Iceland Day 7

Today was the drive back to Reykjavik. On the way we stopped at a waterfall and some turf homes, which were so silly. Very Lord of the Rings.



This evening we also went to the famous Blue Lagoon, that truly lives up to its reputation. It was fantastic! The spa itself was first class and the pool was the perfect temperature and the milky blue water was just so so so cool. I would recommend this to anyone stopping in Iceland. It was by far the most touristy thing of the trip, but it was definitely a fantastic experience.



Tonight we had dinner and walked around Reykjavik a bit, which was great. It seems like a really cool city with a very hip atmosphere. I think it would have been a really good time experiencing a bit of the night life, alas, I was with family, but it definitely seems like a cool scene.


Needless to say, this trip was just absolutely incredible. It was the most extreme beauty (in every form) that I've ever seen and the place just has so much to offer. It's a different kind of travel since it is not really full of museums or city centers, etc, but has so much environmental beauty to offer and really makes one appreciate the earth that we inhabit. I left feeling like there are still many more things I would like to do there on a next visit, which is always a good feeling to leave with when traveling. Iceland is a truly unique place and I would highly recommend it to anyone. It was the perfect trip to do right before hitting the fast-paced life at LSE and London, and I am now looking back on it with very fond memories.

Iceland Day 6

Today was really fantastic. We spent most of the day around Myvtan, a volcanically active area of Iceland. Well, first, from Egilstadddir we drove the the "uninhabitable midlands" of Iceland and ended the day in Mytvan. First we went to lava fields from eruptions in the 1980s that also has some craters and such. It was really cool, and had a convenient wooden plank path through it!



Next were bubbling mud pits, which were bazaar. I really could have sworn that I was on a different planet. The whole area smelled horribly of sulfur and it was quite nauseating really, but very cool nonetheless. I'm quite sure it is the closest thing to Mars on planet Earth.



After this were ancient lava fields that had formed over what was once a lake- when the lava covered the lake steam vents formed and resulted in this really cool landscape that is only seen otherwise on the ocean floor. Very cool. The name of the site translates in to "Dark Castles" and that's really what it was like- these huge structures of black lava that were all intricate and different and such but also have super vibrantly colored trees and plants growing on them. Makes for a beautiful effect!



This evening we also went to our first geothermal pool, a favorite pastime of Icelanders. It was very rejuvenating and quite fun.

Iceland Day 5

Day five was a day of lots of driving along the Eastern Fjords. It was very beautiful, but got a bit repetitive. The Eastern part of Iceland has a few larger fishing villages, but other than that not too much out there. Below are some photos from the drive. The first is one of my favorite photos from the trip- an abandoned farm that is strikingly beautiful in my opinion.





We stayed the night in the town of Egilstaddir in Eastern Iceland, inland a bit from the coast. This was my favorite of all the lodgings; it was in an old farmhouse but was very elegant and charming. Below is a picture of the backyard of the place, very enchanting and would be like my dream spot to get married in. This dinner was also the best of the whole trip I think - I had lamb from a sheep on their farm and I doubt I'll ever have tastier lamb again.

Iceland Day 4

I'm already mad at myself right now because I definitely should have written this earlier so everything was still fresh, but I'll try my best.

Iceland Day 4

Sept 14, 10:10 pm
Another day on the moon. It began by driving through the most surreal landscape I’ve ever seen- miles upon miles of gigantic rocks completely covered in thick, green moss. This may not sound super special, but to see it for miles was rather remarkable and quite moon-like and eery. Next was driving through Skeidarsandur, a vast track of black sandy plain. The sand hand been washed into that area by torrential glacial rivers, following volcanic eruptions under nearby glaciers. The area was so incredibly flat that the expanse of this black sand was austerely beautiful.



We went for a lovely 2 hour hike in a national park that is located in a surprisingly lush area which is located between the black sand plains and the largest glacier in Iceland.




From there, we continued driving along the southern part of Iceland, in view of multiple glacial tongues coming out into the landscape from the main glacier, to a glacial lagoon. Nothing really can prepare one for the carnivalesque sight of huge chunks of glaciers floating around in a river leading out to the Atlantic Ocean (both the mother glacier from which these chunks come and the Atlantic are in view at this point as well). The glacier lagoon was really spectacular. We also went to the Atlantic shore there where the glacial river flows out and there were pieces of the glacier washed up on the black sand shore- rather beautiful!









The hotel night was good tonight too- they had homemade rhubarb ice cream that was probably the best ice cream I've ever had.

Busy busy

Ok, so I know I've been quite horrible at keeping this updated since I arrived in London, but I promise I will soon finish posting about Iceland and then add some stuff about London! Sorry Sorry Sorry... to all like 2 of you that look at my blog (ha).

Iceland Day 3

Sept 13, 10 pm

Where to begin? Today was another awe-inspiring day. First we stopped at Seljalandfoss waterfall. We walked behind the small, but wonderfully enchanting falls, where spray fills the air and the roaring sound of the water is dramatically magnified. It was the most magical natural location I’ve ever been to and it was just lovely! I left there completely enchanted.


Seljalandfoss


Moi behind the falls


Behind the falls


Next stop was Skógafoss waterfall, which looked ordinary from a distance but was amazing up close; you can walk basically directly up to the base of the waterfall (of course I didn’t get too close due to the possibility of death by water pressure) but got quite close. The sound, spray, and refracting light are enveloping. And even better, supposedly a troll hid his treasure behind it! Which is actually quite believable.


Definitely looks like a treasure trove waterfall, yes?


So much mist!!



Speaking of that- on a side note and I know that I mentioned this in my previous post but I am going to again- this place is like Middle Earth meets Harry Potter meets all things magical and whimsical. So great! Neither words nor pictures could ever do justice to the myriad sights, sounds, and experiences Iceland has to offer, but it is definitely a magical place and is so completely fitting to envision trolls, elves, and gnomes, which legends say still exist!

Anyway, after the two waterfalls we took a somewhat precarious gravel road for about 40 minutes to the base of the 4th largest glacier in Iceland, Mýradlsjökull; the specific projectile of the glacier that we drove up to was call Sólheimajökull. We literally walked right up to the glacier- I even touched it! It was a very powerful and quite unreal experience. The glacier was simply massive and overwhelming in it’s majesty; black sand leading up to this glacier that near its base is mostly covered with black dirt, but upon close inspection one can see that this is no snow or mix of snow and dirt, etc., but true crystalline ice. Truly awesome! So yeah, glaciers are pretty nifty.


Glacier!



The last stop today was to a black pebble and sand beach called Reynisfjara. The beach was beautiful- black with white foam coming up from the crashing Atlantic ocean, but even better was the phenomenal basal sea cave and rock formations just off the coast. One of the rock formations totally reminds me of what Harry and Dumbledore are standing on in the most recent Harry Potter movie- so fun.




Some rather large basalt rock formations

Black pebble beaches+crashing white water makes for a beautiful effect

The beauty and mysticism of this enigmatic site made it my favorite spot so far in Iceland, with the first waterfall we went to today, a close second place. The combination of a huge cliff side meeting a black beach meeting the white Atlantic Ocean, plus a cave and two really cool rock formations, made it just brilliant.

To take in all of this endless extreme beauty is quite overwhelming; in three days I’ve seen a capital city, a continental rift, a crater, two geysers, a volcano, a glacier, multiple waterfalls, a black sand beach, hobbit homes in the earth (pics of this to come later), and just overall the most extreme and amazing beauty I’ve ever witnessed in my life.

Oh and I almost forgot! Kenan and I went for a run today and it was probably my favorite run that I’ve ever had. We went down a desolate gravel road from the farmhouse lodging into the mountainside, towards the mountains and up a trail into them. I felt like I could have ran forever, but sadly the further we went the closer we got to a sheep farm, and after about 20 minutes of running down this road we were encircled by about 200 scattered sheep along the field and mountainside, all of whom were baaing and staring at us, which was really quite bazaar and frightening, so we sadly opted to turn around. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic run.

Iceland Day 2

Sept 12, midnight

Today was just amazing. We started around the Golden Circle, first visiting Lake Thingvallavatn, which is situated on the Icelandic rift zone (the mid-Atlantic ridge, which is mostly under the ocean, goes through Iceland). After enjoying a little picnic at the lake, we continued to drive and happened upon a stunning view of the rift; It was indescribably beautiful! Kenan and I mustered some adventurism and climbed up to the top to take a peak into it.


Me on the rift


After that we went to the Geyser Hot Spring area, which has multiple geysers, one of which faithfully erupts every 5 minutes or so- we saw erupt about 5 times during the 45 minutes or so that we were there! Also an interesting little tid bit is that geysers got their name from this specific one- the original geyser if you will.



The geysir!


We then visiting Gullfoss Waterfall, or the Golden Falls, which many believe to be the most beautiful waterfall in Iceland because of its dual-folding formation.






me and mama at Gullfoss


Then we saw Kerið crater, which was super eery but beautiful. According to Frommer's, this is a small but shapely scoria crater, formed 6,500 years ago by a collapsing magma chamber at the end of a volcanic eruption. The crater is 180 ft. deep, with stagnant water at the bottom. The sides are streaked in red, black, and ochre. Björk actually once held a concert from there, with her stage floating in the middle.





September is actually the sheep herding month in Iceland and we’ve witnessed this a bunch so far, which is pretty cool to see. The Icelanders ride on their horses, herding hundreds of sheep back to the farm. It’s a simple but unexpected part of Icelandic life that we happened upon as a pleasant surprise. By the end of the trip, oh really by like day 2 of the trip, we came to the conclusion that sheep are EVERYWHERE... lava fields, mountains, plains, glaciers, the middle of the road... freaking everywhere!





Another silly tid bit is that there are piles of stones all over Iceland, even in super desolate spots. They are obviously done on purpose, but I don't know the reason behind them. It is also general belief that mythical creatures such as elves and trolls live in Iceland (only 20% of Icelanders will admit to not believing in this) and I am convinced that elves are behind these rock piles...



elven mischief


Our farm house lodging for that night was actually at the base of the most active volcano in Iceland, Mt. Hekla, with the last eruption in 2000. Upon arrival in the evening it was super cloudy so we had no idea where the volcano was, but when I woke up in the morning and looked out the window, low and behold, we were literally at the base of a volcano! Pretty neat.


The weather today was basically constant rain. It does add a certain element of mysticism to the land, which is fitting indeed, but I felt like we were missing a lot of beautiful scenery that was hidden behind the thick, low clouds. The notion was verified the next morning with seeing the volcano and while driving and seeing mountains and such that were hidden by the thick cloud cover. Hopefully the weather will improve a bit.

Iceland Day 1

Iceland!
Sept 11, 9:50 pm
I arrived in Iceland at 3:20 pm this afternoon with my mom and brother. We took a road through the desolate, moon-like yet fantastically beautiful terrain from Kevlavik to Reykjavik. After dropping our stuff at the hotel, we made it into Reykjavik, having a pleasant stroll through town and then a fantastic Icelandic dinner! I had a dish of plait fish with a shrimp gratin on top- delicious! Other interesting Icelandic specialties on the menu included puffin and whale. Reykjavik seems like an interesting city of quirkiness and nordic atmosphere that mesh into a dynamic, if a bit small, capital city. Tomorrow we hit the road early to go around the Golden Circle.

Much to come about Iceland

Iceland is just absolutely spectacular. It is so wonderful in its uniqueness, austere beauty, extremism in every form, and just all around wonder. We have three more days here, and I can't wait to see what is next; everyday involves many surprises! A very long post about my 9 days here is on the way, but probably not until I get back to London. To give you a little teaser, so far I have seen: lakes, glaciers, geysers, craters, volcanoes, ancient and kinda new lava fields, a continental rift, lots o' mountains, fjords along the Atlantic Ocean, multiple waterfalls, a glacial lagoon, a highland desert, bubbling mud pits, steaming fissures, and last but not least took a dip in a geothermal pool.

A week in Newcastle

Newcastle has been great! It has a reputation of being a friendly, young, and fun city that enjoys its shopping and nightlife, and it has indeed lived up to that reputation! I've done some lovely shopping, only for necessities of course :) , but also had a great time walking around the charming town during the day, and having a good time in some pubs and clubs at night.

The train ride from London to Newcastle was absolutely perfect. I kept attempting to read my book, but the scenery was just so beautiful I didn't want to miss anything! ... Very good feeling upon arrival in my home for the next year. The English countryside is so beautiful and picturesque, it was a very enjoyable introduction to England.


Newcastle

The week in Newcastle has consisted of day trips to nearby castles, walking around the city center, enjoying a few pints in some pubs, and other similar activities. Some highlights include: visiting Alnwick Castle, where Harry Potter 1&2 were filmed and stopping on the way home from Alnwick at a known-to-be-delicious fish & chips place (and my goodness, it was the most delicious thing ever! No fish and chips I've ever had in the US even compares, it's like a completely different food! So fresh and flaky and just amazing!).


Alnwick Castle- Hargrid's hut was built where I was standing while taking the picture!

Saturday was a really fun day. Two of Pete's best friends from Leeds, Nick and Claire, came and we went bowling during the day, had a delicious dinner at a nice pizza parlor, and went out to a club called the Academy at night. It was indie night at the Academy, and the dance floor was gigantic, making for a fun night.

Claire, me and Jenny at the Academy

Jenny and I went to the coast near to Newcastle on Monday, the only non-rainy day while I was here. It was beautiful!

The Beach at Tynemouth


Climbing on the rocks!


Really cool rocks

Newcastle has been great! It's been good fun hanging out with Jenny and Pete and I look forward to coming up to Newcastle to visit them again! They're having a Halloween party that I am going to try to make it up for, which would probably be great fun; their apartment is perfect for a Halloween party.

Off to London tomorrow!

Ich bin kein Berliner

Berlin is a little bit of an enigma to me. It is not aesthetically beautiful in any way at all, yet has this dynamism that gives the city a feeling of life and freedom. It is a no frills city- ugly buildings, people dress horribly for the most part, the German language is harsh, there is not much of a cafe culture, and the people are not exactly warm, yet the true Berliners seem to be very content with making their own frills, in terms of experimentation and hedonism. In its austerity, it becomes bold and beautiful. I read in a travel book that Berlin is the most avant-garde city in Europe, and I believe that to be true, at least in mentality.
Berlin has a "live and let live" attitude about it, which is great in some ways, but for whatever reason seemed discomforting to me; Berlin makes me feel like a conservative person, which I do not consider myself to be, and that makes me uncomfortable. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but there's something about their austerity that just doesn't fit with my personality I suppose. I like my frills- Europe brings pictures of chic outfits, romantic castles, beautiful gardens, sensual languages, quaint towns, delicious food, and a general joie de vivre that Berlin simply does not fit in to.
Berlin does have its cool aspects though, and I enjoyed my visit. There is graffiti everywhere, similar to NYC in the 1980s, and it fits into the city so well. I really enjoyed the East Side Gallery, which is artwork done about peace and whatnot done along a portion of the Berlin wall that is still standing. I think part of why Berlin is such an ugly city is due to the time that the Berlin wall fell and the city started getting rebuilt; the 80s was not exactly the height of architectural beauty. However there is some very modern architecture, especially around die Reichstag, that is fantastic.


Great Architecture



Other things I enjoyed were the nightlife, which was quite an experience, and visits to the Brandenburg Tor and Reichstag at sunset.

Brandenburg Tor


Taken inside die Reichstag

So, Berlin was an interesting stop in my travels. I enjoyed my time there and all, even if I don't plan on heading back there too soon (this was my second time there anyway). Berlin did make me really think about who I am and who I am not, which I suppose is a good thing, even if the city made me feel kinda uncomfortable yet aware of myself? I don't know, hard to explain, but needless to say, I am happy to now be in England :) .

Sum up of Sweden

My last two days in Stockholm were filled with more walking, a few museums, and lots of fika breaks. I went to the Nordic museum, which was a bit of a let down, but also the Modern art museum which was fantastic! They had an impressive collection and I recognized many of the artists from either classes or working at R.S. Johnson, so that was enjoyable to see. The weather continued to be beautiful, minus a stormy few hours on Wednesday. Below are some more pictures of beautiful Stockholm in the last two days I was there.


This is a picture of the most posh street in Stockholm



Stormy clouds making for a dramatic effect


My Italian friend, Fabrizio, happened to be visiting Stockholm as well and overlapped my time there for a few hours!

Ok, so a few thoughts on Sweden at the end of my two weeks:
-Language: The Swedish language is a very difficult one to understand. It stems from German, so visually it is somewhat familiar, but how they pronounce it is just crazy. It is very difficult to understand. However, the Swedes realize this and therefore everyone conveniently speaks English.
-Style: I really enjoy the Swedish style. For better or worse, everyone is quite conscious of how they look and dress. However, the Swedes are almost a little bit too trendy in my opinion (think H&M). Sweden is very expensive, so people seem to buy a few expensive items, but also a lot from H&M type of stores, making for a very experimental/trendy type of dress, but also meaning though that they do not necessarily keep their clothes for more than one season (again, think H&M- not the best quality and longest lasting of clothing). So basically I really like the Swedish style and it is great to see how everyone is dressed, but it is extremely trendy and therefore somewhat uniform, even in their "experimental" style.
-Everyone in Sweden is extremely nice, but it seems like they maintain a lot of insider/outsider notions. Since I am friends with some Swedes, going out at night and such I was able to comfortably meet people who were my friends' friends and such, but if one does not have some type of "in" it seems like it is difficult to meet people.
-By and by, it seems like a somewhat conservative society (in European contexts). Swedes are extremely law abiding, but also quite unrelaxed.

Overall, I think Sweden is a great country. Other than in Stockholm there isn't very much diversity, but the small town life has a great community and college feel, in Linkoping at least. Stockholm is a city that I think I could see myself living in, which is my new measure of distinguishing places that I visit (there are very few places that I don't like, but also few that I could really see myself living in).

Stockholm!

I've been in Stockholm for the past two days. I thought the city was beautiful when I visited a couple years ago, but it is so much better in the summertime! I would definitely say that Sweden is a place that one must see during the summer months. Yesterday I took a walk around Galma Stan, or the Old town, met Greta (friend that I met at the crayfish party) for fika, walked around the city center and did some shopping damage in some trendy Swedish stores, and then met Linnea (one of the Swedes I met from my friend Connor's "Atlantis" study abroad program) for the rest of the afternoon and evening. It was a day of walking around, which I really enjoy doing the first day of visiting a city in order to get your baring and "get to know" the town a bit before moving to museums and such.

I already said so, but let me just say again, Stockholm is beautiful! The weather has also been fantastic the past two days, making the gorgeous old yellow and orange buildings luminous against the bright blue sky.


View of the Galma Stan


View from the cafe where Greta and I took a fika


Cute bicycle in Galma Stan


Market in the city center. The yellow mushrooms, or kanterelles mushrooms, are everywhere in Sweden during the late summer/early fall months.

Today was another beautiful day in Stockholm that included a lot of walking around. Johan and I went to the Nordic Museum which turned out to be a bit of a let down, minus the exhibit about interior design in Sweden through the past few centuries. As for now, time for dinner!

Archipelago

This weekend we went to my friends’ summer homes on the archipelagos outside of Stockholm. The archipelago is very interesting; there’s a bunch of zoning laws so it is still quite ‘wild’ and there are just a handful of homes on each of the (many) archipelagos. The homes range from extremely luxurious and modern homes to very old cabins that don’t have running water.





The first night we went to Alex’s house and had a great night. We had dinner with his family and then us young ones went to the sauna. It’s a true Finnish (wood-burning) sauna. You spend about 3-4 hours “doing the sauna” wherein you go between the 90 degree Celsius sauna and jumping into the chilly Baltic Sea. They even do this in the winter, when the Baltic Sea is quite icy. They also like to have a few drinks while in the sauna, which ends up having quite the effect since you are sweating so much while in there but also consuming alcohol.

Saturday night we went to Johanna’s house. It is only accessible by a 20 minute boat ride, so we parked the car and then took her speed boat out to the small island (about 10 homes) where her place is. Her place is quite different from Alex’s, which was very modern; hers has been in her family for generations and it is much more of a ‘cabin’ feel, but it was great. Her house is in fact the only one on the island that has running water (toilet, etc), if that is any indicator of the age of these homes. Her place consists of the main cabin, a smaller side cabin, a garage type of thing with ping pong and whatnot in between the cabin and the water, and a sauna right near the water. This is all dispersed over a good amount of land, so it was very outdoors-y, which was great. While walking out to the sauna in the middle of the night I looked up into the sky and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars in my life, it was beautiful!

At Johanna’s we had a crayfish party, a traditional summertime activity in Sweden. You eat crayfish and take breaks every now-and-then to sing a traditional Swedish song and then take a shot of schnapps. Due to crayfish being actually quite little food but a struggle to get at that little bit, you get quite tipsy by the end of this 2-3 hour long dinner of crayfish and schnapps. We had a group of 10 people at the crayfish party, making for a very fun and festive night followed by some intense games of ping pong and then relaxing in the sauna.

The weekend at the archipelago was great. Their two places were very different moods, which was cool to experience. I really enjoyed the sauna and would love to maybe have one someday in my home. I got to meet yet another very warm and welcoming Swedish family at Alex’s and then some very fun Swedish peers at Johanna’s, which was great! The weather ended up not being perfect (first day too choppy to water ski, second day rainy in the morning and then too chilly later to get some sun) but other than that, it was a great time seeing how the Swedes spend their summer.

5 days in Linköping

This week I've been in Linköping, a small college town in central Sweden. Although this is not exactly the tourist center of Sweden, it's been a lot of fun. I've met up with Swedish friends who were in Chicago last year, gone for a couple of runs along canals and through the woods, and basically just got to know the city and relaxed for a few days.


Me, Johanna, Heidi, Per, Sanna, Christofer, and Camilo (friends from Chicago!)

The highlight of the week was a two hour bike ride to the nearby town of Berg to a famous canal and system of locks. The ride was beautiful and I spent a lovely couple of hours there at the beach along the lake, indulging in some blueberry and strawberry ice cream, reading, and taking in the scenery.


Lock system


Me at the lake


Scenery along the bike ride



The weather this week has been perfect: around 72 degrees and fantastically sunny! This had made my opinion of Sweden (which was already pretty good) even better than when it was based off of my mid-February visit 2 years ago. There are flowers everywhere and many berry bushes throughout the woods, streets, and city. This, along with the beautiful Swedish homes, makes for very charming scenery.




Classes began this week at my friends' university. The Swedes are very festive with school spirit and song, which is great. I spent some time on campus one day to check it out, and it was quite entertaining. For the first two weeks of school there are about three upperclassmen for each program who dress in silly costume (Star Wars, Dinosaurs, Ancient Egyptians, etc.) and do not ever smile and walk in military style- single file and marching. They do this to intimidate the freshman in their programs, and are seen as the program leaders. Note the picture below of Scotsmen. Quite silly indeed. The first two weeks are also the biggest party weeks of the year, making the atmosphere in this small college town very fun.