Iceland

Wednesday I landed on a very windy Keflavik airport (Did you know they pronounce it Keplavik?). Hulda picked me up in her adorable white, little VW Polo, and we drove the 45 minutes to her place in Seltjarnarnes (20 min. from Reykjavik city). And what a place. Her house was big, spacious, original, and homey, and her family were some of the nicest people I've met, going out of their way to make me feel welcome. We went on the typical touristic round, the "golden circle", on Thursday. We saw þingvellir, Geysir, Gullfoss and Kerið. Lucky that these places are pretty high up, and that Thursday was the most windy day this year, haha. But it was all breathtakingly beautiful. Waterfalls and mountains, horses and sheep, old volcanoes and lava rocks. Beautiful. We ended the day going out for a few drinks with one of her friends, and had a blast.

þingvellir

Gullfoss
Geysir


On Friday we went to the local pool. This is very interesting. Icelandic people go swimming in outdoor pools, all year around. The water is heated, from about 35 to 40°c, and sun, rain or snow, you can relax and hang out in the shallow pools outside. So relaxing, and I have no idea why we haven't thought about that here in Norway. The rest of the day we went shopping in the two big malls close to the city. I got to spend some thousand Icelandic kroner, before we finished the evening with a restaurant dinner and relaxing with a couple of movies. We saw 7 pounds with Will Smith. I liked it.

Saturday was the big Reykjavik city sightseeing and shopping day. We started with the big flea market down by the harbour. It was gigantic, and I was extatic to find a pair of barely used adorable shoes, and got a real bargain. The flea market is open every weekend, and I strongly recommend stopping by, you can find just about anything for a good price, some really old stuff, and some not so old stuff. In the city we walked the main street, where it seemed every other store was second hand and vintage. I found a beaauuutiful dress in one of them. In Naked Ape boutique you can find cool Icelandic design. They also have a bunch of souvenir shops, with trolls and vikings, just like ours. But I bought a cool T-shirt that says: Ég tala ekki íslensku. (I don't speak Icelandic). After 5 days I'm even more convinced that Icelandic is the coolest language ever. Too bad foreigners don't have a shot in hell of ever speaking it perfectly. That night we saw the eurovision finals (Yeah!!!! WOooohOOHooo!! and all of that..), and then we went to a house party before hitting the town. Eurovision is a reaaaally big deal in iceland, so if you take saturday night + 2. place in Eurovision + the first warm, sunny weekend of the year, it adds up to an incredibly crowded Reykjavik city. The bars don't close before 5-6am, and at 5am the street was full of people singing and yelling in the morning sunlight.

Afters a few hours of sleep, we drove the half hour to the Blue Lagoon. In fine weather that's a really good place to be hungover. So relaxing. So beautiful. But expensive though, you don't go there everyday. But we chose a good day, the weather was amazing, and we even got a tan. After that we had a good dinner, Huldas mom is a great cook. And then, just like that, my long weekend in Iceland were coming to an end, and I had to start packing. And here I am, on my couch back in Norway, missing it all. So a big thanks to Hulda and her family, I had a great time! :)

Me and Hulda at the Blue Lagoon


PS: More photos on facebook for those who're interested.

First impressions

Ok. I've been in Iceland about one hour, and so far this is what I've gathered:
Iceland has a lot of old lava.
Iceland is windy.
Icelandic is the coolest language in the world.
Hulda is great, her family is great, and their house is beautiful.

Packing

Am I the only person convinced that suitcases actually defy every known law of physics, and are in fact able to shrink as soon as you put stuff into them?

Oh, hello springtime! Long time no see, come on in! Sit down, take a load off, stay a while, would you like a cup of tea?

Spring. Primavera. Frühling. Printemps. Vår.
/sprɪŋ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation noun: the season of the year following winter and characterized by the budding of trees, growth of plants, the onset of warmer weather, etc.
One of the few words that sound just as beautiful in every language.

The entire northern hemisphere is waking up, and so am I. I was out running this morning, after work. Usually after work I have problems staying awake while driving home, but today I had so much energy, I ran for a whole hour, and even after that I felt I had more to give. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and I was smiling. It is absolutely remarkable what a bit of sunlight and a few extra degrees in the air can do to you.

I have some rituals when the seasons change: The first day of the year fit for a barbeque, I clean out my warderobe, putting all of my winter clothes and jackets and shoes waaaay in the back, and all the shorts, t-shirts, skirts and dresses are put in the front. I make a new playlist on iTunes and my iPod with light, relaxing, music that puts me in the right "waiting for summer" mood. I make a list of what books I'm going to read over the summer, and then go online and order the ones I don't have. This summer I'm only gonna read light, entertaining stuff, in fear of having to read only heavy, classic English literature the next 5 years.

You see, I've just sent my applications for university. A masters study in English, with teaching and a second language (Spanish). If I get in, and I'm being positive, thinking I will, I'll be moving a 5 hour trainride away come autumn. A trainride I'll be doing this coming week to visit my friend who already lives there. The city's beautiful at spring time, people are smiling, the guys are wearing T-shirts, and the beer tastes better.

And in a few weeks time, as the spring unfolds in full bloom, I head off to Iceland. I have been promised to see geysirs. Geysirs! And the blue lagoon! I'm absolutely extatic about going, and I'm going to stay with the fabulous Hulda and her family. So nice of them to let me stay. I miss Hulda. We're gonna cry about missing Barcelona together, and make plans for next summer.

Pictures and detailed information on Linn's upcoming travels will be blogged about. Have no doubt about it.

I've previously blogged about my affection for quotes and how they often portray my feelings much better than I can do with my own words (http://linnterpretation.blogspot.com/2009/02/and-i-quote_19.html), and wouldn't you know! Some genious has poetically described spring
as well:

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush"
- Doug Larson