Entry 6: June 19, 2009

Althingi
Another amazing experience that our group was able to have was a visit to the Althingi, Iceland’s parliament. Let me first say that we were the first American group that has ever been allowed to tour the Althingi. This was such an honor.

When we first got to Parliament, we met with our tour guide who gave us a short tour of the building and told us some brief history of the Althingi. After about 30 minutes we went to the observation gallery so that we could watch the few minutes of a meeting of Parliament. We arrived in the gallery before the session started, so our guide was able to explain to us where certain people sat, the significance of having the ministers face the rest of the members, the voting system, and other important facts about the way parliamentary meetings function. This particular session was quite unique because the question and answer session at least was centered on the possibility of Iceland joining the European Union. Even though we could not understand what was being spoken, the number of people present, the body language, and the murmuring or shouts during speeches let us know that this was a controversial issue.

Later in the afternoon, our group was granted the honor of meeting with Lilja, the floor leader of the Left-Green Movement. Although Lilja was very busy, she was able to take about half an hour to speak to us about her political background, her opinions, and the current issues that are facing the Icelandic government. While we were mostly interested in the issue concerning the EU, Lilja spoke about several issues that are of equal or greater importance at the moment to Icelanders, such as IceSave.

Entry 5: June 17, 2009
Reykholt Independence Day Festival

On June 17 we ventured out to the small town of Reykholt to observe and/or take part in their Independence Day festivities. Because Reykholt is a very small community, the celebration was very small too. The afternoon began at 2:00 with a “parade” down the main street up to the school. This parade mostly consisted of many families with young children following three teenage girls on horses who were carrying the Icelandic flag. After the parade, the town went into the gym where there were a few speakers and then a few organized games. The games were similar to what we have at similar celebrations in the United States, but instead of eating a doughnut off of a string, for example, they ate a tomato! The final structured event was a race off all of the box-cars the kids had made. Afterwards, the children played, people got their faces painted (or their heads if they happened to be Dr. Novak), and many families went over to eat ice cream. Although the language, the purpose, and the place were different, this could have been any 4th of July festival in Everytown, USA. It was such a fun way to spend a sunny afternoon, but it definitely made me miss North Carolina a little bit.

Entry 4: June 15, 2009

Home visit
Even though I have had tons of new and exciting opportunities so far in Iceland, one of my favorites happened this past week. I got to have a home visit to a local family! Even better, I was able to go to a dairy farm where the cows milk themselves! Yes, really. This farm uses very advanced technology that is based off of some sort of laser system that cuts out all of the messy, time-consuming and imprecise practice of milking cows. I never would have thought that such a machine would be so needed and so helpful, but I can only imagine how much more work this family would have had if they were not fortunate enough to have this machinery.

While watching this quite entertaining process, I was in a corral with dozens of cows. I don’t think I have ever been quite that close to that many farm animals at one time. Later, our ever-welcoming host gave us a driving tour around his property and told us all of the myths and legends that live on the farm. After seeing how much work this family has each and every day, this extra hour and a half that the husband spent with us was an amazing gift. Although there are many, many things I could say about the actual farm and the wonderful family that lives there, I will sum it up in one statement: there are very few people who deserve as much respect as this family does.

Entry 3: June 11, 2009

Just about everything in Iceland is new and stunning, but some parts of study abroad are just as frustrating as they would be if I were in the United States! I am in the process of planning my Independent Travel Weekend with one of my friends, and let me tell you, it is quite a challenge. Although Iceland is a very small country, it is a very spread out country with lots of geographical limitations. Amelia and I really, really wanted to travel up to the West fjords, stay in Isafjordur, and take trips to see all of the beautiful landscape and natural wonders, but we found out today that none of the buses in the area run on the weekends! So, now we are in the somewhat disappointing process of picking a new place to go that will be just as exciting and interesting to us. We are leaning towards the Westman Islands because transportation is much easier there. I guess this experience is just proof that public transportation is not a problem that is limited to the United States!

Entry 2: June 7, 2009

Iceland is full of new experiences for me! Yesterday the weather was very cold, overcast and windy (at least by North Carolina standards), so it was not an ideal day to take our picnic down by the boiling river. However, it was a perfect day for flying kites! A group of us, including all of the alums that joined us this week, took our Pooh Bear, Viking Ship, Transformer and Iron Man kites out on a grassy hill and threw them into the wind. This was the first time I had ever flown a kite before! Needless to say, it was so much fun! Iceland has the perfect geography and climate for kites, too. There are very few trees due to those early Vikings, limited two-story structures because they blow down in the wind, large amounts of wind, and many fields to run in. Who knew that we could have so much fun with just a few pieces of plastic?
Take a look at Joy Strickland flying a baby kite!

Entry 1: June 1, 2009

Gullfoss and Geysir
Today we travelled to two of the most beautiful sites in Iceland: Gullfoss and Geysir. Gullfoss is an amazing waterfall that plunges into a river that then snakes through a gorge. You can’t see the waterfall from the road or the parking lot, so my anticipation built for quite a while. Once I actually saw the waterfall, I was stunned. The power behind this volume of water is indescribable. I think I must have taken thirty pictures of this place. One of the most interesting parts about Gullfoss is that there are no traditional guard rails or guard ropes to keep people from falling in! Instead, tourists are simply expected to climb up the slippery walks—while going through a small rainstorm from the spray—and balance on the rocks. I can only imagine how nervous people without a sense of balance must feel! Being near such a powerful piece of nature was certainly a humbling experience.

After visiting Gullfoss, we got back in the wonderful Meredith van (yes, Meredith vans even make it to Iceland!) and trekked over to Geysir.

Geysir is a geyser, much like Old Faithful at Yellowstone in the U.S. However, this particular group of geysers contains Geysir, the original geyser in Iceland after which all of the other ones are named. Geysir no longer erupts, but we were able to see another geyser that can erupt to heights of 25 and 35 meters. After waiting for a few minutes, we discovered that this geyser erupts approximately every 5 or 6 minutes. We could tell when it was about to erupt because the water would begin to bubble more and more, emit one final burp, and then erupt. We also noticed that the geyser seemed to give off one small column of water followed by a large column of water. It was kind of interesting to see all of the people gathered around the geyser, trigger fingers ready. Hopefully everybody got the shots that they wanted! We also tried to walk down and see boiling mud pits, but the pits turned into just more small holes of boiling water. While they were still very cool, they were not the legendary, tourist-eating mud pits. Hopefully I will get to see one eventually!