About School

Well, I know I haven't posted much about school, because honestly it's not a big part of my life here. Yes, I go almost every day of the week, yes I meet people through there, but it doesn't feel like a big part of my life like it did in the states.

I don't have much homework, which will probably change. Maybe. I'm only taking 7 classes, two of which are Dance and Gym, only once a week and only 40 minutes long. That makes about 5 real classes.

Oh whatever, I guess I'll give you a picture of my schedule. When there are two classes at the same time, that means I can go to one or the other, or half and half.
Needless to say, I hate Wednesdays and love Fridays.

Most of my time is not spent even thinking about school. I keep forgetting I need to write a paper on the settlement of Iceland. 2 weeks ago. 

But about school: there are 7 classrooms, one auditorium, a dance hall, cafeteria, and a huge lounge for students (which I think is open on weekends? Never really wanted to go on weekends, to be honest). The entire school is covered in copper, so in about 2 years it'll be green.
If you're feeling daring you can go to the website http://menntaborg.is/

yawp.

Observations

So I've been here one day past a month, and I must say, I'm having an excellent time. Of course I have my downs, but I've had significantly less downs than when I was in Texas, to say the least. The scenery is beautiful, I go out on the rocks almost every day and go watch the sea as the sun is setting or in the middle of the day.

I've met some really cool people, people who like actually like me. I have a place to hang out when I just want to hangout somewhere that isn't home, and of course I can just walk home afterwards at 2 in the morning or at 5 in the afternoon if I feel like. I'm given so much freedom, and I'm using it to enjoy Iceland to the fullest. I find myself going out in the cold and the rain and taking the longer routes because I'll never be in Iceland like this again. I'll always have more time to sit inside, get on the computer, check facebook, play a game, read a book, but I won't ever have the same opportunity to stare out at the tide coming in, to talk to the girl sitting next to you, or walk on the black sand. Every opportunity is made up of fleeting moments brought mysteriously together to create something truly magnificent that can never be gained back again. Take advantage of the conglomeration and coming together of the universe that gathered to create wherever and whatever you are right now.

Enough of that. It's time for pictures.

Today I went to a rétt, which is a coming together of sheep and people. It usually ends in singing and teetering, but we didn't stay that long. I only heard a few people singing when we left. Anyways, Réttir is when a bunch of people go into the mountains, gather the sheep that have wandered the mountains all Summer (which I learned is Icelandic law -- it is required to let your sheep wander during the Summer), and bring them back to be sorted into their individual farms.
Essentially, hundreds of sheep are herded into a single pen with however many people who grab them by the horns and throw them into pens to be taken away to their farms. This isn't an arbitrary "throw 12 sheep in a pen and take them away" thing, every single sheep is tagged.

These réttir take place all around the country, usually for 4 or 5 days. Beep boop.

Intereting fact: the Icelandic sheep gene pool has been undisturbed for over 1000 years, so weird anomalies show up and you get mutant sheep every once in a while with 2 heads or 4 horns, sometimes both. I saw two sheep with 4 horns.

Icelandic sheep like to jump. I don't know.

Lots of sheep.

My host sister, Eyrún! And on the left, slightly visisble, my host newphew Baldur.

And of course, more pictures are available on my Flickr!

More observations! 

Me and a few other exchange students have noticed a very peculiar thing about Icelandic buildings: they're largely very modern and have the latest X and Y, but only half of it is finished. Most, and I mean almost all, houses are in some kind of renovation that doesn't seem to be progressing in any direction at all. Take our house for instance, our bathroom is being redone, meaning the concrete floor was ripped up, new piping and everything, and thus we do not have a shower/bath in my house. In downtown Borgarnes there are a bunch of modern apartments that still have the window tags on them, uninhabited for, most likely, years. How long? Probably since 2007, the economic crash.

When the economic crash happened, Icelanders as a whole were undertaking huge building projects -- people were building museums, houses, and moving out of apartments. Then the crash. Most houses remained unfinished or finished without anyone to move into them because suddenly their dollar went from 66 kr to 1 USD to cerca 300 kr to 1 USD. Therefore, half finished houses, expensive walls juxtaposed against cheap counters. Tile floors and leather couches with stairs made out of 2x4s to the second story. It's a little strange to say the least, but albeit with a reasonable and understandable explanation.

No, I have not had hákarl (rotting shark), skata (rotting skate), or svið (also known as Satan's face on a plate). I have had the dried fish. I was not too fond of it. It was more smell than substance.

I could keep writing forever, but no one would read it ;D

If you have any questions leave a comment or email me! AaronDOTwillisDOTtalleyATgmailDOTcom

That's all for now!

Pictures

Because I don't know what's going on here and I can't think of anything to write.

My Flickr (Photos)

Select photos (larger versions are on the flickr page):

Hope you enjoyed them! More are to come, for sure!

Bless bless.

Realities (Full)

Things, of course, did not go according to plan.

August 14th
I got to the San Antonio airport at 6:30, went through security, and my flight was cancelled once everyone was on board. There goes my connecting flight. I left at 4:45 PM and flew to another city entirely for my connection, where I was supposed to have an hour and twenty minute layover, but instead had a 20 minute layover because we couldn't take off from San Antonio for an hour because it was too hot. I'm completely serious. I arrived in Hartford, Connecticut at around 12:30 AM, and met my old friends. They got big, they got buff, their voices got deep. We caught up, we had icecream, we saw a movie, and I bought some clothes.

August 17th
I was woken up at something like 4:00 AM and my friends' father drove me to New York because he works there and likes to leave early in the morning to avoid the traffic. I left Connecticut around 5:00 AM, and did not get to the orientation site around 8:00-9:00 AM. I sat in his office for quite a while and waited for him to get out of a meeting, and we finally got to the double tree hotel (which is in a residential neighborhood, it's really out of place), and I sat around meeting people and messing around until 5. I met the other exchange student going to Iceland, and I nearly choked her when I first saw her. Epic hug. That night, I was getting out my key to go to my room, and my key fell from my hand and under the door. Sigh. As I was calling the elevator, my roommate came up and (at the time I didn't know who he was) and asked him if he was in room 1222. Then we went to sleep, and...

August 18th
Orientation stuff happened. I don't really remember much, but I didn't really care since I was going to Iceland in a matter of hours, right? WELL. During me and Margot's country call to Iceland I got called into what is equivalent to the principal's office, except it's for AFS and there's a bunch of girls in there. I had a skype call with the visa coordinator and she said I couldn't leave that day. I was very frustrated, so was the staff, and especially Margot. It was a sad day, and I was infinitely sad to not leave that day, but right before I left I wrote on Margot's hand "Þetta reddast," which is an Icelandic phrase that DOES NOT translate literally at all that means "It will work out." Apparently when she got there all of the AFS volunteers were just overjoyed that she had something like that written on her hand. I spent that night in a suite next to the only AFS in the building, because ALL of the exchange students left by 5 PM. We ordered Chinese takeout in Queens (which incidentally isn't that great), watched the travel channel, and talked about how we both ended up with AFS.

August 19th

Wake up at 2 in the morning wondering why there is a very confused New Yorker in my room with his luggage. He apologized then left. So I went to the airport around 10, and was on my flight at 2. Then we left at 3 after doing circles on the tarmac for an hour. I got there very tired and excited around 12:30, got to the orientation around 2, and in bed by 3, asleep by 4, and..

August 20th
Awake at 6. I greeted one of the volunteers, Eydis, in Icelandic and she didn't know if I was another volunteer or the new exchange student. :D
I didn't miss any of the orientation, so we started that morning. We made lots of circles, did lots of talking, and did lots of games. Same goes for the next day.
Buuuuuutttt, on Saturday, it was culture weekend in Reykjavík, so the volunteers drove us to the fireworks, unbeknownst to us. It was a spectacular way to spend my first 24 hours in Iceland.


August 21st
AI met my host parents, my mother doesn't speak much english, and my father speaks even less. I ordered in Icelandic at a kaffihús, and I fell asleep on the way home.






So far, a Texan doesn't feel so out of place in Iceland.

Realities

There will be a big post about what actually happened.

Basically, bureaucracy and air travel. More will come, but sfdaasfasdfasfadsf
I'm fairly angry at immigration offices and FBI background checks and AFS and fsdfas.

...

But to quell your curiosity, I'm staying in New York an extra day, and leaving on the 19th, possibly.

Expectations/(Realities)

Here are my expectations and plans for the next couple weeks, and what will happen. I'm sure everything will not go according to plan, which is pretty usual.

Dates:


August 14th: - Leave Texas
August 17th: - Pre-departure orientation in NYC
August 18th: - Leave for Iceland
August 19th: - Arrive in Iceland, 2 day orientation
August 21st: - Everyone meets host family

And now let's explore each date:

August 14th
I'm going to leave San Antonio, say goodbye to my parents and family (fjölskylda), make two connecting flights and arrive in Connecticut around 3 or 4 in the afternoon where some of the oldest childhood friends I have will come pick me up, and we will catch up merry for 2 and a half days. I have not seen them for over 8 years, probably, so that is exciting.

August 17th
I will be woken up at something like 4:00 AM and my friends' father will drive me to New York because he works there and likes to leave early in the morning to avoid the traffic. I'll leave Connecticut around 5:00 AM, and get to the orientation site around 8:00-9:00 AM. There I will meet the other exchange student going to Iceland, hopefully (:DDDD), if she can find me. Just look for the disgruntled kid sleeping in the hotel lobby of the Double Tree. Orientation will occur, which I imagine will be educational and yet boring, lots of stuff we've heard/read before. Expectations here.

August 18th
This day I'm kind of unsure what's happening, because my plane leaves at 8:35 at night. I've read about AFS exchange students going shopping in NYC because their planes leave late, but I don't know if we will be allowed to do that. Hopefully, yes. If not, I get to talk with other exchange students! Then I leave and I sleepily slide into August 19th.

August 19th
6:30 AM, I'M IN ICELAND. FKASFJDFASFDFASDFASDF
There will be an orientation specific to Iceland and all that stuff, and that will last for 2 days. I don't know what will happen there, or where it will, or fdshfjkadfiasdfhs
I just know I will be in Iceland!

August 21st
I MEET MY HOST FAMILY!
I will probably get picked up by my fjöskylda at the orientation and we will cruise along the Icelandic countryside until we slide into Borgarnes, my host-town, and I make myself heima and then...


The adventure begins.


The next post will probably be after the 21st, and you will get to learn about the realities.

Excited face.

Sæll fjölskylda og Internet

Sæll, because the internet is a male.

I got my host family about a week or less ago, and at first, to be COMPLETELY honest, I was kinda bummed. I would be living in Borgarnes which is in Borgarbyggð, a municipality of about 3000 people. I wasn't excited because:
1) It wasn't Reykjavik
2) The town was tiny (smaller than my town of Fredericksburg)
3) IT WASN'T REYKJAVIK

But I got over it. What helped me?

When I visited Canada one year with my family (my mother is from Alberta), we were visiting my mother's sister in Legal (Alberta), which happens to have about 500 people, unbeknownst to me until about half a week ago. I stayed there with my aunt and uncle for 2 weeks while my parents drove around (I was absolutely sick of driving). I had a great time, and I didn't even know how small it was.

So anyways, Borgarnes is about 6 times bigger than Legal, so I should be content.

My host family is a little bit older than my bio family, and they have 3 fully grown daughters (possibly with grandchildren?). My host father is a milktruck driver. Which is kind of awesome.

Here's a picture of Borgranes. It's on a peninsula, so that means I get to see the sea every day! Score!
Iceland is looking better, and Ég er að læra Íslensku smátt og smátt (I am learning Icelandic gradually). And I promise, mun Ég læra Íslensku (I will learn Icelandic)!

Thanks for reading! Keep in touch.

Takk fyrir, bless bless.