One More Day

I'm down to only one day left abroad! I really have no idea how this happened. There must be a wormhole behind me somewhere, soaking up all the time. That's how that works right?

I made it to Reykjavik! My last stop on this amazing adventure.

It was a super easy trip to Iceland from Glasgow yesterday, I slept through most of it actually. Don't know what it is about me and sleeping while traveling... I just can't help it! 

I arrived in Reykjavik in the afternoon and still had tons of daylight to spare. The sun doesn't actually set here. It gets sort of twilighty, but no darkness at night. Checked into my hostel, Kex (means biscuit in Icelandic) a retrofitted biscuit factory (see what they did there) which is soooo awesome. It has a bar downstairs complete with outdoor patio, book trade shelves, and amazing views of the coast.

At breakfast this morning.

I set out to explore as soon as I got my key. Being cooped up at the farm for two weeks was fun, but I missed streets and other people. 

Turns out Reykjavik is much smaller than I expected; I walked the length of it between yesterday afternoon and this morning. Hit up Hallgrimslirkja (the church in the first photo), and perused the touristy shops on the Main Street. There are a lot of really interesting design stores, and thrift shops, but mostly ones with windows filled with puffin stuffed animals, or mass-produced knitted mittens. Since the economy collapse, tourism has been the best money making enterprise, so all the businesses that closed after the banks went have been turned into tourism shops. So they are everywhere... It's a bit depressing, but at least people are here spending money. 

I spent the bulk of my first full day touring museums. I bought the Reykjavik Welcome Card which was a deal for 48 hours. So all my museum entries are free. I started with the Settlement 871 +\-2 Exhibit. It is the preserved remains of the original village where the city now stands. It looks like they built the museum over the site, but don't quote me on that.

There's one longhouse within the building, along with hundreds of artifacts like fishing hooks, swords, and wall remnants to clue us into what life was like back then. The collection is pretty extensive. 

There were interactive screens too so the kids won't get bored. 

The next one I explored was the contemporary art museum. I'm not educated on contemporary art enough to comment on most of this exhibit, but it was interesting to see the variations through the last three decades.

The next and largest museum was located at the Old Harbor, the Maritime Museum. Now that was interesting. Since the majority of the workforce was and still is fishermen, there is a lot of information and artifacts to educate us with. 

Lots of boats of course.

Finally, was the National Museum of Iceland. This encompassed the culture and history of the people of Iceland starting with settlement a thousand years ago up until independence from Norway. The modern history section was a bit lacking for someone educated in America, since our history classes tend to cover only that... I was hoping to get a lesson so I know a lot more of the country's history I'm visiting. Instead, I'm going to a really good bookshop tomorrow to do some light reading of the past 100 years of culture. Already got a book recommendation. 

Here's the pride and joy of the national museum, miniature Thor/possibly first representation of Christ in the Icelandic culture. It's talked up a lot, but it's about the size of your thumb... They're own metaphorical Mona Lisa.

The last adventure of my day was relaxing at a geothermal pool. There are several of these around the city, and while it's not Blue Lagoon (which is ridiculously expensive! What are they using those entry fees for? It's a natural lagoon, there's no upkeep!), they are all still heated geothermally and are community oriented. So I sat in a hot pot for awhile and then did the steam bath/cold pool alternating a couple times before calling it a day. 

Well, almost. I had heard about Iceland and their icecream, so I had to try one of the famous places just around the corner from the pool. Lesson #1: never order ice cream when you are starving. The smalls were still very large, but when the woman pointed, I said medium. Why!? It was the size of my head!

That's insane! It's a medium! That's huge even for American standards!

Of course, I couldn't finish it, but I'm glad I got to try their cream based (not milk based), candy loaded ice cream while in Iceland.

I finished off the night with a jazz concert at the hostel bar, and another famous food here, Icelandic hotdogs. Is it really local fair if you just keep putting "Icelandic/French/British" in front of it? Who cares, it was delicious!

Last day tomorrow, hopefully be able to post before my flight out midday Thursday.

See you soon America!

Baggage Claim

I'm home!

Had that title sitting in my draft section since three weeks ago. As if I would forget to use it...

I arrived on American soil at Dulles at 7:10 thursday night but didn't get out of the terminal until 8:30... The US Customs system is highly inefficient, I don't think anyone left there remotely happy.

But I walked out into the arrivals area to my parents and cousin (filming me being awkward of course) holding a 'welcome home' balloon and waving wildly. It was a great thing to come off a six hour flight to, and I was definitely happy then.

After arriving in so many airports and train stations without knowing anyone and seeing so many families reunited, nothing felt better than having someone waiting for me at the end of this journey. 

It's a bit blurry because we were all ready to get outta that parking lot.

We all piled into our new Subaru (it's real nice) and drove back to Springfield. That was weird, because nothing has changed but everything feels different.

The Uncles and the Boyfriend were waiting at the house to welcome me back. With Chipotle no less! We had a great meal and talked late into the night; well, 10pm EST but 3am UK time for me... So I passed out and slept a full 8 hours until 6am when I popped awake fully rested. I weeded the garden, downloaded all my emails, made breakfast, and then my parents got up. We had a great day of unpacking, Whole Foods shopping, painting the new bathroom, and catching up on Doctor Who. I was all excited to make dinner for everyone but ended up being too jet lagged...

 I got about 48 hours at home with my parents before the Boyfriend and I headed up to Deep Creek Lake. I was welcomed back in true American style: with great friends, awesome tacos, and some fireworks.

Everyone dressed in their red white and blue best and we had a grand old time.

It was a quick way to get over jet lag, but very difficult. You know what else has been more difficult to adjust to than I thought? Being with people all the time. I mean, I was with other people when I was traveling, but that was different. I didn't know those people. But don't worry, I'm adjusting quickly to conversations of more than just, "Where are you from? Where have you been?" And my wardrobe has grown significantly. I have so many clothes! Why did I ever think I had nothing to wear??? 

Now I am up in New Hampshire spending time with the boyfriend's family and some of mine in Maine next week. 

I'm not quite sure how or if I'm going to end this blog. I might do one more post on what I missed about America and what I miss about Europe, but other than that I don't travel enough to keep this up as a travel blog. Maybe a food or rowing blog... Either way, it's been fun keeping you all updated on my adventure and I hope you've either learned something or been inspired to galavant somewhere yourself!

Now to plan my next trip!!

Lot of Leavin' Left to Do

I realized today that in my last post I only gave a laundry list of what I've been doing, no thoughts on Iceland in general. And since today is my last here, better now than never, right? 

First of all, this entire town is a Columbia/North Face/ LLBean advertisement. I guess everyone is either coming back from or on their way out to do some serious trekking when in Reykjavik. And everyone is gorgeous. Ad companies for those brands would save a ton if they just walked around with their cameras a bit. Makes me feel unprepared. What I'm unprepared for, I'm not exactly sure...

Second, there is art everywhere. The architecture is fascinating, there's street art, tons of museums, and sculptures around ever corner or on top of the hills. 

Some crazy stuff.

Third, the pace of life is very relaxed here. I haven't seen much activity before ten in the morning either days. And unless everyone is going to work at 6am, I'm assuming they're all taking advantage of the late summer sun and staying out late instead. Can't argue with that. No one is rushed, which makes for a great tourist town. If you make a mistake and might get embarrassed, the locals don't even bat an eye. It's not so much a sel-centered culture, more of a, "you do you" kind of vibe. 

Fourth, steam baths and salt pools are the greatest 'invention' ever! Went to another pool today (Laugardalslaug), and learned how to perfect the alternating temperature thing. I feel like a whole new person! I wish these community pools were as popular in the US, with hot pots and steam rooms and water slides etc. Yes, those were all at the pool today.

Fifth, volcanic soil is pretty, and the rocks everywhere are really cool.

Yea, that one was short, but it's true.

Sixth, the weather is crappy here in the summer. Or great! Depending on what time of day you step out. I've worn almost every layer I brought just keeping up with the change of weather within one day. There's been a lot of rain, but no downpours. And the sun comes out at the right moment so most days there's a rainbow!

Lastly, everything is really expensive here. Especially in Reykjavik. Of course they have to import most of their food stuffs because it's an island and everything, but since 2004 it's been a little more rough. A carton of strawberries was the same price as my breakfast, around $12. Shocking to many tourists, but the average salary here doesn't really make up for the price hike. Disclaimer: I am not an economic specialist, all of this information here has come from a bartender at my hostel and an Icelandic wwoofer when I was in the Netherlands. All around, it just seems like a terrible situation and hopefully improves soon.

On to less depressing things!

I explored Videy Island today, just a short ferry ride out from Reykjavik's Old Harbor. It's a small island (about 4k long and 2k (if that) wide) with lots of paths and a tea house. It's also where the Peace Tower Yoko Ono built in memory of John Lenon.

It's smack dab in the enter of the harbor, where the first stone house was built in all of Iceland. It was a thriving village at one point, and then just a monastery. Keep thriving in context of the city, which only two decades ago was about the size of JMU. Now Videy is a place for people to visit and walk around in the wind. And it was windy. I almost got blown over into a hill at one point!

The one tree on Videy. But actually...

And, most importantly, nothing between me and the US now!

Well, except for that little strip of land and a seven hour plane ride... But no matter! I am all packed up for my flight tomorrow morning (after my haircut, gotta look my best) and ready to go! 

No idea how I got it all back into my bag, but everything fits. Picked up a few large souvenirs, so I actually am surprised I dont have to leave anything. Other than my jeans; I've had to patch them twice already and I definitely will not need jeans for the summer in DC.

I'm dreading that moment when the doors slide open at Dulles and the humidity hits... I probably shouldn't have started in the most similar climate to home and gone colder gradually. Should have done the other way round. Because  55 degrees and windy today to 98 and 90% humidity tomorrow will be a shock.

But my family will be on the other side of those doors so that terrible humidity feeling will be cancelled out! (Hopefully)

Once I get on the bus to the airport, I no longer have to worry about where I will end up next; I already know exactly where I'm going.

So long Iceland, until next time!

Here For a Good Time

Today was my last day in Skipness. Very bittersweet. Mostly sweet because I am so pumped to visit Iceland for a few days, but bitter nonetheless. These last few days have been awesome and so fun. Two other WWOOFers showed up on Wednesday to make us a party of five. It's a little cramped in the house but with the wood stove on a rainy day it feels nice and cozy. 

This week has been thoroughly exciting compared to the last, when I was the only wwoofer. I found that I was counting the days until I headed home rather than enjoying my time here. Now with everyone here, I don't want to leave!

We have made a huge dent in the rhododendron burning and firewood collection project with double the people as before. But those aren't the exciting things! I finally got to work in the garden and greenhouse, tying up beans and planting leeks.

There's a scaredy cat peacock that lives in the garden, and is very good at getting in the way.

I also went horseback riding with Rupert's cousin who runs a horse summer camp every few weeks. Haven't ridden since Girl Scouts, back in the day, but it wasn't too difficult to remember. We went all around the estate, even across a stream. It was very exciting.

The next day we stacked firewood for most of the day. That was really exciting...

The rest of the afternoon was absolutely
wonderful. We went to the Seafood Cabin, which is run out of the big house and quite popular for the tourists. It overlooks the sea, the castle, and a couple of fields so you really feel like you're in Scotland while chowing down.

There's the big house/cabin from the top of the castle.

The food was amazing. Best seafood I've ever had. Sorry, Maryland. After dinner we got roped into playing a ballgame out in the sheep field with the cousins and some French guys that work in the cabin for the summer. It was a mix of baseball, cricket, and rounders. So whichever team was losing would pick a rule from the sport that would help them the most and argue for that one. We played until we were exhausted (about three hours), and then collapsed in the field with some local beers from the island of Arran. It was a great day.

Today was yet another great day. We started off  early and took to the heather for a hike. It's much more difficult than it sounds. There are cliffs and gorges and uneven fields, cow dung, and lots and lots of ticks. We went up to the top of the dun, which used to be a lookout point for the castle of each end of the loch and the glen. Made for some amazing views.

 

Except for the rain and fog of course, it was beautiful. Got drenched all the way through, happened upon sheep, and saved the dogs from falling into a cave. Very exciting afternoon. After hiking around the estate we came back to the house where we threw logs on the wood stove and warmed up with some delicious soup and homemade bread. Finished another book too... Spent the next few hours sharing stories, baking rhubarb crumble, getting chiropractic advice, and drying out our clothes from the hike earlier. All four of us get on really well, we all wish our stays had matched up a bit more. These last four days have been spent with amazing company.

Tomorrow I take the bus from Tarbert back to Glasgow where I wait for my flight out to Reykjavik Monday morning. I am really excited to finally go to Iceland; have been since we had a connecting flight there on the way over to Amsterdam. So I'm ready for some geothermal pools and traditional icecream! 

Don't worry Scotland I'll be back soon!

Give Me Back My Hometown

Only two weeks left! Whew how has the time flown by? When I got on that plane to Amsterdam I thought two months will take forever... But everyone commenting on my trip was right, it has gone by so quickly. Now I can finally start the countdown to coming home with a less absurd number than 37 days or something. I heard that when you're away, you dream of home and then when you come back you dream of your travels. Not sure about the latter, but I have been dreaming of home. Sort of... I dream about things like using my phone without needing wifi, and normal sized refrigerators, or driving my car, and Mac and cheese, or the occoquan docks. Whole Foods makes a lot of appearances. So let's see what random things my brain will pull up when I'm back with all those creature comforts. 

Another rainy day here in Skipness. You couldn't even see Araan today for all the fog/drizzle. Wish I had done my long run yesterday instead of today. Running in the rain for an hour and a half is... Well, gross. My time here so far has been plenty interesting though; less work in the woods than I expected but that should change next week. It's been just me and Rupert (the owner) this past week and he's been working on an access road to haul out some oaks so I've been left to my own devices. Been chopping a lot of wood... And scraping windows... But those boring jobs have been offset by painting a sign for selling the firewood, and getting back on my running schedule. When the other wwoofer shows up on Sunday (he got off schedule) we will be doing a lot more clearing in the wood since it's a three person job. 

Yesterday I walked up to the Skipness Castle.

It's pretty impressive. Even in the state it is in now.

That was at 10:30pm by the way... The sun sets at about midnight and rises at 4:30ish at this time of year. So little more than four hours of darkness. Means we can get a lot more work done outside. It also means the sheep stay in the field outside my window for 24 hours; no reason to put them in the barn when there's so much light. When the sun comes up, they start talking again... Most of the time it's a few baas here and there, nothing I can't sleep through. But then someone says the wrong thing or they all agree or something, and then the whole field goes up for about five minutes. It takes awhile to settle back down... 

Here's from this morning at 5:30am when they all kept it up for about half an hour. Not conducive for sleep... So it goes.

The rest of my day will be spent baking bread, drinking tea, and reading since it's raining too hard to get anything done sufficiently. Can't complain I guess. 

Who am I kidding, I'm so content here I might just stay :)