collectingrocks

[collectingrocks]

Is this real life? Pt. 2

My time in Iceland has come to an end. 

I spent my last weeks there extremely busy and feeling too many things to even really lay out there, which is why I didn't get around to posting. I was exhausted to the point of near apathy with final exams (2-3 week exam period, really? Whose idea was that?), I was brimming with excitement for Jason to get there and to travel with him, and I was anxious to arrive home and see everyone and start all my summer things. But I was sad to be saying goodbye to some of the wonderful people I met and I know I'm going to miss. The feeling just saying goodbye to Iceland was indescribable and surreal.

I think the most bizarre feeling is just the overall disbelief that those nine months have ended. I spent six years planning to go to Iceland, and naturally, I spent a lot of time learning how I felt about life there in general and understanding my expectations vs. reality. Not saying I was disappointed, I'm just saying I had six years worth of build-up and dreams which all culminated into this period of nine months- and it seriously flew by. It feels like just last month I was riding the Fly Bus from the Keflavik airport at 7am, tired and luggage-less, staring out the window in awe of the alien landscape I'd found myself in. And that first realization, startling almost: "I live here." I'll never forget that feeling.  What I'm getting at is I know that it's going to take some time being out of the situation, adjusting to home, realizing I really am not going back to Iceland in a couple weeks, before I really am able to piece my thoughts together in a coherent way. And I think that's the way it always is!

So I'm leaving this simple for now, may come back to it later. I plan to post soon about my amazing last adventure in Iceland- traveling the Ring Road with my darlin'! :)

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Parents!

Sigh.

Well clearly I've fallen off the tumblr wagon lately. I've tumbled off, if you will. Heh heh..

But anyway, big news! My mom and step-dad came to visit!! I am a happy girl. It was so good to see them and I really think they had a great time here too. We tried to do as much as possible in the short time we had without getting too exhausted, and I think we did a pretty damn good job. Golden Circle, a bit of the Reykjanes Peninsula, and Snaefellsnes! And you'll never guess who actually behaved the majority of the time-- Iceland weather, the notorious beautiful-scenery-hider and basically head Troll of this little island! Kept it in check aside from some heavy fog in Snaefellsnes and at one point, winds trying with all their might to knock us off the cliffs at Arnastapi. But no, we survived and instead just enjoyed the rainbow, which was literally right in front of us (picture below).

Here's a few photos, in chronological order

Waterfall at Þingvellir I hadn't seen before

Gullfoss

Kleifarvatn

Right across the road from where we stopped at Kleifarvatn. This is much larger than it looks here.

See? From underneath! And even closer of what's under there...

mmmm deformation! (key is for scale)

Naturally, this is what I get excited about.

View from our cabin on Snaefellsnes, right outside Grundarfjörður. So nice.

Skarðsvík. mmmm lava

:)

That rainbow I was talking about

I really can't tell you how wonderful it was to see them. I truly have the greatest parents and step-parents (entire family, for that matter!) in the world and I'm sooo so glad I got to at least show two of them around this place I've called "home" for the last 8 months. I got to play tour guide and share a bunch of geology fun facts along the way, which I hope did not get boring! And Lauren, who came to Snaefellsnes and bebopped around Reykjavik with us, also impressed us with all her cultural fun facts. So I think between the two of us, we made a relatively decent guide ;)

Now it's time to be getting ready for finals in a couple weeks, and of course, counting down the days until my boyfriend gets here and we head out on the Ring Road! :)

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Light

This past week has suddenly felt like real school again, the kind where you have assignments and deadlines and exams. And I am not complaining. I may be mildly stressed, but it's so welcome. I feel productive and like I am doing worthwhile things. School! Learning! Science!

I don't have any major events to talk about, except the fact that the days are quickly growing brighter and longer and oh. my. god.

Let me tell you a little something about myself.

I used to love the winter. I used to love every little snowflake (they're rare in the South) and love the ability to cozy up and wear lots of layers and just.. be wintery. Summer in the South is somewhat brutal, what with the temperature getting up to 100F and the air so thick and humid that you feel like you're swimming when you step outside. However (and Tyler predicted this a year or so ago- credit where credit is due), I have become a summer person. I have grown to love summer more than I love many things. I love the heat, I love the sun, I love being able to float down the river or across the lake in a canoe no matter what time of day (or night), I love napping in the grass, I love it. I don't even mind the mosquitoes.

OK, I do mind the mosquitoes. I could definitely live without those bitches.

But, I moved to Iceland (where, coincidentally, there are no mosquitoes) and have attempted to gain a bit thicker skin when it comes to weather madness. Don't get me wrong, I still like the winter, and I still love the snow even if I've absolutely reached my snow capacity this year. But seasonal depression is a real thing. And when you get down to ~4 hours of sunlight/day, and a lot of those hours of "sunlight" are just clouds (and wind, and rain, and hail, and wind, and snow, and wind, and...), things can get kinda rough. People warned me of this, so I did all the mental preparation I could, and I've done my best to handle it, maybe even embrace it at times, and somewhat keep my angsty "Iceland is trying to kill me" frustration in check...

That being said, THE SUN IS COMING BACK. YES!!! I am so excited. The first time I was walking home from class and felt the sun on my back and felt hot? Yikes. I almost lost it, I was so thrilled. I mean, I may have started chuckling. Out loud. By myself. Yeah.

Basically what I am saying here is Spring is coming, and I am coming back to life.

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Blue Lagoon Ball

I have done some pretty crazy things since I've been in this country, but I think this weekend tops the list of "most unexpected". Lauren and I went to a ball.  WHAT?

All pictures courtesy of Lauren, by the way, because I've gotten really lazy with taking pictures. Oops.

Here we are all gussied-up!

We got picked for another Inspired by Iceland invitation that Lauren responded to, so got to attend the annual ball at the Blue Lagoon! Neither of us had ever been (and still haven't actually been in the water ;) ), so we were pretty excited to get to do this! And plus, who doesn't love an excuse to get dressed up once in a while?

The ball was held inside the Lava Restaurant, which is really really neat. They served us a three course meal, which I can definitely say was the fanciest and probably the most delicious food I have had since I've been here. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it again. Smoked salmon, caviar, steak, potatoes and veggies, lamb spring roll-ish thing, chocolate cake, mojito sorbet... Damn. So good.

The steak was pretty rare, but it was dark enough in there that I couldn't see it bleeding or anything, so could enjoy it in peace :)

And of course, I cannot forget, copious amounts of wine. A different kind for each course! And after dessert, cognac and coffee. So fancy.

They had live bands, a mens choir, and a comedian or two (in Icelandic). And we got to meet and talk with some really nice people! All around a really great night.

Seriously, I recognize that at some point the universe will catch up to me and my luck will run out. But for now, we will have our moments as modern-day princesses.

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Lambafellsgjá

On Sunday I went hiking with Fjallið, the group for geology/geography/tourism students, to Lambafellsgjá. It's a deep open fissure, very narrow, but about 50m deep. The walls are full of basaltic pillow lavas (cool-looking even to people who don't care about rocks, I think!) and right now it's also full of a lot of snow. You can hike all the way through it, and it is incredible. It's only about a 25 minute drive out of Reykjavik, and maybe a 2 hour hike total through snow, but I'm sure much shorter in the summer. And it is absolutely worth a trip. The whole hike out is beautiful- lava field, hills, steam vents. Right now it looks like a sparkly snowy wonderland.

Here are some pictures from the time I went in the 70s. Just kidding, but thanks to my iPhone, it looks like it! I posted some normal ones on Facebook, but I really like the way these turned out.

And yes, I use Hipstamatic. And I love it. Judge me all you want, I am not ashamed.

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NYE '12. Reykjavik, Iceland

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Round 2

I'm back on the island for part two of my stay. I start classes tomorrow at 8:20, which would be "bright and early" if this weren't Iceland; I'll probably actually be out of class before sunrise. YIKES.

I spent a wonderful whirlwind three weeks at home, bouncing around between Mom's house, Dad's house, Murfreesboro, and Gatlinburg. And in my blissful, sometimes drunken, food coma-d, glorious, American daze, I somehow neglected to take more than like 20 pictures the whole time. All were in the beautiful Smoky Mountains!

View from our cabin. Perfect.

siblings and "plus ones" :)

My dashing boyfriend cozied up with his fancy Fat Tire.

Jason took some nature/wildlife photos...

Really, really great visit home.

Will update soon with NYE shenanigans!

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Winter

Finals are a little intense right now. Three in three days. Shouldn't this be illegal?

In other news, Reykjavik is covered in snow.

Oh, and I'm going home in TWO DAYS!!!

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Mosi and Sólheimajökull

First of all, I just need to talk about Inspired by Iceland. You may have seen the "Inspired by Iceland" video which features a lot of really happy people dancing around in really pretty places around the country. It's cute! And recently, Iceland has started this great project to help boost tourism and give people opportunities to do some really cool things. Here's how it works: Locals post invitations, either a video or just a picture/write-up, asking people to come and join them in doing a variety of activities. Invitations may be for having sushi with the mayor, walking an Icelandic sheepdog, sea swimming, visiting a farm, or just having dinner-- just to name a few! Check out that link above to see some of them. It's awesome. Seriously, what other country could do this??

So, being only temporary residents and considering ourselves visitors, we've been lucky enough to take advantage of some of these invites. Vanessa had responded to one to walk an Icelandic Sheepdog on Friday, and Emily W. and I went with her because we all miss our own dogs a TON. We met the owner and a couple of other people and got to walk the pup around the pond.

His name is Mosi and he is precious! :)

Also, Lauren and I had responded to an invitation a couple weeks ago to go glacier walking and ice climbing with Arctic Adventures. The trip got cancelled due to a storm, but they let us reschedule it. So guess what we did yesterday?!

Yep!! Here we are all prepared to take on Sólheimajökull Glacier. My camera decided to die as soon as we got there so I had to use my phone. I had to steal this one and the 4th and 5th ones from Lauren :).

Deep crevasse in the glacier. So cooooool.

Stream winding across the glacier. The black is volcanic ash.

CLIMBING. SO STOKED. That's our guide, Gummi, belaying me just in case I decided to try and fall.

Look at this!! (Don't worry, Mom and Dad. That's not me.).... (But I wish it was)

Such an amazing day! Can't believe how lucky we were to get to go on that trip, and for FREE. Great guide, great group, everything. Couldn't have been better :). I seriously can't wait to get back out and ice climb again. Love it.

Don't really have much else to say, other than: Inspired by Iceland= Best idea ever

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CAVE

I love caves.

This is something I didn't really know until fairly recently. Since I've been in Iceland, I've been determined to find some and crawl around, but hadn't managed to yet. And that's the one thing I've been kinda bumming about. I don't have enough caves in my life.

So last night I went out with people from this hiking club I joined, planning to hike to the top of this small mountain/hill and look down into THIS:

No big deal, just a 650ft deep magma chamber.....!!!!

Here's where that picture is from, with some information about it as well. And more pictures! Worth it, promise: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/05/03/article-1383001-0BE1A16100000578-534_964x642.jpg

Seriously, how incredible does that look? Unfortunately we didn't get out there until almost dark, it was really foggy, and they weren't exactly sure where it was. So it was decided that it wasn't the best night for it. And instead, they took us to a cave they knew nearby. YES.

Of course we didn't have proper equipment, lights, etc. so just went in for a minute, but it was enough to boost my spirits out the roof. Here's a little of what it looks like inside, at least when you're lighting it up with flashes ;)

Love it.

Also, walking across the mossy lava field in the dark on the way back, a few stars, clouds, chilly... so nice. I could have slept out there.

Definitely cleared up the weird energy I had the last couple of days. Happy as a clam, y'all.

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Since my measly pictures could never do this place justice, here's a gorgeous video of the band For a Minor Reflection playing in Hellnar. Big thanks to Emily Wall for showing me this video a while ago :)

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Snæfellsnes

This weekend I was planning on being a good student and staying home allll day Saturday and Sunday to get caught up on homework. That's cute, right? But really, I would have actually done that had my friend Sarah not called me Friday night asking if I wanted to go to Snæfellsnes on Sunday. And for 1400kr (or about $12) per person for the rental car, of course I said HELL YEAH. She and I have been talking about finding a way to get up there basically since the first week of classes, just never got a weekend we were both free. So finally made it!!

We went with a group of 7 other students, all Polish and all super nice. I feel like by the end of the day I should have learned a few Polish words at least, but I only really picked up that they use this one word that sounds like the F-word pretty frequently. Except it never really seemed to come out in the right context, so I have no clue what it means.

So. The Snæfellsnes Peninsula is north of Reykjavik, about halfway up the west side of the island. It's been nicknamed "Iceland in Miniature" because it's got a lot of pretty incredible sights in a small area. Being on the far west, away from the spreading ridge running through the island, the peninsula itself is pretty old by Iceland standards. It's mostly made up of Tertiary rocks, older than 3.3 million years. But then of course it's got younger lava flows galore, including the very western tip around the famous Snæfellsjökull volcano and glacier. We can actually see the mountain from Reykjavik on a really clear day, from 120km away! If you've ever read A Journey to the Center of the Earth (I haven't, but should), the name might sound familiar-- apparently this is the entrance to the center of the Earth! Unfortunately we didn't make it up to the glacier on this trip, but I will definitely be back before I leave. It's believed to be one of the world's seven main energy centers, which I think is awesome.

One thing I liked about this trip was that I did no prior planning. I had no idea what we were going to see at any point along the way, sometimes not even after we'd stopped. We'd get somewhere and I'd think, "Oh wow, this is pretty," then walk around, over a hill, whatever, and suddenly there's something completely blowing me away. Like always, Iceland :)

My camera started dying at the second place we stopped, which didn't even make me all that upset because I know I'll be back there before long. But I did manage to get some pictures, because my camera's way of dying (this is cute) is to turn on long enough for me to quickly take approximately 2 pictures before shutting off. Then it needs about a 10 minute break and it can do it again at the next stop!

^Gerðuberg, where there are also some really nice basalt columns

^Arnarstapi

^Hellnar

All in all, the trip ended up costing me about $30. Oh, and I did actually do my homework on Saturday, so double win! :)

Be expecting more and better pictures in the Spring!

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North!

This time last weekend, I was nestled up in the most adorable cabin in a town called Skagaströnd, listening to country radio (courtesy of "The Icelandic Cowboy"), playing cards, and drinking tea with a few friends. It was SO perfect. We left early last Sunday morning to head up North and only stayed one night, but it was seriously a great trip. Can't wait to spend more time up there, just gotta wait until after winter ;)

So it took me a minute to get around to this, but trust me, it's best I waited. Otherwise I might have written a complete rage post about the car rental company we went through. BUT I'm not even going to get into that.

So here's a little bit of our lovely trip to the North! First of all, I should just say that we probably didn't drive for more than 30 minutes at a time without stopping to take pictures of something. It's impossible not to!

I couldn't get over how gorgeous that light on the water was. Just a little church with the mountains behind it.. See? Tiny wooden elf houses on a little outcrop! Jake told us about this and luckily we spotted it on the way up. So cute!

So we're driving along and Ritta says, "We can walk up this hill here if you want to." So we do (without even noticing the sign telling us what it is), and lo and behold we walk up a little ways and realize, OH we're in a crater! It's called Grábrók and was formed in a fissure eruption >3000 years ago. And there's the lava flow!

And the crater next door!! Check that OUT. Here's Skagaströnd! It's a tiny little fishing port town with a population around 530. It has a church, gas station, grocery store, school, and swimming pool. Oh and Kántrýbær, the country/western bar owned by Mr. Hallbjorn Hjartarson, The Icelandic Cowboy himself. He also runs the country/western radio station we were listening to. Awesome! Unfortunately, the bar has some pretty limited hours so we missed out on it. But you better believe I WILL be making it to that bar next time I travel that way. How could I not?!

The amazing view from our cabin.

And the cabin directly next to ours (looks identical). Oh, and those rocks there? Jake and I climbed over right behind our cabin as the sun was going down just to see what was there. Cliffs, wind, crashing waves... Best surprise ever. Can't even describe how incredible that was. This honestly might have been my favorite part of the whole trip.

Black sand beach on the way to Akureyri

And some sweet horses!

Goðafoss

Love this country.

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Right now there's this big music festival going on in Reykjavik called Iceland Airwaves. Hipsters from all around the world flock to the city with bells on every year for it to see gazillions of musicians play in various venues around downtown. It lasts 5 days and is honestly pretty cheap for that amount of time, but I didn't get a ticket. Why? Because I only know about 3 of the bands playing, and also because I'm cheap and there are TONS of off-venue shows you can go to without the wristband! Usually for FREE.

So this afternoon I went to see Ólafur Arnalds at the Nordic House right on campus with my friend Emily. First concert I've been to as part of the festival, and it was really, really nice. Just thought I'd share this video, because it's also really, really nice.

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So... right now I should be sitting somewhere about... right here:

However, due to Iceland's notoriously unpredictable weather and the 40mph winds I woke up to this morning, I am here:

But I am making some good progress on this knitting!

Akureyri, I will see you tomorrow! :)

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Rainy Wednesday

This might be a boring post. Apologies. (But not really)

So. Thanks to this exchange student group hosting weekly parties, a lot of people go out on Wednesday nights. Why they chose Wednesdays, I'm not really sure. But they did. I've been to a couple of these and had an okay time, but honestly the club-type setting is not really my kind of scene, and I've really only gone to hang out with friends. A couple of other things were going on tonight too, and as I don't have homework and don't have super early class tomorrow, I could have easily made a night of it.

But I decided to stay in. Because I just really, really, really was not in the mood to go out. The weather today was chilly and rainy, and I basically slept the day away. I napped twice. If you know me, you probably know I don't nap. I don't. Hardly ever. I think two naps in one day is pretty appalling for a normal person, so for me it's unheard of. It's got to be this weather, I swear.

I did attempt to do some productive things while I was awake. I sent some emails, wrote some postcards, cleaned my room, looked at grad schools...

And then I watched TV online! And it was great. By the way, I think I should note that this is rare for me now. Since I've been here, I have watched maybe 3 hours of TV and that is it. I'm proud of me, at least.

Anyway, so a little while ago (~11:30PM) I was really craving some coffee, tea, hot chocolate, whatever and fought the part of me that said, "It's so late, you don't need that," and made coffee. Then I remembered the Northern Lights were apparently really great last night and the night before, so thought I'd see if anything was up. I stepped out in my thin sweater and flip flops (I'm not the best at dressing for weather) and realized, of course, it's still wet and cloudy- so no Aurora. But standing outside, watching the cars and the clouds and looking at the pond across the street, I realized I felt really connected. This place and where I am all felt very real and very much like real life and not like a strange city I happen to be in. I'm not saying it feels like home, but it feels like a home. This is where I live. I'm comfortable here.

That's important.

I'm just realizing how necessary it is to do things that just make you feel comfortable or at home. So maybe once in a while I'll sleep half the day or stay in alone instead of going out because I just don't feel like it. And I'll watch Grey's Anatomy for a couple hours even if I could be doing something useful. And I might drink coffee at midnight, even if it gives me a headache, because it's more comforting than it is painful. I'm good with it.