Gleðilegt nýtt ár!

Happy New Year! Gleðilegt nýtt ár! It was a dream come true to ring in 2016 in Reykjavik. The Erins and I have been talking about making this happen for several years, and we actually did it! It was a slightly overwhelming, incredibly magnificent, awe inspiring, exhausting experience. 

We got a classically late start to New Year's Eve day. We didn't do anything all day except get ourselves and our food offerings ready for our 6pm dinner plans at Asta Sol's house. Her house is literally across the street from our apartment, which is very convenient. We were saving our energy for the evening ahead. 

We took the salad, potatoes, and corn over to Asta Sol's and then took a walk down to the water to see some early fireworks and check things out. 

Dinner was delicious and we had lots of good company. Snorris were well represented. There were 5 of us there. My fellow 2011 Snorri, Stefan, came and brought his friend Sam who is from Australia. I had met Sam last time I was here. 2012 Snorri, Julie, was there with her friend Victor who is from Germany. Asta Sol and her husband and their two little boys were there of course, plus Asta Sol's dad, and her step-daughter along with her boyfriend. There were a lot of us sitting around the table. We had a great meal and then enjoyed the amazing desserts that Julie had made. Champagne cake and lemon tart. Droooooooool. 

Nói enjoying his cake

A few of us took a walk so we could stretch our legs after a big meal. We couldn't go far though, because at 10:30pm the Áramótaskaup began. The Áramótaskaup is an annual sketch comedy tv show that every man, woman, and child stops to watch for an hour each New Year's Eve. It is mostly in Icelandic, so I only understood some of it, but it was cool to be here and see it. During this time, barely any fireworks are being shot, and word has it that the only people you'd find on the streets of Reykjavik are tourists. 

Settling in to watch the comedy show

Watching Áramótaskaup

After the show is done, everyone gets bundled up and ready for the fireworks display! Now, when I say display, I don't mean a group of professionals setting off a timed and choreographed fireworks show. I mean hundreds and thousands of people bringing their own fireworks and setting them off in and amongst the gathered crowds. People are shooting fireworks from their backyards, and town squares, and right next to where you are standing- pretty much everywhere you look. Safety goggles are recommended, as shrapnel is flying all over the place. I'm not sure how it happened, but I later found a burned up cardboard cap from a firework down the back of my dress. 

Firework shrapnel made it into the back of my dress

The fireworks are dazzling. People are everywhere. The noise is intense. The minutes surrounding midnight are the most insane but the pops and bangs of the fireworks seem to go on forever. Actually, even now as I'm writing this, 18 hours later there are fireworks going off at a steady pace. When the most of it was over, maybe around 12:30, and we were getting ready to walk back to the apartment to grab some stuff for the next stage of the evening we got caught in a very sudden New Year's blizzard!

The snow started very suddenly and was not joking around. We had to walk about a mile to where Stefan had parked his car, and I thought we were either going to be blown away or buried in a snow drift somewhere. It was bizarre and unpleasant. 2016 came in like a lion in Reykjavik. 

Snorris with Snorri beer 

We made it to the car and Stefan drove us out to Seltjarnarnes where he lives and where Erin's cousin Oli had helped to plan an enormous (like over 1000 people enormous) dance party at the local rec center. We had a few cocktails at Stefan's house and then walked over to the party, maybe 10 minutes from his place, which was great. The storm had all but disappeared by then.

I'm not exactly sure how to describe the party, which is called Ljómi. It was like the biggest nightclub/bar you could imagine. A bunch of young Icelanders crowded in, all dressed up and dancing like fools. It was fun and we stayed and danced for several hours. We left around 6am after a mad scramble to find our coats. People were tossing them everywhere as they searched through the racks. We were all glad we went, but don't think we will feel the need to ever do that again. I'm definitely more of a board game night with friends sort of a gal. The most magical moment of the evening, maybe even more than fireworks, was when we started our way home and looked up to see the Northern Lights! It was so perfect, even if just for a few seconds!

We didn't go bed until about 7am, and ended up sleeping until about 1pm. The view from Stefan's house in Seltjarnarnes was amazing. He kindly brought us home around 2pm and we have been loafing around the apartment ever since. I think at some point we are going to make plokkfiskur, which I can best describe as being a delicious sort of fish hotdish. Also, Erin Johnson is dead set on finding a bar where she can watch some (American) football game tonight. Not sure I'll be joining in on that adventure, but we shall see. 

Tomorrow Erin Johnson and I leave Reykjavik to go visit cousins out in the east. Erin Jones will stay here in Reykjavik where she now lives and goes to school. Classes start again for her on the 11th. I'm very excited to see all of my family in Fáskrúðsfjörður and to go have some adventures outside of the city. There was some bad weather there a few days ago and I guess there was a lot of flooding and wind damage. I'm hoping everything with our travel plans goes smoothly. It is a short flight, only an hour and I think it leaves at about 1:30. I'll be a little sad to leave this cozy apartment. I can picture myself living here, or somewhere like it in Reykjavik. It's been great to be here with the Erins too, and I will miss our little roomie situation.