Should have brought the Hannah Montana wig with...

This will be a fairly materialistic entry about my week.

I believe I have already written about the weather here and how it rains an unpredictable amount throughout the week. That being said my rain boots I bought last year at Filene's Basement have seen many puddles. Last week I found my first crack in one of them. I bought super glue that day and fixed the small crack. I found another crack on the other boot Wednesday and another one of Thursday! Needless to say I am very sad, I do not want to get rid of my first pair of rain boots. They are so beautiful to me. But at the same time, I am living in Iceland for two more months and the winter has just started. I may have to cave and buy a new pair...

I had my first Icelandic hot dog on Wednesday night. I hate hot dogs, but I would have another one here without a doubt! My friend Bryndis (who is half Icelandic) took me to this outdoor hot dog stand that is very famous in Reykjavik because Bill Clinton ate there. You may be wondering, what is so special about Icelandic hot dogs? Good question. Bryndis believes they are so amazing because they are made out of leftovers from the normal hot dog animals but also with lamb. They put some meat on it, two kinds of onions, two kinds of mustard, and something white. It sounds disgusting, but its not.

Friday's are always my favorite days here because I don't have class and they have become my coffee day. Yesterday Charlize and I went to a new one that was upstairs the building in the picture above. So cute.

Last night Charlize and I went over to the Garman family (the missionaries) and had a bible study with three other Icelandic families. We started the night off by singing an Icelandic worship song and it beat hearing a worship song in Spanish. I have never heard something so beautiful. My goal is to be able to sing that song before I leave. Pronunciation is so hard for me, but I want to be able to praise God in Icelandic too. I still can't believe that within a week I am connected to a group of Christians in Iceland. God is so good.

I should start getting ready for the day. I'm going to make banana bread and my Halloweens costume. :] Bless friends.

loving the clouds

"Iceland is kind of a big deal" is a saying that continues to pop up whenever I leave the dorm. I don't know why, but the nature is more breath taking this past week then it has since I've been here. The clouds are my new obsession without a doubt. They sit so close to the ground almost in reach of those who are grounded by gravity. Now that the sun rises around 9am I have the wonderful pleasure of watching the dark night sky turn from green, teal, lighter blue, orange, yellow, and finally sky blue. (Although it is harder to wake up without light shinning in my room) As I type tonight (7:15pm) it looks like it could be midnight. The limited amount of light during the winter is part of Iceland and I will embrace it with open arms.

Thursday was a very sad day for me because I bought my plane ticket home. It feels like a death sentence to my semester. My days are numbered from here on out and it made me start to realize I haven't done nearly as much as I wanted to. Thus I made a list of all the things I want to do before I leave. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with my plans. ha. I have less then two months left, my plane leaves December 20th and I will land at 11:35pm that night. At the moment I am trying not to think of that date and enjoy each day as it comes.

Saturday now has become "Best day in Iceland" because I went climbing with Charlize, Maggie, Tor, and Gerick (along with a few other study abroad students who don't live in our dorm). The 655m high mountain Vífilsfell was our goal and I am proud to say that we all made it (alive!). Yet again the weather was perfect: clear and calm. The first half of the climb was difficult for me but after that point my body was enjoying the challenge. Me and my competitive self made sure that I was the first girl to reach the top but somehow I still had plenty of time to stop, take a deep breath, and capture that moment forever. After that we went swimming in a city close to Vífilsfell. This swimming pool was like all swimming pools in Iceland - outside. I was glad we didn't get hailed on this time. I was exhausted after that active day and luckily so was everyone else so we finished the day by watching Wall-e.

A few weeks ago (while I was busy trying to dominate the world - aka playing Risk) my friend Charlize went to some Icelandic event and met an American missionary family. She got connected with them and they invited her and I over for tea and cheese cake last night. Spending the evening with their family was out-of-this-world (or at least country) for a moment I felt like I was back in the States hanging out with a family from church or my small group. We talked about life back home, life in Iceland, and about what they want to do in Iceland. (which makes me feel sadder that I am leaving Iceland now that I've met this family because I'd love to get involved). I'd have to say we clicked very well due to our similar interests (reading, writing, running, and the midwest). I am very excited for how God is going to work through our new friendship.

Other then that I spend my time reading for classes and hanging out with my friends in the dorm. A new addition to the fun is a large stuffed elf I found at a second hand store. The game of "pass on the elf" has started and I am excited to see how out of hand this game will get. Bless (goodbye in Icelandic) friends!

Birthday Celebration in Two Countries.

I know that if I put off writing any longer I'll never get it done because I am easily distracted and I have a ton of homework to finish. I have decided that I am not going to tell every single detail of the trip or else I won't have anything to talk about when I come home! There is nothing worse then a talkative girl who tells the same stories over and over again.

My trip to Sweden went wonderfully. We didn't have any major troubles with traveling or with our accommodations. Stockholm is a very unique city. A European flavor of Chicago (minus the sky skyscrapers) with a coastal feel and covered in brick. Vastly different from Reykjavik but I did not feel like I was a world away from Iceland either. I find energy and a passion for life coming to a new place and Stockholm did not disappoint. I would have liked to stay there longer, at least a month, to soak in their culture. But that kind of time is not at my disposal, so I will gladly accept the time I had there. We spent about 26 hours in Stockholm wandering around the city, seeing the Royal Palace, the Vasa Museum, beautiful churches, walking along the harbors, and through a dog park, eating amazing candy, shopping, and sleeping. Stockholm was a short trip because our final destination was Jönköping Sweden, which is a smaller town (but bigger than Reykjavik I thought) right on the end of the Vättern lake. On the bus ride there I started to wonder if I was really in Sweden because it reminded me of Minnesota. There were so many fall trees showing off their gift of change and farms scattered about. I'm glad I got to enjoy a little bit of fall because Iceland doesn't have many trees for it to feel like fall.

Jönköping was adorable and so were my friends there. Traveling to places that you have friends in is the best way to travel because they know where to go and can give you the history behind it. It was great to trade stories about cultural differences between Sweden and Iceland. We did some touristy stuff and some local activities like Fika (in Sweden they take an hour or so out of their day where they go out with friends to eat a pastry and have coffee/tea - I believe we should bring that back to the states). On the last night Anna, Abi, Tor, and I went to the Sauna and when we got back Alyssa had made me a birthday cake. They (The north park and Swedish students) sang happy birthday to me in English and Swedish.

My Birthday was very enjoyable even though I spent most of it traveling. We got up at 5am walked to the bus, road the bus till 11, walked around Stockholm one last time (I got some coffee), and took a plane back to Iceland. By five Iceland time we were back in our dorm and my door was covered in news paper cutouts saying happy 20th birthday and a cutout of Iceland. My friends here (who would like me to refer to them as my Icelandic Birthday Elves because it was my day and not a day to talk about all of the sweet things they did for me) put together a pizza party for me. Maxine had the brilliant idea everyone should sing to me in their first language. Well no one wanted to sing alone so they compromised and sang together in their own language. So I have now been sung Happy Birthday in: English, Swedish, Icelandic, Danish, German, and Chines. I have been blessed with amazing friends everywhere I go. Thank you Jesus! That is defiantly a birthday I will never forget.

My birthday fun has continued because the mail is so slow here. On Monday I got a card from Kayla filled with confetti and decorated my floor nicely and today I got a package from my tea time girls that contained MINI WHEATS!! I have already eaten a bowl.

Other then that I have been busy studying for a midterm, took that midterm, took a quiz, read lots of British history and literature, and played some Wii Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. :] It is good to be back in my dorm and settling back into "normal" life again. Although the travel bug has bitten me hard and I have started to talk about visiting some other cities in Iceland before the weather becomes impossible to drive anywhere. I don't have anything brilliant to close with or rant about I just wanted to fill you in on my life and it is time for me to get back to life (which consists of reading more British Literature. wahoo?). Until next time friends.

breath easy (if you were holding your breath)

A love song in another language

A soft breeze beside my ear
tickle the drum that beats inside.
There’s warmth on my face
gently moving its way through
the skin like rhythmic waves that
bring in the tide.

Crash. This is not a sirens call
to me. Crush. Rocks dig,
dig deep into the sand. Crack.
Go the shells that once held
life.

Life is breathing. Life is
beating in every kelp,
critter, and corner. Under
every rock, sand, and shell.
Count the sun’s pulse
off the glimmer of the sea.
One, two, and three.

One solitary guardian built
from the ground up
to illuminate the seasons
with little sun. Your purpose
is three fold: stand, shine,
and signal to those coming
from the vast unknown.
But I’m on the safe side
sitting next to you, admiring
the view.


If you couldn't already guess, that is the poem I wrote at the lighthouse. I am leaving tomorrow morning for Sweden to visit the North Park kiddos with my friend Tor. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel. I'll be back on the day I was born twenty years ago.

bipolar writing mood

As I sit here in my one person white cottage cheese covered walls room there doesn't seem to be much to say. This week feels like a normal routine week. Nothing exciting and nothing awful has happened. I guess I could go as far to say that the excitement of being in Iceland is wearing off. I would say that is a good thing. My mind and eyes are now open wide for the first time. The glamor of the city and nature is not blinding my views. Since last Thursday I have started to see the hidden poverty of the country through the closing of a shop, and a few ragged looking people digging in garbage cans for food. Little Chicagos are everywhere if you are willing to see them.

For my Icelandic Culture class we had to read any article we wanted on Iceland to discuss in class. I decided to look into the current church situation in Iceland and found a BBC special on the church and the economic crises in Iceland. (If you didn't already know, Iceland is broke and owes a lot of money to other countries. 10% of Iceland's 320,000 population are unemployed. Yesterday was the anniversary of the crises). The special had back ground information and called the church out saying it has helped out during natural disasters, but what about this man-made disaster? Something the reporter said has me stumped (I'm not sure if that is the right word) and continues to make me ponder. He said that Iceland never had any martyrs for the faith (they voted on Christianity in the year 1000) and that was it. Is that what keeps the Christian faith alive? Martyrs? Those who are willing to go so far for their faith that they would die? When you look at the history of the church you see "martyrs" everywhere, those who died and those who almost did. Paul and Martin Luther come to mind as do many more. There are still "martyrs" for the faith today in America and in other parts of the world, who are standing up and standing out for Jesus. But in Iceland... where are the martyrs? Everyone here tries so hard to be like everyone else, is there even an Icelander who would be willing to be the first "martyr" for their faith? Are martyrs what keep Christianity alive, its something worthy of pondering I think.

On a more pleasant note I had a visitor this past weekend. My friend Alyssa from North Park, who is studying abroad in Sweden this semester, came to Iceland. She was here from Friday afternoon till early Sunday morning. It was a fast weekend and I tried to show her as much of the city as possible. (ready for this?) WE WENT WHALE WATCHING!!!!!!!!! :] :D :] I was very excited. The day was perfectly clear too (Thank you Jesus). We put on these ridiculous snowsuits with every other tourist and froze only our toes for the three and a half hours that we were out on the sea. I don't even know where to begin! The mountains from the ocean side view are breath taking, the city from the ocean side view is as well. We did see whales. A few in fact. I was shocked we saw as many as we did since the whale watching season is almost over. We saw a few Minke Whale, Harbour porpoises, and White-beaked dolphins. The White-beaked dolphins were my favorite. The last fifteen minutes of the trip (before we turned around to head back) two dolphins kept coming up right next to where I was standing. (can you picture me at that very moment?). Ah. Perfect. The best part of the weekend was being able to talk with Alyssa though. She also is having a difficult time with the (there is no better word) abuse of alcohol with the people she is living with. It's great to know that I am not the only one who is completely out of my comfort zone in that area. I was sad to see her leave so soon but I am going to visit her and the other 14 North Park kids next week. :]

I'm taking another shift in moods. I miss Bethany. There, I have finally written for my whole blog audience to see. I miss my friend. There have been countless times when I have wanted to talk to her (stupid and serious reasons). I never realized how much I rely on her friendship and support until she left for Africa. She isn't a phone call or facebook chat away, but a message that won't get answered for a few weeks. I know that this is her time to be God's hands and feet 100% without any interference from others. I am constantly reminding myself that she has given me more time then ever required and now its time for her to be fully present with God in Swaziland. But that doesn't make me miss her any less. On Sunday I got an e-mail and message from her. I broke down crying at the end of her message for multiple reasons. 1) She is finally living her dream 2) she is literally being the hands and feet of Jesus to broken, dying people 3) she finally saw a real lion, 4) she was sick 5) there is stupid girl drama, which isn't fun 6) she calls me her Iceland friend (and I've been telling people here about my Africa friend) 7) she misses me too... We both are changing apart from each other. I don't know if I like that. I want to hold on to her and never let go. Our situations are so different and I want her to be here with me and I want to be there with her, so we can relate to the others experiences in December. Please be praying for that and her. I am so thankful I can call Bethany my friend.

I'm going to shift the mood one last time. On Sunday I took a long walk (at least five miles) to the lighthouse that is literally on the edge of Iceland. You can only walk out to the lighthouse during low tide. When I left my dorm I wasn't planning on going there, I just didn't want to sit inside my room on another gorgeous day out. Once I got to the ocean I decided to walk along it because the wind wasn't strong for once. Again, can words describe the beauty of that walk? Have you ever went for a long walk/run without listening to music? I can't remember the last time I have, but being here in Iceland I feel like I would be insulting the nature if I was focusing on anything else. The only things I brought with me were my camera, a journal, and a pen. That's all I ever really need here. The walk was well worth it because the ocean was brilliant. Bright, clam, shinning, smooth, comforting, and inspiring. I was not the only one who thought it was a great day to visit the light house. There were families with little children and couples scattered about. For once that didn't bother me. Normally I'd have felt lonely and would wish that I had someone special to share the experience with. But I was completely content sitting on my large rock overlooking the mass of water called the North Atlantic Ocean. I will treasure that afternoon the rest of my life.

Monday night was the first snowfall in Reykjavik, it was beautiful and melted the next morning. Which I am thankful for, I don't know if I'd like snow from October till March. Here is a closing thought for you to chew on: Faith should actually make you more pliable, not less.