I began the series back in May of this year while searching for the perfect series in which to commute to New York City with. It worked out really well at first, but I feel like I’m now dragging along on book seven, just trying to get back to 2010. Because each book was very prolific in terms of length, they took a great deal of time and energy to conquer. I have several books on the horizon that I’m excited to start on including “The Help” and “World War Z”. They are both completely different, but came highly recommended from my best friend and aunt respectively.

So far it’s been a pretty pleasant semester with a lighter course schedule, and more elliptical machine time, making it easier than normal to read for fun during the school year. And I have to say, the Kindle seems to have been designed for reading during cardio machine workouts. It is perfect for staying still, laying flat, and keeping your page. I’m nearly 50% done with “Echo in the Bone” (Kindle owners will understand that joke) so wish me luck! And maybe I’ll even get some more books read this semester. Ayn Rand’s novels have been at the top of my list for a while now so if hope prevails I can start those around graduation time this December.

À tout a l’heure!

 Sòlheimar was a really interesting excursion that began with a scenic route through the Icelandic countryside on a road that followed special pipes as they transport water to Reykjavìk. The fog that hung low in the mountains and hills accentuated the lucious greenery and made for a pleasant ride in the Disney Bus. Upon arrival at Sòlheimar, we were given an introductory powerpoint from Axel, the project manager, and checked out a small exhibition on sustainability. Afterwards we broke for lunch in their main cafeteria which was a beautiful building located on the grounds, and where we met some interns from the US. Our group then walked from workshop to workshop, seeing the residents in action at woodworking, greenhouse growing, candle-making, painting, weaving, and soits founder, soap-making. It was really neat to spend time at such a revolutionary place and learn about Sesselja Hreindìs Sigmundsdottìr who took a followed her path when everyboday said it was futile. By going against the grain of normal societal constructs, she has touched the lived of hundreds of people through opportunities and a welcoming community.

After this visit, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our trip to Perlan. The Pearl is very cool place that houses hot water for the city of Reykjavìk and is shaped like a dome that sits atop a high hill on the outskirts of the city. It´s a really beautiful sight and is home to a restaurant and musuem (typical Icelandic tourist trap, but fun nonetheless). Here, we first walked through the Saga Musuem, which was a bit creepy considering the exhibits were extremely life-like silicon replicas of actual Icelanders acting out important saga scenes. Beyond the creep factor, it was actually really cool and meant a great deal to meet considering I spent an entire semester studying Icelandic sagas.

Lastly, we concluded with a great dinner of traditional Icelandic dishes ranging from artic char (which those of you who know me, know I didn´t eat), chicken liver patè, Icelandic prosciutto and lamb. Not to mention exorbitant amount of bread and truly amazing butter. All in all it was the perfect last night to an amazing trip. I personally had such a great experience over the past two weeks and can´t believe that it´s over already. It went by fast, but we´ve accomplished so much. Big thanks to everyone, especially Helga, who has done so much to make sure we got the most out of our study abroad experience. I will never forget it!

Afterwards, we went to a fabulous all-you-can-eat fish buffet that had some great veggie options for a non-fish eater like myself. A few cups of coffee later, and we were off to the next excursion of the day. We managed to barely catch the bus to deCODE, a genetic laboratory located near the University of Iceland. Upon our arrival we were placed into a conference room and given a low-down of the lab including their history, purpose, and current projects. I was really happy for the group members who are interested in the field, and I could tell by their detailed questions and smiling faces that they were really enjoying the afternoon. We ended with a tour of the facility and got to see a large robot that lives in the gigantic basement freezer where the blood samples are kept. I thought it was really interesting that most Icelanders need only to trace their ancestry back a few generations to find that they are related. deCODE actually created The Book of Icelanders, the database for finding this information out which is free to use for Icelanders.

Once ´classtime´ was over, we trekked back to the hotel. Looking at the schedule it´s hard to believe that we only have two days of excursions left. I´m definitely going to miss Iceland.

This is the site of the world´s first parliament and Iceland´s "law rock"

The river at AlthingGotta love those Icelandic waterfalls

Lots of time in the van today, except the van´s tires were as tall as Kristine so it was a pretty wild ride

The largest waterfall in Europe, Gullfoss

Brian and I at GullfossGullfoss

We off-roaded onto a glacier in this beast

Hiking the second largest glacier in Europe!

Thanks for the boots Dad, they really came in handy!

What kind of Buffs would we be if we didn´t get naked on a glacier?

Of course we had to visit some hot springs

Heating up!

Great mini-hike up the hill to see the geysirsIt looks so much like Middle Earth here

This is the home of the original 'Geysir' but this little guy is the baby geysir next to it that goes off every ten minutes

We finished up the day at the gigantic volcanic crater, Kerið

 I´m stoked for another great day tomorrow, whaling whale watching in the morning (maybe we´ll see some puffins too!) and deCode genetics lab in the afternoon…

The gallery was really neat and housed a great deal of artwork from mainly Icelandic artists. The main exhibits started with paintings from the mid-nineteenth century and spanned all the way to present day. This is due to the fact that Iceland as a country wasn´t able to support artists until that time; it´s pretty tough to be one during hard economic times. There was also a modern art section, and I have to say, modern Nordic art is really strange. I´ll keep trying to figure it out though, I´m sure there´s some good themes behind them. Two other exhibits were also housed in the gallery, one being prints from Edvard Munch and the other being still shots of imaginary movies in the 60´s from American artist Cindy Sherman. Unfortunately we didn´t  venture into them because it wasn´t in our budget, but we did spend a lot of time in the gift shop! (Irony much?)

After the museum we went to the famous hot dog stand near the docks and enjoyed some authentic Icelandic cuisine. Oh and by the way, the hot dogs here are actually made from lamb meat. Helga called them sheep dogs instead (haha). They were really great – a perfect segway into the flea market, and made me feel like I was back in Giants Stadium on a Saturday morning. The only difference was that this flea market, called Kolapoirtið, was indoors and didn´t specialize in white watches or fake designer jewelry. I got some great Icelandic wool products (none for me, instead for a lucky reader, it could be you!) and a neat volcanic necklace.

Afterward, Austin and I headed back to the hotel along Laugavegur and I bought even more stuff. My souvenir shopping is now complete! The rest of the afternoon was spent in a lazy way with a viewing of the latest episode of ‘Jersey Shore’, snacks, and blogging. Sorry for the lack of pictures from today, stay tuned tomorrow when we head out of the city to a national park for hiking, glacier walks, waterfalls, the famous Icelandic law rock and much more…

Last night was pretty wild, because it´s Iceland and things get pretty crazy on Friday and Saturday nights. When we got back from the long day yesterday, most of us crashed for a quick nap. Four hours later, it was after midnight so I jumped in the shower and we slowly headed downtown. Apparently this was fine because the nightlife begins around 1 am. It´s still incredible to me that there´s only a couple of hours of darkness at this time, and that people don´t go out until after midnight. However, this is compensated for by staying out until 7am. I called it quits at 5am, but people were still all over the streets as the sun was coming back up. It was strange to see such party mode in the daytime, but it was a very cool experience overall.

We got back in the wee hours of the morning and fell asleep once again. I got in a healthy 8 hours, and now I´m headed out to enjoy some coffee shops, shopping, and the downtown area in the daytime–a wonderful day off. Some of my classmates decided to head out into the countryside for volcano cave climbing while others chose a more relaxing route for their day off, heading back to the Blue Lagoon for in-water massages (aka Brian, Austin, and Justin).

Tomorrow we´re back in the action with a museum in the afternoon and an Icelandic flea market afterwards! My favorite place to go on the weekends. Just wish Katie and Alyssa could join me!

Next up we went to the place where the natural, organic byproduct (aka ´waste´) of the CHP is collected–The Blue Lagoon. Yes, that´s right, the Blue Lagoon is actually the place that gathers the mineral water emitted from the power plant next door. Both places are actually part of the Svartsengi Resource Park. The lagoon itself is a special type of water containing silica, minerals and algae that combine to fight evil and bring prosperity to planet Earth. Aside from that, it´s actually super healing, strenghtening, and perfectly green. One of the lagoon´s specialties is actually treatment of Psoriasis, considered one of the most effective in the world. We spent a glorious three hours soaking in the ice blue lagoon, messing around, doing several rounds of silica face masks, sneaking into the executive lounge, relaxing in a steam hobbit hole, and generally soaking up the amazing water. While my hair is STILL pretty gross despite several conditioner´s best efforts, it was totally worth it.

Afterwards, we headed out to the World of Vikings Museum, but made two stops on the way. The first was to a beautiful lighthouse on the coast where we hiked around and took a ton of pictures. The second stop was to the mid-atlantic ridge! Iceland is the only place in the world where it comes above water so naturally there´s a little tourist trap where one can boast they are in two places at once-stradding the American tectonic plate and Eur-asian tectonic plate simulataneously.

After these detours, we finally made our way to the World of Vikings Museum which was a good refresher for everything I learned about this past semester in Helga´s classes (I had three of them). We saw an exact replica of a life-size viking ship that was actually sailed from Iceland to New York in 2000 to celebrate the 1000 year anniversary of Leif Erikson´s exploration of North America. The journey took over one hundred days, and I honestly can´t imagine what that must have been like on this ship. Close quarters if you know what I mean.

Our last stop of the day was to Viking Village and the the Fjörukráin restaurant for some authentic viking cuisine. While I was not overly ravenous at the meal, some of my classmates enjoyed it so much that they had a lamb leg eating contest. Two others were chosen to be viking warriors themselves and had to pledge allegiance to the singing viking king who had a pretty good voice.

With the long day over, I think it´s time for a nap.

Today, to put it succintly, was awesome. We made our way to the Forlagið Publishing House, the largest of its kind in Iceland. While it was an early morning (we were up at 8:00 am-ouch haha) it was well worth the journey across town. Despite its national prominence, the headquarters is actually an adorable little office that churns out Icelandic novels, map books, children´s books, and translations of popular foreign novels into Icelandic. Overall it was very fascinating to learn about the Icelandic publishing industy and how Forlagið functions within the greater context of the most literate country in the world.

Personally, I enjoyed the advertising aspect the most. Being carted around by the marketing manager was a total treat, and I´m certainly going to keep marketing jobs in the publishing industry in mind when I enter the real world in a few short months!

Here´s the front door of the Forlagið Publishing House

Brian and Sean ‘reading´  

The ´Chairman´, Ranðver

Afterward we walked back to the hotel via Laugavegur and grabbed some sweet treats along the way. It´s a bit colder and rainier today, so here I am blogging and doing some laundry with Justin. Tonight we´re going to catch some live folk music downtown, woo!

Tomorrow we´re headed to the Blue Lagoon, The World of Vikings Museum, and a Viking Festival. Alyss, wish you could be there with us! Hopefully I´ll have some better pictures then…

The group started with breakfast at the hotel where delicious coffee was imbibed and crispy toast was enjoyed. Helga came at promptly 10:30 am to bring us over to the University of Iceland where we were to meet Dr. Baldur Þòrhallsson for a lecture on the Icelandic economy and politics. It was an extremely interesting “class” in which we discussed the history of Iceland as a small state and its relationships with the surrounding nations in Europe. We also talked about the current status of Iceland´s pending membership in the EU. A hot button issue in regards to the agriculture and commercial fishing industries, many Icelanders believe that independence from the Union would be more beneficial in the short run. However, this attitude frequently fluctuates as shown in the sentiment of ten years ago when Icelanders were actually pro-EU. Overall, the hour and a half discussion was very thought-provoking and illustrated Dr. Þòrhallsson´s thesis of the necessity of larger states helping small states.

Afterwards, we had a lovely lunch at DILL which is located near the University. The restaurant serves only ingredients from Iceland and specializes in Icelandic cuisine. However, we were served pumpkin soup and while it was extremely delectable, Helga informed us that pumpkins aren´t actually indigenous to Iceland. Regardless, here´s a picture of the apple vinegar -infused butter atop a volcanic rock:

On the way out we passed an Icelandic Fun Zone (as Brian Schroy called it), geared towards young Icelandic children. Naturally the group spent a half an hour playing here. Here´s some shots of CU´s finest frolicking in fun:

Next, we went to The National Museum of Iceland to get an in-depth view of the overall history of Iceland. The artifacts and exhibits there were absolutely amazing and I couldn´t believe some of the things I saw. So far, it tops my personal list of favorite excursions to date. Here´s some pictures from the museum:

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel where the group split into swimmers and non-swimmers. We´ll probably have a relaxing evening tonight and we´re scheduled to go to an Icelandic publishing house tomorrow, stay tuned!