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!