Hallo! (not misspelled, Icelandic for hello)

I'm just finishing up my sicth day here in Iceland and so far everything has been amazing! Sorry for the lack of updating, but we're super busy. Ill try and give you a run down of some of the stuff we've been doing and try and get caught up.

MONDAY/TUESDAY
On Monday night the group got on the plane at 9:30pm in Boston. The plane ride was fairly uneventful, except I did see the Northern lights from the window!

We arrived in Keflavik at 6:30am local time, 2:30am EST. Everyone was tired, but ready to go!

After driving for an hour and a half, we made it to Solheimar, which is the Ecovillage we are staying in. We immediately got breakfast at the main house.

The food was one of the main things I was looking forward to and this first meal did not disappoint! There was a spread of homemade butter, jams, marmalade, cereal, musyli, cheese, and meat. The bread was so dense and tasted like sesame. All of the jams here remind me how much I love berries and really make me appreciate homemade food.

View outside of the common house

Breakfast

After lunch we went to the guesthouse we are staying in to claim rooms and unpack. We unpacked and had a short meeting before we went back to the main house for lunch. The options for lunch included lamb, rice, green beans, potato latkes, and horse meat. Horse meat. I chose not to eat the horse and stuck with the lamb, veggies, and rice. Everything was great!

Following lunch we went on a tour of the Ecovillage with the Axel, the man in charge of special guests at Solheimar. He took us around to the entire village showing us workshops and talked about Icelandic culture. Solheimar has several workshops including ceramics, weaving, painting, wood working, candlemaking, forestry, and sustainable food.

After the tour we went and watched a documentary called "Dreamland," which is about the geothermal energy companies and their relationship with the aluminum companies. Everyone pretty much fell asleep, but we had to get up and go to dinner next.

Dinner was more of the same, lamb, veggies, rice. We had a short meeting after dinner and everyone pretty much went to bed.

WEDNESDAY

Lobster Soup

Everyone woke up and we drove into Reykjavik. We first stopped at a geothermal energy company where they spoke to us about their company and how geothermal power works.

After, we went downtown and to the harbor where we took group pictures and walked around until lunch. For lunch we ate at a restaurant called The Sea Baron, where we had lobster soup. It was the best soup I've ever eaten and it was served with the most amazing bread. At lunch we also had the chance to try some true Icelandic food.

The national dish is fermented shark, which is usually described as smelling and tasting like ammonia (i.e. disgusting). It was served on little cubes and I ate one anyone. It was very rubbery and the texture reminded me of steak fat. I didn't get a huge amount of the terrible taste because I pretty much just swallowed it because it was hard to chew. We also had the chance to try whale. I had a hard time deciding if I would eat the whale, but I decided since it was already cut, cooked, and prepared to be eaten, I wouldn't waste it. It actually tasted like steak, or "bison of the sea" as someone called it.

Trying the Shark

After lunch we had some time to walk around and explore Reykjavik. We went into some shops and took pictures of the cute houses. Then we went whale watching.

The whale watching captain claimed he had a 95% success rate in seeing whale, but we fell into that 5% leftover. We saw some porpoises, birds, and the volcano that is where the Journey to the Center of the Earth takes place.

After whale watching we walked around town more. Reykjavik is a really awesome city to explore. They have the prettiest houses and it seems like a lot more of a big town than a city. It reminded of Ithaca, but with more stores and less hills.

Sorry it's sideways, but this a picture of the cute colored houses

At dinner we ate at this really cute restaurant called Aldin, where we had veggies kabobs, couscous, and a spring salad. After we ate this man named Andri Snaer spoke with us. He is the author of the book Dreamland, which is the book that the documentary is based off of. Andri is a really incredible man because he saw this problem, even though he didn't know a lot about it, and actually fixed it instead of just observing, saying there's a problem, and not acting on it.

I'm getting ready to leave for a farm for a few days, but eventually I will get caught up. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Crunch Time

I've been finishing up my finals, writing term papers, packing my duffel bag and brushing up on my Icelandic because...


in one week from now I will be in Iceland on a three week ævintýri! (adventure in Icelandic)

 For three weeks I will staying in the world's oldest Ecovillage, Solheimar and travelling around the  southern coast. I haven't had the opportunity to study abroad yet because of the way my required classes have been scheduled. A three week, three-credit trip between the end of classes and the start of summer to a place where most people will never go sounded perfect to me. 


I know this short trip won't be like a normal study abroad experience, but a study abroad trip with sub-zero sleeping bag and headlamp on the packing list sounds like the best fit for me.

This blog will be short-lived, but it is where I will document my trip and everything I do! So if you want to know what I'm up to, like puffins, appreciate Bjork, or want to try and find Bobby Fischer in my pictures, then check back here over the next few weeks!