Day Eight

Today was another classroom day with lectures on Hydrogen/alternative fuels, politics and economics (with some history thrown in) and Iceland's flora and the issues surrounding the deforestation, desertification and soil erosion. Followed by a visit to the Canadian Consulate to meet the Ambassador! It was interesting to hear him talk about the Arctic Council (Canada and 7 other countries meet to discuss issues around Arctic melt, shipping lanes and other north Atlantic issues).

Once again today was a low photo day ( a good thing seeing as I've taken 899 photos to date on my camera), but here is a sample of the few I took today!

Day Seven

Today was our first classroom day; we left the hostel at 830 for a 9pm start at the University of Iceland. Three lectures covered the definition of sustainability - including the dichotomy of sustainable development, Iceland's geography, and finally energy. The breadth of the topics to be covered in the course this week is vast. Tomorrow we'll discuss everything from Hydrogen power to politics and the economy to the environment. After class we headed home via Bonus (the grocery store - finally!) and after chilling out for the afternoon, headed to the thermal beach for a soak (my first since being here). The temptation of jumping in the freezing cold Atlantic was far to grand, and most of us had a (very) quick dip! It appears that the beach has been man made given the colour of the sand, and the thermal pool is a long rectangular .5m deep pool made of concrete. By the end of our soak, I was famished.  The trek home was ~30 min, but it was with good company. Dinner was a grand affair with a fried rice-style stirfry.

I didn't actually take any pictures today, so here's another one from yesterday. This was taken at the location of the first parliament in the world mentioned in my text yesterday.  The ridges you see on either side of the path are being slowly separated ~2cm/yr. One is on the Eurasia plate and the other the American plate!

Enjoy!
★♥

Day Six

Last night was a blast! We hug out at the hostel and played werewolf until about 23h00, then headed out to bar hop around town (starting at the Lebowski Bar!) until 4am! At which point we snagged some drunk food (pizza - 800 ISk, and subway) and got called out on our way home for going home early!  The sun had already risen by the time I crawled into bed, only to be woken 3.5 hrs later by a Skype call from Colin!

Today we got to take the Golden Circle tour (or at least our version of it) which took us out of Reykjavik and into the mountains/volcanoes! There are two kinds here: table mountains - formed during the last ice age, and shield mountains which have a crater and were formed by multiple eruptions. We saw many of both; Iceland has ~30 volcano systems consisting of hundreds of volcanoes, and produces a third of Earth's magma! ( http://www.eldey.de/English/geology/geology.html ). As well as glaciers ( jökull - pronounced yo-kutl).  Eyjafjallajokull, the volcano that erupted in 2010 and shut down European airspace, erupted from under a glacier!

We visited the site of Iceland's original parliament, and arguably the oldest in the world, at þingvellir (pronounced thing-vet-lir) the fissure between the European and American continental plates. People from all over the country used to gather during the summer at this spot to discuss their governance, and the story goes that the person reciting the laws would face away from the crowd and shout at the wall from a pedestal (now marked by a white flagpole) which would reverberate off the wall back at the crowd like a crude form of a megaphone.

The Gullfoss waterfall was also on the list of sites to see, and there were many a picture taken here. the waterfalls are magnificent.  It was threatened by foreign persons to be harnessed fro hydroelectricity.  I so glad it wasn't!

We also visited the site of Geysir, the namesake of all the geysers in the world! The water is heated underground by the magma - the hottest of which is 410C, and shoots into the air rather unpredictably, but on average every 5 minutes  The water is still 100C when it surfaces, and I gather that there have been a few tourists who have tried to check this with their fingers - bad idea. I want to look up the actual mechanism of eruption, but I haven't yet (and it wasn't explained - that I remember). There was a tourist shop with lots of fun Icelandic fare like "Icelandic Air" (= empty tin can, no joke, the side read "open outside of Iceland to get full effect" - cost was 12$), and the kids toques shown in our group shot below. I would also like to mention that it was super windy.  Like, jump = fly away windy....(this was the case for most of today)

Finally, before returning to Reykjavik, we made a quick stop at an EcoVillage,  Solheima, where the people live off the land as sustainably as possible. (it's way more complicated than this...see the orka (power) sign image below. Then we drove  around the second largest Geothermal Powerplant in the world (the largest begin in Mexico) - I don't have any photos here because I thought we would bes topping but we didn't, it was just a quick spin.

Marjane, Chanelle, Sharon and I finished off the day with a delicious meal at the Laundromate Cafe where, somehow the planets managed to align, and I ran into Heather, who hired me on at TransCanada for my first work term there!

All in all, it was a long day - lots to see, and many photos to take (I took 194!), so here is just a snippet!

Day Five

First day with the group! We started off the day with an lesson in Icelandic, followed by a scavenger hunt all over Reykjavik! Two hours were given, which I originally thought was excessive , but we barely made it back on time! There were a few places I hadn't yet been, the parliament buildings and a super old graveyard!

Here's a selection of today's pics:

Day Four

I woke up this morning early to shower and get out of my room for breakfast. I then spent some time with Adrien (a guy from my hostel) reviewing the photos from my blog! It was great to get feedback from him on how I'm doing with my photography - particularly the composition, something I don't normally pay attention to.  I then headed to m new hostel to meet up with the group from UBC, but I just missed them, so I headed off alone to check out the Reykjavik Photography Museum and to finally buy a toque that I'd been debating over for awhile (and was in desperate need of yesterday - today was beautiful though!)  Check in time was 14h00, and I met up with the team at that time.  A group of us 'hiked' up to the steampunk-ish place I saw yesterday to walk around and take some pictures. We never saw the owners of the property, but as a group, we had more guts to walk around it than I had on my own. It was amazing.

Before I came out here, my mom mentioned that public toilets are scarce or hard to find; however, I haven't found this to be the case! Every time I've needed one, its been easy to find! There are also .little water fountains, not so m much in Reykjavik, but definitely in the town just west of here (think GVRD but within walking distance). I found these on my way to the light house featured a few days ago.

So here are today's picks!
Starting off in the harbour, followed by street art, then two pictures from the creepy house, and lastly: a working man! in front of Reykjavik's pond (and parliament buildings I think).

Enjoy!

Day Three - Street inspired

So I mentioned in my previous post about street inspired shots, well, I can only upload so many at once, and I figured I'd do a second round of these shots for today.

Enjoy!

Day Three

The lightness of the sky at all hours is confusing. I didn't go to bed last night until late (after 12) because I was chatting in the lobby of my hostel till midnight - you could hardly tell it was that late because the sun had only set around 21h30/22h00.  So, naturally, I slept in this morning! One of my roommates (of which there were 2, in a 10 person dorm) left at 4am to catch a flight, the other disappeared before I was awake. I slept with a mask last night, so I think that partly why I slept so late - I didn't get woken up by the sun! (which I gather rises not long after 5...)

This time I headed right when I left the hostel, same as the first day, but I walked along the waterfront this time, past the Iceland Photography Museum (which was closed ): and proceeded along the water until I couldn't take the realllllly strong winds anymore, and I headed inland past a KFC (ewwww), through an industrial park, past a really cool museum/house with metal sculptures,  the HI City, a waterpark - year-round outdoors! (I think, and there were lots of people there!),  through the Reykjavik bus station, the Perlan (Pearl in Icelandic, a nifty building that has a museum, a restaurant and a 360 deck! The latter part was pretty cool because there's good visibility in every direction!)  then back towards my hostel via primarily residential streets. The latter inspired some of today's shots!

(again, probably more or less listed from the bottom up)
The initial image is of a container ship, and was taken from near the metalworks/museum area (in the industrial park), the second is a statue I saw on the metalworks property.
The third image is of the historical Icelandic church Hallgrimskirkja, taken from on top of the Perlan.
oh, did I mention it snowed?! and that today was a national holiday? Its the first day of spring, so the children weren't in school, and most shops were closed.

Day Two

Today I woke up to the wonderful smell of SNOW! I had an included (because I paid for it) breakfast, and then left my hostel, picked a direction and started walking. I walked quite a ways before I remembered that I'd left my map at the hostel! So I made sure to check out the next tourist map I saw, and took a picture on my phone of the second one I saw - then proceeded to walk off of it (aka - farther than I thought I would). I think I covered ~11 km on foot today; there were a few times I wish I'd had a bus pass. The busses here are bright yellow, and pretty enticing when your feet start to hurt. I wore lots of layers, and I'm glad for it!

The images don't upload in order for some strange reason, so I've annotated them in the order I took them, you should be able to infer what I'm talking about by the caption... (Starting at the bottom...)

The first image is one that I took probably 30 times as I walked along the shore front, trying to get the mountain to 'pop' as much as it did in real life. The image doesn't do the sight justice, but It's close!
The second image showing the anchor was taken looking a little right of the first (though not from the same location).
Third is the Grotta lighthouse.
fourth are fish drying in the sun, I don't know who leave them there, or why there weren't birds everywhere.
Fifth has the shacks which were just past the drying fish, I think they were once part of a fishing enterprise here (I couldn't read the Icelandic-only sign), and it doesn't appear entirely abandoned (there were newer padlocks), but they do look pretty derelict.

I'd like to note that none of these images are photoshoped! they're all fresh off my camera thanks to some tweaked settings and my 20$ filters!

~Laura

Day one

Ok, so I'm finding it hard picking one image... This post has three, future ones will have...I don't know how many, but it's probably gonna vary based on the day.  I'm back at the hostel now, typing on a keyboard rather than the screen (thank goodness! so much more comfortable!) I just work up from a nap - I know, first day here, its a no-no, but I was desperate! and it was only ~40 min.  Now that I'm more or less a normal functioning being (after having slept) I'm starting to realise my packing was rather flawed, and I'm a bit miffed at myself. I should have stuck with just the backpack, and I've over-packed somethings while over-looking others (such as my combo lock!). Oh well, guess I'll just have to stock up on a few extra things when I head for groceries after this. And now onto the good stuff: (listed from the bottom up, cause apparently that how they uploaded...)

The first image was taken from the bus on the way into Reykjavik from Keflavik (where the international airport is located)

The second was taken in town while I was wondering around. I found a playground/skate park of sorts, and it was a graffity oasis within a (fairly) clean city. There were other walls, but this dumpster struck me the most at the time.

The last image is taken at Harpa (I think it's a conference centre). It struck me that none of these bikes are tethered!  I could just grab one an roll away...

-Laura

Ps. Katriina O'Kane's website is as follows: http://katriinaokane.com/ (I couldn't find the 365 of 23 website again, but I'll keep looking, in the mean time, check out her work!)

Arrival

So, I'm at it again. halfway around the world, and attempting to blog about my travels. its never worked before, my posts have always fallen off rather drastically, but this time I'm determined. I have a goal: to take one picture a day, and post it that day. fitting, seeing and Iceland is one of the most photogenic countries ever! I only hope I can do it justice.  so, armed with my camera, my Nexus7, a card reader and a micro to USB cable, here I go! ...only I don't have all that with me, so it'll have to be tonight, but I will! promise!  I feel I should note that this idea came to me in part because of Katriina O'Kane, a friend from high school who is in the process of completing a 365 of 23 project. Her (film!) photography is amazing, and very inspiring. (I'll link to it in a later post because I can't find her site right now)

I'm sitting in a coffee shop across from then HI Loft where I'll be staying on Friday with the rest of the UBC students. For now the though, I'm at another YHA down the street. It had a rating of 94%, so I figured it was worth  a try! Almost immediately I meet 3 Canadians and an Aussie in the lobby, and we had discussions ranging from travel to the detriment of suburbs cause, to Rob Ford. Here, I've had a ham sandwich, and a Sviss mokka, the best I've had since NZ. The woman in front of me in line tried first to order an iced team of some sort, then resorted to an iced coffee, but when asked how espresso shots she wanted, she got confused. If her American accent had not given it away, this would have: like NZ, I don't think they do drip coffee here. And I'm OK with that!

OK, tablet dieying(should have charged on the plane...), I'm off for now.