Home for the Holidays

Greetings all,

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Although most of mine was spent in a plane or an airport, I still reached home without any mishaps and was able to see some of my family while they were in town for the holiday.

All planes and connections went smoothly, though it was quite the relay race to get me from Solheimar to Keflavik airport, Boston airport to hotel and back, then Milwaukee airport to home. I sat by some great people on my flights: one Icelandic couple who were very impressed with my rudimentary Icelandic language skills and a JetBlue pilot from the Milwaukee area (I learned more than I should probably legally know about flying a plane). My favorite part was when we flew over Greenland on Friday evening. Because we took off at 5pm and were flying east, we were chasing the sunset across the globe the whole time. This gave the whole sky an orange and pink glow. As we flew over Greenland, I looked out the window and could see in incredible detail the glaciers, mountains, rivers, and even tiny villages of this barren land. Greenland really looked like the edge of the world, the most remote place on earth. Even in all it desolation, it was still incredibly beautiful and pristine.

Greenland from above

Adjusting to life in Wisconsin again has been fun but a little overwhelming. I drove for the first time in three months yesterday, but I picked it up just like a bike. What strikes me most is only hearing English, reading all signs and instructions in English, and the mass amount of cars, people, and buildings here.

It's hard not to feel sometimes that this whole experience in Iceland was just a crazy dream that I had an now I'm just back home like I was this summer. But I know that this experience has changed and impacted me deeply, likely in ways I will never understand. I've become an informed citizen, a passionate driver for change, and a stronger person. I've made friends that will last a lifetime and seen more beautiful landscapes than I ever thought existed. It wasn't always easy, but I am so glad I had the chance to embark on this adventure and to share it with you all.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012! That's all, folks.

So Long, Farewell

It's hard to believe, but in just over 12 hours, we'll be leaving Solheimar. In about a day, I'll be leaving the country. Tomorrow night I'll spend my first night in the United States since Labor Day weekend. By Saturday morning, I'll be back home. Wow.

This past week has already brought lots of reflection, hugs, tears, and goodbyes. And we haven't even gone anywhere yet! This past Saturday we went for a final group hike in the area to a nearby river and classic abandoned tractor. We had to get in one last goofy group photo.

We've completed all our final projects, course evaluations, and my room is all packed up. Yesterday (Wednesday) we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the whole community. I'm not sure how many people came, but a good estimate would be around 90 or 100. We spent the entire day prepping veggies, caramelizing onions, getting messy, and having a lot of fun. Our menu included: vegetable soup, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, walnut-apple stuffing, sweet potatoes, turkey, falafel, peas, gravy, pumpkin pie, and apple crisp. I helped out with the stuffing and both of the potato dishes (so much butter). At 6pm, everyone started piling in.

Table setting pre-dinner

We served the soup, told the Thanksgiving story (in Icelandic!), served dinner, and then my friends Lily, Christina, Tracy, and I performed "Walking in Air" from "The Snowman" book/movie (on piano, guitar, and violin, respectfully). As a group, along with two of the European interns here, we performed a contra dance called "Lady Luck". Everyone was clapping along with our dancing and really enjoyed it. Somewhere out there's a video that was taken of the dance; I'll see if I can't track it down. After the dance, we enjoyed dessert and finally sat down to rest as the community members trickled out of the cafeteria and thanked us for dinner (plenty of hugs all around). 

Jordan with his apple crisps. so good! Solvi, the chef, is watching like a hawk

I have mixed feelings about leaving this beautiful community, landscape, country, and all these wonderful people. It's been the experience of a lifetime and I am so glad I came. At the same time, I'm incredibly excited to come home and see some of my family this weekend. I'll post again when I'm home so you all know I made it.

Happy Thanksgiving from a snowy Iceland! See you in the USA!

Where the River Meets the Ocean

We're getting down to the final countdown here... I leave Iceland a week from today! We ventured out on our last field trip of the semester on Wednesday (Nov 16) and soaked up every last bit of Icelandic moss, air, and water that we could.

Our day began by driving to the coastal town of Eyrarbakki, just a 40 min. drive or so from Solheimar. It's a very small town, only around 600 people now and is home to Iceland's largest prison (it holds about 120 people and looks like a palace). The town used to be a major port on the southern coast, exporting wool, fish, and meat to Denmark and then going onto the rest of Europe from there. Our first stop was Husið, one of the first timber houses built in Iceland. It was built in 1765 by Danish merchants so they could stay in Iceland over the summer and keep conducting business throughout the year.

Husið

Inside Husið (meaning "The House", pronounced Hoos-ith) was a beautiful museum with furniture, instruments, dishes, games, and photographs that belonged to various families who have lived there. It was lots of fun to explore the house and discover hidden rooms and trapdoors. Next door to Husið was a maritime museum where we learned more about the livelihood and work of the townspeople throughout the centuries.

Ship inside the maritime museum

After the museums, we had a free hour to walk along the beach. It was great to finally be able to see the open ocean and hear waves crashing against the rocks... waves that possibly haven't seen land since leaving the shores of Antarctica. I also found an abandoned coffee shop, bunches of kelp, and lots of other treasures.

 The coffeeshop, alone on the beach

 Fish trap with kelp. Unsuccessful fishing venture?

Loving the designs on the beach!

The church in Eyrarbakki

After the beach walk, we had lunch at a nice restuarant in town. Seafood soup, plenty of fresh bread, and coffee! Mmm! We hopped back in the bus and I immediately fell asleep. Zzz...

I awoke to another beautiful sight: the geothermal springs and waterfalls in a nearby town called Hveragerði. We hopped out of the bus into the rain and starting hiking up into the hills. We passed spouts of geothermal steam, walked in mud up to our ankles, and forded many a river (with piggyback rides from Dusty so we wouldn't get wet! Thanks!). After an hour, we reached our destination of the hot river. Precariously changing into swimsuits behind rocks, we swam happily in the warm water for over an hour. It was such a treat to be swimming outside, in a river, in the middle of November. Only in Iceland!

We quickly hiked back to beat the sunset and gave a nice American hiker a ride back to town. Another great trip in this beautiful country... hard to believe I've already been here 11 weeks and have only one more left! This weekend will wrap up our final school work, projects, and we'll get ready for the Thanksgiving dinner we're hosting on Wednesday night! Wish me luck as I play violin, contra dance, and make stuffing for 100 people! Pictures from that event will be coming soon...

Northern Lights

I finally got a hold of one of  my classmate's pictures of the Northern Lights we see here every few weeks. My camera can't pick them up, but my friend Tracey's camera is much better. This photo credit goes to her.

This picture was taken around 6 weeks ago and is only a sample of some of the amazing light shows we've seen the sky put on in the past few months.

This picture was taken from right outside my bedroom window. Beautiful!

Town and Country

Time to catch you up on the last week! It's been a busy one!

Last Wednesday (Nov 2) we headed out for a tour around the municipality that Solheimar is a part of (its names is Grímsnes og Grafningshreppur to be exact!). Our guide was a man who works as sort of a Public Works manager for the town. His name is Horður and is the epitome of an Icelander. We stopped by several different farms to check out their various ways of using the geothermal heat available on their land. What we really enjoyed was playing with all the sheep, horses, Border Collies, and cows on all the farms. By the end of the day, we were covered in stinky awesomeness. Horður invited us to his farmhouse for dinner. Over the traditional crocks of lamb stew, we enjoyed a lively conversation with him and some time spent looking over his ancient World Atlas to show him where we are from.

The nicest sheep ever! He jumped up for us to pet him!

I'm trying to remember what else happened this week... the days are going so fast now they seem to blend together. Oh! On Saturday I played the violin in a concert with the choir and enjoyed hearing the home people play instruments and sing in their fall recital.

Yesterday (Nov 9) we went to Reykjavik and had a full day of sightseeing. Our first stop was the Alafoss wool outlet where I purchased a sweater and lots of wool for knitting (new favorite hobby!). We took a guided tour through the home of author Haldor Laxness (an Icelandic author whose book "Independent People" we all read this summer) and went to the National Art Gallery. We also met with an author/documentary film maker whose film "Dreamland" we saw about a week ago. He was a very powerful speaker and environmental activist who, just from his talk, got me fired up to make change!

The rest of the day was spent wandering the main shopping streets and enjoying the city and waterfront at night in the rain. We ate dinner at a great restaurant called Happ and the most famous geologist in Iceland (can't remember his name, but he was interviewed by news stations all over the world in 2010 when Eyafjallajokull erupted last May) joined us for dinner and gave a little lecture during dessert. Very fun!

 At the "Sun Voyageur" statue on the waterfront at dusk

 Beautiful pools and bridges in front of Harpa

 Harpa, Reykjavik's new opera and concert hall. The outside is entirely colored glass. Incredible!

Modern menu at Happ! And a bit of my new sweater...

Something that's been hard to get used to here is the lack of sunlight. At this point in the season, we are losing about 6 minutes of sunlight per day. This morning, the sun rose at 9:40am and set this afternoon at 4:40pm. It's so hard to get out of bed when the sun shows no sign of rising anytime soon. I wake up every morning and wonder why I am awake in what feels like the middle of the night. I'm looking forward to being back in Wisconsin and at least having a bit more light.

Like I said earlier, the days are absolutely flying by. We have final projects and tests coming up in all of our classes in the next week, so that'll keep me busy this weekend. Also, right before we leave we are hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for the community, with the expectation that about 100 people will show up! I'm in charge of all the stuffing, so that should be fun to figure out. We'll be playing some live music, possibly doing some contra dance, and telling the Thanksgiving story. It should be a great end to an incredible semester here.

Only 14 days left in Iceland! I'm trying to make the most of it and soak up all that I can... though I fear that I'll get home and think that this was all a dream. Stay tuned...

We Smell Like Goats

Time to update you on yet another Icelandic adventure! This past weekend (October 28-30) the group was off to Reykjavik and West Iceland.

We spent Friday in the city, first heading to the Environmental Ministry to hear about Iceland's environmental quality and wildlife management policies. They were dressing up in the office that day for Halloween, so listening to speakers dressed as pirates and soccer players was only a little distracting.

We then headed to the University of Iceland to hear a presentation on their Environment and Natural Resources master's program. On the way up to the room our meeting was in, one of my classmates, John, got lost from the group and was stuck in the cafeteria area of the student center. After about 10 min, we realized he was gone and someone went to go look for him. We found him in no time, but won't let him forget that one for a while. We also went to the Icelandic National Museum on campus and got a guided tour. We saw lots of cool artifacts, skeletons (or skelets as they call them), and even got to try on some costumes!

John and I in our costumes... reppin' Northland!

After the museum, we had a few hours to explore the city. We stopped at a coffee shop, had some croissants, and met a cute Icelandic bulldog. By the time we got back on the bus (around 6pm), the sun had already set and dusk was beautiful at the church. 

We drove north on the cost to a town called "Borganes" and stayed at a youth hostel there overnight. Saturday morning was spent at a museum covering the settlement of Iceland and "Egil's Saga", a book that we're reading in our history class. We had an amazing meal there for lunch- salad, pasta, soup, and curry bread. Unreal.

Leaving Borgarnes, we drove further north to a goat farm run by a woman named Johanna. She was great. After the obligatory coffee and cakes in the afternoon, we headed out to the barn. She is the only person still milking goats in Iceland and owns about 200 of the 350 goats left in the country. We spent several hours playing with the goats, helping out with a few chores, and milking about 25 of the goats. They were so friendly and lovable! Dogs, kittens, and chickens were also at the farm which did great things for my animal-loving soul.

 Me petting the sheepdog "Bossy"

 Jon and Christina with a barn kitty

 Johanna loving on her goats

Hank....and more goats!

The trip was finished up on Sunday with a brief tour at a large geothermal power plant outside of Reykjavik. Other recent highlights include a Halloween party and a breathtaking Northern Lights display last night. The interns and volunteers here set up a beautiful Halloween party in the coffee shop here for the whole community. It was fun to see everyone in creative costumes (Comet, Northern Lights, Volcano, Glacier, etc.) and we had fun playing Scrabble, eating, and dancing. Amidst all the merry-making, we stepped outside a few times to take a look at Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights. One of my classmates was able to capture them on her camera so I'll see if I can't post those pictures later. The only words to describe them last night were: amazing, wow, GREEN, hot pink, blue, dancing, and humongous. They literally covered the majority of the sky. We are so lucky to see them here often. 

This week involves lots of homework and projects, along with a little tour of some surrounding farms tomorrow. I'm going to be involved in another concert this weekend, but to what extent, I'm not sure yet. One of my biggest lessons from Iceland: Go with the flow. They're all about that here.

Thanks for reading! It's hard to believe I have only three and a half weeks left here! Was there ever a time when I wasn't in Iceland?

The Group

It's come to my attention that I haven't introduced the other members of my CELL group very well yet! These are the people who I spent nearly every hour with, the ones who make this experience what it is, and the ones who always make me smile.

Here is a group picture of us at the Turf House we were working at last weekend, along with the couple who owns the farm, Honnis and Christine.

Top row, left to right: John, Elise, Tracy, Dusty, Jordan, Christina, Lily, Honnis
Bottom row, left to right: Karin, Sarah, Tracey, Laura, Hank, Christine

John is from Northland too, and is a Sustainable Community Development major as well!
Tracy is from Cornell and is studying Environmental Engineering.
Dusty is from Prescott College in Colorado and is an Adventure Education/Environmental Studies major.
Jordan goes to Miami University in Ohio and studies Architecture.
Christina goes to University of Redlands and is studying International Relations and Environmental Policy.
Lily is from Skidmore and is an Environmental Studies major.
Honnis is Icelandic, enough said.
Karin is from Maine. She's amazing.
Sarah goes to Paul Smith's in Upstate NY and is an Environmental Studies major.
Tracey goes to Rhode Island School of Design and is a Graphic Design major.
Laura is a bit of a self-proclaimed vagabond, but she most recently was at Hendrix College in Arkansas. She studies botany, agriculture, and knitting! :)
Hank is also from Maine. He has a sweet Boston accent.
Christine is Icelandic and reminds me a lot of my Aunt Patty, if any of you know her.

I don't know what I'll do without these people in my face and in my lives everyday. It's going to be strange...

Golden Circle

This past Wednesday (Oct. 19), I fell in love with Iceland.

We left at the dark hour of 8:30am to embark on a day of sightseeing, adventuring, and learning. On our way to the "Golden Circle" (three famous Icelandic sites that can be visited in one day), we stopped at a crater close to Solheimar. We've driven past it a few times, but had never stopped to look down. It was so deep! After spending about 20 minutes climbing around and skipping stones in the water, we hopped back in the bus.

Our next stop was Þingvellir National Park (pronounced Thingvellir). This is an important site in Icelandic history: both culturally and geologically. From 930 AD to the 1700s, the Icelandic parliament and thousands of Icelanders met at this site once a year in the summers to create new laws, solve legal disputes, and catch up with one another. This is also the place where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is clearly visible, the place where the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate are moving apart. Very cool! It made me miss North America, but just a little bit. Flurries fell as we walked around and the sun was shining, making the visit even more... "magical".

 Church at Thingvellir and to the right, the Prime Minister's Summer House!

 Iceland has mountains. Have I mentioned that yet? :)

Tectonic plates splitting apart... On the left, the Eurasian plate. On the right, the North America Plate.

 

 Saving each other, playing around

After Thingvellir was a stop at the Gulfoss waterfall. The sound of this waterfall was incredibly loud and powerful. The mist from the waterfall had frozen on all the grass, rocks, and paths nearby and made for some beautiful pictures and treacherous walking.

 Gulfoss from above

 Still alive! 

Frozen grass, so cool!

The next stop was Geysir, an area of geothermal geysers and pools. Here we watched two "eruptions" of a geyser and found a geothermal pool that was glowing bright blue- no lights or anything! It was the craziest thing I've ever seen! We also had a bit of fun in the parking lot before getting back on the bus...

 Geyser.. I wasn't patient enough to catch an eruption on camera

 Glowing blue pool. No lights, I swear!

 Me standing next to a "Super-Jeep", a very common site in Iceland

Jordan and Dusty doing what they do best

Ok, by this time it's about 4 in the afternoon. But we're not done yet! We drove to a mountain, hiked to the top, I got scared, we played on the frozen pond on top, ran back down the mountain, and drove to our final destination: Skaholt church. This church has been the Bishop seat in Iceland since about the year 1030 AD! We got a tour from a very strangely sarcastic priest, heard some "ghost" stories about the church, went through a secret passageway, and finally ate dinner! The dinner was amazing and we all ate way too much! Icelandic trout, sweet potatoes, salad, apple cake, and coffee were on the menu. 

Skaholt Church at night

I'm not sure what it was about this day that made me really fall in love with Iceland. It could have been the flurries and sunshine in the morning or the ridiculous amounts of fun I had with my group, but something hit me that day. I realized how truly special this place is and that I need to appreciate every moment of my last month here. It's going by too fast...

There's no such thing as bad weather in Iceland...

Only the wrong clothing. This common Icelandic saying is one we've been putting into practice every day. From sunshine and rainbows to hail and snow, we've seen it all by this point. If I ever thought we weather changed fast in Wisconsin, Iceland has definitely proved me wrong. You can literally look out the window and in the course of the day, see rainstorms come and go as many as twenty times. It's fun to be kept on my toes, and I have given up checking weather.com weeks ago.

This past weekend we traveled to a farm about 45 minutes to the southeast of us called "Austur Medalholt" (meaning East Middle-woods or something like that). The farm is run by a wonderful Icelandic couple, Honnis and Christine. They are on a "crusade" to promote, restore, and educate about the Icelandic turf house tradition. They are in the middle of building a turf house museum and have also beautifully restored a turf house (the same one Honnis was born in) on the farmland.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, just in time for coffee break. We gathered in the restored turf house, shared coffee while sitting on the beds lining the walls, and settled in to this cozy home. Honnis gave us a tour of the farm and the new museum before we feasted on an incredible, home-grown dinner of salad, pasta, beans, bread, and blueberries. After dinner we headed back to our cabin and crawled immediately into our sleeping bags to stay warm. I shared a "bunk" with one of my classmates and it was nice to have someone there for body heat! With the wind howling all night and the big moon shining through the window, I felt like I could have been in any century in Iceland's history... spending an autumn night on this ancient farm.

Looking out the window of the turf cabin we stayed in. Post coffee break

The bed I stayed in

Farm scene...

Outside of the new museum. Honnis built most of this himself with a few friends

Another view, looking the other way in the cabin. Sorry they're out of order

Honnis showing us the outside of one of the turf houses

Saturday was spent eating and working! A great combination! After morning porridge and coffee, we headed out to do some old fashioned manual labor. I jumped around between projects, helping various people out. I helped build a turf wall, rolled some big stones up a hill to make steps, shoveled some manure, and got good and dirty. After lunch (soup and more fresh bread! This place is great!) we finished up the projects we'd been working on and had a final coffee break before saying goodbye to Honnis and Christine. They are probably my favorite Icelanders we've met so far. Great people with a beautiful connection to Iceland's landscape, history, and culture.

It's back to work for us here at Solheimar. Lots of projects are due this week as we are in the "Midterm" week of our semester. On Wednesday, we'll be heading to Þingvellir National Park, an important site both historically and geologically in Iceland. Talk to you then!

The Songs We Sing

Regardless of what others might say, I feel like Iceland is a place full of music, though it comes in many forms. It comes in the humming of tunes in the workshops. It comes in the songs we dance to around the kitchen. It comes in the sound of the windows rattling against the wind.

This past week has been one filled with music. I'll share three different occasions with you here. The first is a piece that I played on the organ at the church here in Solheimar on Sunday. Also playing with me were my classmates Christina (on piano) and Tracy (on guitar). We accompanied the choir and soloist (who happens to be our Icelandic Language teacher and a great friend) to a song written for one of the home people who passed away about two weeks ago. It was a very moving experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to be part of it. It's taking a long time to upload, so I'll post it later.

The second is of my friend and classmate Laura singing part of the National Anthem. We found a long tube (maybe for cables?) laying on the ground behind the soccer field here. We were thrilled to find out that talking down the tube made an incredible and spooky echoing sound. It is especially fun to yodel down said tube. Regardless, here's Laura.

Finally, I was able to grab a bit of this morning's "Morning Song" on video. Sorry I don't have a longer clip. Every morning at 9am, the church bells toll and we meet as a community in one of the open areas. We stand in a circle, hold hands, and say "Góðan daginn" (Good morning/ Good day). Then it's time for announcements (who's going where, what activities are being offered, the date, and of course: what's for lunch). To end out the morning meeting, we wing the "Morning Song". It took us all a few weeks to memorize it, but I've got it down pat now. It's really a beautiful hymn... singing about the glory of the sun and a new day, asking God to give us good work to do, and so on. Here you are...

We're off to a farm for Friday night and Saturday, where we'll be working on building/repairing a traditional Icelandic turf house (in addition to sleeping in one!). 


We're also about to start Week 7 of the 12-week semester! It's hard to believe we're already halfway done. I'm trying to make the most of it but also can't wait to get home and see everyone! Sending my love from the North Atlantic!

Ég elska Reykjavík!

I love Reykjavik! This Wednesday we all headed to the "big city" to have a few presentations, eat some crazy Icelandic food, and just explore the city.

Our first stop was at Landsvirkjun, the Icelandic National Energy Authority. We were served wonderful and catered food at 9 in the morning, and learned a lot about the environmental goals and practices of this powerful (pun!) company. We then headed down to the waterfront to meet with a marine biologist from the Marine Institute of Iceland. He was a little disorganized, but he really knew his stuff. We learned a lot about the fisheries management of the Icelandic waters (they have exclusive rights to the 200 mile radius all the way around the island), including whaling and shark fishing.

Speaking of... for lunch we headed to a seafront restuarant called the "Sea Baron". Here we consumed big mugs of lobster soup and had the opportunity to try fermented shark meat and grilled mink whale. A few in the group tried the shark and whale, and I thought about it, but once it came to actually eating the meat, I couldn't bring myself to try it. I think I'll be able to more or less live a full life without trying them.

 Shark

 Mink Whale

Our lunch stop!

After lunch we spent about an hour at an archaeological museum that included the ruins of an ancient farmhouse that was likely the first building built in Reykjavik (built around 870 AD). Learning all of this history about Iceland makes me realize how young the United States really is!

Most of the afternoon was spent as free time. We wandered into lots of stores (including one with a slide inside!), saw the famous Hallgrimskirkja Lutheran Cathedral, and met some Icelandic city-slickers. My favorite was a man who had a small dog (about Chihuahua sized). He wanted to go into a store, but didn't have a leash for the dog. Instead, he looked around to make sure no one was really looking (except for us, silly Americans. I guess we didn't count) and stuffed the dog into his shirt, then entered the store!

 The slide inside a sporting goods store. Of course we went down it!

 Typical storefront

 Meeting a Caribou in the Geyser store

 Our guys looking fierce in their Icelandic sweaters

 Just a normal Reykjavik home

 The cathedral

 Up close.. the church was designed to imitate the basalt pillars found in Iceland

Inside the cathedral

We finished out the day with a beautiful meal at Restaurant Reykjavik: mushroom soup, lamb fillets, potatoes, veggies, and ice cream with berries for dessert! Overall, it was a really awesome day. I look forward to returning to the city next month for another trip.

In other news, I've learned to play the organ, knit a scarf, and dance the rumba all in the past two days! I'll be playing in the Solheimar church, along with my friends Christina and Tracy (on piano and guitar) on Sunday. I'll try to record the piece so everyone can see the church and hear the song!

Bless bless!