Road Trip up North Part 2

Ok here goes part 2. Monday we woke up to Emily's alarm saying "it's 7:00 time to wake up, it's 7:00 time to wake up" which we ignored and went back to sleep till about 8. Finally I got up and went downstairs (I was sleeping in the loft) and started making breakfast and sandwiches for later. It was not too cold out this morning but it was snowing and it looked so beautiful. It felt like Christmas time :). Eventually everyone got up and we ate, cleaned the cabin a bit, and took pictures outside. We headed out around 9am. Our next destination was Sauðárkrókur, the second largest town in northern Iceland with a population of 2635 (and on the way to our final destination Akureyri) except we decided it really wasn´t all that great. As Riitta said "it's ugly, let's not stop."We did however stop at a beach in the town which was nice. It was a black sand beach and it was snowing again at this point.  We continued on our way till we spotted a few horses along the edge of their fence. We had been waiting till we saw horses along the road and only a few of them so we would be able to feed all of them bread and pet them. We spent a few minutes here and I was so happy, I would have stayed longer but my hands were freezing!

We continued on our way toward Akureyri constantly surrounded by huge mountains. I was in awe the whole time, it was absolutely gorgeous! Here is a quick video of our drive hah.


We finally got to Akureyri and went to a café that Riitta knew. We all got coffees or cappuccinos and Riitta and Erin got really yummy looking spinach pies. We then headed to the see the church in Akureyri, Akureyrarkirkja, which is designed by the man who did the church in Reykjavik, Hallgrímskirkja. We couldn´t go inside since there was something going on, but we climbed the many stairs to the top and took pictures and got to see the town from a higher view.
Then we went to get ice cream at Brynja, supposedly the best ice cream in Iceland. I´ve only been to one other place (In Reykjavik), but Brynja was definitely the better ice cream.

Jake, Me, and Emily enjoying ice cream

Next we decided to see Goðafoss, one of the most powerfull waterfalls in Europe. Riitta was so excited to go see it because she worked at it during the summer and had never seen it during the winter. She kept calling it "my waterfall." She however forgot to mention that you have to drive over a mountain to get there. For a little bit of the way it was white out conditions and it was a little scary, but we made it through fine. The waterfall was really cool to see, but sooo windy. We drove over to one side and took pictures and then Riitta said the other side is a better viewpoint so we drove over there but you had to walk to get to the waterfall. It was probably the windiest I have ever experienced so it was really cold but worth it. We basically walked really fast over there, took a few pictures, then ran back to the car. After this we headed back toward Reykjavik and did pretty much the same route we had already taken so we had much fewer photo stops.

Here are some pictures that Jake and Emily took (the rest of mine are on Shutterfly)

Riitta and I in the cabin.

Crater next to the Volcano we hiked.

Goðafoss

Tiny waterfall we saw at beginning of trip by fjord

First stop of trip.

On top of the volcano.

Road Trip up North! Part 1

So this is a little overdue but I am finally going to write about my road trip up to norður Ísland (northern Iceland). We left on Sunday 10/9, the original plan was to leave on Saturday but the weather was so bad in the morning we decided to leave on Sunday instead.  Because we left on Sunday our friend Jake from Vancouver could come with us, so it was my friend Emily who was awesome and drove the whole way, Jake, and these two other exchange students Riitta (Finland) and Erin (Australia). We put out a message on our exchange student facebook group to see if anyone wanted to join us and Riitta and Erin responded and I am glad they did because they are awesome and really nice! We rented a Hyundai Sante Fe and left Reykjavik around 10am. The cabin we stayed at was probably 3.5 hours away but we took our time enjoying the sights and having picture stops probably every 30 minutes. We ended up getting to the cabin I think around 5:30. We stopped at Borgarnes a town about an hour away, although I think we got there in 3 hours with all our stops. We did a little grocery shopping at Bónus and then ate lunch in a café overlooking gorgeous mountains and the shore. Along the way to the cabin we drove around a fjord (this was before Borgarnes), there is a tunnel under the water you can take that is 5km long (we did it on the way back) but we wanted to see the fjord and I am glad we did. It took a lot longer but it was beautiful. We also stopped along the side of the road at this place that had houses for elves/dwarfs. Apparently some farmer just built these little houses and put little figurines in them. Our friend Jake had seen it before and sure enough we were driving along and spotted the little guys so we turned around and stopped.             


We also were driving and our friend Riitta (who has worked at a guesthouse by the waterfall Goðafoss for two summers) told us we could climb this hill coming up. We were driving up to it and it looked steep and rocky and we were all secretly thinking how are we going to climb that? But then there was a sign that side drive to the other side and on that side there was stairs and paths to climb up to the top. It was a short little hike and really awesome views. We were looking at it and Emily, who studies geology, realized it was a crater and when we looked out we could see a lava field. We figured out that we had just climbed a volcano! How cool is that!

Look Mom, I'm on a volcano! L-R: Jake, Riitta, Erin, Me, and Emily

Then we drove for a bit till Emily wanted to stop to look at cool rocks. There was a tiny waterfall with these blue colored rocks, we suspected they were blue from copper. Emily got out her rock hammer and was hammering away at some rocks to get them to open. We each grabbed a few rocks from this place.

We then kept driving till we saw our first snow and of course had to get out and take a group picture.

We drove some more till we got to Skagaströnd where our cabin was. We explored the tiny town of 530 for a little bit (not much to see), there is the only country bar in Iceland here but it was closed on Sundays. We then went to the cabin ate spaghetti and drank tea and hot cocoa while we played card games all night. It was cozy and real fun!

Thanks to Jake for all the group photos, and since I had some serious issues uploading this post I will write part 2 after I eat lunch! 

Music From Airwaves: Of Monsters and Men

Here is a video of a band I saw, Of Monsters and Men. I saw this performance off venue at Kex Hostel on Thursday. Also saw them on venue at Nasa on Wednesday. I will blog later about my road trip up North and airwaves!

Icelandic Music: Útidúr

I'm stealing this idea from my friend Vanessa, but since part of the reason I wanted to come to Iceland was for its music scene I thought I should share some of my favorite videos. This is from one of my favorite bands Útidúr and the song is called Fisherman's Friend.

Religion in Iceland

I decided to blog about religion in Iceland because I have always been fascinated with the churches in Iceland, especially the traditional ones out in the country. Religion in Iceland was initially the Norse paganism until Christian conversion. During the Reformation, Iceland adopted Lutheranism in place of its earlier Roman Catholicism. Today nearly all Icelandic religious followers are Christian, and a vast majority are Lutheran--although church attendance remains low. 89.3% of the population are members of Christian congregations and of that 79.1% are Lutheran belonging to the Church of Iceland. Roman Catholicism is the largest non-Lutheran faith in Iceland, though only 2.5% of the population practice it. It is estimated that half of the nation's Catholics are foreign born with the main groups being Filipinos and Poles. This past Sunday I went to a Catholic mass with my friend Lauren. It was at a church in Reykjavik, about a 10 minute walk, called Landakotskirkja which is the cathedral of the Catholic Church in Iceland. They offer Catholic mass every Sunday in English. It was pretty easy to follow the mass, as there was a program in English and projection screens with the words and lyrics. I noticed at the mass about half or more of the people there were Filipino. They did most of the music; there were three men playing acoustic guitars and a group of men and women singing, which was really beautiful. It was a little different than what I am used to, but that made it interesting. Here is a picture of the church: 

 This church was built by Guðjon Samuelsson who also built the famous Hallgrimskirkja (in Reykjavik) and Akureyarkirkja (in Akureyri in northern Iceland). Both Hallgrimskirkja and Akureyarkirkja are Lutheran churches. Guðjon Samuelsson's churches are said to be inspired by the natural geology of Iceland, especially the basalt columns such as those at the waterfall Svartifoss. 

Hallgrimskirkja

Akureyarkirkja

Then there are the smaller more traditional churches that you see in the countryside, which I personally like better; although, I haven't gone inside one yet. My favorite I've seen so far is the one in Vik. Fun fact from Wikipedia: If the volcano Katla erupts it could produce an enormous flash flood large enough to wipe out the town (Katla is beneath a glacier). The town's church, located high on a hill, is believed to be the only building that would survive; thus, the people of Vik practice periodic drills and are trained to rush to the church at the first sign of an eruption.

Here are some pictures of other churches I've seen on the web:

Update

Here's an update of what I did this past weekend. Thursday I walked downtown to the bookstore with Emily and our new friend Akeem (he just moved in on Monday). We then got a call from Lauren who was with Begga and they wanted to go out to eat. We decided to go to this place called Vegamot, which doubles as a "hip hop" club during the night. Begga and I split a massive plate of nachos, and the others got huge portions of really good food. :) Thursday night was the premiere of the new Sigur Ros documentary, Inni. I went with my friend Emily and Jordan, and before we went inside to watch the film we saw the lead singer, Jonsi, outside and got to take a picture with him! It was pretty exciting for us, although I don't think Jonsi liked all the attention. Here in Iceland celebrities are treated as equals and everyone respects their privacy. The movie was great, we sat on the floor of the venue and there were huge speakers so it sounded as if we were actually at a concert. At the end of the film the venue dropped confetti paper on us, just when they did it in the movie during the last song. Then after the movie we went home, had a snack, and hung out in the kitchen for a while.


Friday I got pizza for the second time this week, because it was Domino's MegaWeek! All pizzas were 1390 ISK, which is pretty cheap here and considering they are normally around 2500 ISK.  Begga's sister Auður came for the weekend which is always fun and she gets to borrow her mom's car. Friday night we relaxed in the kitchen, talking and sharing a bag of Doritos. Then Auður took Lauren and I to Hagkaup, it is open 24 hours and has food, clothing, electronics etc. This week they were having American Days!  So I got some Arizona ice tea and we stocked up on chips, salsa, and candy for the night. We got back to the dorm ate some candy, made nachos, and then decided to watch Drop Dead Gorgeous till we were too tired to watch any more.

Saturday we got in the car (yeah!) and went to get some lunch, we ate at this place that sells food, ice cream, and is also a video rental store. Weird but it was good AND cheap. It costs 690 ISK for a soda, cheesburger, and fries. That is ridiculously cheap here. We then went to a health food store and second hand store where I got a big cozy sweater made in Iceland! Then we went to the flea market and I got a jacket for 500ISK (also really cheap..less than $5 USD). After this we went back to the dorm and I took a nap. We were having another party at our dorm, but this time it was for our dear friend Jordan who was getting deported :(. Before the party we celebrated MegaWeek again and got four pizzas for a bunch of us. Then some people started coming over and we moved up to the attic. This was a considerably smaller party than our other one, but it was nice to get to talk to people. We headed downtown for a bit and ended the night at our favorite hot dog stand, which as you now I frequent pretty often, but it is always with Jordan. Sunday we mostly just lounged around the dorm, I skyped my mom for two hours and then I went to church with my friend Lauren. Around 9pm we decided we should make Jordan a cake so Begga found us a recipe she knew. It was a chocolate cake with a chocolate/coffee icing. It was pretty delicious and nice way to spend our last night together. Here is the recipe:

Skúffukaka
2 eggs
4 ½ dl sugar
2 ¼ dl milk
6 ¼ dl flour
4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
225 g margarine
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ tablespoons cocoa

Whip together eggs and sugar. Stir dry matter into. Melt and cool margarine, add milk.. Cocoa and vanilla last. Bake at 200 ° C for 15 min

Icing
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons strong coffee
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
All mixed with a 3 ½ dl icing sugar, placed on the cake while it's warm.

Monday was Jordan's last day here. The reason he had to leave was because he is 17 and you can only get a student permit if you are 18, even though he is enrolled in the university and had been here a month. By staying he risked getting blacklisted to all of Europe and he didn't want to risk that. So he had to leave us around 2:30pm. Before he left he was interviewed because he is kind of famous here in Iceland. He taught himself Icelandic in three years back in Vancouver, and because of that was interviewed on Icelandic tv back in April. This time they interviewed him about getting deported and they filmed all of us saying goodbye to him, so we were on the channel 2 news! Here is the link to the page:  http://www.visir.is/urvalsnamsmadur-rekinn-ur-landi-vegna-aldurs/article/2011110929246?fb_ref=top&fb_source=other_multiline. That's the story, which you can translate in google translate, there is also a video to the right of the picture. Best part of the translation: "Jordan said goodbye to his friends at the university today and flew home to Canada where he has to wait to be old enough. His friends were so bent with grief that they wept."    That may have been an exaggeration by the reporters haha. Although we weren't so bent with grief that we wept, we were really bummed and will miss Jordan dearly. He is coming back for the next semester, but since I am only here for one semester I may not see him. But regardless we will stay in touch and we are already planning on skyping him real soon! 

Screenshot from the news!

Draumalandið

Today in my culture class I watched the movie Draumalandið, which in English means Dreamland (trailer above). It is an environmental documentary about Icelandic politicians and businesses who try to lure aluminum production to the country. Iceland is an ideal place for this industry because of the hydropower and geothermal energy opportunities. Iceland saves the companies 200 million because they are using much less energy. It specifically looks at ALCOA, a company I am familiar with from my studies at St. Lawrence. ALCOA now has two plants along the St. Lawrence river and has been there for over 50 years. They have continued to pollute the air, water, people, and animals for years. There is a Native American reservation bordering ALCOA and they have had to stop farming and fishing, which are a huge part of their culture, due to the pollution. The women are advised not to eat the fish because they carry PCBs which can cause detrimental health defects to the women and their children. Now ALCOA is coming to Iceland. This angers me because I've seen the plants (in NY) and learned what they can do to people and their culture.

After I saw the movie I left feeling enraged and saddened. I was enraged that Icelandic politicians are letting ALCOA come into their country, and greeting them like heroes. I was enraged that ALCOA emits as much CO2 as 200,000 cars and uses enough electricity to power a city of over 1 million people. I was mostly enraged at this one women, who I think works for the government, when she said that this one area (where they were going to flood for a damn) wasn't even that beautiful and it doesn't matter if it is under water. First of all, the area was beautiful (all of Iceland is) and by flooding it you are killing vegetation, insects, birds, and other flora and fauna. The film shows the area being flooded and a duck sitting on a nest being washed by the water. You see the eggs float away from the nest, and one that was just starting to hatch gets submerged into the water. It was heartbreaking to see. It was also heartbreaking to see the beautiful Icelandic nature and know that industry is being proposed into those places. Part of the reason I came here, and I think why most people do, is because of Iceland's unspoiled natural landscape. You feel as if you are in a country untouched by dirty business and pollution. If they continue to let these industries exploit the natural resources of Iceland, I think many will be outraged and tourism--a huge part of the economy--could suffer.

This video shows some of the beautiful scenery and the destruction taking place. 

Update: Thursday the author of the book and the producer of the film talked to our class about his work and the movie. He had no background on the issues but wanted to write the book so that others could understand the reality that was going on. The dam that the movie focused on in Eastern Iceland has doubled the energy production in Iceland. However, the project has also killed 90% of the biomass in a nearby lake. They have already harnessed 5 times more energy than the nation needs, but they are still looking to build more smelters and dams. I think this is ridiculous as they don't need more energy and it's destroying the land, species living there, and farmers livelihood. Additionally, Iceland has the highest tourists per capita in the world. They come to Iceland for the nature not to see dams and smelters. Some positives though that have come from the film is that all the "silly politicians" that were in office during the filming of the movie, are all now out of office. People are also speaking out against ALCOA. The film showed this town Husavik in northern Iceland where they have proposed a smelter. I haven't been to this town, but it is on my list of things to see as Husavik is the "capital" of Iceland for whale watching. In the film they show the people cheering and celebrating for ALCOA. There is one family however who has farmed there for years and they would lose their farmland if the smelter was built there. The grandfather even said he would rather take his car and drive off the cliffs by their house than see ALCOA come in and lose his farm. Well the author went there and showed his film to them and did a Q&A afterwards. He said the mayor and some of his friends were acting like school bullies and giving him a hard time. However, then one man stood up and said thank you for the film, and that he hadn't spoken up before because he was afraid to stand up and voice his opinion--mostly due to the mayor and his "bullies." The author said a bunch of people, at a gas station, a coffee shop, etc kept telling him thank you. As of now there is no smelter in Husavik, but there are companies--including ALCOA--still trying to get the piece of land next to the farmers. I hope that it does not happen, for the sake of the farmers, the people, and the beautiful area that is Husavik.