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.