Final Thoughts

OK, so I meant to do one last post a long time ago, but it's better late than never.

By now I've been home a month and I think I can safely say that I'm used to being back in North Carolina now. At first the heat and humidity was a little extreme, but I've become accustomed to it again. However, just because I'm back here doesn't mean that I don't think about Iceland a lot. And I guess Alaska too, but Iceland is just much more prevalent in my memory. Here are some last minute thoughts on Iceland.

I think it's interesting to note that there are very few stop signs in Iceland. I think the whole month I was there I only saw 2. They're really into roundabouts and yield signs. I guess they just don't like breaking. Also, from my experience, it seems like Icelanders really like to speed. I mean, it's definitely easy to because the roads are pretty empty as soon as you get away from the cities, but it was still frightening at times.

I'd also like to note how adorable the city of Akureyri is. Not only is it a small town, which automatically makes it cute, but all the red lights are hearts instead of circles. When they had their economic crisis, they started putting hearts everywhere. I guess they were supposed to cheer people up. It's fun to be sitting at a red light and to see a heart. Definitely adds some excitement.

Finally, here are some photos that I never got around to putting up.


The Christmas house we visited in Akureyri.



Akureyri from across the bay.



The volcanic crater where we swam.



A glacial bay we stopped at on the way back to the airport.

Road Trip

It’s Friday night, which means not only is this day three of our road trip through Iceland, but that this is also my last night in Iceland. I’ve got to say it’s been a great month here, and we’re definitely going out with a bang. We’ve seen such a variety of landscapes and we’re going to even more tomorrow on our last day together. But first I guess I should go over the past few days.

Wednesday we left Akureyri and had to say goodbye to our home stay families. I know I only knew them ten days, but my family was so nice and hospitable that it was saddening to leave them. They were so full of love and it was great to watch them interact with each other. Even the older brother, who didn’t really engage in the family activities, would still tease his little sister in a loving way that showed he cared. I hope I can visit them again someday, and I’m so glad I got to know them during this trip.

The first leg of our drive wasn’t very long. We went to a geothermal power plant called Krafla (pronounced crap-la. Seriously.). We took a quick tour of the smelly place. The smell of eggs was quite pungent. They also had some weird artwork on the outside of the building. I don’t think I got a picture of it myself, but I’ll check to see if anyone else did.

That night we got free dinner at the canteen at the power plant. Apparently the workers actually live on site, so all their meals are there. We also spent the night at Krafla. I doubt I’ll ever get another chance to spend the night at a geothermal power plant, and I have to say that I enjoyed it. The accommodations were really modest, but it was a nice enough place. Plus they also gave us breakfast, and I’m a fan of free food.

Thursday was an extremely long day for us. We started off and immediately lost paved road because we were traveling to the highlands – the center of Iceland where pretty much no one lives and there are no paved roads. I had already spent hours on dirt/gravel roads because of our trip to the Arctic Circle, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled to experience a bumpy road for hours again. However, it definitely turned out to be worth it. The surrounding land was awesome and half the time didn’t even look like earth because it was lava flows. But after about four hours of driving, we came to a volcanic crater full of water. This was our destination. We all stripped down (which was a little embarrassing for a second, but I got over it since how often do you get the chance to swim in a volcanic crater?) and got into the warm water. It did smell terrible because of the sulfur, but I got used to it after a while. The water was the same as the cloudy, blue water at the blue lagoon, only natural. It was great.

The rest of the day pretty much consisted of constant driving. We had stops every now and then, but it was just hours and hours of car time. It reminded me of Alaska when we drove so many places. We did go through the largest of forest in Iceland. Usually there aren’t too many trees in Iceland, but this was actually a decent sized forest. Finally at midnight we made it to our hostel for the night where I quickly crashed for the night.

Today we visited an aluminum smelter, the industry that sucks up most of the electricity that Iceland produces. It was interesting, but I know I could never work in a factory like that. They also provided us free lunch, and we were all quite happy about that. Now we’re at another hostel and we just had our last group dinner, funded by Burch. It was a lobster dinner. I wasn’t that thrilled since I’ve never had lobster before and wasn’t that interested, but it actually ended up being decent. I’m not interested in eating it again, but I wasn’t totally disappointed.

Besides all the great stuff we’ve seen the past two days, we also got to experience car trouble. On Wednesday, the breaks kept overheating and we had to stop several times to pour water on them. Today something happened where the car wouldn’t shift into a higher gear. All this added more excitement to our travels. Luckily tomorrow we’ll have a different car, which will be good since my flight leaves at 5pm and then it’s back home to Raleigh. As upset as I’ll be leaving this great place, I am happy to be going home. Seven weeks has been the perfect time away from home, but I know it’s time to return. So my next update will be Raleigh and I’ll get working on uploading photos once I’m home.

Festival Weekend -- More Detailed

OK so most of my posts recently have been more photo oriented that actually telling what's been going on every day. So I feel like I have a decent amount to catch up on.

I think I've already done an update about Friday, so I'll start with Saturday. I don't actually remember much what happened during the day. I guess this is why I should do updated more regularly. It was probably a lazy day of just hanging around the house in the morning and then spending time downtown until dinner time. That's pretty much how most of my days with no class went. Saturday night there was a huge gathering in the circle of town with a stage set up. Everyone met up and we listened to music for a while. There was a guy who performed who was incredibly flamboyant and actually made some of the guys in our group a little uncomfortable. Apparently he's a big hit here, and I thought he was pretty funny. He sand some Lady GaGa, which was entertaining. I also got to hear the band that everyone went to see Friday night at one of the bars. They only played a few songs, but I enjoyed it since I didn't have to pay the 2500 krona like everyone else did. Free is always good.

That was also the night when I tasted the first alcoholic drink that didn't make me want to gag. I've only ever had sips of beer and wine before, but I think most of them are pretty awful. I don't get the appeal at all. But one of the guys bought some apple cider thing, and it wasn't half bad. Of course it tasted extremely sugary, which is also not appealing since I don't want to rot my teeth. I think I'll still just be sticking to water whenever I go out with everyone else.

However, Saturday night was a big night for me. Apparently it's a big thing here to break glass all over the place. Everyone told me that during the crazy weekend in Reykjavik, there would be glass all over the roads because people take their beer glasses/bottles out of bars and just drop them on the ground when they're done. And I'm assuming once people get drunk enough, they also have some fun with breaking bottles. Well, one of the guys gave me his finished beer bottle and I got to break it on a wall. I did feel a little guilty, but it was fun, and I did it in an area where people probably wouldn't be walking. I wouldn't want anyone to get cut by the glass. So I glad I finally got to have that experience. I feel like a true Icelander now.

Oh, this is jumping back a bit, but I remember what happened Saturday. My family had a barbecue with their relatives. There was lots of food and all the little kids were really cute. I couldn't say much to the kids because none of them knew English, but they were adorable so I just smiled at them. So that was during the day on Saturday.

Sunday morning would have been a great time to sleep in, but my home stay family decided to take me and Marty fishing again. So we left at 7am for a fishing spot about an hour away. I guess it was fun, though we hardly caught any fish. But they brought plenty of snacks, and the little girl and I ended up watching Hannah Montana in the car. So I can't really complain.

After fishing, one of my classmate's home stay family invited the whole group over for a cook out. We had chicken, lamb, and hot dogs, all of which were delicious. We also had an amazing dessert of grilled bananas that had cut of candy bars shoved inside of them. The chocolate got all melty and it was probably one of the best desserts I've ever had. I definitely plan on making that once I get home.

Sunday night was the big concert that I posted photos from earlier. We got to hear a couple more bands, some of which I recognized from the music at my home stay family's house. And the night ended with fireworks. All in all, a great weekend.

Monday was probably the laziest day I've had in a long time. I didn't even emerge from my room until noon, though I had woken up earlier than that. I just didn't want to get out of bed. We had a wonderful brunch of pancakes, sausage, eggs, and bacon around 1-ish, so I don't think I ended up getting dressed until after 2. Basically an ideal day, in my mind. After meeting everyone downtown at one of the cafes, it was back for dinner with the family. Then we were going to watch up because none of my family had seen it before. However, Marty's DVD didn't work; something about the region not being right. So we watched Princess and the Frog instead. It was the third time I've seen it and I love it even more. The songs are so enjoyable and I feel like Disney really hit it out of the park with that one.

Tuesday was our last day of class. We had to present our project that we've been working on for the entire trip. It was rather boring, but we all got through it. We celebrated the end of class with lunch at a local bakery; the soup and bread bowl and top notch. That night was our last night with the family. We had one last meal together of lasagna and garlic bread. Then we went to the Christmas house, a place with tons of decorations and other cute things. I'll post photos as soon as I get them uploaded. After that, we had grilled bananas again with ice cream. I don't know if that's an Iceland thing, but it really is very tasty. And it seems like it can't be too bad for you considering bananas are fruit. Of course once you load it down with chocolate and ice cream, that's a completely different story...

Anyway, basically my time in Akureyri was incredible. I already miss my Icelandic family and I hope I'll be able to visit them again some day. But now we're on our road trip and it's time to see the rest of Iceland. After one day of traveling, I'm already exhausted, so it's bed time for me. I'll try and post an update tomorrow now on today and tomorrow's activities.

Festival Weekend -- Brief Update

Here are some photos from this past weekend. I'll try to post a better update later, but I don't have much time at the moment. However, we have started our road trip and tonight we're staying at a geothermal power plant. It smells like eggs, but hopefully it'll be a good night.


My Icelandic little sister fishing on Sunday morning.


A close up of the stage from Sunday night.


A huge crowd came out for the last day of the festival.


There's a heart of lights in the mountainside.


Fireworks!

Photos from Akureyri

Here are the photos from my time in Akureyri thus far.


N1 is a gas station that is ALL OVER Iceland. On the plane ride over here, all the advertisements were about N1 and there slogan is "Meet me at N1." That's been a running joke this whole time.


The super blue water of the fjord. However when it's cloudy out, the water has a more depressing gray color. But the blue is beautiful.


Two trolls on the main street of town. Icelanders believe in elves and trolls, so I guess this is their way of showing it. The boy on the right is my Icelandic little brother and the other boy is his friend.


The main street of town.


The giant church in Akureyri. Icelanders certainly like their churches large.


The oldest building in Akureyri that has now been turned into a coffee place. Their hot chocolate wasn't half bad.


The schedule of events for the festival. There was a stage set up in the town circle and there was always someone on stage performing in some way.


My Icelandic family and I on our first fishing trip.


The fish that I caught flopping around in the grass. Then I got to eat him that night for dinner.


We went fishing on a river that ran through a farm and on one side of the field was a fenced in area of Icelandic horses.


We convinced them to come over to us by bribing them with tall grass.


They were so soft and this was probably the highlight of the fishing trip. Not that catching a fish wasn't fun, but the horses were really cute.

Photo Mishap

I was about to post a bunch of photos, but I can't get them to load. I'll try again later today, or maybe I need to find different internet. I'm not really sure what's wrong, but I will keep trying to upload them.

Photos from Reykjavik

Here's a long overdue update of photos. I forgot that when I was in Alaska I would incorporate the photos in my posts. I think I liked that more, especially since I tend to get back up this way. So starting with my next post, I'll try to get back to keeping the photos with the updates they belong with.


This is a shot of one of the dozens of cups of hot chocolate I've had from cafes and bakeries all over Iceland. This particular one has been my favorite to date and it was at a lovely little cafe about 5 minutes from my dorm in Reykjavik. I miss that place, especially with all the less than stellar hot chocolate I've had in Akureyri.



This is the outside of one of the geothermal plants near Reykjavik. It's pretty new, so it looks super modern, both inside and out.



The inside of the same geothermal power plant.



The president of Iceland's house. Even he has a white house. He lives just across the bay from Reykjavik.



The president of Iceland himself. He seemed like a great guy, very knowledgeable about both the happenings of his country and renewable energy technology.



A sunset on the bay where Reykjavik is located. This was probably a little before midnight and it doesn't get that much darker as the night goes on.

Verslunarmannahelgi -- The Shopkeepers Holiday

I meant to do an update a couple days ago, but I always seem to let the time slip away. My days tend to blur together, so hopefully I can remember everything that has happened since my last post.

Thursday was our last day of class for the week. We had our "final," which was a debate over nuclear energy. I was on the side against nuclear, and I'd have to say that I think we did pretty good. Of course I am biased, but I think it's actually easier to argue against nuclear since there are quite a bit of disadvantages. Plus this whole summer we've been working on a renewable energy project, so our group stood by the fact that renewables are much better than nuclear. After the debate, we had a speaker that just graduated from the University of Akureyri. I'm not going to say she was the worst speaker ever, but she was certainly close. Holy cow, it was the most awkward and embarrassing lecture to sit through. It honestly seemed like she didn't know what she was talking about. Luckily after an hour it was over.

Dinner Thursday night was a whole mash up of Eurasian tastes. We had this wonderful spicy chicken dish that has some sort of curry in it, delicious sticky rice (I'm a huge fan of rice), and garlic bread. So none of it really went together, but it was all great. That night I just hung out at home with my Icelandic mom and brother. We watched several American shows, but they all had Icelandic subtitles which are exciting to look at.

Yesterday was another off day for us. We originally planned to hike across the fjord again since it didn't work out Wednesday. (Instead on Wednesday we went shopping and spent the afternoon at the pool. The slide at this particular pool was incredible and so fast. I swear Icelanders must be the happiest people ever just because they have so many pools) However, the weather didn't really agree with us again, so I just walked partway across the bridge that spans the fjord and then hung out in a bakery with another of the girls here.

That afternoon, Marty, my family, and I went fishing. It was so great. Marty and I both caught fish. We were pretty thrilled about that. Then when we were walking back to the car from the river, we had to go through a field that had Iceland horses in it. We managed to convince them to come over to us and we got to pet them and feed them. They were adorable and they had soft noses. A perfect way to end our fishing trip. Then once we got home, we had our fish for dinner. It was pretty cool to catch dinner and then eat it. We also had potatoes from the garden. Finally, last night I went downtown for a little and listened to a band that was playing outside on the circle in the center of town. They played both Icelandic and American music, so what I heard was a good mix.

This morning I got to sleep in, which was exactly what I needed. We've been walking all over and I feel like we go all day long, so I always crash at night. This evening my family here is having a barbecue which should be tasty. Then I'll probably come back downtown for a little and see what is happening with the festival.

Oh, I don't think I've actually mentioned the festival yet. It's called Verslunarmannahelgi, which is the shopkeepers holiday. Traditionally it was a time when all the shops were closed so the workers got some time off. Now, however, it seems like everything remains open and there's tons going on downtown. There's a giant stage set up and little booths with people selling the traditional carnival foods and toys. Lots of bands are playing in the bars around town, and basically there's just lots of things going on. This is the perfect weekend to be in Iceland because there are celebrations all over the country. I'm excited to see what will be going on this evening.

Food Food Food

At my stay with my Icelandic family, I've finally been trying some of the more traditional Icelandic dishes. No more Subway and pizza for me.

One night we had pork chops with this amazing barbecue sauce. I probably could have eaten the sauce all by itself. We had potatoes, which are huge here and I'll probably end up eating some sort of potato at every meal. And we had this awesome side dish of chopped up granny smith apples with a sauce of sour cream and something else. It was incredibly delicious. The tartness of the apples went wonderfully with the sauce.

Monday night we had lamb balls. Or I think she said it was mixed meat, but probably mostly lamb. That was cooked with cabbage, which apparently I like. I didn't know that until then. Again, we had potatoes. The family also put this strawberry jam on the meat, but I tried it and it was much too sweet. We had actually had these lamb balls once before in Reykjavik, but these were much much better than the ones I ate there.

Last night we had a casserole. In it was cut up bread, ham, and pineapple. It was cooked in a creamy sauce with cheese on top. I didn't know it was pineapple until I got a bite and I was pleasantly surprised. That was enjoyable too.

So basically I don't think I've had a bad meal here yet. The family has been great and I'll be upset during the second half of next week when I have to go back to eating the cheapest meals possible. I must enjoy this as much as possible.

Today we're supposed to go on a hike across the fjord, but I don't think the weather is going to agree with us. But we don't have class, so I guess we'll end up doing some other group activity.

If I have enough time this afternoon, I may try and go to a cafe to upload some photos. I haven't actually tried it here at the house yet, so maybe it'll work. But I do have some photos I want to get up here. Later today, I'll get on that for sure.

First Day in Akureyri

So it's finally time for a major update. And luckily I can access my blog here, so no more relying on Jeff to get things posted. Though he did do a fabulous job.

Yesterday the drive from Reykjavik to Akureyri took pretty much all day. We made several stops along the way. One of the stops we got to meet Caitlin's husband and son, who is about 2 and adorable. Caitlin is our "TA" for the remaining two weeks, though she isn't really a TA. During the summers she takes college groups around Iceland, which is what she is going to do with us since we have a lot of traveling ahead of us.

One of the better stops on our way north was a natural geothermal pool. Right on the coast of a fjord, a farmer made two pools with rock walls and a rock floor. The water was wonderfully warm and it was so cool to think that it was all natural. Plus we got to jump in the ocean. Well, some people jumped in. I stuck my feet in and it was freezing, so I quickly got out. But at least I can say I got in the ocean. And maybe it was the Arctic Ocean, I'm not totally sure, but I'd like to pretend it was the Arctic Ocean.

Then we got to meet our family. I feel so lucky with who I'll be living with. I still haven't met the older son, but the two children I have met at Gunnar and Karilina. They're both adorable and so full of energy. We had a family dinner of burritos. Not really Icelandic at all, but it was still tasty. They have a house rule where no one is allowed to leave the dinner table until everyone is done eating. I'm definitely a fan of this rule.

After dinner, Marty and I met with most of our group downtown and got some ice cream. Gunnar said the place we went was the best ice cream in all of Iceland. Not sure if I totally agree, though it was good. And I finally got my chocolate ice cream, but it wasn't totally chocolaty. I should have stuck with the vanilla soft serve.

Once we got back to the house, I met Karilina since she had been at a friend's house all day. Then the father got home with pizza. He was testing some of those cases that keep pizzas warm during delivery. He drove over an hour and the pizzas were still the perfect temperature. I'd say it was a success. And the pizza I tried was onion and corn. Weird but I enjoyed it. Finally we watched the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Very cute and I highly recommend it.

That's all for now. Right now Marty, Jose (our professor), Caitlin, and I are chilling at a cafe downtown. I love this place and I can't wait to explore more today. I'll attempt to post photos later this afternoon/evening.

Welcome to Akureyri

A little over four hours ago we made it to Akureyri and met our families that we will be living with over the next week and a half. Marty and I are with a great family with three children, though we've only met one so far. He's about 12 (I think) and really energetic. We wanted to go downtown to meet the rest of our group for the evening and he led us down there. We're fortunate that we're only about a 5 minute walk from downtown. Other people's homestays are much farther, up to a 40 minute walk. So Marty and I lucked out.

More updates to come. I'm pretty beat at the moment. It definitely seems like my time here will be great. Can't wait to get to know both the family and the city more.

Good-Bye Capital City

Today is my last day in Reykjavik until the very last day of my trip when I
need to fly home. It’s been a fantastic two weeks and I’ve definitely
fallen in love with this town. If I don’t come back at least once in my
life, I’ll be pretty disappointed.

Yesterday, we were fortunate to have the morning off, which means I got to
sleep in. In the afternoon, we visited a nearby geothermal power plant.
The particular one we visited was fairly new, so the building was ultra
modern. We got to go inside and see all the giant machines where the hot
steam turns the turbines. There was also this great interactive wall that
explained the whole geothermal process. And it didn’t even smell that bad.
There was a tiny hint of sulfur in the air, but it wasn’t terrible. I
guess I’ve gotten used to it since I have to shower every morning in smelly
water.

Today we got to do what most of the tourists do – visit the Blue Lagoon.
It’s this great hot spring that’s heated from the geothermal plant next
door. The weather today was overcast and pretty windy, but I think that’s
perfect for when you’re soaking in really warm water. It was such a
relaxing experience and it was a great way to end our stay here.

The water was an unusual bluish-white color and you couldn’t see anything
in the water. This led to most of the guys taking off their swim suites so
they could be completely “free.” I guess they were enjoying themselves.
But it was a just fantastic experience. The lagoon is located really close
to the airport, so if anyone ever has a really long layover in Iceland,
definitely consider going. The only bad part is how bad the water dries
out your hair, but that’s a small price to pay.

Tomorrow morning we head up to our home stays in Akureyri. I’ll let you
know what my family is like once I meet them!

Oh, Hello Mr. President

Yesterday, we got to meet the president of Iceland and he seems like such a cool man. Anyone can drive up to his house. He lives across the bay from Reykjavik on a little, windy peninsula. I think the drive was less than 20 minutes from our dorm to his house, so he’s definitely a visible member of society. Even if the prime minister is the one with most of the power.

But it was a great experience. We all got to shake his hand and then while he spoke to us, they offered us champagne and the greatest cookies I’ve ever had. He spoke of geothermal energy and how Iceland is trying to help out other countries with geothermal potential. He mentioned how he feels like China will be ahead of the US and the European Union in terms of renewable energy if the politicians in the western world don’t step it up.
Though he also said that a lot of times national politicians aren’t going to do anything, but if you start small, you can actually make a change. I thought he sounded like he could have been an engineer discussing energy topics, yet he was a political figure instead. I’m not too sure if some of the American politicians have that much knowledge on scientific subjects.
Overall, his speech was very moving. Plus, I loved how he mentioned that Iceland is one of the few really trusting countries left. In the United States, you couldn’t just drive up to the White House and walk in without being searched, yet that’s exactly what we did here. But Iceland is founded in trust, not fear, which makes everything seem much more laidback and calm.

The president and several other speakers we’ve had the past week mentioned that Iceland used to be the poorest country in Europe. That’s something I find so hard to believe since they’re so technologically advanced now.
They seem to have everything and Reykjavik is a happening city. But I guess having such a huge supply of constant energy definitely helps to progress a society.

I just hope the US can follow in Iceland’s footsteps and get on the renewable energy train. The huge project that my group has been working on the past month is to design an electric grid for the US that is only for renewable energy. I think we’re trying to make renewable count for 30-40% of the current usages of coal, since coal is such a dirty fuel. My professor told the president about our project, and now he would like a copy of it when we’re done. Which makes it a much more intimidating challenge, but my motivation for it has increased a lot. Our little project may not do much, but maybe it’ll launch at least one of us into that field and they’ll be able to make the change that puts the US on the right track for the future.

One Week in Iceland

I find it hard to believe that I've already been in Iceland for a week. I think we've had so much packed into our days, that time just flies. In less than three weeks, I'll be home. And then two weeks after that, it'll be time to go back to UNC for my sophomore year. It feels like I was just graduating high school, nervous about starting college. But now I'm in Iceland, my first time away from my parents (minus college and a few trips here and there). Life goes by so quickly.

I know when I started this blog, I wasn't a huge fan. My parents basically forced me into it. But now, after only one week of having it blocked, I find that I actually miss it. It's a weird feeling to know that I don't have access to everything online like I do at home. However, this gives me an excuse to come to this wonderful cafe, which is where I am now. I don't care that it's pretty warm outside, I'm enjoying some hot chocolate before I have to head back to the dorm and make dinner with one of my classmates. There is never a bad time for hot chocolate.

I don't really remember when the last time I updated this was, though nothing too exciting has happened the past few days. Both Saturday and Sunday morning I seemed to be one of the first members of my group that was awake since they spent the entire night bar hopping. Literally, the entire night. I think they made it until 6am, which is pretty impressive. Apparently bar hopping is big in Iceland. But since I was awake and everyone else was snoozing, I got to spend lazy mornings at the exact cafe I'm in now, just wasting time. It was fantastic.

Yesterday after dinner, we all decided to check out one of Iceland's many geothermal pools. They have so much heat around here, there are public pools all over the place that you can get into with a small fee. It was great. Plus there was a slide, which turned all of us college students into little children and we went down countless times. The only rule was that you had to shower beforehand, which was an experience. I've never seen so many naked women in my life. But it was fascinating to see how open and comfortable they seemed with their bodies. I feel like if the United States had these same practices, there wouldn't be so many issues with body image. But despite the awkwardness of the showers, the pool was great. We even tried out a hot tub that was 42 degrees Celsius. I don't know how hot that is in Fahrenheit, but it was HOT. I thought my skin was going to melt. Needless to say, I didn't last long there.

Today we had some rather boring talks, but we did get to go to a landfill. There were lots of birds and I thought it smelled like bacon. Everyone else had less-than-kind things to say about the smell. We also got to meet the woman who will be taking us around Iceland starting this weekend. She seems really great. Right now she's with another group of American students, so we went to both talks today with them. I'm honestly not a fan of the two groups merged since I think it just makes it too many people. Our group of 10 seems like the perfect number. But I think the merging is only for parts of this week.

Well, that's all for now. I should probably head back to the dorm soon to cook dinner. But first, a correction. Apparently the waterfall we saw on Friday isn't the largest in Europe. That's somewhere in northern Iceland. I don't think I listen to tour guides very well. Next time, I'll get my information straight.

Photos

I'm currently sitting in the wonderful little cafe about a five minute walk from my dorm. I'm quite content because I've got some chocolate milk and this wonderful chocolate covered pastry for breakfast. But even better, they have wireless that doesn't block this site!

I think that means it's time for some photo updates. I'll start first with the sights of the city that I've captured so far and then move onto the Golden Circle tour from yesterday.


This is one of the first sights we saw on the day we arrived in Iceland. It's a HUGE church right at the center of time. One girl I met here was saying that in Iceland, church and state are together, so maybe that explains the prominent building. Or they just like to build large churches. Either way, it's rather pretty.



As we were walking downtown, we passed this guy standing on a ladder and juggling. And luckily he was Australian, which meant he was speaking English. He was pretty entertaining.



So this one isn't that exciting, but I really liked this spiral staircase. It was in one of the energy companies we visited.



They have some great graffiti around here. This was in an alley that has some cool stuff on either side.



The place where the North American plate meets the Eurasian plate. This is the land in the middle.



The ultra clear water. It's used as a wishing well, so it has a good amount of money in it.



Largest waterfall in Europe with a nice rainbow from all the mist.



Me and the waterfall, to prove I was actually there.



The geyser, pre-going off.



The geyser going off. And making everything smell like sulfur.

Move Over Canada

I think it is official, Iceland is now my favorite country. To those who know me well, this will be quite a shock since I’m a huge lover of Canada.
But I honestly don’t think this place can be beat. And I’ve only seen the area around Reykjavik, yet I’m already in love. For the first time, I could see myself living somewhere besides Raleigh. I know I have a pretty narrow view of the world since I haven’t been to that many places, but my whole life my brother and I always joked about buying houses on either side of my parents. And that always sounded like a plan. Well, maybe not next door neighbors, but at least in the same town. Now, though, I realize that there is a lot out there that’s worth experiencing. Maybe I just feel this way since it’s the first time I’ve had an extended stay in another country, but I truly love it. There are definitely some negatives, like the huge bar scene and the sulfur smelling water. But I’ve done a decent job thus far into my life befriending non-drinkers and I think I may actually be getting used to the terrible smell while showering. I’ve even gone so far to look up graduate programs at the university we’re taking our class out.
I am a person who likes to plan ahead, so this isn’t abnormal for me to think years ahead. But I’m serious with this, and I definitely hope to live here one day.

The past few days have been full of classes, lectures, and visits to the different energy companies of the area. We’ve switched from learning about climate change to energy, which I’m excited about since I really know nothing about energy. On Thursday, we briefly mentioned nuclear power, which I’m ashamed to say I knew next to nothing about. So this trip is definitely teaching me a lot of new information.

I’m also enjoying going the different companies. There seems to be two or three major energy companies in Iceland. We visited the private company first and the state owned one yesterday. Both were housed in buildings with incredible architecture. Actually, pretty much every building here looks awesome. Downtown is cute. The apartment buildings are understated, but classy. The corporate buildings may look blah on the outside, but the insides are a totally different story. Oh my gosh, they have some of the coolest stuff here. I don’t even know how to describe it since this isn’t exactly my forte. Very modern, very streamlined, very high-tech. I can’t wait to visit more places and see how they compare to what I’ve already seen, but I imagine things will be very similar.

On a side note, I have to say that the state owned company did a much better job wooing us. The private company just gave us some PR woman to talk to us who didn’t seem all that thrilled. The state company had food, coffee, and tea. Plus two speakers, one of which was an expert on hydropower. So props to them for being much more welcoming. I would love to work at one of these companies one day, though to do that I would have so much more to learn.

Today we got to step out of the classroom and go into tourist mode. We had this wonderful van take us on the Golden Circle tour. I’m still not clear on what the Golden Circle is exactly, but I guess it’s just the main tourist spots to visit. Everywhere we went was pretty crowded since summer is when most of the Icelanders go on their vacations. But I could deal with the crowds since we saw some incredible stuff.

First we stopped at the edge of the North American tectonic plate. In front of us was a massive valley that spanned the edge of the two plates of Earth’s crust. There were rivers that lead to a massive lake. The water of the rivers was crystal clear. It was beautiful. After wandering around for a while, we drove about halfway between the two plates and got out to walk to the Eurasian plate. I know Iceland is part of Europe, but I was excited to be able to officially say that I have been on the Eurasian plate. It feels much more legitimate.

Next we saw the largest waterfall in Europe. There was mist everywhere, which created a nice waterfall. The sound was incredible, yet I don’t think it was any bigger than Niagara Falls. However, this was infinitely better weather than the day I saw Niagara Falls, so I probably enjoyed this more. After the waterfall, we went to the original geyser. Its name is actually Geysir, so I guess all the other ones around the world are named after this one. Right next to this geyser was an active one, and we got to see it go off several times. It was so cool to watch all the water shoot up, and then the water would recede back into the hole in the ground. I can’t explain it very well, but the movement of the water made it look like it was alive.

So overall, this week has been spectacular. I’ve gotten to see so much and I’m definitely enjoying myself. And I’m finally eating some Icelandic food. I don’t think I mentioned it here, but my first real meal here was Subway, which I’m ashamed to say. And the day after that, I’m pretty sure I had pizza. But on our tour today, we stopped at some place and had lamb soup. It was so good and really filling. I’ve heard some Icelandic dishes aren’t that great (fermented shark), but this was most enjoyable. I’ll have to keep being brave and try some new things.

Tomorrow I plan on going to a café downtown to try and upload some photos.
I think I got some decent ones today, so I’ll do my best to get them up here.

Thoughts on Iceland Thus Far

It’s hard to believe that I’ve already been in Iceland three full days already. I can’t tell if it seems like I’ve been here longer or shorter than that. Each day is jam packed with so much stuff, it could probably be split into two or three days without making life boring.

Sunday, after we landed, was mainly used for napping and exploring the city. I think this place has everything you could ever want, though it’s difficult for me to be sure about that since I don’t speak Icelandic. It seems like an incredibly difficult language, and apparently their grammar is even more challenging to learn than German grammar. I’m hoping to be able to pick up some stuff along the way, and so far I’ve got one or two words down.

On Monday and Tuesday we had class in the morning and then speakers in the afternoon. As soon as we got back to our dorm on both days, it was more city exploring. Downtown Reykjavik is like no other city I’ve been to.
You can buy everything there. Yesterday I passed way too many clothing shops to count, a hair cutting place, way too many bars than I could count, a hardware store, several outdoors store, and so much more. Plus the grocery store we’ve been shopping at is located on the first floor of one of the buildings downtown. It’s really weird for me since I’m used to shopping centers and strip malls where everything is separated into its own place. Here, though, it’s all crammed together. I guess it makes shopping more convenient, yet it was also a pain to carry all our food the 15 minute walk back to our dorm.

I do enjoy the quaintness of the city though. There are not that many really tall buildings, so it sort of has a smaller town feel. I’m loving the downtown streets and just walking along them is so cool. It is a struggle sometimes to not know any of the language, but it’s fortunate that so many people speak English. I just feel an obligation to try and learn something in order to be respectful. It’s nice of Iceland to let people enjoy their country, so I need to take something back with me.

Additionally, this is the most fashionable city I’ve ever been to. It’s a little ridiculous. So many clothing shops and so many weird fashions. I do miss the simplicity of home. I’m sure I stick out like a typical American because I just thrown on jeans and a t-shirt every day.

There is one huge problem I’ve experienced so far and I think I mentioned it in my last post. The server here doesn’t allow me to access this website and I haven’t been able to find another decent connection yet.
Luckily Jeff has offered to post stuff, so I have to send everything I write to him to put up here. And that means there’s not really going to be many photos because it’s too much of a hassle to email photos as well.
Plus I’m a little particular about where the photos appear in the text.
There are several other people who have been keeping blogs, so I’m sure at some point we can all go to a wifi place downtown and try to connect. So until then, I won’t post any pictures. Which actually works out because I haven’t really taken any yet. But I promise to get on that and to start documenting my time here.

Iceland

I’m in Iceland! My whole group and I arrived safely yesterday morning at 6:30 am Iceland time. That’s 2:30 am Raleigh time. It was a long day of traveling and I think we were all exhausted once we got here. But not tired enough because the first thing we did after dropping our bags was explore the town of Reykjavik. We’re staying right on the edge of the downtown area, so it’s maybe a 15-20 minute walk to the main street of town.

But so far everything has been great. The city is very quaint and the people are interesting. I can’t wait to see more of it.

There will be more updates later. The wireless at the dorm I’m staying at does not support this website for some reason, so I have to try and get a different connection if I want to post anything. Since all the other connections are really weak, I’m not too sure how difficult it will be uploading photos. But I’ll definitely try to get some up here in the coming days.

Last Day in Alaska

Today was my last full day in Alaska. I can't believe how quickly the past three weeks have flown by. Tomorrow I get up bright and early to catch a flight to Seattle and then to Reykjavik, Iceland (I still have to look up how to spell that city. My main goal of the next month is to learn to spell it). It'll be a long day, but it's definitely worth it. My least favorite part will be the eight hour difference, but I'll deal with that over the next few days.

For our last day, we had a super long class of three hours instead of the usual two. The first half my professor spoke of his research on a Greenland ice sheet and the second half we watched a documentary on climate change. Not a bad way to end the Alaska portion of class.

After a brief lunch break, a couple of my classmates and I decided to search for the student store. We finally made it after asking several people directions. I'm now the proud owner of two University of Alaska at Anchorage shirts.

Once done with shopping, we decided to go for a hike at Flat Top Mountain. I'm a little ashamed to say I didn't make it to the top, but a couple of us were feeling lazy, and we ended up laying in the sun on some rocks. Definitely more enjoyable than getting blisters from walking uphill at such a steep angle. And I got to see Denali/Mt. McKinley all along the trail. It was so beautiful. Words can't even begin to describe the views from up there.

Finally, the best part of day: dinner. Tonight was our group dinner that was being paid for by Burch, the program that I'm currently on. Everything was excellent. I decided to be adventurous and ordered salmon (that's actually very adventurous for me despite the fact that that is a normal dish for anyone else). I figured, when else can I have fresh Alaskan salmon? Possibly never, so I couldn't pass up the chance. Plus everyone ordered a different appetizer and we all shared. And if that wasn't enough, we all got dessert. A classmate and I split a tasty peanut butter pie covered in chocolate. I was in heaven. Over 600 dollars later, we left with full bellies.

Now everyone is frantically packing so we'll be ready for our taxis which are coming to the dorm at 7am tomorrow. Hopefully no one will forget anything. I have my passport and I'm ready for the flight. My next update will come from Iceland!

Each Day Keeps Getting Better

The past few days have been incredible. I feel like I start a lot of posts this way, but it's completely true.

On Tuesday, we drove two hours out to Matanuska glacier. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but it was truly breath taking. The terminus (the end of the glacier) was HUGE and it spanned the whole valley.


As soon as we got there, everyone jumped out of the van and started running toward to massive hunk of ice. Along the way to get to the edge of the glacier, I stopped by a pool of water and the dirt was the finest stuff I've ever felt. Each sand/dirt grain must have been tiny because it was so smooth. I also managed to get stuck in some quicksand-like mud, which turned by boots completely gray. I'm glad I finally got a good use out of them. The next two hours were spent exploring the ice and climbing around, trying not to fall into any deadly crevasses. Luckily everyone survived. The entire day was amazing, definitely my favorite of the trip so far. The sites were beautiful, the ice was cold, and my toes remained nice and warm thanks to my boots. The only bad part was when I fell into a little stream on the glacier and got my butt wet with freezing glacial melt. But even that was kind of cool because not many people can say they've done that.




Wednesday morning we woke up and started our journey to Seward, Alaska. Seward is located on Resurrection Bay, which is near where the Exxon oil spill was, so some oil washed into the bay about 20 years ago when the spill occurred. The drive was long and it was a nasty day with lots of rain. Once we arrived in Seward, we checked into our hostel and then headed to town.


Town is apparently about four streets, so there really wasn't that much to do. Alaska's only public aquarium is there, though, so we spent the afternoon looking at fish, seals, and puffins.


They had to typical touch pools that most aquariums have for little kids, only this one had dozens of star fish. Some were hard, almost bony. Others were surprisingly soft. The one shown below is a sun flower star fish, which I thought was cool.


It was a little depressing to see the seal and sea lion in such small areas. I guess when you're little, you're excited to see these awesome creatures and you never think about how they're taken away from their homes and forced into a tiny area. Now, though, it's just sad to see them. But they were still cute. And even though they're so awkward on land, they really can swim. I wish I had half of their swimming skills.


The night at the hostel was interesting. There was another large group of high school kids who were also staying there along with their chaperons. But they mostly stayed in their rooms, so I didn't see much of them. One woman who was also staying there was very friendly and she told us all about her Alaskan travels. It was difficult to get to sleep because someone in my room was snoring, but I would definitely be up for staying at another hostel. I would just make sure to pack ear plugs. Other than that, it was a lovely experience.

Finally it was the big day -- Thursday. We were supposed to take a half day cruise through a couple bays to look at glaciers. Sadly the weather was not on our side, so we didn't get to leave Resurrection Bay, which mean we didn't get to see the good glaciers a couple of bays over. However, we still got to see tons of wildlife. Whales, otters, lots of seals, tons of birds, and even a mountain sheep. It was incredible. The whales were definitely my favorite.


That's a little hard to make out, but it's a whale's tail. I didn't take that many photos of the whales since they were visible for such a short time. I'll check if anyone in my group got any good photos and post them here when I find them.

But it was amazing. We saw two whales swimming together and an otter mom and baby. We saw sea lions hanging out on the rocks in a large group. We saw various sea birds and their new born chicks. It was a great day. Plus the boat ride was fun, and they provided lunch. What more could you ask for?

Today is my last full day in Alaska, so I'm hoping to make the best of it. Last Alaskan update will come later this evening/tonight.

"You Haven't Seen America Until You've Seen Alaska"

That was a quote from the visitor center at Denali National Park. And I totally agree with it. Alaska seems to have so much to offer, and I've only seen a little of it.

Saturday morning, we woke up early and loaded into a van to head to Denali. The weather finally turned on us and gone were the beautiful, sunny and warm days. It was overcast and looked like rain. Plus it was surprisingly chilly after a mild two weeks. The ride was about two-ish hours until we reached the park. We had an hour to kill at the visitor center before our bus tour started, so we checked out the gift shop and watched a short film about the history of the park.

Finally, we were ready for the tour. It was going to be a long day because it was an eight hour tour, all on a bus. We did get to stop along the way at designated places, and whenever a passenger yelled stop because they spotted an animal or wanted to take a scenic photograph.

During the bus ride, we saw a moose and a baby moose, a couple bears, three wolves, a little group of sheep high up on a mountain, a caribou, and a fox. Plus birds, squirrels and lots of rabbits. It was pretty cool to see all these animals in the natural habitat. The bears were pretty far away, but at least I can say I saw them. The three wolves were an accomplishment because apparently there are only about 50 in the park. Our driver said he had never seen so many wolves on one tour.

In addition to never seeing that many wolves, our driver had also never seen so much rain. Pretty much the entire eight hours it was raining or threatening to rain. Cloud were everywhere, which gave the mountains a mystical look. However, that also meant we couldn't see Mt McKinley. Which is kinda the highlight of the whole park. I take this failure to spot the mighty mountain to mean I need to head back there one day. And I will gladly return to Alaska some day.

Saturday evening we went to a salmon bake restaurant where they dropped a tray with our food on it. That was a bummer. I wasn't that hungry so I just ordered chili, but it was buffalo chili. I felt bad for eating buffalo, so one of the guys said to think of it as beefalo, so I had beefalo chili.

That night we stayed at a motel and then Sunday morning we were off to Anchorage. Our van driver was an interesting fellow, but at least he got us to our destination. I haven't seen much of Anchorage so far, but what I've seen is amazing. The University of Alaska at Anchorage campus is gorgeous and the mountain range looms over the city. It's beautiful.

The next few days should be excited with travels to a glacier, a day cruise, and a visit to the bay where the Exxon oil spill was.

Photos below!

Me and my stuffed pig Patrick at Denali.

Caribou in the rain

Mountains and a "braided" river

Stream that we stopped at along the way. The water was rather chilly.

Mountains and clouds.

Somewhere out there is Mt. McKinley

Wolf

Pretty colored mountain and more clouds