27 Nov
It’s here, y’all! Everyone back home always asks me questions, and the weather is among the more popular subjects. I never know what to say, ”Yeah, it’s really freaking cold here.”
But cold doesn’t count unless there’s snow, right? I don’t know, but here’s a picture of me with my favorites in front of the Reykjavík pond.
L to R – me, Emily Anderson, Emily Wall, Lauren Pietrek. I’ve linked to their blogs up top.
Hopefully the snow is here to stay! I love it.
20 Nov
As you’re probably well aware, it’s not called soccer. It’s called football, and every time I call it soccer, the guys on FC Bumbi roll their eyes and laugh at me.
I’ve been practicing with the guys on a regular basis now. They’re nice, and it’s pretty good exercise. It’s amazing how quickly touch comes back with a little practice. But even though I’ve been running almost every day, I can’t keep up with some of the guys (well, most of the guys). With their long legs, they’re hard to defend and to dribble past. I do a lot of passing, and I make a lot of weak shots. Funny, that sounds a lot like high school, huh?
Anyway, here is a funny picture from our post-game pubbing. Petur drunkenly got the club’s logo tattooed on his calf while on a weekend drinking trip with the boys. They agreed that the tattoo entitled him to free everything. He doesn’t have to pay team fees or pay for hotels on tournaments, etc. Sounds pretty rad…but tattoos are 4 lyfe.
19 Nov
Last Saturday I accepted an invitation to attend a yoga class across town at Yoga Shala.
If you live in Reykjavík or are thinking about visiting and are curious about yoga studios here, I highly recommend it. The space is gorgeous, and the atmosphere was super relaxed, which is always nice the first time you go to a new studio. I think it’d be pretty dumb to tell y’all all about the class, but it was great, and I walked the 5 km home instead of taking the bus. Saw parts of the city I wouldn’t have otherwise, and it was really pleasant. I smiled at people, which is very unusual behavior in Reykjavík, the whole way home.
So, I was all stoked on yoga, and I was like Imma get a membership and get all bendy and skinny before I go home, so I went to yoga the following Monday, at a studio closer to my dorm that’s a heck of a lot cheaper than the one all the way in 105 Reykjavík. There are only three yoga places within bus distance of me (or maybe in all of Iceland), and two, including Yoga Shala, are too far to walk, especially in the usual weather, so I thought I’d get a membership at the one right around the corner from me.
I won’t tell y’all too much, but the building was great, all cedar and with a giant window looking out to the famous pond in the downtown area. Then, class started, and it was pretty strange. It was like boot camp yoga. I mean, maybe this is what yoga is like in India with a lot of chanting and repetition, but the instructor was….really intense. In short, I did not feel like a moon goddess or lotus flower or any of the things I want a yoga class to make me feel like. I pretty much felt like a fat, tight, American loser with no balance or coordination. I really like it when yoga teachers say things like, This is your practice. Do what your body tells you. Don’t worry what the person next to you is doing. Close your eyes. Enjoy the pose. Breathe. Smile….blah blah blah. While I didn’t feel like I made a fool out of myself, I didn’t feel great when I left. I won’t be going back.
I’m looking forward to Lifetime Fitness yoga classes with housewives in coordinated yoga outfits and tshirts saying things like, ”Running Sucks,” and of course, ”Life Is Good.” Yoga is a good thing. I miss it.
Speaking of yoga, please enjoy this photo of a bear.
16 Nov
Ólafur Arnalds, and his whole family of talented musicians, is super popular with American tourists. I’m sure Icelanders like him too. His music is very nice.
14 Nov
So yeah! The second Inspired by Iceland event I attended was a soccer game! I was invited to play with ”the funnest team in Iceland,” FC Bumbi. Bumbi basically means a fat man’s belly. The motto is (in Icelandic) Beer, Belly, Football.
I thought, surely, loads of tourists will want to participate in this event, but no one else showed up! But it’s their loss, seriously. I had an awesome time. The guys were really nice. They let me use one of their spare uniforms, and they let me play right wing!
It was a little weird though. When I walked into the locker room, some guy with a British accent was talking about ”Vanessa Parks,” so I was like, ”Uh, hey, that’s me. Can I help you?” And this guy was like, ”Can I interview you for this documentary I’m filming about Inspired by Iceland?”
I said yes, but I should have really, really said no. I was so awkward! He asked me why I chose to play soccer with these guys, and what I meant to say was, ”Well, I’m a vegetarian, and a lot of the events are based around food, so I try to choose the more active events like yoga or outside activities like dog walking,” but instead, I made word soup and said something like, ”Events usually food meat. I’m a vegetarian. Yoga and dog walking are outside fun active things. Not food. So yeah.”
I could seriously feel all the blood in my face. I really, really hope he doesn’t use any of that footage and say, ”Even the people with aphasia can find a place here in Iceland!”
He filmed the first half of the game too. It reminded me of high school, except that people were smoking and drinking on the sidelines. Woot Europe!
We went to the pub afterwards and talked about pressing political and cultural matters.
They posted summary of the game (in English) on this site here! Read it!
13 Nov
I may have briefly mentioned Iceland’s fabulous new tourism initiative, Inspired by Iceland, but I think I should just got ahead and tell y’all all about it.
So here’s the concept: Icelanders post videos inviting tourists to do cool stuff with them. Only in Iceland could strangers be stoked to meet other strangers, invite them into their homes, do potentially awkward things together etc. So, tourists get on this little website, watch some videos, and if any catch their fancy, they can just sign up for the events through Facebook.
Here’s the link where you can see the invitations. Some are really adorable, some are really funny, and some are awesomely creepy.
http://invitations.inspiredbyiceland.com/
Naturally, as a student, I’m going to sign up for all the free things that doesn’t conflict with my classes. I plan on taking advantage of a lot of these.
The first event I attended was DOG WALKING. I got to hang out with a wonderful Icelandic gentleman, my friends and an Icelandic sheepdog named Mosi.
Precious! I want one now.
10 Nov
Iceland is really funny about their candy. Icelanders eat a LOT of candy (only adding to the mystery of how they’re all so slim), and every Saturday candy that comes out of the little dispensers is half off. So Friday night/Saturday morning, you can find a ginormous line of drunk adults waiting to buy candy.
Most of the candy is licorice based, so that’s whatever for me. I’m not so crazy about licorice, but it’s good in small amounts. But some of it is sooooo goooooood.
Opal, and something similar called Topas, is really licoricy and is supposed to taste like menthol. At first I was like ew gross, but it’s kind of grown on me. Having one or two dots of it is kind of refreshing, but when I see girls in class eating a whole box, I’m like ew gross. Also, there’s liquor made to taste like it. So, kids grow up eating this candy, and when they grow up, they graduate to drinking it. Taking a shot of this is pretty brutal, but after the menthol burning subsides, you feel clean and kind of fresh. It’s weird.
Then, there’s my favorite, Þristur. I don’t really know how to describe it. It’s a long skinny bar of chocolate with soft chocolaty nougaty stuff on the inside with little flecks of licorice. YUM. I’m definitely bringing a TON of this home.
YUM! Don’t you want to come to Iceland now?
7 Nov
Haffi Haff makes super fabulous clubbing music, and I <3 him. This is him performing on Iceland Idol (LOL).
See, Iceland isn’t all hipsters….just mostly.
5 Nov
So, yesterday, I submitted my first paper here in Iceland.
I´ve written other posts about school here, how some people think it´s ´easier´ or whatever. Honest truth, it kind of is. But, I´m not on pass/fail like other normal exchange students, so I´m kind of working my ass off. And I thought it would be really cool to take two masters courses. This was before I remembered that I´m one of the world´s worst students.
All I had to do was write a 1500 word essay on the topic of my choosing, simply relating it somehow to anthropology and sensory perception. I knew about it all semester. And still, I managed to turn the whole writing/editing process into a nightmare.
You´ve probably been to college. You probably know how this happens. You probably know that thirty minutes before an essay is due that you´ve procrastinated on, you might or might not have a minor panic attack. I usually do.
And ya know that when you do an MLA header, you usually include the professor´s name? Yeah, well…
I wrote a nonsense Icelandic-style name because I couldn´t remember his. And I forgot to change it before I submitted it. Great job, V! You´re off to a great start!
UPDATE
I got an A on this paper (:
28 Oct
But I think it´s one of my favorite things ever. I could seriously look at this all day.
http://feministryangosling.tumblr.com/
