I'm on a Boat? And Other First Week Adventures

It's been a busy first few days here. My attempt to be brief is going to be a complete failure. For those of you who read this entire posting, bless you. I won't blame those of you who either need to stop for a water break halfway through or just ditch out early, claiming you have an early meeting the next morning or something. Either way, let's get started.

My plans to sleep on the plane once again fell completely flat. I made every effort, but it just didn't happen. I didn't watch a single movie or TV show on the flight, partly because I didn't want to embarrass myself trying to flip up the screen/tray table arm on my exit row seat, but also because I am a responsible adult that had every intention of getting some sleep. But mostly the first one. I didn't sleep for a single second anyway. I think for a few moments I may have entered some sort of dehydration induced zen state, but then someone opened the very nearby bathroom door and the light flashed in my eyes like a thousand suns, squashing even that slight moment of peace.

Greenland, you're looking lovely this morning

The flight was actually fairly eventful. As we were flying over Greenland, a woman staggered down the aisle toward the bathrooms and basically landed in my seat mate's lap. She was completely disoriented and came awfully close to passing out. The stewardesses sat her down in the empty seat in my row and gave her oxygen and some juice (not at the same time). She tried to ask her if she was diabetic or if she had been ill recently, while others hovered around with airsickness bags at the ready. At first this woman wasn't even able to respond or make any sort of sense. There was a nurse somewhere among the passengers and she came up to assist. It took over half an hour, but they somehow perked her up and she was able to return to her seat on her own. So that, plus regular bouts of turbulence kept me fairly awake for the entire flight. I did finish an entire Mindy Kaling book called "Why Not Me?" that was very entertaining, so I did accomplish something.

I took the Flybus from the airport into the bus station in Reykjavik. I managed to get my bags to the bus without making a complete fool of myself. Halldor, the current President of the Snorri Foundation picked me up and drove me to my host family's house in 108 Reykjavik. I met one of the daughters and she gave me the tour and a key and said to make myself at home. I laid down for awhile but couldn't really fall asleep. I managed to take about a 45 minute nap. The best surprise upon arriving at my accommodations was Hilmar the dog. He is a total delight. He napped and lounged with me and supervised my unpacking process. His managerial style is not terribly efficient, as he requires that his employees take regular breaks for belly rubs.

Hilmar, the welcoming committee

Cozy Hilmar

After unpacking and unsuccessfully attempting to nap for awhile, I walked to Kringlan (the mall) to meet Erica. Erica is the Canadian Snorri Alumni Intern. We've exchanged a few emails since being chosen for this experience, but had never met before this. She needed to pick up a few things at the mall, and though I didn't need anything in particular, (hello, heavy luggage fee) I wanted to meet her and needed something to do to keep me awake until closer to a normal bedtime. We shopped for several hours and got to know each other a little bit. The walk to and from the mall was about twice as far as I'd thought, but it was a very nice day by Icelandic standards, and moving around felt great. 

I walked home to meet the rest of my host family around 5pm. Soffía and her husband Sigurjón are my hosts for this week, and the week that I come back to Reykjavik at the end of the internship in August as well. Soffía made a delicious Mexican fiesta of a dinner, and then afterwards my friend Erin Jones biked over from her apartment and we took a nice, long walk in the brisk, bright, evening sunshine. I had absolutely no trouble falling asleep; sunshine, barking neighborhood dogs, and all. My eyelids slammed shut around 9:30pm and I didn't register anything after that for a full 10 hours. 

Evening walk route

After having gotten a full night's sleep, I was ready to take on the world, or at least Iceland. I had nothing particular on my agenda for the day (Tuesday). It was sunny and WARM and absolutely lovely outside. I used Harpa as a temporary office for the morning, the view far superior to my usual office view of Interstate 94. Esja looked like a watercolor painting, and the water in the harbor below me was only a few shades darker blue than the clear sky. It was a picture perfect day here in Reykjavik. 

My self-appointed, temporary office in Harpa

I moved from inside Harpa to the harbor wall rocks outside, sitting for awhile to do some more writing and communicating with friends back home (who were just waking up) through various messaging apps on my phone. I watched the tour boats coming and going from the old harbor for a long while, the idea growing in my mind that I should go on a tour on one of those boats myself. I had an entire afternoon free. Why not? I wandered down to the pier, where a plethora of different tour operators have brightly colored booths, all offering "the best" in whale or puffin watching options. I had not dressed well for a lengthy, cold, splashy tour, or any boat tour for that matter. I was in rolled skinny jeans, cute ankle boots and a very light weight jacket. I had a feeling I would look like a fool out on one of these boats with all of the other tourists who walk around Reykjavik dressed up as if they are about to go glacier hiking. 

I chose a more modest "Reykjavik by Boat" tour versus a wild whale watching tour. For a lovely hour and a half I sailed aboard the Lundi (Puffin) around the bay, seeing Reykjavik from a different perspective. The (very cute) guide pointed out interesting buildings and spots in the landscape: Esja, Hallgrimskirkja, Viðey. Each place has a story, a long history; many that I had never heard before and a few that I had. Esja is said to be the home of Grýla, the wicked old troll mother who eats naughty children.  See that wide valley to the left? That is where Halldor Laxness, the Nobel Prize winning author, lived. It's so clear today you can see Snæfellsjökull, the glacier, which is a 2 hour drive away.

My tour boat

Harpa from the water

Viking (tourist) boat out in the old harbor

Boat selfie

Puffin colony from afar

I soaked this all in as the sun and wind poured over my face, the only part of me exposed to the elements. Despite my thick, daily layer of morning sunscreen, I could actually feel my face getting pinker. My viking name back in the day would have been Mallory the Pasty, and much like a vampire I would have thrived (thriven?) in the winter darkness here. The wind was a few levels above brisk and I was incredibly grateful for the obnoxiously orange wind/rain jackets that were offered at the beginning of the ride. Thanks to the jacket I was relatively warm and dry despite having been unprepared, clothing-wise, for this adventure. 

The big soccer match of Iceland vs. Portugal was Tuesday night, so I met up with Erin and we watched the game at Bjarni Fel, a bar downtown. The excitement was a palpable thing. I swear the air itself was quivering. I'm not exactly shy about my lack of sports enthusiasm. If I ever were to get a tattoo it might actually be something about my general dislike of sports. It's just not my thing. But in this situation, it was impossible not to be caught up in the enthusiasm. I found myself riveted to the screen; gasping and cheering and making a fool of myself just like everyone else in the bar, and probably every other bar in the country too.

We get excited about things, right? It is what we humans do. You get enough people together that want the same thing or have the same interest or passion and the excitement builds with each soul that joins the party. Stories are shared, events are planned. People laugh, and engage, and build relationships around these commonalities. Sports, a shared heritage, a love for potato dumplings? These things bring us together. And if the world needs one thing right now it is more being brought together. 

On Wednesday I got dressed up and took the bus into downtown. I met with the American Embassy briefly and discussed my summer project with them. It turns out that this blog will pretty much take care of my required contributions to their social media pages for the summer. Easy enough. After that quick meeting I attended a round table discussion with the 2016 Snorris at the Canadian Embassy, followed by a nice reception. I was especially impressed with the round table discussion. I guess this is a new event that was started just last year. Stewart Wheeler, the Canadian Ambassador had a wonderfully warm and real discussion with the Snorris about the concerns they may have regarding being in Iceland for 6 weeks. Culture shock, fear of living with strangers for 3 weeks, being away from home for the first time (for some of them), and other worries were all discussed and hopefully some of the fears were eased. Stewart was so engaged in asking each Snorri where they were staying in Iceland during the family portion of the program, where they were from, etc. It was really nice to get to be a part of this event. Stewart is finishing up his time here in Iceland and returning to Canada next week, so the reception that followed was a sort of goodbye to him and welcome for the new Snorris. I got to meet both Stewart, and the American Ambassador, Robert Barber. It was a really nice event. 

Asta Sol (Snorri Program coordinator), Stewart Wheeler (Canadian Ambassador), Erica Drake (Canadian Snorri Alum Intern), Mallory Swanson (me), Robert Barber (US Ambassador)

Erin Jones and I met up and took the bus to Kopavogur to my cousin Selma's apartment. She made a delicious meal of fish tacos (and guac!) and then took us on a mini roadtrip around some of the suburbs and surrounding areas. I got to see some new neighborhoods and really lovely places. Selma is wonderful.

Driving around with Selma, Erin, and Askja

Today I'm having lunch with my friend Gummi. He worked at Icelandic Camp in Gimli with me for a few years, and I'm excited to see him in just a few minutes. As long as the weather holds, I'm going to go hike Esja with the Snorris at 5:30. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for Grýla.

I'm not going to promise that my next post won't be as long as this one. I'll keep you guessing.