Today's the big day! We're meeting the president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson! We got to sleep in this morning since we're not going to meet him until around 1:30 pm, so I decided to go to one of Reykjavik's pools before we had to leave. Sophie, Brenda, Mike, Evan, Will and I walked about 25 minutes across town to get to the pool, but it was worth it.
The pool was big, and had several geothermal hot tubs, a basketball hoop, and a couple of water slides. We could only stay about an hour since we had to get back to the hostel to get dressed up to meet the president but we made the most of it. It was nice to relax and play around in the pool. When we were sitting around in the hot tub talking we couldn't help but talk about how in a couple of days we'll all be back in the states.
We didn't have much time to think about that since we had to quick rush home. We had to be ready to leave the hostel at 1:30 pm and we got back a little after 1:20 pm. I quick ran up to my room, put on my slacks and rushed to iron my shirt. I was tying my tie as I walked out the door, but I managed to make it on time to the bus stop with everyone else. The bus ride wasn't too long, and after about 15 minutes we came upon the president's house. I think we were visiting his "house" but his actual residence was behind it. Apparently when we got there he was in a meeting with some important people so we walked around outside and looked at an old bell tower and walked through the cemetery.
Soon the president's assistants called us in and we all gathered in a sitting room. The side door opened and one by one we walked into the president's parlor and shook his hand. Then, we gathered around him in the room and while we were served champagne and macaroons he spoke to us about Iceland's energy policy and its role in international matters. Grímsson was an excellent orator, and it was nice to hear an honest opinion apart from the somewhat biased lectures we had heard over the past couple of days. We listened to him speak for about an hour, and then we got to walk around the house. We got to sit at his desk (not his real desk, his actual house was behind the building I think), view the small archaeological museum downstairs, and see his polar bear pelt and narwhal tusk upstairs. Around the house there were so many gifts from foreign diplomats and pictures of the president meeting with important people from around the world.
After we were done snooping around his house we went outside and had a group picture taken on the stairs and then got back on the bus. Meeting the nation's president was an exciting experience, and is an opportunity that you don't get in many countries.
Arriving back at the hostel we changed out of our formal clothes and then headed over to our ethics class. Since this was our last class we summed up what we had learned and talked about whether or not you can put a value on the environment. I found the ethics class to be very intriguing and I'm excited to take an engineering ethics class that is required my senior year at UT.
For dinner most of our group went to a Thai restaurant up the street called Banthai. I don't know why, but there is great Thai food in Iceland (I ate Thai in Akureyri too). I ordered a spicy noodle dish while most of the group ordered curry. Since we had about ten people eating together it took a while, but it was nice to chat with everyone while we were waiting.
That evening we pretty much all stayed in since we had our exam to do. Caitlin decided to give us a take home exam (an essay test), so I stayed up late writing my essays so that tomorrow I could just relax and enjoy my last day in Iceland. I think my test went well. I plan on going to run tomorrow in the morning, which should be a nice start to my last day. My last day?!? This experience has gone by so quickly.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment