Since I’m halfway done with this whole thing, I thought it would be nice to do a little recap of everything (more or less) that’s happened so far. Fair warning: this will mostly just be reruns of what you’ve heard already.

School: At this point we’ve had three weeks of lectures; one of only energy technology, one of only Icelandic, and one of both. I wish cared more about the energy technology stuff, because it’s cool to see how so many different types of clean energy systems work and what they’re capable of, but after about four days of that I just didn’t care how another wind power system works. Oh, and Icelandic is really really hard. Like the way verbs get conjugated, and the rest of the grammatical crap is just ridiculous. Each noun has three separate forms, and then another form depending on whether or not the definite article is added to it. Don’t worry guys, if that sounds like gibberish that’s because it basically is.

The other part of my schoolwork, my project, is much more interesting to me than the lectures. For that I’m writing a paper about the effects of dams on river ecosystems, with the intent of hopefully showing that hydropower projects are devastating Iceland’s river ecosystems. So far I’ve just gathered a bunch of sources, as well as made a few contacts that I will be interviewing next week in Reykjavik. Prof. Jónas Eliasson is a professor of hydrology at the University of Iceland, and then I will meet Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, the CEO of an Icelandic non-profit called Landvernd, which is focused on conservation here on the island. This is the real focus of my academic time while I’m here, and I hope it comes out as a really good paper.

Culture: Okay, so admittedly I haven’t done a whole lot to learn about the culture. This past week we have spent some time learning about Gísla Saga, which is one of the many sagas that make up some of the most revered literature in Europe. Basically these are some of the most well-recognized adventure tales, and are generally recognized as some of the best-written tales ever. Another thing I’ve learned about is the importance of fishing to everyday life, especially in the smaller towns. In these past two weeks during my homestay in Ísafjördur my host dad took me out on his fishing boat for a few hours, and during those few hours we pulled in around twenty fish, and kept eight to eat. Since nearly all of the towns are on the coast, fishing is central to nearly every aspect of their lives.

Oh, and how could I forget one of the most important aspects of their culture…the bars! Seeing as the legal age here is twenty, my friends and I have been getting a taste for European drink. So far, I have been a fan of most of the types of beer that we’ve tried. And I gotta say, it’s interesting how much the alcohol content varies from beer to beer. I’m not really sure how much it varies in the states, but here it goes from 2.25% all the way to 9.6%. I haven’t found the 9.6% on tap anywhere yet, but one can hope. But perhaps the most important thing you can learn in the bars is how to say cheers! Here it is said skál, which is pronounced scowl, and is the easiest way to make friends with strangers.

Everything Else: So this is basically all the stuff that has been more or less left out of other posts. This might be one of the most breathtaking landscapes I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been taking every chance to climb the mountains, walk around, and just generally explore everything I can. I’ve partially climbed about 3 of the mountains in my pictures now, and another one is going to happen tomorrow. Also, the birds that are here right now are awesome! So many species that I’ve never seen, and it’s nesting season so there are so many unique opportunities to get up close and personal with birds, mostly seabirds and waders, that are laying eggs and raising young. I’m also still holding out hope that I might eventually see a White-tailed Eagle and a Gyrfalcon, but the odds are definitely against that.

One of my favorite non-academic or nature-related experiences has been practicing with the professional basketball team in Ísafjördur during my two weeks there. Unfortunately I had to buy shoes that were two sizes too small so that I had something to wear, but it was worth it to get that opportunity. I think it paid off because I felt like I was one of the the better players on that team, and hopefully it could turn into an opportunity to come back here and play after college!

I’ve also gotten really lucky with the group that’s here with me. There are a total of 19 of us: 8 guys and 11 girls, and we all add something different to the group and get along exceptionally well. If it were a different group, I would definitely be enjoying this less. Hopefully the second half of the trip is as crazy and fun as the first half, and I will come home with a great story! Talk to ya again soon!