Beaches of Reykjavik, Likely Part 1 of Many

Like I've mentioned before, the beach is just a short walk from my dorm, really in any direction. See:

(Click to enlargenate)

The star right there--yeah, that's me. All that blue? That's the North Atlantic Ocean, baby! This is a big deal to me, of course, because I am from Arizona, and unless California falls off (which it won't, Hollywood) we ain't gettin' any beach-front property (but can I interest you in the London Bridge?).

On the very first day I met my neighbor across the hall and we became fast friends; her name is Michelle and she'll likely show up several times on this blog. In this case, we decided that we needed to get out and get some air, so we walked up Hringbraut to the beach and just followed the path around.

Me being me, I couldn't accept that there was no path down to the actual beach and promptly dropped my things and hauled butt down the rock wall. Why not? I mean, sure, I didn't have insurance at the time (Michelle was very keen on reminding me that it "only takes one rock") and wasn't (isn't) legal... but really, why not?

After that adventure we continued to roam the coast. We weren't entirely sure where we were going, but that's half the fun!

Black sand beaches... I'm more or less in love with them, let me tell you!

In the end, we found our way safely back home. Come to find out, we traveled the coast all along that little arm to the NW of us! At the very tip is a lighthouse, which I am planning to return to one of these nights so that I might get a better view of the Northern Lights, so stay tuned!

Picture Wall

This is the wall directly across the room from my bed. It was kind of daunting how large and... blank... it was, so I was quick to cut up a couple maps and taped up a volcano brochure just to jazz it up. Right now I have a picture of my boyfriend, my Serenity badge, a letter from a good friend back home, some to-do lists, and of course the Geologic Time Scale up there. (Since this picture I've added a couple random drawings I did during football games.)

I'm only here for three more months, but this is still my home for that amount of time. I'd really appreciate it you sent me letters or postcards or any sort of random stuff to put up! I'll return the favor!

(Address is on right-hand column.)

Hardfiskur

I've never been one to be shy about trying new food, and I take the "when in Rome" approach to heart, so I was really looking forward to trying all the delicacies Iceland had to offer long before I arrived.

Fortunately, all of the "strange" foods are merely traditional, meaning they're only eaten at holidays or fancy parties instead of on a day-to-day basis... So things like sheep's head jam is not a common item at the dinner table.

Sheep's head jam... I'll let that sink in... Mm, mm, good!

The first food I tried is more for tourists... it's called Hardfiskur and is basically fish jerky. I love it, personally.

Fish is a major export of Iceland, of course. In fact, in one of my first lectures our guest speaker repeatedly shouted at us "to know anything about Iceland, YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT FISH!" He even went so far as to say that besides Bjork, Keiko is the most famous Icelander around the world. You know it's true...

So again, more for the tourists than the actual Icelanders, and therefore more expensive, but very yummy; I highly recommend giving it a try!

The Obligatory Weather Blog

(Ignore the poor quality; I used my webcam)

I don't have a great view from my window, it's really just of a small grassy area with a table and some big gray buildings... But one of the first few days I decided to go out and sit at the table in between the rain storms, just because. This picture was taken at about 20:30 and is just a sampling of the gorgeous weather... it rained every day for the first week or two... Which is like Heaven for me.

Not all people feel that way though, understandably. Getting drunk when it's gloomy outside seems to be the favorite coping mechanism, at least amongst the international students. :P

Home Is Where The Heart Is...

...hopefully there's a bed there as well.

So this weekend I will have been here one month! I am so excited to mark the occasion by just being able to stay in Iceland for the next three! It's just been a really wild ride, and I apologize profusely for not blogging--I promise I will make up for it!

In the last month I have been in and out of various offices trying to justify staying here when the law (and pretty much everyone I've spoken too concerning the issue) says that I should not have been allowed to come in the first place and need to leave immediately. My student visa has yet to be approved and it is explicitly stated that a person cannot be in Iceland while they have a pending application. And without going into further details--because I've been through them backwards and forwards several times a day for the past month--I can tell you that I will be staying. For as long as possible. And hopefully my visa will be settled... eh, before I leave would be nice!

Regardless of how stressful this venture has been, I am still quite blessed to be here. I have my own room with a very comfortable bed (NAU take note!) and is just five minutes from the beach, I will be starting geology courses next week, I've made some very interesting friends, a couple of which I hope to stay in contact with long after this semester is over, I have stood where two continental plates are rifting apart (a religious experience for me, I tell ya!), and the weather is just beautiful all the time... The scenery itself and just having a new place to explore easily makes up for the bureaucracy they put you through in order to stay.

When I was in the Reykjavik airport I was able to talk to one of my best friends, Kenzie, who very kindly listened to me deliriously gripe about not having a nice warm bed to snuggle up in after so much travelling... Ha, with all that has been going on, those feelings have come back on occasion, repeatedly making me realize how truly grateful I am to have a bed in the first place. I've not been through war, and the only times I've slept on dirt have been on my own accord, so maybe I don't deserve to be so thankful, but I am... There have just been days when I've felt hopeless and cold after walking back and forth through the rain and not getting the answers I was searching for... and the only comfort is being able to curl up in my bed under the NAU afghan my mom crocheted me.

Okay, so enough of the sentimental crap, you wanna see pictures, doncha?

1. View of my desk and more or less the room.

2. A view directly on to the left of the door once you walk in... Sink, cabinet, etc.

3. Said cabinet... it's so roomy!

4. The wardrobe directly to your right once you walk inside. Again, very roomy.

5. My shelves, they partition the rest of the room from the sink area.

In Transit

So... I'm in Iceland now! It's been almost a week since this whole process has started, so I figured now is a good time to reflect...

To save on money and time, my parents and I decided it would be best if we flew to Boston and waited overnight in the airport for my flight into Reykjavik. In theory, this was a good plan and I would be willing to do it again. However, there were a couple complications that I would seek to consider and plan for better next time. Namely:

1) Food. I recently discovered that I am allergic to wheat! This immediately prevents me from eating anything of substance. :P Anything with wheat flour is out: hamburger buns, pizza crust, donuts, pastries, breaded chicken, pretzels... you get the idea. Finding cheap food in an airport is like trying to find the Titanic on Mars. Trying to find cheap food that doesn't have any wheat on it.... Okay, stop laughing. I'm being serious here!

2) Sleeping. For some reason that only God knows I bet, the Boston/Logan airport doesn't have chairs without armrests. Not. Conducive. To. Sleeping. Which... I guess is good... because there were other people with the same idea as us, and then a couple shady characters... So you don't want to be completely asleep, in order to feel your backpack suddenly go missing, but I still had another day and night (and day) of travelling ahead of me. Be sure to get a good nights rest the night before you head out at the very least.

3) Airport security. Yes, collective groan indeed. Compared to what I wanted to bring, I packed very lightly, and as a way to cut down on luggage I decided that I would wear layers and pack travel sized toiletries instead of packing full-scale in my carry-on. This was a bittersweet decision, and though it helped immensely when I got to campus, it bogged me down quite a bit in the security lane. With all the many restrictions, I had three of those gray buckets, as well as my bag. It wasn't as time consuming as say the couple with three kids who haven't been to the airport in the last ten years, but it was time enough.

My experience in the Reykjavik airport went much the same way. As soon as I got off the plane we were sent through security and customs, of course, but because my flight didn't get in until midnight and the airport is 45 minutes out of town, I once again opted to just stay in the airport overnight. In Boston I had my dad to keep me company, and the incredibly annoying floor cleaning man who was getting off on waking everyone up, but in Iceland it was just me. Luckily I found a place near the bathroom where a couple of other people were staying and there was an outlet so I could use my computer, but if I ever do this again... I will definitely get a hotel room (airport security was fervent about no sleeping on the floor). Come Monday morning, after only dozing for a handful of minutes between the two previous nights, I was desperate for a big, warm, comfy bed.

But regardless, I managed to find the currency exchange, drink a Red Bull, collect a few maps, get on the right bus and make it safely to campus.