This morning I woke up at 7:15 am and quickly showered and had cereal had breakfast. I met Nina outside across the street at 7:45 and we headed to the university. At first we tried to find the right bus stop so we could figure out the bus system, but since it was so pleasant out and we didn't have to be to school until 9, we decided to walk. The weather here is beautiful, it's been about 60 degrees Fahrenheit and later this week a "heat wave" is supposed to pass through that will bring temperatures up to around 70. The walk to school only took around 20 minutes, so we had about half an hour until class started when we got there. We just sat on the steps and talked as the other students began to arrive.
Class is taught by a University of Iceland professor until Wednesday, and then we switch professors. Each day from 9-3 we will learn about renewable energy, and from 3:30-5 we learn Icelandic at a small school across town. Today our professor, Jonas, lectured about hydropower, and while it was interesting, it was hard to grasp all of the information in a lecture that lasted several hours. Luckily, in Iceland (as I'm sure is the custom in other European countries) there is a coffee/tea break every hour. So, the lecture was taught in hour long segments with ten minute breaks in between. At noon we had lunch in the university cafeteria, and was quite delicious. We had Swedish meatballs, steamed cauliflower, roasted potatoes, and a suprisingly good brussel sprout soup.
At 3, when the lecture was over, we all walked together to the school. I think it's more of a community center actually. There, our instructor, Sigga began to teach us the rudiments of Icelandic, the letters and their pronunciations. We then moved onto introducing ourselves and stating where we're from. After the basics we walked down to Styrigardur, Akureyri's botanical garden, to enjoy the outdoors and learn the days of the week, numbers and some other useful information. We went through the material very quickly today, so I'm definitely going to have to review. I'm getting a hang of it though.
After class the group headed up to the one host family's gym, but I headed home, as yesterday my host family had decided to have dinner at 6 pm so we could watch the Paraguay/Italy World Cup match. Tonight we had Minke, a type of whale. Whaling is a part of Iceland's culture and eating whale is not seen as controversial. Also, from talking with Caitlin, our group leader, and Thordur, our bus driver for the first several days, there are not many vegetarians in Iceland.
The whale steak was cooked on the grill and looked a lot like beef steak. I was excited to try it and found it to be quite delicious. It's a little stringy and hard to cut, and it was cooked rather rare so it was kind of bloody. However, the taste was normal (think a beef steak with a hint of a fishy aftertaste). Another traditional Icelandic meal is sheep's head, which my family will be cooking a different day. Other traditional dishes which I might get to eat during the course of this trip is harkarl (rotten shark), and goat's testicles. So far my favorite Icelandic food has been skyr. I love skyr.
After dinner (and the World Cup), I met up with two students from our SIT group and we went for a run around town. The run was very relaxing, and the town is beautiful, as it sits in a valley surrounded by mountains. The ocean borders one side and a river passes through the east part of town. The three of us pretty much circled the whole city in an hour, and we were running at quite a leisurely pace. Some Icelandic kids shouted stuff at us when we ran by but I had no clue what they were saying. I'll have to study up.
Tomorrow we have class again, and in the evening all of the host families are meeting up to have a cookout at a city park that is known for its forest. It's almost midnight here, and I should probably look over some school work before I go to bed. I thought I'd end the post with some interesting things I've noticed so far on the trip.
- Diet coke is called Coca Cola Light. Coca Cola is very popular here and the two year-old in my host family is practically addicted to it.
- Due to the geothermal heating, all of the hot water smells like sulfur
- Almost everyone has blonde or strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes.
- The letters c, q, w, and z do not exist in the Icelandic alphabet.
- Arm is "handleggur" or literally, hand leg. I found that amusing.
- Safety is not really an issue here. When my family had a cookout with the neighbors yesterday, their son (3) and the neighbor's daughers (2 and 7) wondered down the street and around the corner by themselves and didn't come back for about half an hour. It was no big deal.
- The mascot of the chain of grocery stores here, Bonus, is a piggy bank with a lazy eye.
- Almost all stores close at 6 pm on weekdays and 4 pm on weekends.
- In the mini marts they sell a snack that is basically half a cake, packaged.
- The Cool Ranch Doritos are called Cool American Doritos here.
I'm sure I'll learn some more fun things as the trip progesses. Goda Nott!
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