Sun sets on Iceland; America!

Alright, this blogs going to be a bit of a shambles. Due to the lack of wi-fi and busy schedule, I’ve sort’ve just combined several different blogs into the one entry so apologies for mixes in the tenses and whatnot. Here goes:

As I write this blog entry I’m currently aboard flight Fl615bound for New York City, America. My last days in Iceland were rather dull due to the departure of many of the usual crew. On my last night however, Ella cooked me up my first roast since London which was a much needed treat and we enjoyed a few celebratory beverages together before saying goodbye!

My last day in Iceland dawned, bringing with it a trip to the blue lagoon with Dagny and Ramathorn on my way to the airport. In hindsight I regret not going there more because it was just a fantastic wayend to my stay; the sunset was pretty incredible too. I met some very cool people during my exchange and I’m sure I will be in touch with many of them in very near future!

~New York~

I arrived after a 6 hour flight only to be told we had to wait on the plane for another hour while they cleared customs. I got through without any issues but later found out my Cuban cigars I had been carrying in my hand luggage, had a trade embargo on them that could have copped me a hefty fine. Whoops

I managed to survive the train system (Thanks for the preparation London!) and made it to Stoneybrook station, Long Island, where my flatmate from last semester; Gareth (Griffin) was waiting for me. After much excitement and yelling on the station we headed off to his room where I stayed the night.

The next morning I took the train into the city. While waiting at the station it was a welcome relief to hear birds chirping and have sun rays shining through the trees onto me. The 5^oC sun was in serious danger of searing my transparent skin.

Again like London, hordes of people lined the streets, fortunately NYC is a lot easier to navigate than central London at peak hour and the significantly less amount of tourists was nice.

On my afternoon in the city I saw the usual touristy spots like the empire state building and time square. Hopefully in the next two days before I leave for Vermont I can get some night pictures of it. Being my first meal in America there was really only one thing for lunch (and the fact that there was one on every street made the decision easier). I walked up to the Mcdonalds counter and asked for a supersized big mac combo. Apparently large was the biggest size they had! What is this England?

Stalked Madison square garden for half an hour or so, but no dice on sighting the elusive Mello or Amare. The my morning jacket concert tonight should be incredible.

~Update~

I caught up with Griffin and Isabel later that night at the 4 star hotel we were staying at before heading to the concert. This was easily one of  the coolest concerts I’ve been to (the fact that we got to go backstage, drink the bands beers and meet some of the band members was a smaaaalllll contributing factor). My Morning Jacket were unbelievable and all you people back in NZ should definitely start listening to them ASAP. Band of Horses were amazing as well. Unfortunately The Roots after party the following night was cancelled.

The day after the show, I dragged myself out of a terrible hangover to catch up with the others for a classic American style breakfast before saying goodbye to Gareth and his American friend Aaron and catching the subway to Wall St. It’s one of those places you hear about all the time, so it was nice to finally put an image to the name! Because we arrived during the aftermath of the occupy movement, police officers/cars/horses lined the streets and access to the area was limited.

From downtown, we managed to navigate our way uptown (via subway, using my now seasoned touristic skills) to Central Park. Major events: First ever squirrel sighting! Encounter with the best “frisbee’er?” I have ever seen; and a photo with my very own NYC jazz saxophonist.

From Central Park we headed to the metropolitan museum of art. I’ve never really been one to appreciate (or have never had the opportunity to appreciate) art, however in the short time we were there before our legs and stomachs gave up on us, I was truly moved by some of the incredible sculptures and paintings on display.

We all but crawled back to the hotel, where after a fantastic jet-lagged nap we braved the NYC night to visit Time Square; and tuck into some super-heated Korean food before calling it a night.

Unfortunately the morning meant I had to say goodbye to Iz and her dad; however it did mean my journey to Vermont and the north was about to begin.

I leave you whilst writing on the train. Hopefully a wild night in Burlington VT is coming up. Regular updates while be on their way as I attempt to get the whole way across the country that is the USA.

See you soon Meeeerriiccca

So a couple of months ago I noticed the container of dishwashing liquid in my kitchen was being used up at a similar rate to my time left in Iceland (apologies to my flatmates for not using much of that). The 2cm of liquid remaining represents my last 9 days here. I’m still waiting on the Katla eruption that’s been in the news a lot recently, although if it goes now, I probably wouldn’t be making it to America anytime soon! I’m also running out of time to get to the north, and with temperatures frequently below -10 I may have missed my chance.

The snow has set in and it is like nothing that my rare winter holidays at Hanmer Springs could prepare me for. Where Dunedin grinds to a halt, the people of Reykjavik act like nothing has changed (maybe the just put on an extra coat or 5). There is maybe 25cm of snow on the ground, the big pond has frozen over, and I am feeling a lot better about the purchase of my new shoes a week or two ago. For all of you living it up in the summer sun, I ENVY YOU. I would give a lot for an outdoor barbeque and a fat steak of prime New Zealand beef, all while wearing a singlet, stubbies, jandals and developing some nasty tan lines. -9 degrees is my new personal coldest temperature! (my fingers and nose were on the verge of dropping off)

My first and last exam is this Wednesday. As usual, the “Jack Ensor” study routine is in full cry. Many arduous late nights of movie and computer game procrastination in the department have me primed to begin working in the next day or two.

Last weekend our hiking group went on a day trip to the geothermal valley of Reykjadalur. The scenery was incredible and the hike through the snow covered mountains to get to the hot rivers was an awesome experience too. We had been in the river for an hour or so when we heard word that our French friend (who had foolishly decided it would be a good idea to bring his snowboard) had snowboarded into a rock and badly hurt himself and that there was a rescue team on its way. A group of 38 people turned out in force in the dark and in well below temperatures, to pull him off the mountain by sled (which took aprox. 3 hours). Whilst performing what was a death defying snow leap (alah sand dune style) earlier in the day, I had taken a blow to head on a hard patch of ice. The rescuers informed me it would require stitches and sent me along to the hospital with the Frenchy. Half an hour later we exited (by foot), myself with my first 3 stitches ever and the Frenchman with a bruised hip and pride.

Hope everything's still good back home.

P.S: YEAAAAAAA NBA

Drawing to a close...

I’ve just hit the one month to go mark. My flight to America has been booked (13^th Dec) and my visa has been approved. I can’t really work out whether or not I’m happy my time here is coming to an end. I’ve met some fantastic people, seen some amazing scenery but the university and immigration have put a slight dampner on the trip. Last night I got an email 3 months into my course telling me that I wasn’t able to take the 1 paper I needed because I am a geology student and not a biology student. Seconds later I got another email from the woman “correcting” herself saying “Oh, I’m sorry for calling you a geology student when you’re actually a geography student”. That’s the final straw. Unfortunately it does however mean my ecology degree may have to be put on hold for a year or two.

This last weekend we went to Þingvellir with some of our female Icelandic friends. Was great to get away from Reykjavik for a night and Ella’s batch just above the lake with a 100million kr view was situated right in front of Bjorks summer house. Awesome. “The Giovanni” shuffle was arguably the highlight of the night and it will be taught in the states and on arrival back home. The next day we went on a mission to Eyjafjallajokull collecting soil samples for Ella’s project and gave Giovanni (Johannes) his first taste of KFC, even though the potato and gravy was just gravy. Basterds.

For those of you who keep asking, the light situation is rather dire and it makes getting out of bed for my two lectures a week a struggle. I wake up at 10am and it’s still dark and by 3pm the sun is well on its way down. At no stage does it get above the building line so its kind’ve like a permanent twilight. Rain still happens every day without fail and the temperature is pretty chilly although I’ve just been informed it’s the warmest November ever. In the next three weeks I will get up north to the second largest city of Akureyri so stay tuned for that instalment.

Last night after another science trip we went to the place Mt Eden Dubstep were playing. I knocked on the door half an hour before the concert was due to start and asked if I could talk to them. The bouncer disappeared back in side and shortly after returned with Jessie (one of the djs). I think we both enjoyed the company of a fellow kiwi after being from home for so long and he invited Jo and myself backstage to hangout! (and drink all their beers).

The sacrificial burning of my shoes was a rather large event (especially for those that have had to see me walking around bars in bare feet). Finally I can go outside without fear of rain.

Horse for dinner should be interesting!

Not a bad view out of the front door...

For you Americans; I am in need of some plans for new years. 

An arctic rimmy.

With the trip looming we were as usual at our disorganised best and two members of a full party short. With some last minute wrangling we managed to coax a Fin and a Frenchy to join myself, the Italiano/German and the Merican (unfortunately even in Iceland you can’t escape Americans) in completing the complement. 

The morning came and with it a “cheap jeap”, courtesy of our only organised member Erik “Rabb”. We stuffed the jeep full to the brim and set sail to the north. Our venture took us first to the town of Stykkishólmur on the Snaefellnes peninsula where we boarded a ferry that was to take us to the south-west of the West Fjords.

The ferry across was expensive, freeeezing cold and took just as much time as driving around would have, and yet all the same, it was great experiencing some real Icelandic wilderness. Beers on the uppermost deck in god knows how much below temperature, with some of the strongest winds I’ve ever encountered is something I won’t forget in a hurry. With some smooth talking we were also allowed into the wheelhouse to see the captain. As we neared the end of the trip and night closed in, the towering, snow covered fjords emerged from the gloom.

We decided to head west to find somewhere to hunker down for the night. As we drove over the first pass, the snow began falling and the ice thickened.  A hair raising trip ensued, enhanced by some fantastically awful driving from the Frenchmen (who insisted he was a “great driver”). Fortunately his driving skills were sufficient to get us to our destination town of Talknafjordhur. We managed to find a nice guesthouse for the night and the luigi (Johannes “Giovani”) set about preparing the pasta. Raab and myself were keen to try and find an Icelandic man willing to take us out on his boat for a fish/sight-see so we headed down to the harbour. We struck up a conversation with a hardened Icelandic fisherman who was hard at work preparing for a night at sea on a commercial fishing boat. After talking for a little while he offered us a place on the boat that was heading to sea for an 18 hour fish (not quite what we were intending). Unfortunately with time at a minimum we had to turn down his offer, to which he answered “well do you want some fish?”. He slapped two large (I believe they were called Haddock) fish in our hands and wandered off.

We spent the night at Talknafjordhur in a hotpot just a couple of kilometres out of town, halfway up a hill with a magnificent view over the fjord. A truly amazing experience.

The next day we continued north encountering some of the most truly spectacular scenery I have ever seen. The mountains aren’t as sharpe/steep or rugged as the mountains of Fjordland, nor do they contain any vegetation whatsoever, this however takes nothing away from the sheer natural beauty of the waterfalls, ice-lakes or snow covered lava flows that cover the area.  Fjallfoss, a huuuuge set of waterfalls was the highlight of the day.

We continued north passing through a 4.5km tunnel that included a brilliant car surfing performance by Raab and Frenchy (Louis), before Finnish pessimism/sense prevailed. We emerged from the incredible man-made structure in the town of Isafjordur. A town surrounded in every directions by steep, snow covered cliffs with an amazingly still inner harbour which provided the opportunity for some truly spectacular photos. We were kindly invited to couch surf at an Australian girls flat, providing some much needed sarcastic and monetary relief.

We then travelled a short way to the remote town of Sudureyri, where once again we soaked for several hours in the town hotpot before travelling back to Isafordur. Another awesome display of northern lights, and beers on the roof of the four story flat, capped off a great days adventuring.

The next day we kayaked the fjord. The reflections of the mountains on the crystal clear water and the tranquility were mind boggling.

Unfortunately time was limited and we had to begin our journey home. We stopped off to see some arctic foxes and yet another hotpot by the seaside, capping off what was an awesome trip. 

BTW YEEEEEEESSSSSS ALLLLLLLLLLLL BLAAAAAAAAAACKS!

No one else here truly understood why I was screaming and running around semi naked. God the 10am champagne shower felt good though. Hopefully you all partied your pants off for me.

Unusual Suspect to win the Melbourne Cup…