Day 28: Class at the University Centre in the Westfjords

Early in the morning on July 4th, Thordur had to drive our bus to Reykjavik to return it (for some reason) and then took a flight back to Westfjords to meet up with us in the evening. So...we had to rent a bus from town and this beauty showed up at our place this morning. The name on the side of the bus is actually our bus driver's name. The bus is ancient and super funky, but in a good way.





We left the house around 9 am and drove for about twenty minutes to the University Centre in the Westfjords. We had two lectures, one before lunch and one after. The first lecture was a basic overview of the Westfjords area, and we learned about its history, landscape, and policies. Then we had lunch, and some people took advantage of the badminton court outside and played a few games. I'm definitely going to play tomorrow. After lunch we had another lecture about legislation and the importance of planning when dealing with a small and fragile area such as the Westfjords. We were given a map of Iceland and focused on a specific fjord which was marked with certain usages such as fishing and aquaculture, tourism and infrastructure. We then had to figure out a way to balance these usages and come up with policies so that the fjord would not be compromised by any one usage.



Departing from the university at about 3 pm, we headed over to Holl, a local farm which utilized hydropower to provide its electricity.







We met with the owner and he walked us up a path which lead to a stream which feeds water through a turbine that produces the electricity to power his farm. Next he's hoping to upgrade his turbine to increase his output and to the use hydropower to create ammonia to use as fertilizer.








The turbine



Heading back towards his house he showed us his cattle. He uses them for dairy products as well as meat production. He has an automatic milker that uses a laser to find the cow's teet. It's all robotic and takes care of milking every cow. The barn was quite big and the cows can walk around or line up to eat hay.


The robotic milker and a nosy cow






By now we were all getting hungry so we got on the bus and headed back to our house. The group in charge of dinner tonight cooked breakfast for dinner so we had bacon, eggs and pancakes, which was delicious.

After dinner we had to finish our proposals for our projects which were due at midnight. I decided to analyze tidal power in Iceland (since it's an energy source that I know little about) and determine where its output can be maximized and what method of harnessing tidal power would be the most lucrative. In addition, environmental and socio-economic concerns must be taken into account. It's going to be a difficult project (and we only have a week to do it) but I'm hoping that if I do some good research that I can end up with a good project.

Well, tomorrow we're at the University Centre again so I should probably get some rest. Goda Nott!

Day 27: Happy 4th of July!

Everyone slept in today since we had the day off for The Fourth of July. I woke up around 11 am and had cereal and Skyr for breakfast (I'm averaging about three Skyrs a day, they're soooo good! I think you can buy them at Whole Foods. I'll definitely be looking into then when I get home.

After breakfast I went for a run with four other students and we ran about four miles down the road. We didn't see one car. (In fact, to get to the part of the fjord we're staying in you have to drive through a several kilometer long tunnel that was blasted through the side of a mountain. Most of it is only one lane, so people traveling towards the fjord have to pull into the periodic turn-ins on the right to let the other car pass. It's rather inconvenient and if you're driving to the fjord it can take a while since you usually meet at least a few cars.)

Anyways, we ran about four miles up the road and stopped at a boat shed along the water. We skipped some rocks and found a dead raven (that was huge) and then headed back. It was sprinkling part of the way, and there's one area we ran through that apparently is some birds' nesting grounds. There were swarms of them swooping overhead screeching very loudly. They're known to be quite aggressive and strike the top of your head. Luckily, since there were five of us they didn't attack any of us.

I took a shower when we returned to our house and then I headed to the grocery store. We are split into groups for cooking and cleaning, and my group of four just happened to have the honor of cooking Fourth of July dinner. We decided to go all American and cook burgers, hot dogs and french fries. So, Caitlin drove us to the local Bonus (on the other side of the tunnel) and we spent about an hour trying to find everything. We were cooking for twenty people and had a budget of 15,000 krona (about $120). It took us a while to find everything (especially the veggie burgers since we have some vegetarians and vegans on the trip) but we eventually purchased everything with a few hundred krona to spare.

It took us forever to drive back through the tunnel but when we got home my group got to work cooking dinner. Nina and I cooked the french fries in the ovens and prepared all of the fix-ins for the burgers and hot dogs while the other two in our group grilled the meat. Everyone enjoyed our meal and for dessert we tried a recipe that one of the host families in Akureyri used. Basically, you cut a banana down the middle (with the peel still on) and insert a few chunks of chocolate. Then, you wrap the banana in aluminum foil and grill it until the banana is mushy and the chocolate melts. You can put whipped cream or ice cream on the banana once it's cooked.

Once the kitchen was cleaned we decided to be super patriotic and play baseball. All that we could find was a tiny bat, a tennis ball, and buckets for bases. We actually played nine innings and braved the cold and the temporary drizzle. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and my team won 7-5.


Nina up at bat


Our beautiful baseball field


My view from first base


The rest of the evening we just hung out in the living room and I began a game of hearts with a few other people while we listened to a symphony from Austria playing on the TV. There was a chandelier with candles that we lit to make things even more classy.

Tomorrow we wake up early to leave at 9 am for the University Centre at the Westfjords for a few lectures and then we're going to see a micro-hydropower project at a local farm.

Happy Independence Day!

Day 26: Traveling to Westfjords

It’s a good thing I packed last night, because we were supposed to meet at the university at 9 am to leave, and I woke up at 8:40 am. I quickly brushed my teeth, and then Nina came by to get me. I told everyone goodbye and thanked them for letting me stay, and then got in Nina’s family’s car and we headed to the university. We were a few minutes late, but several other people still hadn’t arrived. At around 9:30 am we were all set, so we loaded the bus and began our long (9 hour drive) to the Westfjords area.

I slept most of the morning, and around 12:30 pm we stopped at a rest area for lunch. There were some little stone people that had been painted and clothed which were quite amusing. After eating our sandwiches we got back in the bus and continued on.





To be honest I slept most of the day, and nothing really eventful happened on the drive to Westfjords. When I was awake the scenery was beautiful. It rained most of the day too, and at one point there was so much fog, that you couldn’t see more than five feet ahead of the bus. We arrived at the Westfjords safely though around 6:30 pm and took our luggage into our hostel. It’s really nice, and has a living room area, a kitchen and dining room, a game room, as well as several rooms with one, two or three beds. We’re surrounded by mountains, and not far from our hostel you can see the fjord.








Tomorrow is a free day, and The Fourth of July, so we’ll probably enjoy hanging out here (and I need to write my project proposal). I should probably go to bed soon, and try to get back into a regular sleeping pattern. Goda Nott!

Day 25: Last Day in Akureyri

I slept through my alarms and arrived to class late today, but we were just finishing up fuel cells today and the beginning was review. We got out of class at noon since we finished the material early so several of us went into town for lunch. My friend Evan and I went to the Salvation Army in town and I bought some jeans to make shorts out of since the weather has been quite sunny here.

Afterwards we met up with some other people from our group for lunch, and went to Krua Siam, a Thai restaurant in town. I got some delicious Pad Thai, which was a nice change from the sandwiches we made ourselves at lunch for the past two weeks.

Needing to catch up on sleep, I went back home and fell asleep in my room. At 6 pm a picnic in the botanical gardens was planned for all of the host families to celebrate our stay in Akureyri. I arrived a little late since my host dad was competing in a soccer tournament. Dinner was nice, we had food catered from a catering company, and just sat in the grass with our families. I didn’t hang out much after dinner since the little boys in my family go to bed rather early.






My host family! (Mom - Perla, Dad - Thorhallur, Blonde boy - Orn, Red-haired boy - Ari. Freyja was visiting her aunt, and Kari was out with friends. They only were home for about the last week I was there though)

When we got back home, I watched the Ghana vs. Uruguay World Cup game, and then gave my gifts from home to my host family. My host dad was excited about using the Rudy’s Bar-B-Q sauce I brought, and they seemed to like the UT beanie and the Texas Folk music I brought as well. After the kids went to bed, my host mom Perla and I went across the street to Nina’s house to play a board game called Ticket to Ride. We had talked about a game night on one of our first night’s there, but it never really came to fruition. So, Perla brought some white wine and we sat around Nina’s family’s kitchen table and played and chatted. Nina and I tried a non-alcoholic malt beverage which tasted like beer minus the alcohol. When drinking it, it tasted like soda, but left a horrible beer-like aftertaste. I just stuck to the popcorn Nina’s mom made. The evening was really enjoyable, our host parents treated us like their friends rather than their “kids.” We were all joking and having fun, and my host mom was getting a little tipsy. Samantha, if you’re reading this you’ll be happy to know that I’ve learned well, I almost won our game, losing to Nina’s host dad by only 3 points.



After the game the four of them were watching P.S. I Love You, and I went downtown to meet up with our group. We were planning a big last night out since we were leaving Akureyri at 9 am the next morning. I went buy Blaur Kannan (I think that’s what it’s called) first to buy one last cup of hot chocolate. We’re all going to miss that café. Then I met everybody at the bar next door where they had begun the “festivities.” We then proceeded to Carolina, and ended up at Kaffi Akureyri at around 2 am. We hadn’t visited that bar before, but we thought we’d give it a try.


Blaur Kannan


Best hot chocolate ever (notice the chocolate shavings)


The green bar next door to Blaur Kannan

Kaffi Akureyri was a lot busier than Café Amour ever was, and there was definitely a younger crowd there. When we arrived, people were just beginning to go downtown for the night, so the dance floor wasn’t that crowded. However, soon the dance floor filled and the evening got rather hectic. I danced for almost two hours, and the DJ began to cycle through the same songs (lame). There were so many drunk people and we had to kind of keep the creepers off the girls in our group. It was a fun night overall though, and I think we were all glad that we gave Kaffi Akureyri a chance.

I walked home at around 3:30 am and then showered since I was so hot from dancing. Then I had to pack so I didn’t get to bet until late. Last night in Akureyri!

Day 24: Lake Myvatn

(Sorry the blog hasn't been updated in the last few days, I had several late nights and early mornings)
Our time at Akureyri is coming to a close. Today was our second to last class day at the Renewable Energy School at the University of Iceland. We began learning about hydrogen fuel cells and we will finish early tomorrow. The subject matter was interesting, but I was so tired from the hike the night before that I kind of just dozed in the back.

After school I went to Bonus (the grocery store) and bought some chocolate. I should’ve gone home and napped, but my friend Rosie was going to Lake Myvatn and I invited myself to tag along. Several of the other students have gone with their host families on other days but since my family doesn’t have a car I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity. So, when I got home I changed and grabbed my rain jacket right before Rosie, her host mom and her host grandma picked me up. It was kind of rainy outside but we decided to brave the weather.

We drove out of town and I napped a little on our way to Myvatn. The lake is rather large and it contains several little islands. The area is covered with volcanic rock from past eruptions (and apparently there was a volcanic eruption near the lake only 30 years ago). There is also great bird diversity, but I only saw two birds.











Next we drove to a trail nearby and walked through a slightly wooded area. There aren’t many trees in Iceland, but several ash trees lined the trail we walked along (it was only about 1 kilometer). A short drive away was a geothermal area with holes in the ground where locals could bake bread. There is a certain kind of sulfur bread that is baked here that uses geothermal heat. It has a rather thick consistency and kind of tastes like molasses, not my thing. Across the street there was a walking path near some mud pots and sulfur deposits. The landscape was so different from the trail we had walked along only a few miles away.











After wiping the mud off our shoes and taking our raincoats off, the four of us got back into the car and had a car picnic. Rosie’s host mom had packed a lunch of boiled egg sandwiches, ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches as well as hot chocolate in a thermos. It was really pleasant, having our picnic in the car while we were bundled up and watched the rain falling outside.

To warm up, we drove to Jarthbothin (I just typed the pronunciation since I can't type the Icelandic letters), a geothermal bath to take a dip. The pool felt amazing, it kept us warm despite the slight drizzle, and helped ease my achy legs from the hike. By this time it was almost 8:00 pm, and we had plans to see a jazz band in town at 9:30 so we changed in the locker room, got back in the car and headed back to Akureyri. On the way home we passed Godafoss, a large waterfall outside of town, but we were running late and it was still raining so we didn’t stop.





Once back in town, I skyped with my parents since it was my dad’s birthday and then headed to a little venue around the corner from the main street to see the jazz band. Rosie’s host sister had a friend who knew the lead singer in the band and she recommended that we come. The group consisted of two guys on guitar, a guy played bass, and a girl who sang and played the violin. The music wasn’t so much jazz, but the band was very good. They played some music that sounded like bluegrass, did some jazz-like instrumentals, and performed a few covers (they did a great job on the song “Cry Me a River.” (Here's a really low quality pic. I didn't want to use the flash)



Afterwards we went next door to Carolina, a small bar, but I didn’t stay long since I was so tired from last night’s hike and my long day.

Last day of class tomorrow!

Day 23: Mountain hike!

So class went on as usual today (sorry these posts are getting so dull and repetitive). We learned about wind power and finished class around 2:30 pm. Since we're done with Icelandic we decided to go to the Red Cross here and get some t-shirts since we all packed for cold weather, and it's been rather warm since we've been here. The Red Cross here has a little shop, kind of like a goodwill, where they sell second-hand clothes (among other things). Unfortunately I couldn't find any shorts, but a got a couple of t-shirts to wear while I'm here.

After walking back into town, I went by my house to drop off my backpack and then met up with the group at our favorite cafe. We chatted for a while and then departed to go home for dinner.

A few people from our group wanted to go see Eclipse at the theater tonight, but I was planning a mountain hike since I missed the first one when I was sick. Luckily, a couple of troopers (Will, Evan and Nina) wanted to go again so I got a group together to head out around 9 pm. Unfortunately, none of our host parents could give us a lift to the trailhead (for various reasons) so we ended up just walking to the trail which is about an hour long walk from town. We did see some Iceland horses "hestars" along the way though. They were quite friendly and walked up the fence as we passed by. (In the first picture below you can see the mountain we climbed in the distance)







We began hiking up the mountain around 10:20 pm and reached the summit around 1:00 am. The trek to the top was beautiful, there are mountain streams running down the hillside and most of the landscape was surprisingly green. The water is so pure that we just dipped our empty water bottles into the stream and drank the water. It's so clear and there is almost nothing floating in it. There isn't much wildlife in Iceland (the arctic fox is one of the few native species), but we did see several birds. Towards the top there were some snow patches, and that's always fun. We threw a few snowballs around, and I made a snow angel at one point.







At the top of the peak Will surprised us with some cookies that he had snagged from his host family's house, so we feasted on those, signed the guestbook, and watched the sun dip below the skyline and reappear about a minute later. The sun never really sets in the summer.







When we were about to head down, we decided that we should climb up the neighboring peak which wasn't too far away. So...we walked across the ridge connecting the two peaks and climbed a little bit higher to reach the top of the other mountain. Standing on top of this peak we had an unobstructed 360 degree view of all of Akureyri and the surrounding mountains, it was breathtaking. We signed the guestbook and then just sat there and absorbed our surroundings. Everything was so beautiful and we didn't want to head back down. (Below are pictures of me signing the "gestabok" and adding my rock to the pile at the summit. It was 1:22am on July 1st when we reached the peak, so I wrote a birthday note for my dad.)







Seeing as how it was almost 2 am, we headed back to the other peak and began our descent. Getting past the rocky part of the mountain down to the grassy/muddy trail was rather easy. We just ran down the mountain through the snow patches, and at the steep parts just slid on our butts. The hike down was long but enjoyable, and when we reached the bottom our pants were quite muddy, and my shoes were soaked due to the snow. Now we just had to walk another hour into town!







By the time Nina and I got back to our neighborhood it was 5:00 am and my feet hurt and my legs were sore. I just took off my muddy shoes, rinsed the mud off my pants, changed, ate a snack and went to bed. The hike was amazing, and despite walking for 8 hours and probably over 10 miles, it was definitely worth it.

Day 22: Last day of Icelandic class

So today's schedule was the same as the other days - renewable energy class until 3, then Icelandic class. Our lecture today was about biofuels, which was really interesting since I only knew the basic information about what a biofuel was. There are so many different plants and types of natural waste which you can exploit for energy. After leaving the university we all walked across town to the community center where we take classes. Today was our oral exam, so we were all studying on the way there.

For Icelandic we were asked to study a list of phrases and be able to respond to certain questions. There were about 25 questions and we would randomly choose 5 numbers which corresponded to 5 questions. Long story short, we all passed. We're officially done with our Icelandic class, but I plan on studying our book a little bit more and try and use some phrases here and there.

I went home for dinner with my host family, and later that evening our group met up downtown to celebrate finishing Icelandic class. We met up at Cafe Amour (the same bar that we always go to) and talked for a while. Thordur came (our bus driver and Caitlin's guide) which was cool, since he's a graduate student and hasn't really hung out with us outside of the frame of our SIT activities. A couple of hours later we went to a different bar up the street that is more low key and quite smaller. We talked until about 1am and then we finally went home.

Not much happened today, but it was rather relaxing.