I should start this post off by apologizing for never finishing my blog for my last trip, over a year ago. Well, the short of it is that in France and England, Paul and I saw some good friends, ate good food, and watched a lot of soccer in pubs. But now it's on to more recent travels of mine.
Some of you may know that I'm returning to school in the fall. I know that my studies over the next three years are going to be very time consuming and won't leave me much room to travel and get out in the world. So, with that in mind I decided to take this opportunity to travel for a couple months, see some friends I very likely won't have a chance to visit and get out in the world again. And my trip started in Iceland.
I took the overnight flight from SeaTac to Iceland on April 16th. I arrived bright and early (around 7am) at the airport and quickly grabbed my bags, a cup of coffee, and hopped on a bus into the city. Here are some of my first impressions of Iceland:
Incredibly flat where we landed. Yellow and brown grass grew everywhere and the dirt underneath was all a volcanic black. The way into town led us off of the fjord we'd landed on and onto the mainland where huge snowy mountains slowly materialized and came almost directly out to the sea. The weather was chilly but not unbearably. It was incredibly clear and sunny when we landed which was nice. It made the briskness feel refreshing. I immediately was happy I bought some heavy duty boots the day before I left Seattle. I chuckled a bit when we passed a Taco Bell on the outskirts of town. Who knew they had those in Iceland?
So, about a week before I was set to fly out from Seattle, I realized I still didn't have a place to stay. All the hostels I looked up online seemed very expensive so I decided to throw a Hail Mary and look for something on couch surfing. Sure enough, somebody responded to me the day after I posted on the Reykjavik couch surfing board offering me a place to stay. I easily found their apartment and I'm pretty sure I woke Solvi, my couch surfing host. We chatted for a while, he made some coffee and then also some porridge. I tried a spoonful of cod liver oil, something very rich in vitamin D that apparently many Icelanders have during the long cold months of winter. It was a bit bitter and a bit fishy but not as bad as he'd prepared me for. Solvi is an interesting guy, a grad student at the university who's studying to become a park ranger so he can work at some of Iceland's huge national parks. He's spent a lot of time traveling and also some time in Senegal so we were able to talk a bit about Africa together.
After we'd had some breakfast, he took me on a little walking tour of the city and showed me around. We stopped at the local library which also doubles as a photography museum. There was an interesting exhibit of Reykjavik past/present that showed a lot of the street corners and such from twenty years ago and again today. After that, we stopped and got one of the famous Reykjavik hotdogs which was actually really good. We then stopped by a local cafe, and while I can't remember the specific name, I do know that it's quite famous across Europe. Solvi bought me a fantastic macchiato. Then, we stopped by a local fish store and then the grocery store so he could pick up some supplies. I noticed something a bit odd as we kept running into people he knew and he didn't introduce me. After the second such incident, he kind of apologized and said that it's not in Icelandic culture to introduce people to perfect strangers or really to ask somebody about themselves until you've known them for a while. Kind of odd but I wasn't really offended so it worked out.
Back at his place, I took a nap for a few hours while he then went out to an evening class he had. When I woke up, one of his roommates, Oskar, was getting ready to go out and watch the Manchester United v. West Ham game, so I tossed on my shoes and jacket and stepped out into a snow storm that had rolled in while I was napping and walked to a bar called Glaumbar. Beers there were about 6 bucks a pint, and easily ended up being the cheapest beers I had in the country. After the match was over I casually asked if we wanted to have another pint before we headed back and one turned into several and we barhopped over the city. I also tried some Brennevin, the Icelandic equivalent of aquavit, and nicknamed "the Black Death." It's made from caraway seeds so it tasted a little bit like bread. I actually liked it quite a bit. Later, Solvi met up with us for our last pint and we wandered back to their place where I fell asleep almost immediately, even though the jet lag wasn't hitting too hard yet.
I woke up the next morning and again had some coffee and porridge with Solvi. He had some classes that day and I decided it might be the good day to go to the Blue Lagoon, a man made hot springs of sorts outside of town. the drive out there was amazing, a martian landscape almost. Lava fields with yellow and brown grass on them, some mossy rocks on the roadside. Snowy mountains to our left, sea to our right. The Blue Lagoon was certainly nice but also expensive. I relaxed in the milky blue waters for a while and rubbed some of the silica mud on my face which made my skin feel fantastic and fresh. I snagged the bus back to town and then napped for a little while at their apartment. I made myself a couple cheese sandwiches when I woke up and then accompanied Solvi to an Irish pub where he was meeting up with some of his classmates and their friends. There, I talked with an American woman who'd been living in Iceland for 8 years and absolutely loved it. She was moving in a few days' time to Norway with her German boyfriend because apparently it's easier for him to work in Norway than Iceland. I had one 10 dollar beer at the Irish pub and then decided to walk back to Solvi's, while he stayed out for a little longer.
The next day, my last in Iceland, I again had coffee and porridge with Solvi and then he suggested we go for a swim at one of the local pools. Iceland has a big swimming culture so we went and swam laps for about twenty minutes and then relaxed outdoors in the hot tubs for about another thirty. After that, I bought Solvi and I some pretty rocking bleu cheese burgers at a place near the pool and then he had to run off to a meeting so I went back to the coffee shop he'd showed me my first day and I read for a couple hours while it poured rain outside. Eventually, I decided to try walking around the city a bit more but as it was raining so heavily, I just bounced back to the apartment only to find out that nobody was home. So I waited outside their door for about twenty minutes and then Oskar showed up and let me in. I took a nap, ate some cheese sandwiches, and read a lot that night. Solvi and I had been thinking about grabbing some beers as it was a Friday night and he wanted to show me how different Reykjavik is on a weekend night but he ended up napping until like 9 so when he got back up, he just made some pasta and we had dinner and chatted a bit more.
Some of you may know that I'm returning to school in the fall. I know that my studies over the next three years are going to be very time consuming and won't leave me much room to travel and get out in the world. So, with that in mind I decided to take this opportunity to travel for a couple months, see some friends I very likely won't have a chance to visit and get out in the world again. And my trip started in Iceland.
I took the overnight flight from SeaTac to Iceland on April 16th. I arrived bright and early (around 7am) at the airport and quickly grabbed my bags, a cup of coffee, and hopped on a bus into the city. Here are some of my first impressions of Iceland:
Incredibly flat where we landed. Yellow and brown grass grew everywhere and the dirt underneath was all a volcanic black. The way into town led us off of the fjord we'd landed on and onto the mainland where huge snowy mountains slowly materialized and came almost directly out to the sea. The weather was chilly but not unbearably. It was incredibly clear and sunny when we landed which was nice. It made the briskness feel refreshing. I immediately was happy I bought some heavy duty boots the day before I left Seattle. I chuckled a bit when we passed a Taco Bell on the outskirts of town. Who knew they had those in Iceland?
So, about a week before I was set to fly out from Seattle, I realized I still didn't have a place to stay. All the hostels I looked up online seemed very expensive so I decided to throw a Hail Mary and look for something on couch surfing. Sure enough, somebody responded to me the day after I posted on the Reykjavik couch surfing board offering me a place to stay. I easily found their apartment and I'm pretty sure I woke Solvi, my couch surfing host. We chatted for a while, he made some coffee and then also some porridge. I tried a spoonful of cod liver oil, something very rich in vitamin D that apparently many Icelanders have during the long cold months of winter. It was a bit bitter and a bit fishy but not as bad as he'd prepared me for. Solvi is an interesting guy, a grad student at the university who's studying to become a park ranger so he can work at some of Iceland's huge national parks. He's spent a lot of time traveling and also some time in Senegal so we were able to talk a bit about Africa together.
After we'd had some breakfast, he took me on a little walking tour of the city and showed me around. We stopped at the local library which also doubles as a photography museum. There was an interesting exhibit of Reykjavik past/present that showed a lot of the street corners and such from twenty years ago and again today. After that, we stopped and got one of the famous Reykjavik hotdogs which was actually really good. We then stopped by a local cafe, and while I can't remember the specific name, I do know that it's quite famous across Europe. Solvi bought me a fantastic macchiato. Then, we stopped by a local fish store and then the grocery store so he could pick up some supplies. I noticed something a bit odd as we kept running into people he knew and he didn't introduce me. After the second such incident, he kind of apologized and said that it's not in Icelandic culture to introduce people to perfect strangers or really to ask somebody about themselves until you've known them for a while. Kind of odd but I wasn't really offended so it worked out.
Back at his place, I took a nap for a few hours while he then went out to an evening class he had. When I woke up, one of his roommates, Oskar, was getting ready to go out and watch the Manchester United v. West Ham game, so I tossed on my shoes and jacket and stepped out into a snow storm that had rolled in while I was napping and walked to a bar called Glaumbar. Beers there were about 6 bucks a pint, and easily ended up being the cheapest beers I had in the country. After the match was over I casually asked if we wanted to have another pint before we headed back and one turned into several and we barhopped over the city. I also tried some Brennevin, the Icelandic equivalent of aquavit, and nicknamed "the Black Death." It's made from caraway seeds so it tasted a little bit like bread. I actually liked it quite a bit. Later, Solvi met up with us for our last pint and we wandered back to their place where I fell asleep almost immediately, even though the jet lag wasn't hitting too hard yet.
I woke up the next morning and again had some coffee and porridge with Solvi. He had some classes that day and I decided it might be the good day to go to the Blue Lagoon, a man made hot springs of sorts outside of town. the drive out there was amazing, a martian landscape almost. Lava fields with yellow and brown grass on them, some mossy rocks on the roadside. Snowy mountains to our left, sea to our right. The Blue Lagoon was certainly nice but also expensive. I relaxed in the milky blue waters for a while and rubbed some of the silica mud on my face which made my skin feel fantastic and fresh. I snagged the bus back to town and then napped for a little while at their apartment. I made myself a couple cheese sandwiches when I woke up and then accompanied Solvi to an Irish pub where he was meeting up with some of his classmates and their friends. There, I talked with an American woman who'd been living in Iceland for 8 years and absolutely loved it. She was moving in a few days' time to Norway with her German boyfriend because apparently it's easier for him to work in Norway than Iceland. I had one 10 dollar beer at the Irish pub and then decided to walk back to Solvi's, while he stayed out for a little longer.
The next day, my last in Iceland, I again had coffee and porridge with Solvi and then he suggested we go for a swim at one of the local pools. Iceland has a big swimming culture so we went and swam laps for about twenty minutes and then relaxed outdoors in the hot tubs for about another thirty. After that, I bought Solvi and I some pretty rocking bleu cheese burgers at a place near the pool and then he had to run off to a meeting so I went back to the coffee shop he'd showed me my first day and I read for a couple hours while it poured rain outside. Eventually, I decided to try walking around the city a bit more but as it was raining so heavily, I just bounced back to the apartment only to find out that nobody was home. So I waited outside their door for about twenty minutes and then Oskar showed up and let me in. I took a nap, ate some cheese sandwiches, and read a lot that night. Solvi and I had been thinking about grabbing some beers as it was a Friday night and he wanted to show me how different Reykjavik is on a weekend night but he ended up napping until like 9 so when he got back up, he just made some pasta and we had dinner and chatted a bit more.
