Almost done with Iceland :-(

6/18/13, Tuesday

Class.

6/19/13, Wednesday

Laura and I run to Ingólfsfjall after class and hike up the crazy boulder-y slope. It rains a bit and the top is covered in this really thick cushy moss. Good times.

6/20/13, Thursday

Run in the morning, then have a guest speaker in class from the Bay Area! Really good. We realize we'll have to take all of our stuff out of the rooms and bring it with us to class/the exam tomorrow, and so Thursday night is full of doing laundry and packing, on top of the studying and finishing up last bits of homework. It's a long night and I start eating peanut butter straight out of the jar. Laura is pleased with this development, as I am beginning to become more like her:

(All pictures courtesy of Laura!)

6/17/13, Reykjavik National Party Day

Another slow morning of crepes, but then we make it out of the apartment around noon. Today promises gymnasts and a strong man competition. We aren't really sure where these things are going to occur aside from "by the lake", so we head in that direction and hope for the best. This is when we encounter a parade of all of Iceland's children and their parents. We join the parade and walk past some super cool old cars:

And then a bunch of bouncy castles and a go-cart race:

And then some people on stilts dressed up as recycling:

And this weight lifting competition?:

These girls modeling sweaters on ladders:

And finally, these children inside transparent balls floating around on the lake.. I really want to be a kid in Iceland!:

We also got some tasty chocolate and orange ice cream and ran into Dan!, one of the guys from the hot creek in Hveragerdi. I guess when the country has only 300,000 people, it's not hard to run into the one person you know. :-D

Sunday 6/16/13 in Reykjavik

A slow day. We all sleep in, then make a bunch of crepes. We muster up some strength to go souvenir shopping. We come back to Christian's apartment and watch 2.5 movies. (1) Easy A, (2) Dan in Real Life, and (3) we all fall asleep during 10 Things I Hate About You.

Good day.

Sleeping angels :-P

Get Lucky!

Get Lucky dance tutorial. Study up!

Saturday, 6/15- Trapped in a Closet, Chapter 1

Monday is Iceland's national day, so we decide to go to Reykjavik for the long weekend and experience some nightlife. Christian has been talking up his "giant walk-in closet", and thus far, the plan is for all of us to sleep in this closet. Why? Because he doesn't have curtains, and the sun never sets. :-P

So we grab our comforters and blankets from Fosstun, and head for the bus. Benedikt has said that he'd try to get mattresses from his in-laws, but we aren't sure if he's been successful, so we want to make sure we have something to sleep on. We arrive at Christian's apartment, and find out we will indeed have mattresses. Yay!

We spread them out on the floor, upping the beds-to-other-surfaces ratio by a lot, and watch The Longest Yard. If you haven't watched this movie, I highly recommend it. Adam Sandler assembles a prison football team.

But anyway, during the movie, I begin to feel awful for no apparent reason. I move my mattress into the dark closet and attempt to go to sleep. The situation worsens in an unpleasant fashion, but the others are very sweet and bring me various drinks and foods and generally just take care of me. I proceed to spend the rest of the day and night in the closet and watch The Holiday.

 The others go out, as was the initial plan, and every one of them is wearing something of mine, aside from Christian (which is probably a good thing). Laura- dress and tights, Camille- dress and tights, Loudi- shoes.  At least my clothes get to go out!

I wake up to their return to the room around 5:30am. Reykjavik nightlife: check!

Friday, 6/14 - HORSE DAY!

Went to class as usual, but then got to go horse back riding in the evening! Abi rejoined us after her ring road solo adventure, and we went over to Simon's (researcher at the earthquake center) place to hang out with his dog and his horses.

First of all, we're all kind of in love with the dog. Her name is Skota (or some variation on spelling), and it means "tail." Check her out:

Secondly, the horses were fun. We rode Tígull, which means "diamond." Some highlights..

Baby horse and mom :

Laura and Abi ride together (last four pictures courtesy of Laura):

This horse rolling around:

How Abi's hair matches Tígull's hair:

The horse tongue on the left and Horse Bon Jovi in the middle:

And finally, Simon running alongside his horse:

Monday - Thursday (6/10 - 6/13)

We had class, not much else happened.