Irrational Fears

On my day trip to Snaefellsness Peninsula, I learnt something about myself. I have a lot of irrational fears. 

One: Every time I drive, I could kill or be killed.

Neither of these things happened. Although, we did a few skids and got blown around a bit.

Snowy conditions make for skid conditions.

Two: The sun rises later, the further north you go. I wondered if on this day, the sun just may not ever rise.

It did. It went from pitch black, to that glowing white you only get in a complete white out.

A relatively good 5 minute spell in the weather

Three: How long can one survive without getting hypothermia? And how long is it before hypothermia kills you?

Well, it's not long until you get uncomfortably cold in Iceland. But I think that warming up is often even more painful. And nobody died of hypothermia, so it obviously takes longer than 5 minutes for the cold to kill you.

Snow dunes at the beach.

Four: When we got the car stuck on the mountain pass, would we have to sleep there? How long would our provisions last? 

This was righted with a bit of brute strength (pushing) and making sure the car was facing the right direction (down).

Our noble steed

Five: If I were to be blown off a cliff and into the ocean below, would I survive?

Luckily, this question was not answered, although we did get blown about by the wind.

I'd probably die.

Six: I am always about to drop my phone into water.

Always a concern when you are me. And you have an expensive phone. And you are visiting a lot of aqua.

A half frozen waterfall.

Seven: What if people find out how odd I truly am after spending 12 hours in a car with me?

Well, everyone on the trip still talks to me, which I guess is a good sign. As a result of these conversations, I have a fun fact for the week to share:

Cows are the only animals that are capable of feeling humiliation.

This of course raised other questions such as:

How do you humiliate a cow?

How do you measure its humiliation levels?

Somebody suggested that this was why cows were worshipped in some countries. Given that all animals would have completed this test before the elders choose which one was to be worshipped.

Nice thought. Not sold.

So you get the picture a bit more #1

So you get the picture a bit more #2

So you get the picture a bit more #3

I have a great imagination.

Chewing Bubblegum and Kicking Ass

I was walking down the main street of Reykjavik the other day nodding my head to ‘What does the fox say?’ when I saw this giraffe on the sidewalk. I thought:

‘What does the giraffe say?’

To which it responded:

‘I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.’

The giraffe understands.

It knows what it's talking about.

It is funny, meeting new people. If you have ever met a huge number of people in a short space of time – you’ll understand. The conversations get very repetitive very fast.

‘What’s your name?’

‘Where are you from?’

‘What are you studying?’

‘Are you here for one semester or two?’

‘Where are you staying?’

‘Why did you chose to come to Iceland?’

And then the conversation lulls and both people smile awkwardly, nod their heads and wander off. If however, by dire chance and fateful cock up, there is nowhere to go at the completion of this ritual, the go to topic becomes your university timetable. These conversations go something like this:

‘Which days do you have off?’

‘Wednesday and Friday.’

‘Oh, how unfortunate. What days do you have off?’

‘Monday’s and Fridays.’

Yes, we stand around comparing the length of our weekends. I think that it is fair to say that, in general, exchange students in Iceland:

‘Have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.’

And go hiking.

The ponies

The sun

The landscape

The hot pools

The steam

The snow

The view

The mountain

That is all.

Bearings

Despite having no clue which direction north is, I am starting to get my bearings here in Reykjavik. In saying that though, the only place that I am 100% confident in finding every single time is the supermarket. I found most of my classes, I can normally find my house, I know which way is out of the city and that’s about it. Admittedly though, finding north is extremely difficult with no sun or compass...

University of Iceland

Hallgrímskirkja

Where the sun should have been

It snowed

Icelandic flag flapping in the hurricane force winds

Street art

Colourful buildings lining the streets

I think it would be fair to say that this week has been an Icelandic cultural experience.

I have been exploring Icelandic film culture. My introduction to Icelandic film was ‘Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre.’ Enough said.

I met a few (slightly intoxicated) Icelanders. They quickly assured us that:

‘Sober Icelanders hate foreigners, but drunk Icelanders love foreigners!’

Punny

After this, ‘What just happened?’ definitely became the mantra of the evening. As it turned out, we happened to be in the company of the Latvian Comedic Duo. As the name might suggest, their humour was incredibly racist…

Racist about blacks. Racist about Kiwis. Racist about Americans. Racist about Brits. And it goes without saying that they were racist about Latvians.

They assured us that in Iceland, despite black music being illegal in Iceland (it’s not – they were yarning), ‘nigger’ was not an offensive term because nobody black lives here. What just happened?

One of the guys even told us that his mother used to carry around a pad and tally the number of black people that she had seen. What just happened?

But that wasn’t funny (according to the other), as both his parents were now dead. What just happened?

Our Icelandic friends gave one of our company a battery claiming ‘If somebody in Iceland gives you a battery, it means “I love you.”’ What just happened?

So, while I am starting to get my bearings in terms of where the supermarket is, my cultural bearings are completely out of kilter. I have been left reeling and have no idea which way is up. There is no such thing as politically correct here. 

What just happened?

Enjoy the sunshine!

Yeah right.

The normal response to my telling people that I will be going to Iceland has generally been:

‘I don’t know anything about Iceland except that Iceland is green and Greenland is icy’

However, my experience has been rather different so far. It is icy. It is cold. It is dark. It is also breathtakingly beautiful but definitely not green. Who knows though – it may simply be because it is the middle of winter.

Arrival 1 

Sorry they're blurry but they were taken out a bus window

Arrival 2

Arrival 3

I have a long list of jobs to do so that my staying here for 4½ months is legal and a whole lot of things to sort out. I leave my flat with the best of intentions about getting all the jobs done. But then I see the ocean. Or the mountains. Or the ocean and the mountains. And I give up on my jobs and just walk along the waterfront to the point where I am tired, and then head home.

Looking down a street to the ocean and the mountains

Sun Voyager

Tjörnin

Lake very near my flat that is completely frozen over

Tjörnin

Evidence that it is completely frozen over

Reykjavik Old Harbour

I don't see much green...

Grótta 

Lighthouse on an island, only detached at high tide.

Icelandic people are very funny. So far, I have ‘chatted’ to only two, one of whom was my landlord.  When she asked how I was finding it, I told her honestly.

‘Cold and dark but extremely beautiful.’

She assured me.

‘Oh, don’t worry; it will be better next month. And in summer, it gets so hot that people can’t sleep at night.’

The hottest temperature ever recorded in Reykjavik was 26.2 ˚C in 2008.

So you can imagine my thought when she told me this. As Kiwi as they come:

‘Yeah right.’

Stay warm!