By eevenden
Halló allir! (Hello, all!)
This week has been very exciting since my boyfriend, Evan, was here for his spring break! It wasn’t my spring break this week, but (unfortunately for my professors) I was mostly not in attendance. This blog is primarily aimed for our parents to read since Evan and I have done a lot this week, and I am sure they are wondering why we haven’t been very responsive to their texts. To make it easier, I will simply do a rundown of the week by day with where we went, pictures, etc.
Saturday (March 3rd)
Evan arrived in Reykjavik at around 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, having flown here directly from Pittsburgh. After a couple hours of sleep, he was already to adventure for the day. Saturday was primarily spent wandering around downtown Reykjavik. First we walked along the shore and explored Harpa, the opera house. Then we continued to the University where there was actually a prospective students’ day going on, so there were tons of people as well as sample projects and weird machines to mess with. Our walk culminated with going to the top of Hallgrímskirkja and looking out over the city, something I have been waiting to do until I had a tourist visitor. That night we had dinner at Vinyl, the vegan café near my house which I have also been waiting to try, and hung out at a bar downtown.
Sunday (March 4th)
On Sunday, Evan and I started off on a three-day road trip along the south coast of Iceland with our rental car. Day 1 was our longest driving day (6 hours total) since we had to reach Höfn, a town on the east coast of Iceland, for the night’s accommodations. Our primary stops that day were Reynisfjara beach (the Black Sand Beach) and Fjallsárlón and Jökulsárlón (both glacial lagoons). Overall, the weather was very sunny, but also extremely windy – some of the windiest wind I have felt here in Iceland.
Monday (March 5th)
On Day 2 of our road trip, we drove half of the distance back to Reykjavik (from Höfn to Hvolsvöllur, approximately 4 hours). Our first destination was the Diamond Beach near Jökulsárlón, where calving ice from the surrounding glaciers is flushed out to sea and consequently washed back on to shore.
This was a tantalizing first stop, but our main activity for the day was hiking in Skaftafell National Park. Skaftafell is a valley glacier descending from Vatnajökull, and its base is accessible by foot. We did two hikes, one to the glacier base, and another to Svartifoss (a waterfall near the glacier). Seeing the glacier up-close was by far my favorite thing that I have done here in Iceland. Not only is it extremely impressive on its own, but since I am taking a glacial geology course here, it was even cooler to understand the different features in the ice and surrounding sediment. Just wow wow wow. The image of this glacier is burned into my brain.
Tuesday (March 6th)
Day 3 of our road trip did not require much driving (approximately 2 hours back to Reykjavik). After some deliberation about where to go, we decided to hike to Reykjadalur Thermal River to go for a swim. (Sounds shocking considering it was 32 degrees F outside). In order to get there, we had to hike for about an hour through the Hengill area, a nature reserve surrounding the Hengill volcano. The area is full of warm colors and billowing steam vents. Our hike was a bit slow-going, but when we got to the hot river things got interesting - aka it was time to strip naked in the arctic wind and put on a bathing suit! Needless to say, it was a bit chilly, making it difficult to stay composed as we walked along the boardwalk to the river’s edge. The only more uncomfortable part was doing the same thing afterwards soaking wet.
Wednesday (March 7th)
On Wednesday we stayed in Reykjavik, which was nice after an intensive couple days. I had to go to the University for a group project meeting and a lecture. During this time, Evan explored the local swimming pool, Laugadarslaug, near my house. Swimming pools play an interesting cultural role in Iceland, being a center for socializing. All pools and hot tubs are outdoors and heated, which again calls for chilly scampering when walking out of the locker room. After our separate adventures, Evan and I went to the movies. Originally we were hoping to see an Icelandic movie with English subtitles, but none were playing since it was a Wednesday. Instead, we saw the film “Three Billboards in Ebbing, Missouri,” and wondered what Icelandic people must think of America after watching this murder-mystery based in the rural South.
Thursday (March 8th)
On Thursday, Evan and I decided to hike Mount Esja, the mountain right outside of Reykjavik. It is one of the few trail-heads accessible by public transportation here. The loop in total was about 4 hours long and climbs the steep hillside of Esja to its summit. Unfortunately we could not reach the true summit since it is still covered in ice, but we could get about 50 meters from the top and still enjoy the great view of Reykjavik below us. Once we got back to the trail-head, we had to wait an hour for the next bus to pick us up, so we made friends with two other international hikers who were waiting there also. Finally, the bus came and we got to go home. Despite being rather tired afterwards, we ate dinner, drank a lot of coffee, and went out with some of my friends that night.
Friday (March 9th)
Friday was another chill day in Reykjavik since I had a group presentation for my Glacial Geology class. After finishing that in the morning, Evan and I went to the swimming pool together. I had never actually been there before, but I particularly liked the salt water hot tub. Later, we made dinner together (homemade mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, mushrooms, and vegan sausages).
Saturday (March 10th)
Yesterday was our final big adventure day. Originally, we were planning to do a tour of the Reykjanes Peninsula and see more geothermal activity. However, when we woke up and checked the road conditions, it turned out there had been a snow storm south of Reykjavik during the night (welcome to Icelandic weather). This required quick-thinking on my part, and instead we drove our rental car to Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park about 45 minutes outside of the city. Þingvellir is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it straddles the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. Within the park is a lake called Þingvallavatn, which is home to several endemic fish species, making it a very important freshwater ecosystem. We spent half the day wandering an extinct part of the tectonic rift (where the plates pulled away from each other).
The second half of our day was spent exploring a lava tunnel called Arnarker close by. I heard about the tunnel through one of my friends, and I thought it would be perfect for Evan. Armed with flashlights, we descended some metal stairs on to a frozen snow pack where the site-keepers had made a path with sand. I stayed in the main chamber of the tunnel while Evan explored a bit further.
Sunday (March 11th)
Today Evan flew back to Pittsburgh – actually he is flying as I type this. Hi Evan! I hope you had a really fun time here in Iceland 😀 Luckily for Evan, the weather was perfect while he was here (especially considering it has been storming for the last few weeks). I tried to plan many different activities during his visit so that he could experience the fire, ice, and tectonics of Iceland. (Personally, I think he had one of the most comprehensive trips possible during this time of the year 😛 ).
Those are the main details from this week. Tune in next weekend when I receive another American visitor!
-Emily