Entry 4: June 26, 2008

Beautiful Icelandic Sunset

I have seen some of the most amazing sunsets while I have been in Iceland. And the strange thing is that the sun is never really setting it is just dipping down below the horizon for a few hours. Since its descent is so slow, the sunsets are longer and so beautiful. Last night there was a beautiful one that was hot pink and light pink. These sunsets have been some of the most memorable sights from our trip because it is always so light here. Having so many hours of sunlight has been hard to get use to but I am not sure what I am going to do when I get home because it will be so dark at night. My body has adjusted to the light and I think it will be just as difficult to go back to darkness as it was to adjust to the light.

Entry 3: June 17, 2008

Iceland's Independence Day
Today is Icelandic Independence Day! We went to a little town called Fluird. It was such a sweet little town. If it had not been for the Icelandic flags you could have thought you were in any small town in America. There were kids running around in races and our rector Kristenn gave a speech in the local gym and it was great to see him there! The funniest part was watching the children do their soap box derby. Dr. Novak and I were betting on which cars would win and I guessed all three right! It was a lovely day celebrating Iceland's independence in 1944 from Denmark!

Entry 2: June 16 2007
Visit with our Host Families

We just had our first time meeting our Icelandic host families and it was amazing! It was so much fun. Sara Taylor and I went to a farm close to Axel the priest's house and it was so nice to meet a lovely Icelandic family who were dairy farmers. Our family had a large farm near Arnes Iceland with horses, cows, goats and sheep. The family had three daughters but only the oldest one is in Iceland. The daughter who toured us around her farm was named Dora. Dora is 22 and a student in Reykjavík who studies engineering. She is a fantastic woman and we really enjoyed talking to her and getting to know her. She showed us their family dairy farm and then all their animals which was so neat but best of all she showed us her favorite spot on them farm which a lovely valley with a river running through it. It was so wonderful to go back and talk to her family. We got to play with their cat and just chat. Dora's mother is a science teacher at the local school so we talked about the different types of schooling which was very interesting. Over all meeting with our Icelandic host families was one of the best experiences because we got to see some daily life in Iceland.

Entry 1: June 4, 2008

Touring the Church at Skalholt

Today we had the most wonderful tour of the church at Skalholt that was given by our rector Kristin. He is a wonderful wealth of knowledge and told us so many stories of the churches that had stood in the same spot and the bishops who presided over them.The current church that is standing is the 10th one to stand on the same hill top overlooking the same lovely valley where the two rivers converge. This area is called Biskupstungur which means the "fields between river".

The current structure was built in 1956 and is the only church to be made of stone all the others had been made of wood since wood withstand the earthquakes better. In the new church they have different parts given by different nations around Scandinavia. The wood panels in the roof and the stone for the floors were given by Norway and are part of the wonderful acoustics that the Church has. The Danes gave the organ and the Swedes with Finland gave the bells. They have the first bible that was translated into Icelandic in 1584 by one of there bishops. The most memorable part of the church is the mosaic above the altar that was done by a female Icelandic artist. The mosaic has over 30,000 pieces and the colorsrepresent the colors of Icelandic nature. It is such a wonderful opportunity to be staying on the church grounds because it features prominently in Icelandic Sagas which we will be studying. Kristin is such and wealth of knowledge and resource for us and is so wonderful. We also had a fun time on the terrace where we were being blown around by very strong winds! It gets a little gusty in Iceland.