Day 3 – 2012/July/31

                Thora has arrived today, also spending the next 3 weeks with us in Roro’s house.  She is a Norwegian Priest.  We were able to talk briefly around dinner (she spent the late afternoon resting after her arrival).  She had previously been an Icelander, but could not make ends meet here as of 2010, so she moved to Norway.  We talked about climates there, here, Romania, and the US.  She brought with her a block of cheese, roughly the color of caramel.  The only odd thing about it was that it also TASTED like caramel.  With the texture of cheese.  Delicious.

                I have enrolled in a second “class”.  Some of the other students that are here for 3 weeks only showed interest and found a group of missionaries here that teach Icelandic.  I am curious how their approach differs from LST… and so on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will be learning the language.  And it will be interesting to see the how everybody interacts.

                Another success for the day involved a couple realizations.  I finally was able to receive news about my luggage.  Yes, only news.  It arrived at 6:30 this morning to the Keflavik airport.  But it appears nobody has looked at it apart from scanning it upon arrival.  Maybe it will arrive tomorrow.

                The other realization came while reviewing its trip into Iceland.  From being in a location where it could make a direct trip, it was instead sent to JFK, into Toronto, and THEN up to Keflavik.  I thought to myself odd that it was in New York, lost, and wound up in Canada.  Without its passport.  Like Adam.  J  I have already told Adam this (via Facebook), and told him that I was at least glad that he didn’t accidentally wind up in Iceland.

                Reykjavik is a big swimming town.  There are public pools all over the place that are heated by the district heating system (ie geothermally).  One person in class had the notion to go visit every pool.  Since the “Heated Beach” is right behind the University, we all decided that it may be a good idea to eat a quick lunch, and spend the rest of our hour lounging in the pool.  Not bad!

                Some of the others in the class have begun to referring to Mircea and I as brothers since we live together and have similar interests.  I find the notion funny; but given the less adventurous disposition of the rest of the class, my feelings of being blessed on this trip have been much reinforced.

                We finally rented some bikes today; and paid even less than I was expecting we would pay.  Mine’s name is “Becky” I was told – for there was a girl from Canada a couple years ago that rented the exact same bike for 6 months straight.

                And Mircea and I have begun planning the extent of our weekend trips…  3-day backpacking trip between 2 volcanoes…  and a biking adventure back from the Golden Circle.  My only concern is that I do not know how to incorporate a visit to the Blue Lagoon.  But I will find a way!

PS – and for the record, I am thankful for the clothing I have bought in the past.  I scoffed a little when I saw my underwear advertised as “needing only 2 pair- one to wear while the other is drying after being washed in the sink.”  I scoff no more.

When I said Micea would arrive in a few hours, I was only off by a few hours.  I took a short nap at 12:00, awaking at 1:00 to accompany Roro to the Bus Terminal to pick up Mircea.  We were waiting for his call to let us know to come pick him up.  While we waited, I played my ukulele, we sang, and we chatted.  We were trying to decide the best option – I wanted to leave a note on the doorstep and drive to the bus terminal anyway since I saw that Mircea’s flight had landed properly.  Roro, however, said that this thing has happened many times in the past, and said it was best to wait.  At 3:00, she bid me go to bed since I had class in the morning- and no sooner had she said that than the doorbell rang.  So there was a short meeting, Mircea had a snack for starving…  and off to bed we went.

The class is very interesting – and has a very nice representation of the world within.  Of the 15 or so students, these places are represented: Tennessee/Kentucky, Utah, Florida, Mexico, Guatemala,  Romania, Iceland, England, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Kazakhstan, and the Philippines.  Quite the diverse group – all of which speak remarkable English.  I wrote down everybody’s name as a memory tool – and it seems to have worked out well!  Today’s lesson was an introduction and review of basic Physics to bring everybody to the same page with the technical language.  There are not many assignments, but there are 2 reports due at the end of class.

Class ended early, but a few of us waited around awhile to have some laptop troubles looked at by the IT department.  It was late when we left, but Mircea and I couldn’t drum up any particular interest from anyone, so we took off to rent bikes…  the bikes were not ready, so we will delay to tomorrow.  It appears we will go to a museum tomorrow after class!

It rained in the morning, but cleared up somewhat in the afternoon…  the first time I’ve seen blue sky while here!  It is supposed to rain tomorrow again… and then be nice for a bit.

My concern at this point is that my luggage has not yet arrived…  and the call down to the Keflavik airport was fruitless as I sat on hold for 10 minutes without talking to anybody.  So maybe nobody will notice me alternating shirts…

I spent the first day walking around the city and finding out what sort of things there are available.  It is a 50 minute walk to get to class…  Roro will drive Mircea and I to class tomorrow.  We will rent bikes after class. 

It was an overcast day- raining and 55 F when I arrived…  at least the drizzle stopped during my nap.  The Perlon (English: Pearl) is a large artistic building on a hill near Reykjavik University (RU).  The top of it provided a nice view, as well as the Stokur geyser next to it- a 60ft-deep well that was drilled by the University to create their own geyser for tourists.  So it wasn’t REALLY my first geyser…  Geysir will hopefully creep into the travel plans…

                I had left Roro a note saying that I would be back to the house at 6:00 and would like to treat her to dinner (she had offered earlier to drive me around the city and give me the brief overview and history she knew).  She admitted when I returned that she had no idea what I had written.  Oh well.  I explained… and we left to go around the city… and drove around much of it, with several stops.  It was nice to over to the black sands of the Atlantic Ocean beach…  and then over to the yellow sand of the Heated Beach (big geothermally warmed tub that leaks water into a small lagoon hedged in by large stones).  The Heater Beach is right next to the Univeristy- woohoo!  Of course, it was “heated” not so much to the point of being hot.  It was definitely warmer than the rest of the [local] ocean, but wasn’t the hot tub temperature I was hoping for.

                We went to a local pizzeria for dinner.  She mentioned that it had been a very long time since a young man had asked her out to dinner.

                The trip around town reminded me that I should have brought my belt along.  I decided I had nothing to fear- there is a 24/7 supermarket – Hagkaup – just down the road from Roro’s.  So at 9:00 pm at night, I trundle over to the supermarket (still just as bright as it was when I was tooling around town at 4:00).  I bought some Skyr (Iceland-only yogurt-like dish, but MUCH thicker.  Think, yogurt paste), honey (for tea, of course), and almost a belt.  I looked at the belts.  It was a meager selection to start with, but I found one that fit (and I need to replace one of my belts, anyways).  But the 3900 kronur price tag put be to thinking… was I reading that right?  Yes- ~$40 USD for a belt.  I think I will find something else to make it work!

                Mircea arrives in a few hours, but I am about to pass out.  It is 10:40 PM after all.  Or 6:40 EDT.  I guess I will just have to meet him after I awake in the morning.  Shower time and bedtime…  class starts early tomorrow!

Iceland: the Smithson Saga

Day 1 – 2012/July/29 – 12:00 noon local (GMT)

The trip has officially begun, though it continues to feel somewhat surreal.  I have just awoken from a nap from my room in Aurora’s (Roro’s) house.  I am the only guest to have arrived, where she has several rooms available- all of which will be filled during mine (and Mircea’s) 3 week adventure.  Though I had originally set my alarm to wake me at 10:30 local, GMT (4 hours ahead of my biological clock),  my return to sleep after turning off the alarm told me just how tired I really was.  My body, having rejected the notion of conquering the city on such little sleep on the trip over, returned to sleep, awaking naturally at what it felt was 8:00 am… 12:00 noon here.  Now to tell family and friends I have arrived safely – and begun catching the extraordinary events to have occurred to make this trip legendary enough to call it a Saga.

And as with any story, where is the REAL beginning?  The method in which this adventure started ideologically is exciting enough, but quells with respect to the start of actual movement away from the States.

Day (-1) – 2012/July/27 – sometime during the evening after work, Louisville Time

Delta said I could check in.  I found out the night before that I would only be allowed one checked bag (for a reasonable price), causing me to rethink my packing strategy.  Backpack it was, with a carryon day pack, with the rope bag (stuffed with climbing gear) + ukulele as my “personal item combo” (if anybody asks).  Danny Selby told me during the day that GE had worked out a deal with Delta that would give EVERY GE employee Silver Medallion status until February 2014 – after 2 weeks of processing time.  A little tardy to learn that – I would’ve been allowed two free checked bags!  Alas, I checked in online promising I would bring along one bag.  And so the packing commenced.  Yes, the night before I left.

Day 0 – 2012/July/28 – first thing in the morning…  I awoke to Jason’s alarm at 7:15 vs my desired 9:30 awaking.  Grr…

And now Delta is trying to reach me by phone…  and email.  The flight from Louisville to Detroit has been cancelled!  But they promise to get me to my destination somehow.  Before I had time to fret, my itinerary showed a Louisville-Minneapolis/St Paul-Keflavik flight itinerary.  One less leg- fantastic!  I ran some errands… and had hours to kill before departure.  Danny came over to play some Dominion before I left…  and the departure went without a hitch.

For the MSP-KEF leg of the trip, I received a complimentary upgrade to Saga Class (read: Icelandair’s “First Class”…  or as the stewardess told me and Crofton, the lady next to me, “You are in the Comfort Zone.”).  None too shabby for the 6 hour leg over!  Crofton promised to be as talkative as myself.  She and some others were continuing on to Greenland, where they were part of a Discovery Channel film crew – Animal Planet – and were spending the next 8 weeks filming and camping in a remote spot in Greenland.  And thus we exchanged stories for much of the trip, and I caught a couple of hours of shut-eye.

Day 1 – 2012/July/29

I found out just how quick I am.  I am fast.  The first itinerary (that was cancelled) placed me in Keflavik at 9:00 am local.  Now we were to arrive at KEF at 6:30 am.  That’s fast…  quite a time saving!  In fact, I was so fast during the flight, that I beat my luggage to Keflavik!  After seeing all my fellow MSP passengers depart the baggage claim, it only took a moment at the Baggage Services desk for them to tell me, “Yes, your bag is still in Minneapolis.”  With a big smile, I was counting my blessings for having consolidated bags…  and moving a fresh pair of underwear to my carryon the night before, anticipating this very event.  It *should* arrive in Reykjavik tomorrow morning, about the same time as my arrival today.

I hopped on the bus up to Reykjavik.  I gave Roro a call from the bus terminal’s business phone (after messing for some time with the pay phone – yes, they still exist – without any luck with swiping my credit card).  She came to pick me up, prepared a small breakfast, and began sharing pieces of each others’ lives.  She bid me to take a nap given my lack of sleep…  and now it’s time to begin conquering Reykjavik in the direction counter to Leif Ericksson’s landing from the East in 1000 AD…  now it’s Keith Smithson’s landing from the West!  …with his luggage – and tools- to follow shortly…