Oh, Hey Iceland: Touchdown

Finally! Akureyri! After a long bus ride we arrived at the University of Akureyri, where we waited on the steps for our host families to pick us up. It was pretty nerve racking to wait for our famlies. We were sitting with all of our luggage, anxiously waiting for a family to arrive and choose us as their temporary child. It was like choosing teams for dodge ball...but dodge ball in a different language...and instead of playing dodge ball we were going to live with them for 3 weeks.

Nonetheless, I eventually was chosen, as was another girl in the group (Shannon). Our family is very sweet, very funny, and very good at cooking. They live in a beautiful house in Old Akureyri...which is unfortunately very far from the rest of the home stays. Lucky for us, "very far" is only a 30 minute walk! Plus, there are free buses that run through Akureyri, so we don't have to take the 60 minute walk uphill to classes (some laziness is allowed if it means getting to class on time).

Here's a kitty that was waiting for us when we arrived. She doesn't belong to the family, but hangs around a lot...can't complain.

Here's the view towards Old Akureyri from our house. The streets are very quiet, so people are always walking in the middle of the road.

Here's our temporary home! Our family owns the top floor, plus the loft in the attic (where the two windows in the roof are). Abba, the mother, says it's "the prettiest house in Akureyri". Icelanders, and especially those from Akureyri, are a very proud people (and will readily admit that as well).

This is our walk into town. We're only about 20 minutes away from the "downtown" area.

And what would Iceland be without trolls?

Akureyri is right on a bay, and surrounded by mountains. This is a view from the water towards the down town area.

There's a great cafe in the middle of town that is owned by a friend of our family (there's also an ice cream shop right next to it that their friend owns, so we can sometimes get free ice cream). Abba told us that they make the best hot chocolate in town...and now I've had 3 big cups in the 6 days I've been here.

Our host family is very well liked in the community...they seem to know everybody. The same friend was opening a bar the first Sunday we were there, so we got invited to the opening! It's a very nice bar...the opening was fun but I couldn't understand anyone's speeches...

A very nice bartender (whose name I can't pronounce/spell...but apparently she sings and acts at the local theater!), who is (surprise) also a friend of our family chose a beer for me to try, "Freyja" (which is the name of a Norse goddess). It was really good, very crisp wheat beer.

Here's Abba cutting us some slices of pesto, spinach, raisin, cashew pizza. She's an amazing cook, and her family is very healthy. They own the gym in town ("Bjarg" which means "rock") and they are very proud of it. They let me, Shannon, and everyone else in the SIT program into the gym for free. It's a really nice place, and there are plenty of "hot pots" (geothermal hot tubs)...we also get free smoothies with Skyr! So delicious. Despite a slight language barrier, Abba is one of the funniest people I've ever met. She has a great sense of humor.

Here's the kitchen!

Terrifying stairs that lead to the loft, which Shannon and I have to ourselves!

This is the view from my room.

This is Caitlin, our program director, with her cherub baby, Felix (2 years old). They are both adorable people.

We had a big SIT homestay BBQ in the forest (forests are very rare in Iceland, and therefore pretty exciting).

Of course there was frisbee.

One night our host dad, Oli, came into the dining room saying "IT'S MIDNIGHT IT'S MIDNIGHT, COME COME!" We peered out the window and this is what we saw! You can never miss the sunset because it lasts ALL NIGHT. So yes. This is midnight in Akureyri. And it's probably the darkest midnight I've seen since being here actually...