I don't have much to report. It seems like I have a ton of schoolwork all of a sudden, and I'm spending almost all my free time at the library trying to catch up. :s I'm still enjoying it here, though, even as the weather gets colder. Tjörnin, the pond in the city centre, froze over the other day. I spent a few moments watching the ducks land on the ice. It was funny because they skidded, flailing their legs wildly as they slid along the ice, before finally plopping into the water. I'm not a fan of the swans, though. They look elegant but they're so noisy and always gang up on the poor ducks.

For October, the bar Faktory is hosting free concerts at least once a week, so I've been going there on Wednesdays. I think they're hosting some Airwaves events there, too. Everyone is excited about Airwaves, even the people without tickets, because there will be so much happening in Reykjavik that week! I'm looking forward to it.

Tomorrow I'm leaving on a trip out east! Friday night we're driving to Kirkjubæjarklaustur (don't even try to figure out how to pronounce it). Then we'll be heading to the East Fjords and staying in Eskifjörður for a night. Finally, we'll go to Egilsstaðir and see the Hengifoss waterfall. I'm really looking forward to it! I've never been to that part of Iceland before and I expect it'll be very different from "cosmopolitan" Reykjavik.

The main thing that happened in the past week was my whale-watching trip! ESN, the Erasmus Student Network, was able to get us discount tickets for a whale-watching tour this weekend, so on Saturday I went to the harbour with three of my friends and we boarded a boat to go see some whales.

I was sceptical about our chances of seeing a whale, and for the first little while, we didn't see anything besides a solitary fishing boat in the distance. Eventually, though, we started to see a couple of whales! The whales were hard to spot. They only surfaced for a few seconds before vanishing back into the water, so if you weren't quick and attentive, you wouldn't catch them. Altogether we saw about 15 or so. I was pleased that we were able to see some, but I wouldn't have paid full price for the tour, because the sightings were so sporadic. Still, I enjoyed seeing some whales.

One other thing I did this week was visit one of the Reykjavik pools for the first time. The city has a number of different pools (all geothermally heated, I believe) and on Thursday I went to one near the Hallgrímskirkja with some friends. The pool was nice, but the best part was the hot tub outside. It's quite a contrast to have the frigid Icelandic air and the warm water, and I liked it a lot. I'm hoping to go back.

Here are a couple of whale pictures. The whales are the black blobs in the water. It was tough to get a good picture!

Some Weekend Photos

It's nearly impossible to narrow down my pictures to just a couple, but here are some of my favourites. The first set of pics is from Esja:

These pictures are from the Klambragil river expedition:

This is the river we bathed in. It was great.

 And here is a picture from the entrance of the cave:

This weekend was one of the best I've had in a long time. Friday I woke up bright and early to climb Esja, the mountain across the bay from Reykjavik. I headed out on a bus with a Canadian guy and a Swedish guy all the way out to the foot of the mountain, then our hike began!

There was a trail up to the top which we had planned to take, but all the signage was in Icelandic so we got confused and kind of wandered off the main trail. :p Whenever I turned to look around, the view was breathtaking, and it just got better and better as we climbed higher. We couldn't have asked for better weather, too.

Eventually we made it up to the snowy peak of Esja, where it was considerably colder than down below. It was an arduous trek, and it took about 3 hours to get up to the top. Once we got there, we kept walking until we reach the opposite side of Esja and looked out towards the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. It was strange how distances were distorted on Esja - when it looked like just a couple of minutes to reach the next cairn, it wound up taking a half hour or so. Eventually, we climbed back down. Our legs had turned to jello by this point but we made it, about 5 hours after we had begun the climb.

It's impossible to do the Esja hike justice in words or photos, but the experience was quintessentially Icelandic - shades of fall colours; the tiny buildings of Reykjavik down below; snow, rock, and the ocean; vast, open spaces as far as the eye can see. I really enjoyed it and I'm so glad I was able to climb Esja before winter sets in.

Later on Friday I got to make poutine again!! I went to my German friend's place and then we made poutine and some kind of Germanic potato dish for our group. This time the poutine turned out much better than the last time and it was delicious. Then I introduced Apples to Apples - it was like Thanksgiving all over again, but with other people! We also played some Scandinavian card game about numbers which I actually enjoyed a lot.

Then yesterday was incredible. Five of us - two Germans, me and two other Canadians - rented a car and explored around the Reykjanes peninsula and beyond. There were two main attractions we visited: the Klambragil River and Raufarhólshellir cave.

First up was the river. We drove out past a town called Hveragerði and into the mountains. Then we had a hike of around an hour before we reached the hot springs area. This place was awesome - I've seen hot springs in Iceland before, but it's always strange to see water bubbling out of the ground and steam rising up all across a field. We came to a river called Klambragil in a valley. Klambragil is warm - its hot water comes from the geothermal pools. We put on our bathing suits and laid down in the river. It felt great - the air was cold, but the water was toasty and very relaxing. We sat in the river for two and a half hours before we realized that we needed to keep moving. The river bath made us all mellow. I've never done anything like it before, and it was a surreal, fantastic experience.

After that, we hiked back and drove to Raufarhólshellir cave. Last time I went into a cave, there were thirty of us including an experienced guide, but today it was just the five of us, so I was hoping the cave wouldn't collapse, and luckily it didn't! It was a lot like the last cave I visited, since it was rocky and pitch-black on the inside. However, we went deeper into this cave than I did the last time. Caves are strange places, and it was creepy when we turned out our lights because all I could see was blackness and all I could hear was water dripping. I like it a lot, but it's always a relief to emerge into fresh air at the end.

After that, the sun was setting soon. We hurried to the shore at Strandakirkja where the waves were enormous. Then we went to Krýsuvík where we saw more hot springs, but these ones are way too hot for taking a bath. By now it was about 6:30 pm and the sun had set, so we settled into the car and drove back home. I was absolutely exhausted when I got home and I had a nice long sleep for the first time in a while. Iceland is full of beautiful places and I'm so grateful that I'm getting to do these amazing things!

It's the start of my long weekend! I don't have class tomorrow or on Monday, so I have a 4 day weekend to enjoy. I thought about going away for a short trip but ultimately it didn't work out. That's probably a good thing - I really need to get caught up on my readings.

This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving. My friends from around the world came over Sunday night and I made them a classic Canadian dish: poutine! The poutine wasn't as good as at home, but I still thought it tasted great, and my friends enjoyed it too. After that we had cake and ice cream and played one of my favourite games, Apples to Apples. I had a lot of fun and I was happy to share something from home with my friends here.

On a related note, I spoke to a girl on Tuesday who said that pumpkin had just come into the grocery store that day. Grr!

Tuesday was an exciting day in Reykjavik because of the lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower and the LennonOno Grant for Peace ceremony. As I understand it, Yoko Ono has a foundation which awards a prize to a small number of people based on their efforts to bring peace to the world. This year, Lady Gaga was getting an award from the foundation, so both Lady Gaga and Yoko Ono were in Iceland this week! 

I didn't get to go to the award ceremony, but I did go to the lighting of the Peace Tower. The Imagine Peace Tower is on the island of Viðey just off the coast of Reykjavik. Yoko Ono had it built to honour John Lennon a couple of years ago, and every year, the tower is lit up between Lennon's birthday (October 9) and the day he died (December 8). Tuesday night I took the ferry to Viðey and saw the lighting ceremony. I got to hear Yoko Ono speak, which was pretty thrilling. The tower is quite impressive - it shoots beams of light straight upwards. It was a pain getting home, since the ferry isn't equipped to move such a large number of people, and it took hours to get off the island. It was definitely worth going though. When I got home I could see the light streaming upwards, and it was a great view.

 Here's Yoko Ono at the ceremony on Viðey.

 The Imagine Peace Tower after the lights went on.

 It's not a great picture, but see that beam of light in the sky? That's the Peace Tower from far away.

While I'm adding pictures, here's a shot of a great rainbow I saw today!

Today the quest for pumpkin continued. I emailed the Canadian embassy about where to find pumpkin and they said my best bet was a store called Kostur in the town of Kopavogur, south of Reykjavik. This afternoon, my friend and I headed out to try to find Kostur. We had lots of time, so we decided to walk. It was an interesting trip - after passing by Perlan, we got lost in the woods and wound up in a huge graveyard which was a little spooky. After that, we eventually made it to Kopavogur, which is a lot less tourist-oriented than central Reykjavik. It was mostly apartment buildings and suburban sprawl. We randomly came across a frozen yogurt shop, where we got some delicious yogurt. Fortunately, I had a map of the area on hand, and we were able to find Kostur after about 2 hours of walking.

Kostur immediately reminded me of Costco. It was much smaller than Costco at home, but it had the same layout, the same types of products, and even some of the same brands. I was able to find a lot of products I hadn't yet found elsewhere in Reykjavik, like edamame, alfredo sauce, and Canadian cereals. Sadly, there was no pumpkin, and I have concluded that there is no pumpkin anywhere in this country. However, I was able to find the ingredients for poutine, so I will still be able to make some Canadian food!

I had an epiphany and I have decided not to make a pie tomorrow. I was going to make a sweet potato pie as a substitute, but they don't seem to have premade pie crusts here, and I don't feel like making a pie crust tomorrow because I've never done it before. Also, I'm hiking up Esja tomorrow morning, so I will be on a tight schedule to get back in time for dinner. I'll buy a cake or something similar, and once pumpkin arrives around Halloween I will make some delicious pumpkin pie.

Right now I'm looking forward to climbing Esja, it should be great!

This is at Kostur. It was great, I may need to go back someday!

Thanksgiving's on its way! In Iceland they don't have Canadian Thanksgiving, of course, but I still want to celebrate. I invited my friends over to make some pumpkin pie this weekend and they're all excited - most of them have never even tried pumpkin. I can't imagine not growing up with pumpkin pie, it's such a staple of my holidays.

The problem now is that pumpkin is extremely hard to come across in Iceland, and I'm questioning whether it exists anywhere in the country. First I went to Bonus, but they didn't have any. Then I went to Kronan, which is a different grocery store, but they didn't have any either. An Icelandic person I know recommended I try Hagkaup, so then I walked to Hagkaup, which is out near Seltjarnarnes. I asked an employee at the store if they had pumpkin but she looked at me like I had two heads. She said they may have some at Halloween, but not now. It's looking grim!

I emailed the Canadian embassy, asking if they can help me find some pumpkin. (I tried visiting the embassy this afternoon but they're only open from 9 to 12 - those lazy Canadians!) It's a long shot but the quest to find some pumpkin has stolen half a day from me and I will not rest until I have acquired pumpkin!

P.S. Here's a couple of nice Iceland-related pictures I've taken lately.

Mmm...Japanese Food

Not a whole lot has happened since I last posted. I am here for school after all, not just a vacation, so I've spent some time doing ordinary schoolwork.  My classes are going really well. I worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up with the Icelandic education system, and although there is a lot of reading, I don't spend as many hours in class as I would in Ottawa so it's not bad. Icelandic is a killer language but now I can say a few simple phrases and I feel like I'm learning a lot! Soon I'll have this crazy declension system under my belt.
On Thursday I went for sushi and it was delicious. Based on a recommendation from a friend who lived in Iceland last year, I went to Sushibarinn on Laugavegur with some of my friends. They had some stuff I can't get at home, like horse nigiri and whale rolls. While I avoided those exotic dishes, I was thrilled to discover that they had edamame, which is one of my favourite foods at home but I haven't seen it at any grocery stores. Here's a picture of my food:

The next night, my floor had a sushi party! I went to Kringlan (the shopping mall) with my friend and we stocked up on all sorts of Japanese food-related things: seaweed, rolling mats, soy sauce, chopsticks, and so on. We also have two massive bags of sushi rice on our floor now. I've only made sushi once before, so it was all quite new to me, but fortunately I had lots of Japanese students on hand to guide me :) My first roll turned out kinda iffy, but my second one looked better. There was lots of delicious Japanese food and it was a great way to bring our floor together.