7 posts tagged “school”
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, before I begin this much anticipated update I'm putting up the video of Manu's performance at the song contest. He and Davið Már (the other boy singing with him) will go on to perform at the national song contest in Akureyri on the 12th of April. I'm really hoping I can go.
Most of the day I hung out with Ollie, the Australian, and Ann-Sophie, the Belgian. They live in Akureyri so I just went to school with them for a bit and chilled downtown. Mainly at this one café, the Bláa Kannan, something like the blue teapot in English. They showed me around Akureyri and we just hung out. Around 4 we went to meet the other exchangers who arrived by bus, the French-speakers, Daniel (Switzerland, his dream is to move to Texas and become a cowboy, I am not lying, he's hilarious when you get him to talk about cheese), Thomas (France, I run into him all the time in Eymundsson, this bookstore in downtown Reykjavík) and Hélene (Belgium, she had, and still has I believe, a broken arm this weekend as the result of a skiing mishap so she couldn't go in the hot pot with us). At one point Bilge (Turkey, had her birthday this past week, I love talking about Turkish food with her, I am most definitely visiting her and gorging myself on simits and apple tea) and Juho (Finland, his name is pronounced like 'You hoe!' which has led to some...funny misunderstandings). We all gathered at the Bláa Kannan, where we were joined by the other volunteers and Nick (Switzerland) and Lelenia (Italy), they both also live in Akureyri. We talked and chatted and then headed to the pool, where we chatted in the hot pot. It is most definitely an experience; going into a hot pot while it's snowing and with snow all around you. After we dried off we headed to Strikið, a restaurant, where we were joined by Rebecca (you should know what country she's from by now, her flight from Ísafjörður to Reykjavík was cancelled so she had to drive down so she could catch a flight to Akureyri, thus her late arrival). We hung there for awhile and then headed to the movies. We saw Juno, which was just as hilarious the 2nd time as the first. Then we headed to our 'houses' for the night. I was at Hafrún's (a volunteer) house with the other girls, Hélene, Bilge, and Rebecca. We were up most of the nice just talking which is always fun.
Saturday morning we enjoyed a great breakfast from Hafrún's mom (at least, I assumed it was her mom). Then we contacted Ann-Sophie and agreed to meet up downtown. So after we were all dressed and ready Hafrún dropped us off downtown. We got some tea and relaxed. Around 2 we had to go meet up with everyone else at this one museum. We went and looked around and then walked and got ice cream at the best ice cream place in Iceland. It was good, but I don't know if it's the best ice cream I've ever had. Then we headed to the summer house. It was outside of the city and had a great view. We got settled and then a group of us headed out to the hot pot. We had to wear hats so our hair wouldn't freeze. After that we waited for dinner to arrive, so we played spoons (a hilarious card game for those of you who don't know). After dinner we just hung out and talked together until around 4 or 5 in the morning. Then we decided we should probably go to bed. That was difficult. We had a Mothman scare which left most of us unsettled for a while. It was funny nonetheless, but after the fact.
Sunday we all woke up grudgingly. Bilge and Juho both had early flights so they had to be up first. The rest of us slowly enjoyed breakfast and cleaned up the house. When we were done we went to drop off Hélene, Daniel, and Thomas at the bus station. Rebecca and I had late flights that evening. Ann-Sophie, Ollie, Becca and I went back to Bláa Kannan and talked for quite a while. After that we went on search for dinner. Ollie and I got some grub at the Indian Curry Hut. The chicken vindaloo was actually quite delicious, which just reminds me of that one Ramone's song. Then we walked around while Ann-Sophie and Becca decided what they were hungry for. We decided to go to Búllan, a burger joint, so that they could get some fries. While they waited in line Ollie and I sat in the kids section and read Bushisms from a poster on the wall. While they were eating their fries a fire started in the kitchen. The fry cooks tried hard to put them out but nothing was working, after a while it looked like they were pouring water on it and my first thought was Are they pouring water on a grease fire??!! so we decided to go outside and wait for the fire to stop. After awhile the alarm went off and we sent Ollie inside to make sure everything was okay. Thumbs-up, we returned and finished the fries. Then we decided to chill at a café downtown, Café Karólína. A volunteer came and picked us up when we had to get to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 21:10 but not long after we go there it was delayed until 22:25. We didn't want to wait that long in the airport so we decided to go back downtown. We went back to Karólína and talked some more. Around 22:00 I got a phone call that went something like this: Halló? Is this Allison? Yes. Where are you? Who are you? This is the airport. Oh, I'm at a café... What are you doing there? Everyone is on board. EVERYONE IS ON BOARD!! WE'RE COMING! Then we all ran into the car and drove like 80 km an hour to get to the airport. The guy was waiting for us outside as Rebecca and I quickly said good bye and ran to the terminal. These air control guys motioned us outside and we start running towards the plane, which turns out to be the wrong one so we start running towards the other one. Luckily we got seats together so we just walked quickly to our seats and threw ourselves in them. Have you ever had a whole plane waiting for you? It's not the best experience, but it took all of our self control to not start laughing our heads off. And that pretty much sums up the essence of the Akureyri Weekend, it shall never be forgotten.
Going back to school on Monday was tough. I kind of just wanted to be with all of the other exchange students again. Last week I was kind of in a bad mood. On Thursday I went to see the school musical with Mamma. It was called Sjénsinn, which means like No Way. It was actually really funny. It was all ABBA songs with different lyrics. Then on Saturday I went into Reykjavík. Ollie and Ann-Sophie were down for the weekend because Ollie was flying home to Australia on Tuesday for his sister's wedding. I went down with Pabbi and hung out with him for the morning. That weekend was Samfés, which is when all of the youth groups across the country get together for this big thing. On Saturday they had a song contest so I got to watch the warm-ups. I even got to see Haffi Haff (singer and just media figure in Iceland, see his entry for Eurovision here, I wanted him to win, but he didn't make it to the finals), he was there as a guest performer. Then around 1 I met up with Ann-Sophie and Ollie, who were at KFC. We walked to Kringlan, the mall, and shopped for awhile. I actually found jeans!! For just 7,000 kr.!! Anyway, we met up with Taylor and Andrea (two other exchangers from the USA and Italy) and went downtown with them. Taylor and Andrea went and got hot dogs and then we looked for the piercing place because Ollie wanted to get something pierced, I think his lip. They were all closed though, but we ran into a girl I knew from school who dropped out to move to the city. We chatted for a bit and hung out with them at Hressó. Then Ann-Sophie and I went to Café Paris for dinner and chatted. Pabbi came and picked me up.
School this week was easier and it's a short week. On Monday night I got a surprise call from my contact person. Apparently Asiarpa, an exchanger from Greenland, was flying home the next day and was staying at my contact's house. She invited me over (as well as Manu and Alessandra) to hang out. I had no idea Asiarpa was thinking about going home so it was a bit of a surprise. We spent most of the night talking and eating Belgian candy. On the drive home the Northern lights were out. It was kind of sad to say goodbye. On Tuesday I skipped (shh...don't tell anybody) two of my classes (with my host parent's permission) and went into Reykjavík for the evening. Ollie flew home in the morning and Ann-Sophie didn't fly back to Akureyri until 5:30 so I went to hang out with her. We met at Café Paris and chatted and then walked around. We saw some Japanese tourists, their tour guide was super peppy, like obnoxiously. We got really hungry for cheeseburgers so we looked for the McDonalds that was marked on Ann-Sophie's map. Unfortunately it had been torn down awhile ago so we had to come up with a new place to eat. I called Pabbi, but the place he recommended didn't have sit down service so we searched a bit and ended up going to Bátar, a place Pabbi had recommended to me a long time ago. We got cheeseburgers and fries with spice. Oh, it was good. It was the first real cheeseburger I'd had here and it was worth it. After we were done we headed up Laugavegur and browsed. We ended up going into Mál og Menning, the bookshop, and sat in their café, drinking tea. Around 4 we decided to go to Hlemmur (the strætó depot) to find out when Ann-Sophie had to catch the strætó to the airport. On the way there we walked past Páll Óskar! He's pretty much the most popular dj in Iceland. It was pretty epic. I wanted to stop and get a picture but he kind of gave me this look that said 'Don't you dare make a scene,' and he was talking to someone so I decided to just walk on. Ann-Sophie and I almost got on the wrong bus because you have to make sure they're going in the right direction. It might be the number you need but it might have already gone past your stop. We made it to the airport and waited for her plane. Ann-Sophie really doesn't like flying so she was a bit nervous. It was kind of sad leaving. I've seen her so much in the past month, but luckily there's an AFS camp on April 4th so I´ll see her soon. After her flight left I headed to the bus station, BSÍ, and waited for the bus to Keflavík.
Tomorrow is the last real day of school before Easter break, or páskafrí. We have off until the 26th. Friday we don't have classes, instead it's this day called Starfshlaup. Everyone in school is on a team, I´m on yellow, and together you participate in different tasks. It's kind of like a school wide relay race of sorts. Some of the tasks are academic like French, English, Biology, and some are not like swimming, etc. Basically which ever team competes the best wins. I'm not actually doing a task; I´m in the clapping section, but it should be fun anyway. I'm glad I have a yellow backpack.
After the Akureyri weekend, I came to the realization that...I don't want to leave these people. I mean, Rebecca and I have a Europe tour in the works for the summer of '09, but it's going to be really hard to go home. Tomorrow begins the 100-days-left marker. It leaves me speechless.
So since returning from Denmark I've been back at school. Actually the day we arrived I had to go to school to get my schedule. That was not fun. I really just wanted to sleep. This semester I'm taking Figure Drawing, French, Icelandic for foreigners, Art History, and Movie History. It's a nice, light, mostly enjoyable schedule. It's hard to believe that a month of school is over already! Just 3 months left of my Icelandic education. I like my schedule this semester it's much more language dependent. I'm no longer a fish out of water when it comes to the language. My gills are growing, so to speak.
My 17th birthday was a couple of weeks ago. It was very low key, but that is what I like. I got a couple "Til hamingju með daginn!' and "Til hamingju með afmælið!" Luckily no one sang to me. I blush like crazy whenever I get the birthday song. I came home to a very nice birthday celebration. Amma, Mamma, Pabbi, and I ate some orange cheesecake and other treats. Mamma and Pabbi gave me two cds, both somewhat an inside joke, a pair of nice wool handwarmers, and this great puffin bowl (it´s very touristy and for little kids, but I love it). Amma gave me a pair of hand-knitted wool socks that match the sweater I got for Christmas and a nice necklace. Then we went out to dinner to Café Duus, this nice restaurant that´s next to the art gallery in Keflavík. We weren't really that hungry having eaten cheesecake earlier, but we enjoyed ourselves. Mamma's brother and his wife also had a birthday that day and wouldn't you know it? They were at Duus as well. Sometimes it's hard to remember that you had a birthday. Like when it's a new year; it takes you a while to remember to write 2008 instead of 2007. It's kind of like that.
Lately the weather has been a little crazy as you can see above. It snowed on and off for the last two weeks. The friday before last we even had a "snow day." Which, technically isn't allowed to happen. My school is owned by the government and therefore isn't allowed to close. Although it wouldn't have mattered if school was canceled because the road between Sandgerði and Keflavík was closed. Luckily it hasn't snowed a lot lately because to tell you the truth I'm a tad sick of snow. I went out to the movies with a friend of mine, Þórdís, last saturday (did you know that in Iceland it costs more to see Icelandic movies than it does to see foreign ones). Around 2 o'clock in the morning she tried to drive me home but the weather was so bad I ended up staying the night. We just watched another movie before going to sleep. It's not so windy now, but it's definitely getting colder.
In late January the special month of Þorrablot begins. During this special month Icelanders eat the traditional Icelandic foods. I must note that I find absolutely none of these foods to be especially good. For example, the picture above shows svið, or singed lamb head. They served it in the cafeteria a couple of weeks ago and the lunch ladies let me take a picture of it because I told them that no one at home would believe me. If you speak Icelandic to them, butchered and accented it may be, they'll let you do anything. Other foods eaten during Þorrablot include blóðmör (blood sausage/pudding), hakarl (putrefied shark meat, couldn't even swallow this), harðfiskur (dried fish, I find it similar to eating rope), lifrarpylsa (lambs liver made into a pudding-esque sausage), sviðasulta (head cheese), and hrútspungar (jellied ram testicles). Luckily mamma is pregnant again and therefore a little sensitive to foods so there's no Þorramat at our house. However, my Icelandic teacher brought in a big þorra smorgasbord to class for all of us to try the delectable traditional food. It was fun to try though just to be able to say that "yes, I have indeed munched on the reproductive organs of certain farm animals."
Speaking of Icelandic holidays, tomorrow is Bolladagur. A day simply to eat cream puffs. Amma Ásta baked some today for us to eat tomorrow. According to tradition children wake their parents by hitting them with sticks while yelling "Bolla, bolla, bolla..." The more hits mean the more buns you get to eat. Then tuesday is, as most of you know, Fat Tuesday (also called, Shrove tuesday and Mardi gras) although where I´m from it´s called Fastnacht Day. I'm from an area full of Pennsylvania Germans (sometimes called Dutch) and we delight in eating fastnachts on Fat Tuesday. I'm going to miss those. In Iceland Fat Tuesday is called Sprengidagur (bursting day) and you eat salted lamb and pea soup. Ash Wednesday in Iceland is called Öskudagur. On this day little kids dress up in costumes and sing for candy (quite similar to Halloween just without the haunts). In the past they hung small pouches on other peoples' back, similar to the poisson d'avril tradition in France, but anymore it's just a hunt for candy.
There's not much else to talk about. Life has been going well. It's hard to believe that I only have 4 and a half months left here. And they're going to fly by, believe you me. February will go, then it's March which means Easter and the music festival up north (Aldrei fór ég suður), after that April and possibly a trip to Dalvík and Akureyri, then May and school is out and farm visits, and then finally June. There is certainly not much time left. Not much at all.
So, I got this awesome bowl and it's just perfect for ramen. It's even got a praying monk/buddha figure to protect my noodles. It's amazing what you can find for about 10 bucks at a Danish housewares store. Besides my finding the perfect bowl for noodly goodness not much has happened these past couple of days. On Saturday I went to a soccer game in Grindavík. What should have been a 20 minute drive home took 3 hours because Pabbi made us stop at every possible "place of interest." I saw Hópsnes (which is this place near Grindavík where all of these ships have crashed), a geyser, the place that is "supposedly" where the North American tectonic plate and the European plate meet (there is some speculation about it), a power plant, and lots of lighthouses and tiny villages. It was fun and interesting but the weather was crap and I really had to use the bathroom.
School has occupied most of my time this week, but now that I have all of this free time it's more bearable. Mondays will always be Mondays but Tuesdays have drastically improved. In fact, yesterday (a Tuesday) I had the bus that takes me back to school after lunch drop me off at Penninn (a book store/staples-esque shop). The weather was really nice, no wind and no clouds, so after perusing for a bit I enjoyed a pleasant walk through downtown Keflavík on my way back to school. *I love the freedom!!* Today the weather is absolutely horrible! It is so windy (25 mph winds!!) and it hasn't stopped raining yet! But, the day itself hasn't been so bad. Tonight I'm going to a dance at school. A famous Icelandic DJ, Páll Óskar, is hosting it and it should be a good time. I'm so lucky that I get to sleep in tomorrow (I don't have my first class until 10) because the dance ends at 1 a.m.
This is one of Páll Óskar´s popular songs at the moment. It´s called "International" and it was the anthem for the 2007 Reykjavík Gay Pride festival. It´s played on the radio a lot. (as a warning, it does promote a pro-gay message so if you don´t like that then please don´t watch the video)
At the end of my year here I hope to have accomplished many things. I don't just want to mimic the Icelandic ways; I want to know them inside and out. I want the language, customs, habits, and culture to become my own. I don't want to find this country strange and different, but familiar and like a second home. There is however one thing here that I hope I never get used to. That is the scenery. I hope that in ten months it still manages to take my breath away as it does now. This past weekend I took a trip to Siglufjörður with my Icelandic For Foreigners class and on the way I was bombarded with the beauty that is the Icelandic countryside. The relationship with nature here is very different from the states. In America it sometimes feels like nature is lucky to exist side by side with our high rises, skyscrapers, and infinite amounts of industry. In Iceland the opposite is true. Its as if nature is allowing us to coexist along with it. Here nature runs right up to your front door, it´s not pushed away and preserved in some park, it's all around you.
There was 8 of us that went on the trip. Kristrún (my teacher), her daughter, Maria (from Russia), Sylvia (from Poland), Ivan (from Bulgaria), Manu, Ale, and me. It's a long drive to Siglufjörður, about 6 hours altogether. On the way we stopped at the Iceland Seal Center. I didn't really enjoy the center. Mostly because it was displays of stuffed seals. I don't know why but it just creeped me out, thusly I didn't take many pictures. We also stopped at Grábrók (literally: gray trousers), an old, inactive volcano out in the middle of nowhere. It's not really that big so we took a moment to climb it.
After visiting Grábrók we continued on our way. After a while we stopped again at Glaumbær, an old Icelandic style house. It was pretty cool to see. The inside walls were mainly made of soil and grasses.
After Glaumbær we stopped in Sauðarkrókur to eat. We only had a little bit left to go before we reached Siglufjörður. On the way I admired the countryside, slept, and listened to music. When we arrived we claimed our rooms (Ale and I got the best room. It was pink and the only one with actual beds) and made dinner. After dinner we all sat around the table and talked for hours over kaffí og snúður (coffee and these delicious cinnamon sugar pastries). Then, after a lot of traveling, we called it a day.
The next day we all woke up relatively early (for a laugardagur [saturday]) and went out to explore! Unfortunately, it turns out that Siglufjörður is something of a ghost town, a has-been. A town that was once a booming, herring-centric, outpost to the sea and is now the bare remains of an old fishing harbor. We thought there might be some shops to peruse or perhaps a cinema. Nope. However, there was one place we could look around...Samkaup! I'm telling you that place never fails. Sadly, a grocery store can only keep one occupied for so long. We tried to walk around a bit more but eventually the wind got to us and we returned to the house. We all had a little snack and around noon we went to the Herring Era Museum. It was pretty cool to see. I mean, at one time Siglufjörður was something. It had been quite the spot. Too bad now not even the local cafe or bakery is open in the winter.
After the Herring Era Museum we all went back to the house and played cards for the rest of the afternoon. We mostly played Olsen Olsen (similar to Uno) and Idiot (also known as sh#thead). It was really rather entertaining. Idiot is really a fun game. Then for dinner we all made pizza together. After dinner we walked to the video rental store and got two dvds. It was apparently one of the only things open. After watching the movies we were all too tired to do anything else.
The next day we got up early and packed our things. It started to snow as we left Siglufjörður. It's a good thing it happened as we were leaving, or else we might have had to prolong our visit. The drive home was rather uneventful; we all slept for most of the way. I was dropped off in Reykjavik at mamma's cousin's house. We would be having dinner there that evening. I was only a couple of hours early, no biggie. Mamma's cousin and I went for a walk around central Reykjavik, which was nice. I hadn't really gotten the chance to see the city. It has an interesting vibe. It's like a big town, not a big city. It has a metropolis atmosphere yet a small town feel. I really liked it.
Not much has happened this week. At school I've dropped Danish. It was just too complicated. All of the kids had been taking Danish since they were around 10, but they just didn't try. Although, they still picked up the basics where as I had never even heard spoken Danish since before arriving in Iceland, let alone tried to read it. Because of this I now have quite a bit of free time in my schedule. This is actually quite nice. On Tuesdays I can now take a bus home for lunch and on Thursdays I can sleep in and catch a later bus to school. I also have plenty of time to do homework and now I might actually pass all of my classes. In Art I think I'm pretty far ahead of the rest of my classmates. But, I've been taking art in school for 10 years and I think this might be only the second or first year for some of them. Icelandic for Foreigners is going well. I'm learning the language more and more each day. Math is pretty easy so far. On my take home test last week I got a 9.6 out of 10 (and may I point out that all of the questions were in Icelandic, go me). Photoshop isn't that difficult and it's all in class work. Not to mention the program is in English, the instructions in Icelandic, but the bulk of it is in English. SAM is just SAM. I don't think it's going to be hard to pass SAM. Write a speech, deliver a speech. Woooooo. Not to mention one of the teachers was an exchange student to the Netherlands so she's going pretty easy on us.
Other than that there's a couple of things I'm looking forward to. Next weekend is AFS 6 Week Camp where I get to see all of my lovely exchange buddies, who I miss lots (I promise to take pictures). I'm really anxious for this; it's coming in 10 days!!! Then the weekend after that I go to the Vestmanneyjar (Westman Islands) with the family, which looks quite promising. I'll keep you all posted.
So...I'm finally updating. I apologize for the severe lack in update, but I wanted to wait until I got settled.
New York & The Plane:
The drive to New York went much better than I expected. We only got lost once and it was very easily corrected. When we arrived at St. John's my mom and aunt had to leave before I could officially sign in. At that moment it still hadn't really hit me that I wouldn't be seeing these people for 11 months. I said goodbye with ease and went to find my room for the night. I met the two other Americans headed to Iceland and many other exchangers headed to Finland, Sweden, and Latvia. The orientation flew by. We talked about rules, safety measures, culture shock, and our respective host countries. We did exercises about communication when you can't speak the same language. And so on and so forth. It was all pretty redundant. I just wanted to get on the plane and go.
That night however I felt the depth of what I was doing. I just wanted to rewind and give my mom a big big hug. I talked to the other girls in my room though and felt a bit better. The next day at noon the three Iceland-bounds said goodbye to the other outbounds as they went to the airport for their flight to Stockholm (some would stay in Sweden and the others would catch connections there). We would be departing much later (5 o'clock to be precise) to JFK to catch our flight to Keflavik.
My suitcase was indeed 2 kilos over the limit, but the nice lady at the check-in counter just let me put 2 kilos of stuff into one of the other exchange student's suitcase. It was quite convenient. Our flight was short and a little turbulent but altogether not bad. When we landed in Keflavik we navigated our way to passport regulation where we only met a bit of questioning and then onto the luggage carousel. We made it through customs fine and out into the reception area where we were met by (pause for dramatic effect) no one. There was no AFS sign waiting for us, no smiling face, no "Velkomin Til Íslands," nope nothing. So we sat, and sat, and exchanged money, and sat, and went to the bathroom, and sat, and sat, and checked out the convenience store, and sat, and sat, and called the AFS Iceland office (unfortunately it was not open until 10), and sat, and played cards, and sat some more, and then finally after 3 hours of biding our time a smiling face approached us and said "AFS?" Já Já!! You have to understand that I was dead tired by now. I did not sleep at all on the plane nor much the night before. I was about to pass out right there. So seeing an AFS volunteer was like seeing God descend from the heavens. I just wanted to get to orientation and sleep until the cows came home.
Orientation & The Drive Home:
The first day of orientation was just the arrival day. We waited for all of the other exchangers to get there, because we were (of course) one of the first groups to arrive. We walked into downtown Kopavogur, ate, and slept. Later in the day I got to meet some of the other exchange students and chatted with them. Then we went to sleep. The next day we went to the pool which was right next to the orientation site. It was so nice to get clean. My hair had been crisco central. The rest of the day we broke into groups by countries (I was with the two other Americans, Taylor & Euan, A crazy funny guy from Australia, Oliver, and a girl from Venezuela, Adriany) and discussed Iceland, its customs, its language, etc. We also prepared for the evening's talent show. Taylor, Euan, and I were doing a rendition of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry." Taylor would be on the ukelele, Euan vocals, and I would be fulfilling the ever important role of the spoons. It actually went over rather well. The talent show in general was a blast. After the show we walked outside a bit so that we could see the fireworks in Reykjavik because it was a culture night festival thing. Then we headed back and slept.
The next day we talked about adjusting to Icelandic life and met with Rosa, the head honcho of AFS Iceland. We were all pretty jittery because we would be meeting our host families that afternoon. I was kind of sad that I would be leaving the exchange students. I had made a lot of friends. Fortunately I had found out the day before that two of the Italian students would be at my school in Keflavik. So we would see each other within the next week (school started on the 22nd). Slowly the host families started to pour in and I said goodbye to the friends I had made; promising to e-mail and assuring them that I would be at the 6 week camp in September. Then I recognized my pabbi and brother Julius from the pictures they had sent me. It was a little nerve-racking as I got into the car.
The drive home was good though. Sandgerði is about a 40 minute drive from the greater Reykjavik area. Along the way pabbi pointed out certain places and told me about them. It was nice. When we arrived I got to meet mamma, who welcomed me with open arms, and Gunnar (my other host brother). I unpacked my stuff and moved into my bedroom. I wasn't all that tired as I had caught up on my sleep at orientation. We had a nice dinner together and I felt good.
Life Here:
I've been with my host family for over 10 days now. I think I'm adjusting rather well. Icelandic is difficult but I'm slowly learning phrases and words; the grammar and pronunciation will (hopefully) follow. I've been to my first Icelandic football match (my pabbi is a big football fan so it is the first of many to come) and to the Sandgerði town festival. I've attempted to fish (it ended very quickly as I got the line stuck on some seaweed) and I've seen the sun set at midnight (which is seriously really cool; you can see the sun over the horizon but if you look straight up you can see the stars plain as day).
Some differences that I've noticed here:
-You bag your own purchases at stores (I'm not sure if this applies to clothing stores, but anywhere else it's true)
-You are allowed to pee outside (I've witnessed my host brother taking advantage of this Icelandic law)
-You can leave school at pretty much any time throughout the day
-The cafeteria at school is ALWAYS open and there is ALWAYS someone eating
-You take your shoes off when entering a home
-If someone visits (or you visit someone) you will always ask them to stay for coffee (you will always be asked to stay for some coffee)
-If the show you are watching is on an Icelandic channel it has to be in Icelandic or sub-titled, 'tis law (even the music, which can lead to some horrible background songs)
-A lot of food products are imported like Haribo gummy bears from Denmark, Tom & Jerry crackers from Finland, Nesquik from Norway, and cheerios from the U.K.
-My host mamma has never heard of cinnamon sugar on toast (what a travesty!!)
-The Icelandic word for balloon and blister is the same
I can't really think of any more at the moment
School:
School is okay. Manu and Alessandra (the two Italian exchange students) are in a lot of my classes which is good. I am taking Art, Icelandic for foreigners, Danish, Photoshop, Math (something about vectors), and SAM (it's like a social skills/speech class). My classes are pretty good, but I despise SAM. It is the bane of my existence. It is the epitome of all that is evil in this world wrapped up in a innocent little package gallivanting around disguised as a communications class. Actually...it's not that bad, but it is pretty annoying. I don't think anyone else would appreciate having to stand up in front of a class full of people, as a foreigner, having to make speech after speech. But I digress. School is alright and I will survive.
Tomorrow night I am going to a fundraising concert that pabbi is playing at. I got to hear him play during the town festival (technically it was at the local pub, which I am not legally allowed in but, tee hee, I was with the band, tee hee) and he is really very very good. He plays with a local band called Klassert who recently appeared in an article in an Icelandic gossip magazine because they won a contest and will be touring Europe (pabbi will not be going with them as his wife, my mamma, did just have a child). Friday I am going to a football game with pabbi in Sandgerði and Saturday is Ljósa Nótt (Night of Lights), a big festival in Keflavik. So, I hope to update soon with pictures and more stories about Iceland.
Hope you're all doing well! Mail would be lovely (either electronic or snail, any word from you is appreciated)!
Oh, I have uploaded some pictures so check the link on the right!
Bless!
I still have a couple of people to see before I leave this country. I was able to have dinner at my friend Austin's house last night. She hadn't been able to come to my party and we had been trying to arrange a get together. We ended up eating pizza and watching Heathers. It was really great. She also gave me one of the best going away gifts. It was this huge picture collage that brings back so many good memories. I only hope that I can somehow take it to Iceland with me.
For pictures of the party click on the "My Pictures" link on the right.
I've also been in contact with my host family. I know a little bit more about them now. My host dad is the manager of a youth center, the president of the National Youth Club Organization of Iceland, a musician, and a member of the Sandgerði town council. Quite the busy man. My host mom teaches Danish at a local school, but is on maternity leave until the fall of next year. For school I'll be attending Fjölbrautaskóli Suðurnesja (www.fss.is). My host mom gave me a general idea of what courses I'll be taking. I'm going to have Icelandic for foreigners! This actually makes me really happy. I'll also have math and gym class, which might be dancing (oh joy). I'm excited about school, but a little nervous. I start on the 22nd, so I'll only have been in the country for 5 days before being thrown head first into academia. I'm getting so very anxious.
My Groups
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Asian Cinema Updated: Yesterday
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Cultures Shocked Updated: 4 days ago
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Child of the Planet Updated: Aug 3, 2008
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