P.S.        The flight back has been ever more a continuation of the blessings of the past week.  On the flight out of Keflavik, the guy sitting across the aisle from me and up a row mentioned something to the stewardess about Chattanooga.  I talked to him a bit and found out he is moving to Chatty to get his Masters in Physical Therapy at UTC.  Once in JFK I managed to avoid the long layover in JFK and Atlanta.  I asked the ticket desk if I could get on any other flights heading directly to the vicinity of Louisville (I was hoping for Cincinnati or Nashville).  When talking to the desk, I heard the intercom mention a delay in boarding for the next outbound flight to Louisville.

                “Is Louisville your final location?”

                “Yessir.”

                “Okay- why don’t I put you on the direct flight?”  Arriving in Louisville 18 hours early is infinitely nice.

                And there’s even icing for the cake.  After going through customs at JFK, I was trying to find out where I needed to go to go again through security.  I was moving one way, when two gentlemen in red shirts holding large instruments were hurrying by in the other direction.  The shorter man looked familiar.  I decided impulse may be the best option at this point- before they disappeared.

                “Steven Sharp Nelson?”

                The man stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, a little confused.  I’m sure my jaw dropped a little bit.  I walked over, introduced myself, let him know that I really enjoyed his music, I love the videos, and that I even listen to his Christmas album in the summer.  He introduced the other gentleman traveling with him- also a cellist- but I was not familiar with him, and have since forgotten his name (sorry);  he must be one of his accompanying cellists that I will look up once I get a chance.  I asked if I could get a picture.

                “Is that a ukulele?” he asked as I set my backpack down to pull out my camera.

                “Yup.”  But what else do I say?  I don’t play very well…

                An attendant hurried by, there to take their oversized luggage.  So the cellists took care of their business that I had accosted them from…  and after the interruption, we took a picture- and they needed to go their way.  Unfortunately, they were taking flights out of the set of gates on the other side of the airport.  I told him thank you for his time- and the picture- and apologized for accosting him.  He apologized for having to run- I fear they were running a little late for their flight.  I would have talked to him about where he had just performed and where he was heading next!

                And if you need any proof, look up the Piano Guys on YouTube and check out any of the videos that he and Jon Schmidt have done together.  Great style and imagination.

This post comes from the skies over Maine...  yay for in-flight WiFi!

Day 19 – 2012/August/16

                The weather report had promised a beautiful day for today.  They were actually right.  So the question to be answered was: do we sit inside at a computer and type up field trip logs and case study reports…  or go explore some more?

                Roro allowed us to borrow the car once more- so Mircea and I took off to see the Golden Circle – Þingvellir (thing-vet-leer), Geysir (gay-zur), and Gullfoss (gult-fuss).

                Let me first mention that a couple weeks ago, Mircea was bent on saving money and carpooling back to Reykjavik from Landmannalauger.  I told him I was game ONLY if we had time still to catch a bus.  With our 30 minutes to spare in Landmannalauger, I told Mircea I was getting on that bus to get back to Reykjavik- since the class was the most important thing about the trip to me.  He decided that it would be okay…  but he really wanted to hitchhike.

                I drove while Mircea was transferring pictured from his camera to his laptop;  he helped me navigate through the streets of Reykjavik, and helping me with general European-style driving for roundabouts EVERYWHERE.  We were at the outskirts of town, where at an underpass, there was a couple with a sign on the road, thumbs extended.  Mircea: “Let’s pick up those hitchhikers.”  We were traveling light and I was feeling charitable…  and a guy-girl pair didn’t seem so threatening.

                Phillipe and Serena – traveling to Iceland from Milan, Italy- joined us for the trip up to Þingvellir.  They had a bus-passport that would have gotten them to the destination, but they had just missed the bus.  They had waited only 10 minutes before we came by- and we had a very nice conversation the entire way (~45 minute drive).  I had never picked up hitchhikers before…  and I may never again.  But it was neat getting to meet some completely new people.

                In Þingvellir, we checked out some of the Viking history of the area…  but geographically were entertained by being nowhere.  On what continent did we stand?  None!  We were standing BETWEEN North America and Eurasia!

                Geysir was as expected…  some steaming pools here and there;  Geysir itself being shy.  It did not decide to come out while we were there.  But Strokkur was the extrovert of the group, erupting every 4-6 minutes or so.  It was fun standing so close (30 feet away) to this 5 foott diameter hole with a pool of water around it.  The center of the hole bubbled a bit here and there, and the water level in the pool fluctuated randomly, teasing everybody into thinking it was about to blow.  And then, the water level would rise precariously, an ominous blue orb would grow out of the hole until the surface broke into an eruption of water spray some 20 feet into the air.  I was able to record several videos of it erupting at least.

                Gullfoss was beautiful.  I don’t know that there is ever any way to actually write about a waterfall.  Like writing about a person, there’s a distinct difference between reading about a person and meeting them.  You will never hear me talk about somebody as being the “best person you’ll ever meet”; and you’ll never hear me say of a waterfall that it was the “best/most beautiful/most majestic/etc waterfall you’ll ever see.”  I’ve not met a waterfall that I didn’t enjoy…  but Gullfoss was unique in its three platforms, large volume, 90 degree turns, and seems to fall into a crack that could just as well fall to the center of the earth.

                Mircea asked if someone survive falling down it.   The cold and churn of the water would be the worst part.  But it looks like it would be possible in a kayak, though dicey at best.  In fact, at most of the waterfalls and riffles I saw in all the water in Iceland, I always imagined Bob kayaking down it, for some reason.

                As we walked to the car at Gullfoss, I saw a guy walking towards us…  and he looked familiar, but I was having trouble placing the face.  And then it hit me- “Hey Marcus!”  Where Simolina and Marcus had gone to see some friends for the afternoon, they decided to stop by Gullfoss on their way back to town.  Quite a small world…

                Now, Mircea and I had been invited over for a small get together with the other students that were only enrolled in the Summer class- a smallish going away party.  We were to meet at Sam’s studio where Morgan was cooking.  It was supposed to start at 7:00 – and we were all asked to bring drinks or desserts.  We were a ways away from Reykjavik, and Mircea kept vying to stop by a pool.

                “But we’d be late Mircea – we’re already going to be late as it is.”

                “It will be okay – they won’t be finished cooking by then, anyways.  Let’s just get there at 8:00, so the food will be ready when we get there- I don’t want to sit around and help prepare dinner.”

                Isn’t that the best part- getting to prepare the meal?!

                No pool, but we arrived around 7:30 where Morgan was in the midst of cooking up an Indian-inspired dish.  A bit of curry with potatoes and chickpeas that resembled more of a rogan josh, without the lamb.  It was delicious.  A couple weeks ago Roro had asked if I wanted some waffle mix that one of the guests had brought.  It was still sitting on the counter, so I asked if we could take it for the party.  “Sure,” she said, “and do you want some blueberry jam to take with you?”  I had intended on stopping by the grocery on the way…  but if she was offering, why not?  “A friend of mine made this jam for me, and I tried it, but it was too sweet for me.  You can have all of it if you want.”  Yum!  And so I cooked some waffle/pancakes (waffle batter in a flat skillet) for dessert.  Esteban had brought a cheesecake, but we were all too stuffed to start into it.  I hope the others enjoy it soon!

                The others went out afterwards, to go downtown;  I was tired and wanted to get some more work done on my school work.  I escorted Marina home, and then finished writing for the night.

Day 20 – 2012/August/17

                It was another beautiful day…  but I HAD to finish writing the trip log, seeing as how it was due at midnight.  And our group needed to meet to discuss the case study.  I spent the morning packing, to move into the TV room, for Roro had a few more guests that were arriving that evening.  From packing, organizing, writing, and returning my bike to the rental, it would be a busy day.

                At 14:00, the current REYST students were presenting their progress on their theses for all of the incoming REYST students to see the work that was being done.  The first student, Baldur, struck a chord with me.  His thesis was on the prospects of offshore geothermal utilization.  I was sitting in the back of the room and was growing very antsy- Mircea pointed out to me, “Isn’t that what you said you wanted to do?”  A comforting piece of Baldur’s presentation was his statement that he had been able to find very little information about the idea in the research he had done.  During the Q&A, I asked Baldur if I could talk with him after class.  Another student, Derek, is completing his thesis on offshore geothermal source exploration techniques.  It has been awhile since I have felt so excited!  So my lack of finding research in this area has not been for a lack of trying; my attempt at finding a University doing something remotely similar had been completely fruitless.  And now, a shot from the hip to learn something about geothermal energy to try and place some more feasibility figures on the concepts swimming around my mind seems to have hit the bull’s-eye.

                It appears my course has been set.

                While continuing work on the papers after the presentations- and making the trip to return my bike- Marina invited a few of us with her to a going-away party for her friend Anna- who is moving to Switzerland.  She thought it might be a good opportunity to all get together again.  Only Sam and I took her up on the offer- and we rode down in a car with one of the people that Marina was staying with to the peninsula across the bay from Reykjavik.  We drove right past the President’s House, the effective White House of Iceland…  except there were no fences and the driveway off the roundabout went straight to the President’s doorstep.

                This side of town was more suburban in general, with larger homes and yards.  We went into the house where we were received very warmly.  There were only 8 others there before we arrived, though more and more people came in as time went on.  One of the common threads between Marina and Anna was their Slavic culture; they had met in Berlin at some point relatively recently.  The primary language of the party was Russian, and it was musical – as Sam also noted- to listen to all of the words flurrying about.  As more people came, separate conversations began bringing a suite of Russian, English, and Icelandic together into an unusual symphony.  There would up being several Marinas there…   Nikki, Dion, Nelson, Misha…  Latvia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Slovakia, Guinea Bissau, Germany, Iceland, Australia, and the US were all represented.

                It was nice how in spite of the party breaking into separate conversations, someone would try to bring the focus back to Anna- since we were all commemorating her departure.  Somebody pulled out a video camera early on and dictated that we would all go around the table, one by one, and introduce ourselves, tell where we were from, and tell briefly how we were connected to Anna.

                “I’m Keith;  I’m from the States- Kentucky;  and I remember meeting Anna like it was only 10 minutes ago.  No, really.  Well, I know her through Marina, at any rate.”

                Soon afterwards, someone asked Anna to tell us all about her travel plans to Switzerland, and some of the quirks of travel that she had come upon through moving to another country.  She was sitting at the other end of the table from me – in fact, I tried to sit back a little bit to allow the others to be closer to the table, finger foods, and party in general.  As Anna launched into her tale, she made eye contact with a few people, and stopped at me.  She continued telling the story to me.  After a minute or so, without really breaking eye contact, Marina – behind me – broke in, “Are you telling the story only to him!?”  Some laughter, and Anna re-commenced, again sweeping the room slightly, but for some reason telling the story, seemingly, to me only.  As others asked questions, the conversations became more natural and inclusive.  We left around 11:00.

                I walked downtown with Sam and Marina.  Morgan came out and joined us and we walked downtown to chat and people watch.  There are many flavors of people in Reykjavik, for sure.  Having not had a substantial dinner, there were quite a few vendors set up selling food from trailers around the downtown area.  One of these was a hot dog stand that is touted to be the most visited and most famous restaurant in all of Iceland.  I must say that they were quick to prepare the food and quite tasty.  Not having a bike, I opted to leave the others.  Marina opted to follow suit- so I walked her home again and then walked back to Roro’s.  Then I realized how nice it was to have a bike.  I would have been back to Roro’s around 1:30 AM had I some wheels.  Instead, I finally walked in the door around 3:15 this morning.  Thankfully my things were already packed… and Mircea was still awake.  We chatted a moment before I went to sleep, knowing it would be difficult to wake up at 7:30.

                Good-byes always stink.

Day 21 – 2012/August/18

                This morning I showered and had breakfast.  I was joined by a couple from the UK that arrived yesterday- and now occupy what was “my room” for 3 weeks.  I charged the mp3 player, finished transferring some pictures between Mircea and myself, and off to the bus terminal we went.  Roro drove and Mircea rode along to give a final good-bye.  I got on the bus marveling at how comfortable I had become staying there.  Marina and I spoke last night about our families, comparing our life experiences against our different cultures.  I told her how neat my experience had been- where Mom and Dad both warned me when leaving: “There will be nobody there that will be looking out for you.”  And that was such a true statement upon my arrival.

                In arriving initially to the KEF airport, I felt very alone.  The words on the signs were unfamiliar, the words spoken around me didn’t make sense, and the only thing that I could do is try to be where I said I would be and try to make friends.  Upon boarding the bus to go into Reykjavik, I just tried to look after my surroundings and make sense of everything that I possibly could.  I felt very frustrated- and wholly felt Mom and Dad’s warning when I was standing at the pay phone, swiping my credit card, unable to get it to work.  “What now?” I thought briefly…  quickly realizing that any sort of self-pity would be counterproductive to the goal.

                A little preparation goes a long way.  I am thankful that I had written on a sheet of paper both Roro’s address and Roro’s phone number, for I did not have internet access in the bus terminal – or at the airport.  At the “Lost Luggage” counter, I could produce the address my bag needed to be sent to.  And at the bus terminal, I had only one number to call.  My well-being in a foreign land hung on a thread of 7-digits hastily copied to a sheet of engineering paper from the night before.

                I am fortunate for every part of the trip- for Roro was a fantastic host;  in fact, I must echo the words of a prior tenant of hers that she told us about- he wrote of his experience that he was not treated as being in a guest house so much as he was treated simply as a guest.  So true!  And so Roro would be my first Icelandic friend!  And to have by happenstance been connected with Mircea for the entire trip turned out to be one of the biggest blessings of the trip, each of us playing off of each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  And the class group itself was very accepting and turned out to be a group of, simply put, good people.

                I have long since left the airspace of Iceland.  It was sad to watch the land disappear from below, disappearing into the same fog that hid many features of the land while I was allowed to roam about.  But I do feel accomplished.  I feel like I learned from the trip exactly what I wanted- and much more.  I hope that I was able to share my own experience in knowledge in such a way that it benefits everybody else that was in the class- both those that are likewise returning to a life on some other soil and to those that remain to study for the next 18 months.  I have conquered what I came to conquer; and found what I came to find.

                Now it is time for planning and infrastructure development; and the return to Louisville-life which is abundant in its own form of adventure.  It appears that my thinking cap may have grown horns – Viking horns- over the past few weeks.

                Thank you everybody for the prayers, well-wishes, and thoughtfulness.  It is a great feeling to have a network of family and friends that extends over oceans (and beyond).  Love knows no bounds, and I have surely experienced exactly that from everybody that I know while I’ve been away.

                Bless bless!

Day 18 – 2012/August/15

                Hardly an exciting day…  rain in the morning, with a lecture about different ways that geothermal energy is being used here in Iceland- and a challenge to find other ways to use it.  Then we toured the headquarters and plant of Carbon Recycling International.  The plant electrolyzes water for H₂ and combines it with waste CO₂ from the Svartsengi geothermal plant (on the Reykjanes peninsula) to generate methanol (CH₃OH).  During the discussions and talks, it was the first I had ever heard anyone mention of the future being a “methanol economy.”

                Next we went to the R&D center for the Blue Lagoon.  We did not get to go swim;  but we saw their labs and saw the projects they were working involving the silica from the Svartsengi plant wastewater (which is what gives the Blue Lagoon its color- and makes it a tourist attraction), and how they extract it and are making cosmetic products (they say that the silica is good for the skin).   I never imagined myself touring the R&D department of a cosmetic manufacturer…  On the bright side, they did receive licensure recently to make food-grade salt from the water, which is more down my alley.

                All evening was report-writing time, documenting more details from the individual field trips for turning in (I had contemplated simply sending ágúst [ow-goost] a link to the blog…  but I don’t know that it would completely fulfill the requirements).  I did the typing at the University (to minimize distractions), and wound up leaving ~1:30 in the morning, mostly finished.  The bike trails were quite dark and I was marveling over how the darkness of “night” has changed so drastically over the past couple weeks.  And then I looked up.

                There was a bright curtain of green light simply snaking through the middle of the sky overhead, weaving between the few clouds that sat above.  There was a light fog that was setting in there on the shore of the bay where I was riding that fortunately did not obscure the sky as yet.  The Aurora simply mosied across the sky like a cosmic snake biding its time.  I pulled out my camera in the hopes of capturing the event, but unfortunately it did not pick any of it up (possibly due to the excess of light from a nearby light pole.  It flowed for only a minute longer after I began watching, and the tail of the curtain receded behind the horizon, continuing its journey across the universe.

                Yes, I think the trip here is about complete…  though tomorrow’s trip around the Golden Circle will be nice- and provide for much more video and pictures…  as well as dinner at Sam’s with some of the REYST students to celebrate the leaving of those of us enrolled in the 3-week course.

                And I need to finish writing my report at some point…

Day 16 – 2012/August/13

                It was another slow, rejuvenating day.  

                Breakfast was shared with 2 couple from Lithuania – a guy, his wife, and his parents.  It was fun listening to them talk and laugh with each other in their native tongue, and then swap over to English and talk together for a bit.  I think I have heard more languages spoken over the last couple weeks than I have ever heard before.

Class was a lecture in the morning with a trip to the Reykjavik Water Works in the afternoon.  I gave a little recap on the engineering concepts of heat transfer we had discussed in class to some of the other students.  Mircea and I had planned on cooking dinner – one of Roro’s guests brought her some pasta;  but Roro does not particularly like pasta.  I stopped by the grocery on the way home and bought some bacon (per Mircea’s request) and tomato sauce.

And of course, a spaghetti that is made with bacon is a little hard to despise.  Mircea loved it.  I enjoyed it.  And Roro even liked it as well.

Overall, it was a good way to spend a rainy day in Reykjavik.

Day 17 – 2012/August/14

                The day started off rainy (typical Icelandic weather), which moved Mircea from his adamant stance of taking my climbing rope bouldering today next to the University.  I was pleased since I was not in the mood for climbing today.  Instead, Mircea was bent on going whale-watching.  I gave in to the idea.

                Class was short and I spent some time discussing engineering with Mircea afterwards.  I went for a short time to another session of Icelandic lessons before leaving early and going to the harbor with Mircea.  Mircea had planned on going whale-watching with his friend Emilia (from Romania and moved to Iceland some time ago); but the weather had been bad when they had planned to go before.  Now she was away on vacation herself, but had given Mircea two coupons- one for a free whale-watching tour, the other for a free puffin-watching tour.  Somehow, Mircea had gotten it into his mind that the ticket was good for 2 people.

                I called to make the reservation and Mircea handled the negotiations at the reception kiosk.  “Isn’t this good for two people?”

                “No.”

                “Well, I have this other free ticket for puffin-watching;  could we use it and then split the difference.”

                “Well, the last day for puffin-watching is tomorrow; and it costs less.”

                “Yes- can we split the difference?” Mircea retorted most bluntly.

                “No;  why don’t I just give you 2 tickets for the whale-watching tour?”  8000 ISK saved…

                The weather had turned out to be absolutely gorgeous.  The sun was beginning to hang low in the sky as we set out to sea, leaving some magnificent colors and sun rays pouring out from behind the moderate cloud cover.  We saw several Minke whales (and smelled them, too, where the rhyme “stinky minke” was repeated by our lady tour guide;  which has even more a peculiar ring when spoken with an Icelandic accent) and had a pleasant trip overall.  I went to the lower deck for some hot chocolate (complementary) since the breeze was getting a little chilly.  A girl that was taking pictures on the top deck was now sitting at a table;  she and I had exchanged a few words while scanning the horizon for surfacing whales.  I sat at the table and struck up a conversation.

                Kirstin is from Austria, stopping over in Iceland for several days on her way back from Boulder, Colorado.  She had been attending a summer school course in Boulder, also in Renewable Energy technologies, though it was focused on PV cells.  She is a chemist in Austria working with similar technologies.

                We followed up the tour with a quick bite from a street vendor making the Icelandic version of Philly Cheesesteaks (with a variety of meats and vegetables on the menu); and decided an hour in the nearby swimming pool would be well spent.  And thus we relaxed and lounged in a hot tub with a bunch of Icelandic words for an hour.  Mircea went for a few laps in the pool, and I continued watching over the pool area, listening the kids in the pool screaming at each other perfectly understandable to me, though unintelligible…  though I could imagine some of the meaning:  “Not fair!  Not fair!”

                The Lithuanians left this morning- they were taking a trip around the Ring Road to see the rest of Iceland (they decided their 1.5 days in Reykjavik had been enough to see all they wanted to see).  Tonight (and just a few minutes ago), Siminola and Marcus arrived to Roro’s from Germany.  We have been chatting on and off as I’ve been typing.

                The guest house has been the most pleasant way of traveling, for sure.

Day 12 – 2012/August/09 - Thursday

                Already I have had a vacation within a vacation.  And now I get to go on a trip within a trip!  We are taking a day to travel up the Thorsa river to tour the only power-producing river in Iceland (which provides ~75% of the country’s electricity).  The first dam we stopped in, we toured the entire facility, even the room between the generator and turbine where it would have been possible (albeit imprudent) to touch the rotation shaft…  which reminds me, I need to go back and find out how many poles the generator had to know the speed of the shaft…

                The dam was just as well geared towards tourism of the normal sort as well, with a whole hands-on menagerie to present a concept of power usage and dam production.  They even had a game.  The game consisted of a plaster landscape, out of the wall which gushed a river.  There were 3 “dams” of 3 blocks located at different levels in the plaster, establishing the location of 3 reservoirs.  In the second reservoir was an inlet to a pipe that ran down to a power station at the bottom labeled A.  In the third (bottom) reservoir ran a similar inlet and pipe to a power station labeled B.  On a control box at the bottom were 2 knobs (labeled A and B) where the power production of the 2 stations could be metered.

                At the start of the game, water ran freely as you were told to fill the reservoirs.  Once you began producing 60 MW of power (ie, turning the 2 knobs such that 60 MWe production was achieved), the game began.  A graph was displayed on the large monitor above the plaster landscape.  A blue curve displayed flow rate from the river- the rate at which water would be given to you.  A dotted line showed you what the power demand would be for a given time, and a dark line was drawn in real-time showing how much power you were “producing.”  The x-axis was in time, divided by months, describing a full years’ cycle.  The goal of the game was to not overproduce or overproduce power, and you were scored in the end accordingly.  It was fun to see other visitors and the other students alike getting a kick out of playing a game that is considered “work” to many people out there…

                We then toured the 6^th dam that is currently under construction on the river, scheduled to be finished at the end of 2013.  We were fed when we arrived, and then spent our time looking at the different parts of the construction underway.  The reservoir is being routed through a tunnel being dug in the mountain to the power station.  It is much easier to appreciate the engineering behind a dam when you see all of its guts splayed out.  We even drove halfway through the tunnel in our bus.  And the bus was even successful at turning around inside!

                We finished off the day when we pulled into the hostel.  There was a slight déjà vu when Mircea and I realized that we had stopped at this location on our way back from Landmannalauger.  Mircea and I shared a room - a tiny room.  After I set my things down, I heard a helicopter engine.  I thought to myself, “Silly tourists.”  Then I heard the helicopter get louder.  I grabbed my camera and looked out of the window.  My face pressed against the 1^st floor window, I could see the edge of the parking lot- where a helicopter was “pulling in” beside our bus!  Two of the girls (Caroline and Marina) went to investigate, helped the pilot and his passenger pull the copter across the parking lot to the fuel pump to refuel- and they each got a ride.

                Dinner at the hostel was an all-you-can eat buffet, which I have not seen anywhere else in Iceland.  I’m glad the cost was included in the class tuition because it can’t have been cheap (although the clever person would tell me that I already paid for it anyhow).  In celebration of the Olympics, there were 2 international chess matches.  The first was Australia vs USA.  Australia won – most were vying for Sam just to hear him say “checkmate.”  Of course, we all realized the confusion in the non-terminal announcement of “check, mate,” but let it slide nevertheless.  In the following game, It was Australia vs the UK.  Victory for the UK, calling it an Olympic home-field advantage.

                When could the Olympics be held in Denver…   or some other high city?

                When I boarded the bus in the morning, several greeted me by telling me they thought I had been kidding the day before when I said I would be bringing my ukulele along.  And a concert time of 9:00 was decided by somebody- although I assured that there really was nothing worth coming for.  I mentioned the run-in with Jon earlier, which was enough to make my evening.  By 10:00 or so, everybody but Esteban (from Guatamala) came out to sit in the circle, sharing stories, pulling up YouTube videos, discussing Icelandic lore, and trying out various musical talents.  I passed around my harmonica and jaw harp.  Sam and I attempted a pseudo-duet of “Girl From  Ipanema,” but that will require some work- though it was neat that he knew the Portugese!  We sang and talked until 1:00 in the morning.  It was truly a nice opportunity to get to know everybody and bond as a group.  It’s just too bad it happened so late in the summer class!

                I showed some of the video clips I had taken (as everyone has seen me waving my GoPro around on our tours).  They were impressed enough with the quality.  I told everyone that I was at odds as to what to do with the video footage.  My intent is to put together a five-minute video montage of the trip as a whole to show to my friends and family (and finish as a final tag to this blog).  The cross-purpose would be to include a class-only type footage to provide a sort of promo for the REYST class for Agust to use in the future and post on the REYST website.  I have a sneaking suspicion that I will get myself involved in both projects…

Day 13 – 2012/August/10

                The primary purpose of the second leg of the field trip was to examine the environmental impact of hydro power by working our way back to Reykjavik along another river and coast of Iceland, pointing out some proposed locations for installing power plants and discussing the socio-political scene in Iceland regarding those.  Since there truly were a limited number of things to see, it turned into more of a sight-seeing segment of the trip.  Even our trip into Landmannalauger was prefaced with a suggestion of bringing bathing suits for the 30 minute stop.

                The bus trip itself was more tense in the division of the cliques that somewhat developed within the class over the past couple weeks.  All were trying to devise plans for the weekend and be inclusive of everybody.  Mircea and I were continuing to develop our plans to coincide with Caroline and Marina’s, these two plans providing the rift in planning.  All that wound up happening is that due to the cost with the others’ plans as well as the threat of rough weather, Caroline and Marina opted to stay in Reykjavik for their final weekend in Iceland- Mircea and I assimilated their weekend plans into ours, creating another whirlwind.  Fortunately, Michael opted to join us.

                Once we arrived late in Reykjavik, Mircea, Michael, and I unpacked, repacked, and took off in Roro’s car (with her permission of course).  We made it to Bakki around midnight where we set up camp near the beach, across from the ferry station, where we would catch the first boat to Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands…  yes, the island of an island…) in the morning.  We slept well on the soft black sand of the beach with the crashing of ocean waves singing us a lullaby.

Day 14 – 2012/August/11

                We awoke to the sound of buses and cars going by.  We packed quickly and got onto the ferry just before it departed.  In ~45 minutes, we pulled into the harbor whose tall cliffs left quite an impression on us.  We arrived on the island just before 11:00, where most of the shops opened at 11:30.  The small town was nearly lifeless in the overcast rain and cold of the August morning.

                We did find a restaurant that was serving whale and puffin as an appetizer.  And the seafood soup for lunch was likewise delicious.  We walked around town to learn about its history, primarily the volcanic eruption on the island in 1973.  We saw a few buildings that were half-covered by lava (now cooled), and a field of memorials on top of the lava flow dedicated to the buildings buried some 16 meters below.  On the bright side, the eruption did add some 2.5 km² of real estate to the island!

                We explored the coast and visited an aquarium exhibiting the wildlife of Iceland in taxidermy (and some fish in tanks).  The puffins are smaller than I thought they would be…  and quite cute.  “Cute and tasty” is an odd combination for a creature.

                Realizing we needed to board the 5:30 ferry back to the mainland, we headed back into town, with a stop by the grocery to gather supplies for the rest of our trip.  Mircea was taking awhile, and a glance at a clock said we were running a little late.  Michael and I had already checked out while Mircea continued to browse.  I told Mircea that we were going to run over to the bakery quickly to grab a treat for the trip and that we would see him at the Ferry, given the long line at the grocer’s.  We ran by the bakery and down to the harbor.  We went to the ticket office where I asked the attendant if we were too late to board the boat – it was 5:24.  We were fine, so she swiped the credit card…  the reader there had been having issues, causing the card to be denied.  I pulled out some cash.  CLANK!  She looked over her shoulder out the back of the office at the ferry.  “Nope, they just closed the gate.  The boat is about to depart.  Would you like a ticket for the 8:30 crossing?”

                We waited an hour for Mircea to show up, certain that he had been behind us.  He did not appear.  So we decided he was either lost or on the boat.  Michael and I went to grab dinner.  When the ferry returned, we were the first on it, eager to not miss the last boat of the day!  There was an area on the main deck with bunks, and I laid down for the trip over.  Mircea was waiting for us, thankful that WE weren’t lost, albeit bored.  We hopped in the car and drove to Skaftafell all night in the fog and rain.  We arrived at a campsite, quickly set up, and again passed out, alarm set for 9:00.  I went to sleep still wondering how Mircea actually beat us to the ferry.

                Earlier in the week, Agust had noted that the fog that we saw on the bus ride was the type common to Iceland- the type that would make one believe in trolls and faeries.  I had to laugh a little bit later to realize that though I didn’t believe in trolls and faeries, I had participated in Iceland’s tradition of tolls and ferries.

Day 15 – 2012/August/12

                The campsite was a-bustle somewhere around 6:00.  I kept hearing people and engines moving about, but I kept going to sleep, denying that it could be time to wake up yet in spite of the brightness outside.  After several snoozes, I decided I ought to look at a clock.  Mircea’s watch said it was only 8:00 still.  Back to sleep.  And then we awoke to the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” theme.

                We climbed up to Svartifoss – a waterfall that tumbles over a collection of huge basalt crystals.  It was actually threatening to be a nice day there in south-central Iceland, where the weather was only supposed to get better going east.  Unfortunately, the air below Vatnajokull (Water Glacier), the biggest glacier in Iceland at around 11% coverage of the island nation, was very heavily influenced by the glacier.  The air hung around 37 F with a cool mist and harsh wind.  Mircea opted to ride the amphibious car-boat around all of the icebergs that sat in the bay, while Michael and I admired them from the shore, walking out to the ocean edge, where lots of icebergs were held captive against the shoreline by the incoming tide.  We caught a glimpse of a wild seal; and even saw one of the large icebergs in the bay spontaneously split, throw up quite a spray, and left the remaining colossus of an iceberg to roll and bob in place.

                Our drive back was interrupted by a stop by a geothermal pool house and time spent swimming where we talked to some local Icelanders while lounging in the hot pot (ie hot tub).  There was a toddler with floaties at one point that decided it would be best to take a mouthful of water, swim over to Michael, and unload the water on his face.  The parents apologized earnestly while Mircea and I were trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.  Some French folks joined us a little later, but there was no conversation between us.  I had to marvel at all of the different languages I have  listened to in the past few days alone.  In short, I am amazed at how much we have been able to see in one weekend.  The hope is to take one of the days at the end of the week to go see the Golden Circle.  I think we are supposed to visit the geothermal plant down by the Blue Lagoon at some point this week…  at which point, I would feel like I had seen 90% of the things to be seen in Iceland.  As of typing this, we are 56 km away from Reyjkavik.  We should be back  about 11:30.  Not too bad!

                An interesting note about standing on the southern coast of Iceland.  Agust pointed out to me when we had gone through Vik on Friday, the next landmass to be encountered on your way south from the very beach we stood was Antarctica.  For a moment, I thought he had mixed “arctic” and “Antarctic.”  And then I realized he hadn’t at all.  What a long way!

Mom: "Someone is falling down on their blogging. What are you up to for the weekend?"

Just got back from the extended field trip...  and packing the car to got to the Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands)...  to see the island tomorrow...  and then to drive on to Jokullsalon (Glacier Bay) tomorrow.  We'll return on Sunday.

Last night was "busy" since my computer was being used by the entire group for YouTube video sharing- everyone telling which video it was they saw that convinced them to come.  And I was being egged on all day to provide a ukulele concert for the group.  So I performed in the lobby of the hostel to more than just our group.  As I was playing a little and talking to a couple people in the group, a random guy (Jon) from inside the restaurant ran in and sat next to me on the couch, awfully close.  He seemed very excited, and listened intently as I picked a few things.  He motioned if he could see it a moment, so I passed it over.  He started strumming a little bit.    He asked, "Do you know 'One Evening?"  I told him I didn't think so, but to sing a little to make sure.  Yes, I knew it.

So there we were, in a hostel full of travelers, in the lobby, a stranger strumming my ukulele, singing a duet of "Big Rock Candy Mountain" from memory as well as I could muster.  My instructor was laughing heartily.

Jon passed the ukulele back and thanked me for the song and letting him play - he said his wife hated the ukulele and wouldn't let him play anymore.  I sang with a renegade ukulele player.

Day 6 – 2012/August/03

                Friday class released us early, giving us more time to pack for the trip than expected.  So I went down to the heated beach to lounge for a few minutes more before the grueling trip.  Mircea went in search of a backpack to borrow for the trip.  Yes, we had already bought our bus tickets.

                We met back at Roro’s roughly around 3:00 and commenced packing.  Uncharacteristically for the country, the entire [holiday] weekend showed good weather in the forecast.  Thora offered some advice for the trip- and everyone we talked to tended to look at us like we were crazy.  I have gotten used to that look.

                Roro drove us to the bus terminal where we promptly boarded and were off.  There was intermittent sleep for the 3-hour ride down to Skogar and a constantly changing view.  At one of the extended bus stops along the way, Mircea decried his starvation, pulling three sandwiches out from our weekend rations and quickly devoured them.  This concerned me slightly- for we didn’t have a LOT of food.  And I warned Mircea that we would need to be more sparing…

We started on the trail ~8:30 or so (we had to spend a few minutes around Skogafoss – the waterfall that was both our bus drop point and our trail start.  There is a legend regarding a treasure chest under the waterfalls…).  Up, up, up we hiked, following the river and many other falls, sheep, grasslands- up into the rockiness of the Icelandic highlands, our path being encroached by two volcanic glaciers on either side.  We thought we had made it to the first hut on our journey (by the silhouette against the dark sky), but were dismayed to find it a run-down abandoned hut.  Exhausted, we set up camp and promptly fell asleep.  And Mircea ate a meal.

                A note on the preparation for the trip: in the future, I will require to see a fully-detailed bill of laden from all others in my hiking party to be sure they have all the necessities.  As we followed the river feeding Skogafoss, Mircea asked several times if he could help out the weight on my back by consuming some water.  I think sharing is a great idea.  I had packed the water I would consume in ~2 days, around 4.5 liters, expecting to fill up water at one of the various huts we would pass along the way.  Mircea continued helping me during the first 4 hours of our trek.  When I realized I was down to only 1 liter before bed, I kindly asked Mircea to begin drinking his own water.  “What water?  I didn’t pack any.  I figured you had enough for both of us.”  Uh oh number 1.

Day 7 – 2012/August/04

                We awoke at 11:00-  I had awoken a few times prior due to sun in my eyes- but after finally feeling rested, realized there was no more sun.  Being ~1000m in altitude and on a glacier, the clouds had settled in from the morning heat in the valley passing the moisture our way.  On a trail where the only way to note the trail was by muddy footsteps and sighting of large yellow pylons spaced ~100 feet apart, the lack of visibility in the fog was frustrating.  Following the signs to the hut – Fimmvorthuhals =- we came to a pylon that was oddly not connected to any other pylons-  at least as far as we could gather with an hour of wandering here and there.  We were quite excited to hear some voices of some people descending the adjacent ridge.  They had a GPS…  and were just as far off the trail as we were.  They were volunteers that had come to do some renovations on the hut (move a solar panel and paint the deck), so we followed to the hut.  We warmed ourselves there, and Andrea (the hut warden) gave us some tea, free of charge.  Since she wouldn’t accept money, I asked if I could shovel some snow for her that would later me melted for drinking water.  She accepted the offer.

                Back on the trail towards Thorsmork, the afternoon sun did seem to lift the clouds a bit, making navigation much easier.  Without getting lost again, we began finding more people as we winded around lava fields (no active flows… just blowing steam).  Descending the mountain over Thorsmork looked as stately as a scene from the Lord of the Rings.  And of course, not long after thinking so, Mircea and I stopped to talk to a couple gentlemen, trying to gage our time.  Andy and Rob were taking some pictures.  They explained that this was their “Summer Home” away from New Zealand.  It took me just a moment to realize that they had already converted to Northern Hemisphere Season-Speak.

                We stopped briefly in Thorsmork at the Basar (Bow-sar) hut to have dinner to let our feet out of our boots.  They were complaining a good bit already along with the rest of the legs and the stomach.  Almost an outright rebellion!  I had gotten used to Mircea’s constant comment about “starving” or “being too hungry to think.”  Smoked salmon on sesame crackers was quite tasty and downright upscale for the surroundings.  Some may question the transportation of the salmon…  but I was banking on cooler weather on the mountain as refrigeration and the smoking to keep off any particular bacteria.

                We hiked several hours further, noting that the days were growing noticeably shorter.  We passed a couple around 10:00 that night, who with noticeably American accents (rare on the trail) commented that they had started off from Landmannalauger – our destination!  We queried for a time estimate.  “It took us 4 days to get here from there.”  My heart sank slightly.  Uh oh number 2.  Our bus for Reykjavik leaves at 16:00 on Monday – only 42 hours to go.

Day 8 – 2012/August/05

                9:00 was not so bad to awaken to…  again, pulling Mircea out of bed.  According to Thora, the area past Throsmork was pretty well flat until we got past Alftavtn, the last hut before climbing the mountains in front of Landmannalauger.  Yes, it was mostly flat…  but there were enough canyons and hills to make our feet hurt.  The interesting part about this section of the hike was the variety in terrain we covered.  Most of the way was veritable desert, walking across miles (or should I say kilometers) of volcanic sand.  One mile of the oh-so-black sand was pretty neat.  20 miles (I exaggerate… but only slightly) of the sand is downright annoying to walk on.  The only odd thing about being in such a desert-like moonscape were the four river crossings of bone-chilling glacial melt.  Fording each river when the water is just shy of thigh-high lost its novelty very quickly.

                The time passed relatively quickly, passing the Emstur hut and arriving at Alftavatn back in the grasslands and situated on an alpine lake for dinner.  We chatted with a couple guys from Italy for a bit over dinner before making tracks Northward.  From Alftavatn, there were still 22 km to go- way too much to cover in half a day.  Mircea realized that he was out of the food he was carrying.  “Do you have any more food, Keith?” he asked.  I responded negatively, “Nothing left for dinner.”  I was saving what little I had left in my bag as a ration for breakfast, knowing that we would need that last little energy boost.  Again, I was a little frustrated with the lack of food planning.

                We took off once again, across the grassland and up another mountain, using every bit of daylight we could muster.  As we rounded the mountaintop, we were tossed into yet another environment, this time more of a feeling of being on Mars.  Everywhere the rocks had a red or yellow tint to them, steam pouring out from many cracks.  The darkening sky and the heavy smell of sulfur kept our imaginations busy as we followed the trail, looking for the last hut before Landmannalauger.  Again, dark fell along with the clouds, limiting our visibility on a sketchy-looking ridge.  There was no sign of the hut, and given our fatigue, we needed to set up camp.  We knew we had traveled more than 30 km in one day…  and we were definitely feeling it.  I was a little anxious about the timing-  if we would make it to the bus on time or not.  We were comforted by the thought of the hot spring that was supposed to be there.  Mircea was disappointed that there was no more food to eat before bed.  We slept well, anyways.  Even though I felt we were in the midst of Mordor.

Day 9 – 2012/August/06

                Another morning at 9:00.  I divided the rest of the food out somewhat evenly, setting it more in Mircea’s favor due to his metabolic needs.  It was a cloudy morning, still- but with the rest, the trail was easy to follow.  We descended into a valley, across which we could see the hut – Hrafntinnusker.  This was the most annoying valley I have ever been in!  Small rivers have cut into the sand banks every 40 feet or so, leaving a 20 foot deep crevice in the sand.  Though you could see the hut across the valley a mere mile away, the going was VERY slow.  Up and down and up and down and up and down.

                For Adam, I have to note that in some sense, the arrival at several of the huts along the journey made me feel as if I were in a Final Fantasy game (namely on the NES where we would play together).  The little group of villages with people to talk to, all with information about the trail you are on and how to get to the next place- and the surrealistic landscape in between…  I laughed about it several times, and I hummed some of the songs to myself as I trudged along the sand.

                The arrival at Hrafntinnusker revealed that we were making good time- and at our given pace, would get us into Landmannalauger at 15:00 – an hour before the bus left.  We kept moving steadily; and the final descent into Landmannalauger, on time, revealed some of the most colorful and diverse landscapes possible.  In some sense, the scenery itself was a sort of recapitulation of every color and geography we had encountered in the prior 2 days.  The descent was quite pleasant, though the last mile weaving through a labyrinth of lava field sculptures was mildly brutal, especially since it hid just how far you were from the bustle of Landmannalauger.

                I had expected a town with a few shops.  Instead, it was just another hut-like grouping of buildings with a large tent city and parking lot.  I sat down to rest and revel in the excitement of completing the goal- and early to boot!  Mircea disappeared, leaving me to look after his pack.   I was looking forward to joining the large bustle at the end of the boardwalk that were swimming in the hot spring, not at all thrilled with Mircea’s lack of letting me know where he had gone.  “Keith, the bus leaves in 30 minutes.”  It’s a good thing we were early!

                We ran over to the spring, giving ourselves 10 minutes to soak and relax…  and there was no doubt that we were the most intensely relaxing people in the spring for those 10 minutes!

                We made it to the bus.  There was even room on the bus.  And for all the excitement of the prior three days, the bus ride was only icing on the cake.  I did not expect the off-roading adventure that is the Reykjavik Excursion Bus Line…  fast driving around narrow, one-lane, tall cliff roads and river fording all in a large Mercedes-Benz bus.  I slept some on the bus.  And Mircea happened to overhear a couple girls speaking to each other in Romanian… and he went to join them for the rest of the ride to speak in his native tongue.  Success is sweet, indeed.

Day 10 – 2012/August/07

                Everyone in the class was genuinely surprised to see us this morning.  They didn’t think we’d be back in time.  And they were even more surprised that we weren’t zombies!  Quite a few of the others had rented a car and went to the West Fjords for the weekend.

                We toured the District Heating system of Reykjavik today- which was fascinating to see the control center and geothermal well outposts all over.  There were GE motors everywhere- gentle reminders of where I must return eventually…  but not soon!

                There was another Icelandic lesson when we returned… and Marina came over so I cooked some Chicken Tikka Masala (Indian dish) for dinner and gave a recap to the day’s field trip to help clarify some of the discussions for the non-engineering students.

                In discussing with Mircea regarding what to do with our next weekend, Roro asked me if I was a careful driver.  Then she offered to let us borrow her car for the weekend…  $50 for the “rental” and we pay for gas.  Oh the possibilities!!!

                Pictures later…