5 posts tagged “shopping”

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.
                           

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.

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. 

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.

Last weekend was a blast!  On Friday I met Rebecca after school.  We went grocery shopping with mamma and then headed home.  We made pizza for dinner and talked while it was baking.  I don't think we ever ran out of things to talk about the whole weekend!  After dinner pabbi gave us a ride into Keflavik so that we could go to the movies.  There was only around 6 other people in the theater with us watching Eastern Promises.  It seemed pretty empty for a Friday night.   After the movie ended we still had a while until the bus to Sandgerði came so we walked to a café and got some coffee.  Afterwards we headed home and spent the rest of the night talking.

On Saturday around noon Becca and I took the bus into Reykjavik.  We went shopping at Kringlan (one of the bigger shopping malls) for quite some time.  Around 4 we caught the inner-city bus (the strætó) and headed into the center of town.  On the bus we met a fellow exchanger, Karen (Belgium).  She had an appointment so she couldn't hang out with us, but we were able to talk while we rode to our stop.  After we got off the bus we headed to Cafe Paris, a fairly popular cafe downtown.  We enjoyed a nice chat in the cozy atmosphere over some Swiss Mochas.  We payed and then perused the shops for a bit.  Around 5:30 we headed towards B.S.Í. to catch our bus back to Keflavik.  We got off near Amma's and headed there for dinner.  Later that night we watched some movies with mamma and pabbi and then we hit the sack.  We were both quite exhausted.

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. 

For dinner we had some company over to share in the Halloween fun.  We feasted on Chinese food and there was no lack in the dessert section.  We ended up with 3 cakes, some caramel apples, and a really big bowl full of candy.  I was stuffed.  And I ended up staying up pretty late, which is probably the reason that I felt like crap on Thursday and stayed home.

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.

Not much has happened so far this week.  Tomorrow though, Rebecca (a fellow exchanger and friend from Switzerland) is coming down to stay the weekend.  On Saturday there´s a concert in Keflavík celebrating this one bank´s 100th birthday.  I think we´re going to that and then maybe we´ll go to the movies.  On Sunday I think we´ll go into Reykjavik and go shopping.  It should be a fun weekend.  Also tomorrow during my Icelandic for Foreigners class we´re taking a trip to the Kaffitár factory/store in Reykjanes for lunch (the class is right before the lunch period so we´re just going to stay).  We've been learning how to order things so this is real-life practice (and an excuse to go to Kaffitár).  I think that it shall be a smashing time.