Why Iceland?

Hæ! 

I can't believe it has been two and a half years since I updated this blog! I apologize for leaving you hanging. I didn't realize how many people were actually reading this blog. Lucky for you I am studying abroad but this time in Iceland. Please leave comments, questions, and suggestions! 

"Why Iceland?", I have heard that question many times, sometimes incredulous and sometimes with wonder. There are two main reasons. The first is the unusual program and Iceland's recent history. The University of Iceland has a unique graduate diploma in Small States and European Integration. I've been fascinated by the European Union ever since the Euro was introduced 10 years ago. Coming from a very large and proud country like the United States the fact of nations willingly giving up a large degree of sovereignty is intriguing. Iceland is in the middle of negotiating membership in the Union and would be the smallest member. Although EU membership has declined as the Eurocrisis has worsened this is still a moment in history I am thrilled to witness. Domestic politics in Iceland are also very exciting. Iceland nearly went bankrupt during financial crisis and the government collapsed after months of protests. A new government was swept into power with promises of reform and prosecutions. A commission was set up to write a new constitution and a consultative referendum is being held this month and a general election in the Spring.The other reason is that I fell in love with Nordic culture while I was in Sweden and couldn't stay away. It is hard to put into words what exactly I like about these cultures but it includes their modesty, egalitarianism, and liberalism. The environment is beautiful, the people are friendly in a reserved sort of way,  and life is less hectic in general.

I will write again after I read your comments and answer your questions. 

Bless bless!

Tallinn, Moose, the Volcano,and Hockey

It's been an eventful couple of weeks here in Europe!

A couple weeks ago I and what seems like half of the international students from the university took a cruise to Tallinn, Estonia. It's a well known cruise that happens every year called the "sea battle" and over 2,000 students from universities all over Europe, mostly Scandinavia, drink themselves silly and buy cheap alcohol. The first night the waves and white wine did mix well so I was sick and missed out on most of the fun. Then for some unknown reason security banged on our door around 4:00 in the morning with an extremely drunk person from our university and asked us to take care of this person. Apparently they couldn't find the correct room. This person got sick and made a terrible mess that forced us move rooms. While we were dealing with the mess and switching cabins we missed the window of opportunity to disembark and didn't get to see Tallinn. It must be a busy port because the ship was at dock for less than an hour each in the morning and afternoon. After the previous night and missing out on touring the city I was in the mood to join the party the second night. The trip was basically a 1150 kronor bust.

I also went on a much more successful and exciting day trip to see moose in the forests of Småland. It was a two hour bus ride deep into the countryside on which we took a moose quiz and watched a movie. Upon arrival half the group went on the 'safari' and the rest of us walked around and looked at the caged moose and gift shop. The animals are somewhat docile and let us pet them through the fence. Despite their friendliness they kick with the front feet so we had to stay behind a fence. When it was our turn we clambered into old military wagons and entered the fenced-off field. The very nice moose farmer gave all a lot of apples and potatoes to feed to the animals. Moose are so gentle you can put food between you teeth and one will come and eat it and not hurt you. I tried which was very fun and sticky. After the short ride around the farm we had a fika outside with cheese sandwiches, cookies, and coffee or tea; a typical fika. After the moose and snack we watched another movie and announced the winner of the moose quiz. I apparently don't know much about Swedish moose. It was a fun trip although a little far for how brief the safari part was

I hadn't scheduled any travel during the whole volcanic ash disruption but several people I know were stranded or had to cancel their trips. One friend was stuck in London for 7 or 8 days! Luckily she had a place to stay. Flights in Sweden were canceled for a while but not as long as mainland Europe. There was and is a little part of me that wanted to get stuck here in Sweden which is still possible because another volcano on Iceland usually follows the first. On the other hand it didn't stop my family from coming to visit which was lovely. My local contact family had us over for a nice and took us too the small mountain that overlooks the city and lake. It was a fun time and I'm glad they were able meet over their short visit. My mother and brother are visiting Denmark now before they head back to the states.

HV71, the city's hockey team, beat Stockholm for the national championship on Saturday and was it an exciting game and night! HV won in overtime at the opponents rink in the 6th of 7 scheduled matches. The championship is done like the baseball world series. Downtown was a mad house, cars horns, singing, dancing, hugging, and drinking of course. There was another big party downtown last night to congratulate the team. The weather has greatly improved lately so it was a pleasant evening.

I leave for Norway on Saturday and I'll write a post dedicated to when I get back!

Swedish Spring

Last weekend I went horseback riding with the international association. It was a one night trip into the Swedish countryside over the Easter weekend. We rode a charted bus for about an hour outside of the city to horse farm where we split into two groups. One rode horses to our lunch and the rest of us walked there. It was one of the warmest days we have had so far this year and the sun was shining bright and high in the sky. We had a simple, quick lunch by the swiftly moving river. Originally we were supposed to canoe to the picnic site but the river was too fast for us to safely canoe there and the water was still very cold from the last of the melting snow. There was a surprising amount of snow in the woods and shadows. The horses we rode back are of an Icelandic breed that is smaller, but equally powerful, and rather hairy. I could tell the horses were trained to mostly follow each but we did get to gallop which was really fun and a little scary. The horse I rode was named Glanni and kept stopping to eat.

After our ride we walked through the woods and along the river to a very big, old house where we tried to have a bonfire and did have a party. The wood was too wet from the snow to make a strong fire but everyone brought enough alcohol and games to keep themselves entertained. However, before the usual college student antics we had hand-made Mexican food for dinner. I never tire of watching people from around the world bond over drinking games. There were a lot of people I hadn't met before and it was great to get to know them a little.

I have the same professor from last quarter teaching both of m courses. I am not pleased because is a very poor lecturer. Luckily though one of my housemates is in one of the classes so we can help each other stay focused. The beautiful weather isn't going to help either. The classes themselves don't strike me as all that difficult but time will tell.

I was supposed to go to Copenhagen today with my friend and her visiting family but her mother has food poisoning and couldn't go. It was only going to be for the day so we wouldn't have been able to do much anyway and we're planning to go for a weekend later in the quarter. In other travel news, I will be leaving Monday for the cruise to Tallinn, Estonia. Two thousand students from all over the Nordic region will be on the ship. It's a three day trip that I expect to be even wilder than the last cruise. Norway is also officially in the plans. It, like the cruise and Easter get-way, is a school organized trip. They all kinds of exciting things planned which I detail in a later blog entry.

Otherwise I'm simply living the quiet Swedish life and loving it!

The Mid-Point

Hej Hej everyone!

Sorry about the big break between posts but it's been very quiet around lately. Which is how the Swedish like it. The university here is on a quarter system and we're at the very end of the first one. It's hard to believe that the adventure is half way done. I've been busy with exams and papers; our grades are essentially determined by one and only one of those. I'm not a fan of that. What happens if you have a bad day or are a bad test taker? I am looking forward to my classes next quarter though. They seem more interesting.

The weather has improved markedly over the past few weeks. The daily high has been consistently above freezing and the snow is almost completely gone. I finally know what Scandinavian soil looks like! The leaves have yet to come out but when they do it's going glorious. We live on the edge of town around large yards and woods. I've even managed to go outside a few days without my heavy arctic jacket.

I haven't done any traveling lately but I have few trips in the works. The student union has organized an Easter weekend getaway with canoeing, horse back riding, and other fun things like that. A friend on my hall can't on the school cruise to Tallinn, Estonia so I'm going to buy his ticket. It's a little more expensive but the weather will be much nicer and they arrange everything for us. My cousin in London was kind enough to invite me for a weekend but we're having trouble finding convenient and cheap flights. RyanAir the amazingly cheap airline here in Europe flies out of the most out of the way airports often at odd times. He works and has a family so we're working around that.

Last weekend my contact family invited us over for a meal. One of the other students, who is from Romania but ethnically Hungarian, labored hard to make us a goulash. It was too spicy for my weak stomach but the little I had delicious! Her grandfather also sent some homemade vodka called polinka and was flavored with plum and peaches. It's quite strong, one of the other students fell asleep while we watched TV and talked. We watched a Swedish show along the lines of 'Idol' or 'America's Got Talent.' The host would read a word or a phrase and a group of talented singers would have to sing a song on the spot that had that word or phrase. Another American was there and mu some fantastic chocolate chip cookies that we snacked on while we watched.

There have been parties and the usual dorm wackiness too, of course. Tomorrow brings a new quarter and more adventures!

Brussels & Back

Sorry for the delay. I don't really have an excuse so let's jump right in.

The check out time at the Bruges hostel was 10:00AM, like it is in most, and we made to the desk right on the hour. We threw our bags on our backs and walked through the old city one more on our way to the train station. Again we made the hour long trip connection the two cities and crossed the blurry language and cultural boundary. When we arrived in Brussels it was beautiful sunny day. It was almost warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt! We got off at the central station and decided to walk to our next hostel which look easy enough to find on the map. You can probably tell where this is heading. We walk through the tourist trap squares and gorgeous buildings for a while without much luck finding our way. One of the other guys asked someone where our hostel, royotel, was and followed them. Then we made it to the corner they said and there was no hostel. A kind older women could tell we were lost tourist and gave us directions to the she thought we were staying. As we approached the front door the sign Royal Hotel. We decided to check with the front and see if the name had changed. It hadn't, we were at the wrong place. So we got directions form the young who worked at the front desk and strode determined down the street which was Royal Way or something. Everything on that street was had royal in the name, hence the confusion. In French the two words are very similar and a non-speaker can barely discern the difference. Royotel is a place somewhere between a hostel and a hotel and kind of a rip-off. We decided to do some exploring and find somewhere to eat.

We were there for such a short time and saw so much that the days blend together but I'll share my impressions and a few stories. We saw a pompous but gorgeous plaza and garden with sculpture surrounded by impressive architecture. There is a impressive Church at one end of the plaza although it looks more like a city hall. (Not pictured)

We also found our way to the Royal Palace which are at opposite end of park that is undoubtedly beautiful in the warmer seasons. The path between the buildings is lined with tall and old trees. The buildings appear to be of the same style and period.

Royal Palace

Connecting Park

Belgian Parliament

We continued to walk around the city center and ended at the very large and impressive cathedral. We went inside for a moment but were in a rush to see as much as possible as we walked away the clock hit the hour mark and we heard the lovely bells.

We bought some delicious Belgian fries and sat on the stops of the commerce and wwatched the city go by.

That concludes what we did on the first day... I think. The next morning we checked out of that hostel and explored the famous big market that the city has. It was basically a giant flee market with all the usual junk and stuff that was probably stolen. We visited the surprisingly large and impressive home of the European Parliament. It was closed that day so we couldn't take a tour. We didn't really have time and tho other guys would've been bored out of their minds. European integration fascinates because all those willingly give a part of their sovereignty to a cross-national institution. Can anyone see proud America doing that?

Next up was the Belgian war museum which has a large collection of planes, tanks, and other war related things. The museum was free for a change. I'd grown used to paying for museums since coming to Europe and this was a nice surprise. I've been spoiled in D.C. with the Smithsonian.

After the museum we walked to the nearest metro station passing the European Commission on the way. We needed to get to the outskirts of the city to see and climb some strange giant sculpture and find our new hostel. Our friend from Mexico was leaving that night because of test he had to take so he had to leave early. My Canadian friend checked into the new hostel and had a pretty quiet evening. My legs felt as though they were going to fall so I rested he did a little exploring and bought us dinner. He also was also typically Canadian and had to watch the USA vs. Canada gold medal game. We had to get up and make our way to the airport, which was rather uneventful. They actually check to see if my bag was of the right size this time and it was barely I had to do some creative repacking and squashing. Like any good college student studying in alcohol strict Sweden we bought duty free liquor in the airport. The flight was nice and uneventful. We welcomed back to Sweden by a fresh snow storm. My friend remarked how impressed his was with the pilot because you can only really see the ground from a few hundred feet in the air. I hadn't noticed but he was very right it is impressive. We had a bit scare with out bus tickets but made it home safely. On the bus ride I listened to a student from Italy talk an American who'd met and married a Swede and now lived in J-town. She mentioned a lot of things that I had already noticed and some that I didn't. There is an endless amount of fascinating stories that you here while traveling and I love it.

The weather back here was about the same as when we left, cold and snowy. But the last week or so the temperatures have been above freezing and the snow is beginning to melt. I might actally see what the Swedish ground looks like in a few days if the weather holds! We coming up on the end of the first quarter which means exams and post exam parties. One last story that I find interesting and hilarious. I was catching the bus back to the house with two big bags of groceries when I heard something you almost never hear in Sweden, strangers talking to each other. The bus driver said "hej hej" to every person as they got on the bus and poor Swedes were a little startled and confused by this. People never say "hej" to people they don't know. It was funny to watch them take a second to figure what they were supposed to do. Aren't cultural differences fu?

In Bruges

I'm dividing my Belgium trip into two posts with the first today Bruges and the second later this week about Brussels.

Three of us went to Belgium from Thursday morning to Monday afternoon. We were a North American invasion because each us was from Canada, the US, and Mexico. Originally we had an Australian friend coming but he had too much school work to catch up on. Our trip from the house to Bruges took almost exactly twelve hours! Our flight was in the six o'clock hour so we had to take a bus to the airport around 1:30. Since it was late on a Wednesday we there were no buses running and we had to walk to the central station. It was a typically frigid night as we past the frozen over lake. We had left late because of last minute packing so we made it to the bus barely on time. I slept most of the trip but was woken up by a person coughing. It sounded like he or she had the plague because his or her cough sounded a lot like vomiting. We dropped at Nykoeping's central bus stop where we had to take the city bus to the airport. The bus only accepted cards and no cash which seems really strange to me. My debt-it card doesn't always work in Sweden and this way one of those times so I tried my credit card. In Sweden and apparently the rest of the world credit cards have PIN numbers and are used instead of signatures. I didn't know mine because I've never been asked for it in the States. In town I explain that I don't have and hey let me sign but the driver didn't speak English and was very rude, the Swedes on the bus apologized for his behavior. So I friend bought my ticket. We made it to the airport, the smaller of Stockholm's, on time and checked in with the famously cheap RyanAir. The flights are extremely cheap and you get what you pay for. They charge if you have checked luggage and if you carry is a little too big. My bag was close because of its awkward shape. The plane had free seating so you can wherever you want. We all managed to stay together. We slept again during the flight which was only about two hours. We landed at one of Brussels smaller airports and rode a bus to Brussels. The bus cost a pretty penny but the driver didn't even check if we had tickets. The bus ride was an hour and a half because of traffic. Once more we slept.

We were deposited at the massive southern train station where we wondered around confused trying to find the train ticket counter. After a few false starts and rude people we found the domestic ticket and bought tickets for Bruges. The train ride was only hour but a world away. Soon as we left the Brussels region the language immediately switched to the Flemish dialect of Dutch from French. I had knew the country was bilingual so I expected everything to be in both. I was very wrong. It turns the two major groups, the Flemish and the Walloons, are very proud of their regions and share little in common other than a flag. Brussels is a large modern city with skyscrapers and all the other trappings one would expects. Bruges on the other hand is almost completely comprised of old building and cobblestone streets. In was really the other town in the region to survive both World Wars intact which is way it has become a tourist mecca.

After the train arrived in town we took a local bus to our hostel where checked in and left our luggage while our room was cleaned. We walked across the town, which isn't very big actually,

and saw the old buildings and streets. After getting lost we made it back to our hostel and found our rooms. It seems like all hostels are labyrinth constructions in ancient buildings. They have lots of narrow hallways, split levels, and often spread out of several unconnected properties. This place was very nice but no exception. The days have already blended together because they were all similar; they were filled with lots of walking and old buildings. i'll tell you a few of the stand out moments.

There's is a very famous and old tower on the main square of the town and we climber to the top, up spiraling and even ever narrowing staircases. On the say up one can stop and look at some of the equipment used to run the large handmade clock. At the top the winds are ferocious but the few is spectacular. One of the nights we discovered a hole-in-the-wall bar thankfully void of other tourists and started talking to a local young man. He was very drunk and very strange but a lot of fun to spend a couple of hours with. I got to ask about the very complicated nature of the Belgian Kingdom and its politics and he told us about local life. We toured the beautiful city palace and several churches, one of which is connected to the palace. So local royalty or nobility wouldn't have to walk I presume. Once afternoon after touring we decided to try some famous Belgian Fries, not FRENCH, and they were quite good. Though the truly unique part of them are the sauces that you get on them. Later on we tried some Belgian Waffles which are to die for! Mine was dipped in sugar and very delicious. One of the other guys had ice cream on his. The number of chocolate shops in such a small area is astounding! Bruges is a fun little tourist town that I'd recomend going to if you're ever in Belgium!

Brussels in a few days!

Riga, Stockholm, and the Things Between

The trip began on Friday around noon with shoveling out the car. We had had our first significant snowfall in a while the night before covering the Renault in a few inches of the white stuff. While some cleaned the windows others packed luggage or made. Always have to have your hot tea. Five of us rode in the car and three took the bus; the boys in the car the girls on the bus. It took about four hours to reach Stockholm but I'm not sure I kept drifting in and out of sleep. At one point we stopped to clean the windows again. The condensation on the inside of the windows had frozen too! My ears popped the further north we drove although it didn't seem like a significant change in elevation, then again I fell asleep. We drove through the downtown and got to see a slice of the capital. We pulled up to the port, trudged through the snow with our luggage, reached the terminal but the girls were not there. We waited and eventually called them. It turns out that they were waiting at the Tallinn cruise terminal. They ran over, we checked in and boarded the ship.

It was bigger and nicer than I had expected. I originally had an image of an old barely floating no-amenities boat that took poor college students to buy discount liquor. This was image was created buy the unbelievable cheap price of 60:- and the destination of eastern Europe. The ship is smaller than the big cruise liners I had been on before but not by much. It also had a deck dedicated to cars which I would have expected because how else would someone get their car from Scandinavia to the Baltic states? A long drive through central Europe or Finland.

We made it to our cabins which were on the 5th level like the majority of cabins and the boarding areas. There was some juggling about who was staying where but it all worked out. We went ot into the frigid to watch the boat pull out from the dock. The boat plowed through the ice covered easily. It's a strange sensation to watch a still surface while moving on a boat. It was almost like we were on a giant train crossing the Arctic. We made our way to a lounge where we played a card game and had a few drinks but then the ship broke through the edge of the ice. Once we hit the ice free part of the Baltic Sea the ship began to rock. We all started to feel sick not soon after. The three girls all got really sick by the end of the night and the guys weren't feeling well either. We all went to bed early which turned out to be a good thing because we did a lot of walking and running the next day. The running is a good story. A lot of the other passengers didn't seem to be bothered by the seas and had some loud crazy-sounding parties.

The boat arrived about 9:30 in the morning and we all woke feeling much better. The harbor was equally as frozen as Stockholm's so the ship was still. We got off the boat without any passport control thanks to the European Union and walked through the city passing by the mix of contemporary, Soviet, and older buildings. It was interesting to see all those periods sitting next to each other especially in the States we seem to tear most buildings down within forty years. Sweden has a similar mix of old and new but it was firmly in the prosperous west during the cold war so the buildings from that period aren't as stark. I also saw the combination of communist and capitalist system in the cars people drove. Most cars are modern but I did see, but mostly here, old Cold War cars rumbling down the road. Some of the trams looked like relics and others were the same as those in Sweden. The local currency, the lats, was surprisingly strong. One dollar only bought two lati. It's still a fairly cheap country though.

We grabbed tea and coffee at McDonald's, I can't seem to escape it, and started touring the old city. We wondered through the narrow snow covered streets to the city's large old Church. The view from the Church tower is beautiful but also puts you right in the middle of Arctic winds. We bought some souvenirs from a street vendor and stopped at one of those stores that sells local trinkets and random stuff that seem to be in every tourist town. We wondered around some more and saw the presidential residence, the old King's castle, parliament, and some statues. We all started getting tired and hungry and decided to get a late lunch.

It took us a while to decide where and what to eat as it does with any large group of people especially one as diverse as ours. We were four Poles, two Brazilians, a Burundi born Belgian, and me the American. We eventually went to a Latvia buffet style fast food restaurant. I tried a dish very similar to Polish pirogies, a fried cheese bread (which is exactly what it sounds likes), and bread sop for desert. The first two were very good the dessert was not so tasty. That's when the debate about when the boat was leaving started. Some thought it was leaving 4:30 Swedish (central European) time others thought it was was 4:30 Latvian (eastern European) time. We debated it one the way to the grocery and liquor stores. While we were getting groceries one of the girls remembered she had taken a picture of the schedule which said the boat was leaving at the earlier tie so we quickly payed for our things and began walking back to the harbor. The closer we got the more panicked we became the minute hand kept ticking towards 30. When the boat was in sight we started to run. We even ran through a field covered in snow up to our knees. We kept running, becoming more and more spread out along the route. One of the Poles was first to reach the terminal, I wan't far behind, and we ran though its empty seating area up the gangway to the ship. The crew was already starting to pull the gangway away from the ship but stopped when got there out of breath. I was about a foot from the ship and a couple burly sailors grabbed our arms and helped on the ship. It sounds more exciting and dangerous than it was. It was mostly just tiring. Eventually everyone got on board and the guess n they were able finishing closing the doors. They didn't check our ID's or boarding passes. I geuss they figured if we'd tried that hard we were passengers.

After almost being stranded in Eastern Europe we all needed a shower and a nap which we all did. The seas on the way back were much calmer. The ice also extended really far out. The bay around Riga is pretty big so maybe it was shallower? We had dinner which mostly consisted of toast, cookies, and other junk food. The Polish had brought a travel toaster which was smart but probably against the rules. That night we bought liquor on the ship since we didn't have the chance in Riga. It wasn't as cheap as the city but still better than the Systembolaget. The store onboard was about as big as a typical ABC (state owned liquor monopoly in VA) with a big selection except for gin, my choice sin.

The night was fun, full of watching karaoke and drunk people generally making fools of themselves. A man proposed to his girlfriend in the middle of karaoke. Classy. I was exhausted after hour Baltic adventure and went to sleep around midnight which again was smart because we spent the next day walking, but not running luckily, all over Stockholm. We pulled into the city port about eh same time we had in Riga and went to the Renault to drop of some things and then caught the bus to our hostel. Of course the bus stop at which we got off was not really that close to the hostel so we had to walk though the snow covered streets with our luggage. My bag was on wheels so that made it doubly fun. The hostel was housed in a hundred year old building in the old city about a block from the royal palace. The palace is mostly a tourist attraction now but the King holds a couple ceremonial cabinet meetings a few times a year and maintains an office in the complex. After checking in we took a tour of the treasury and old royal apartments in the palace. After that we wondered around the narrow streets and alleys of the old city. We walked around other parts of the city saw the parliament building which was only built in the 1970's and a little of downtown. We made the free pasta provided by the hostel and then I went to bed. The heat in room went off at some point in the night and I woke up freezing. Of course I was too much of achicken to ask for a refund.

The next day, Monday, we visited the Royal Coin Museum which I really liked because I'm a bit of a novice coin collector. Then we walked to other side of the harbor to a wonderful museum about all about a ship that sand a few hundreds years ago in the Baltic Sea. The ship was found a few decades ago and raised fairly intact. The museum was built around the ship and you can see it form all angles. Next we walked back to the old city to have a quick meal before I and one of the girls had to leave. We ate a rather disappointing Mexican place near the hostel. Then she and I grabbed our bags from our friends' room and started walking to the central station. We passed by many of the buildings we'd seen including the palace, parliament, the foreign ministry, and others. The station was easy to find even though we didn't have our Polish guide. One of the guys had become our leader and map reader over the weekend. We had a Swedish course we couldn't miss so we had to leave a day earlier than everyone else. See, this isn't a total vacation? It's a large nice station located near downtown. We had a little trouble finding our gate because there were signs saying "1-8 this way" and "11-19 that way" which left ours out. It turned out ten was between those signs and behind the information desk. We boarded the train and got settled for our 3 hour ride. The train was stuck one stop from home for two hours because the tracks were frozen, but I guess that's life in Scandinavia. I highly recommend Stockholm. There's a lot of history and culture to see. but go in the warm months. It was miserable to that much in that cold of temperatures.

Once we made it to town we had to wait for our bus. We talked to a friend who had been on the same train; she was coming back from her own vacation. It was really nice to be back in familiar territory. It's strange how quickly my new dorm has started to feel like home. The town had gotten a lot of snow while were gone but being Sweden it was mostly already mostly plowed or shoveled. The dormies appear to have their own wild weekend. The common room was in a state I've never seen! Furniture was upturned, trash was everywhere, and we seem to be missing a couch... Also someone jumped out a window on to the igloo. Dorm life is never dull, I've missed it.

I'm off to Brussels and Bruges next! I'll bring my computer and do some blogging from there if my one small carry-on can hold it. These long after-the-fact entries are exhausting to write!