understand the way they measure wind speed here) to lavish in the Christmas spirit.  So, tomorrow I'm heading into Reykjavik to, hopefully, complete my Christmas shopping.  I'm supposed to meet up with Karoline and Jelena but at the moment I haven't been able to get in touch with them.  I'm sure we'll work something out and even if we don't Reykjavik is not that big; I'm sure we'll run into each other somewhere.

Sorry that this update has been so short and is seriously lacking in pictures.  I hope to snap some shots of "Reykjavik at Christmas time" tomorrow and maybe have something more interesting to write about next time.

Snow!

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On Monday Manu, Alessandra, and I walked to Langbest for lunch.  It had snowed a lot over the weekend so it everything was blanketed with a nice white layer of snow.  It snowed some more as we were walking back to school and soon a Manu vs. Alessandra snow fight had broken out.  Tuesday flew by and before I knew it, it was Halloween.  On Wednesday I actually didn't feel that good.  I had a bit of a fever I think, but that wouldn't dampen my All Hallow's Eve!  When I got home from school I attempted to make caramel for popcorn balls, but I pretty much failed so instead we just had a big bucket of popcorn. 

Halloween Feast

The SAM trip was rescheduled for the weekend, but I ended up not going.  The week hadn't been the best.  I got a little homesick about Halloween and I hadn't felt good on Wednesday or Thursday.  I just needed a weekend at home.  It wasn't a super busy weekend but it was nice.  Saturday night I went to a concert at Andrew's Theater.  It's the theater that's in the old Navy Base.  It was built for the troops but now that they're not there anymore others use it.  I saw Klassart, the band that my pabbi is in, and Hjálmar an Icelandic reggae/rock band.  It sounds like an odd combination but they´re actually really good.  Sunday I worked on homework and ran errands with Mamma.

My School

So not much is going on this weekend.  But, I'm okay with that because I need a boring weekend every now and then.  Yesterday Mamma, Júlíus, and I went to Ikea (here it's pronounced eh-ke-ah).  The one they have here is humongous!! (I just found out that the Ikea here is 4,000,000 sq. m.!!)  It was awesome; I got to eat yummy Swedish meatballs (sænskar kjötbollur) and buy some Läkerol, this Swedish candy that they have here.  As soon as I have my own house/apartment/humble abode I am so going on a shopping spree to Ikea.  I pretty much fell in love with every piece of furniture/ornamental item that existed in that 4 million sq. meter store.

Lately, I've been developing this... obsession of sorts over the item you see to your left.  It's the Stóra Myndordðabókin and I want it.  Badly.  In English it means Big Picture Dictionary, which is what it essentially is, but in actuality it is so much more than that.  I've been lucky enough to hold one of these puppies in my hands and... oh, 'twas almost orgasmic.  It's over 1,000 pages full of pictures with their respective titles in Icelandic, English, French, Spanish, and German.   Oh it's heavenly and I would buy one right away...if only it didn't cost around 200 USD.  Perhaps it'll show up under the Christmas tree?  (or maybe I'll just give into desire and drop 2 c-notes for it)

I've also started to drink a lot of coffee here.  It's a very Icelandic thing for friends and relatives to just stop over for a cup of kaffi.  There's this great Icelandic coffee brand called Kaffitár.  Their factory/shop is in Reykjanes and they have cafés in Reykjavik and at both the Keflavík and Reykjavík airports.  They have this great coffee called Guatemala that's flavored with dark chocolate and fruit.  Oh, It's spectacular (Mom: I'm sending you some for Christmas and next summer there will be at least 5 bags of it in my suitcase).  Here thought a lot of people use a moka pot (seen on left) to prepare coffee.  I had never actually seen one used before but I'm really starting to prefer them to the traditional drip coffee-pots.  (There will also probably be a moka pot of my own in my suitcase when I come home too)

Well this week Alessandra and I are going to try and get together Thursday night.  We really want to try the Thai restaurant in Keflavík and afterwards we're going to hit the movies.  Everything that's out is pretty old, for example Superbad, Hairspray, and Stardust.  But, I'm sure we'll enjoy ourselves none the less.  Then hopefully this weekend I am going into Reykjavik to visit Karoline and Jelena.  Hopefully all goes as planned.

Oh, I've also just purchased an orchid for my room.  Please send out good vibes/prayers/Buddhist mantras/etc. for it because I really don't want it to die on me.

Lovely Orchid