Our trip to Reykjavík began with a stop at a Icelandic wool outlet. Our group has decided to take up knitting while here in Iceland, and everyone was eager to get supplies. After making our purchases, we continued on to the city.

Our first event was a presentation by the largest energy producer in Iceland. We were greeted with coffee, cookies, crescents, and pound cake. We learned about geothermal and hydro electrical energy production. A major hydroelectric project is in the works in Kárahnjúkar with plans for three additional dams in process. The hydro plants have to go through a rigorous planning/assessment before they are able to be built. They have been very controversial environmentally, although Iceland has done very well in mitigating the damage they cause. The reservoirs will not fill up with silt until 500 years from now, which is 300 years after the last glacier melts. The reservoir of the dam will not induce any seismic activity since there already is seismic activity in the area. Structures have been built enabling salmon to get upstream past the dam to spawn. They did not even have to relocate any farmers, since the area that would be covered by the reservoirs is not farmable in the first place. The main area of concern that was brought up in the presentation is that the dams and reservoirs are not aesthetically pleasing. The dams also greatly reduce water flow downstream.

After the presentation, we ate lunch at a seafood restaurant. The meal was delicious. Lobster soup, minke whale, halibut, monk fish, scallops; it was all amazing. I even enjoyed the experience of eating the cured shark, although the meat itself was definitely an acquired taste. This type of shark does not have any kidneys, so basically, the meat was so rich with ammonia, it smelled like toilet-bowl cleaner. It is a rare delicacy here in Iceland, rich with tradition, and we survived it! The whale was my favorite. It was so rich and juicy. I also greatly enjoyed the halibut and monk fish. While we enjoyed the local delicacies, we listened to a presentation by the biologist Thor Asgeirsson. He works with the Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries, and gave us some information on the history of the Icelandic fishing industry and how it is currently regulated.

Next we were off for a guided tour through the National Museum. We saw artifacts from the settlement period such as swords, axe heads, burial sites, tools, and everyday utensils. We moved further to the present, and saw exhibits on the Catholic and then Protestant control of Iceland, then fishing boats, clothing, wood carvings, and objects of everyday life. After the museum we had the privilege of visiting a live archeological dig near the city center. There they were uncovering the foundation of an old house. One of the most special moments of the day is when the head archeologist at the dig showed us the oldest known artifact in Iceland. It was an anvil used in blacksmithing. It was powerful to think that centuries ago, a Viking would have been standing right where we were today, using the same tool that was in front of us now. How amazing!

After some free time to roam the city by ourselves, we had dinner at a nice restaurant. The food was amazing, especially the dessert, which was three flavors of ice cream along with the berry sauce; it was delicious. After dinner we were treated with a short talk from a former geologist/meteorologist/ice climber who talked to us about Iceland’s geology. His informative presentation broadened our understanding of the glaciers and volcanoes her in Iceland. Exhausted and happy, we returned to our sea-foam green bus and drove back to Sólheimar.

~Marty
(Photos by Elizabeth-Anne)

A Sea of Sheep

Baaaaaa. Or as the Icelandic sheep say: mæh-mæh. And we would certainly know.
This past Saturday, we climbed aboard our classic little turquoise bus, clad in our raingear and armed with cameras, to what was, at the time, an undisclosed event in an undisclosed location. We rode in quiet anticipation- glaciers? horses? hotsprings? What would our half-day adventure turn out to be? And then, as the bus slowly turned into a field filling with cars, a rousing cry of “kind!” (pronounced kin-dur) came forth.

Sheep.
Lots and lots of sheep.
We had learned the word on our hiking trip and it quickly became our (well, my) favourite word. It developed into the basis for my Icelandic language acquisition: “Komdu, kind!” (come here, sheep!), “sjá, kind!”(look, sheep!),“hvitur kind; svartur kind” (white sheep; black sheep), “ég elska kind” (I love sheep). So naturally, I was thrilled.

Bounding off the bus, we encountered hundreds, if not thousands of sheep enclosed in a pen made of stone. With horns painted blue and their wool unkempt, they looked just as wild as the people who first brought them to this island. Palin had explained to us that the practice we were observing was centuries old. Farmers in Iceland let their sheep roam freely during the summer; giving the tourists something to take pictures of and the mutton its characteristic wild taste. At the beginning of autumn, all the sheep in the region are herded into a large pen, after which the farmers come to claim them. This reclaiming essentially entails everyone and their grandmother chasing the kind. The only changes in this age-old tradition: the neon orange weather gear and the numbered tags (instead of notches) on the ear of each sheep.

The festivities began shortly after our arrival. A few of the more intrepid Icelanders vaulted the wall and began clapping their hands rather mildly. The sheep panicked. Out they ran-through a newly opened passage- into a second, smaller pen. This was shaped like a wagon wheel; the spaces in between the “spokes” were individual pens for each farmer to herd his sheep into. And herd they did. As we watched from atop a grass covered stone wall it became apparent that, in addition to the neon pants, proper attire included your stereotypical Icelandic sweater. Appropriate accessories were either a can of beer, a small child or (if one was so talented) both.

To catch a sheep the following actions must be taken:
step one, straddle the sheep;
step two, grab the horns (if it lacks horns, simply grab the scruff of the neck);
step three, check the tag number (if the sheep is yours proceed, if not release it and go back to step one);
step four, walddle the sheep to your allotted pen.
Repeat.

Interestingly, as hinted at before, this is not a male-only event; wives, girlfriends, daughters- anyone with enough gumption to haul a sheep- is out in the midst of it. So, if them…why not me?
Armed the mantra “ég elska kind!” I hopped down (rather unceremoniously) into the pen. It reminded me, to say the least, of the running of the bulls in Madrid- except much fluffier. My advice for any who find themselves in a pen with hundreds of frightened animals? Watch out for the horns, hoofs, and the random ones that fly through the air.

Elizabeth-Anne
(Photos by Elizabeth-Anne and Abbey)

Hike a little, Haiku a little

For some reason our group got bitten by the Haiku bug on the trek. Sometimes they would compose them on the trail, and other times it was the evening activity to huddle around the stove, and recount the days events, counting the syllables and writing out the finished product. I'm sure there will be many more to come, but here is a small sample.

nestled into our hut
a wall of white awaits us
but wait! coffee first.

outside my window
are drip-dropping droplets
pressed upon the glass.

detour? I think yes.
inside, a cave of wonder—
ice-blue roof above.

wandering in a cloud,
is that the sun that I see?
oh—its gone again.

forging fiercely forward,
turn around and see the view—
press on, inspired.

the ten-minute rest:
sip coca and eat cookies—
rejuvenating.

go jeff-r-e-y
forging rivers and mountains
half man, half rock star.

thermos in hand,
the furnace warms up my toes—
THIS is happiness.

waterfall lunches,
the spray moistens my sandwich.
lean back, stretch, breathe deep.


...More to come!
Bless Bless,
Meg

Trek through Landmangular National Park

Day 1, September 6
We came to the head of the trail a little while before noon in a bus with our guides, Rosa and Palli, and what better way to begin a day of hiking than to bathe in a geothermally heated pond? After preparing a lunch in the hut, we set off, wrapping whatever we wanted to keep dry in plastic if we didn’t have a pack cover. The very first part of this days hike consisted of tons of craggy formations followed by a smooth green valley. Rosa informed us that the craggy formations came from a fairly recent lava flow. The smooth, green part of the valley is what the whole valley would have looked like were it not for the lava flow.
Also, the gods seemed to be so pleased with CELL and our group’s environmental ethics that they wanted to invite us into their halls for a feast…actually, we just saw a lot of rainbows. Rosa informed us that in Norse pagan folklore rainbows were bridges to Valhalla, home of the gods and the realm of heroes.
After lots of uphill forging and crossing a plain of rather impressive field of colorful obsidian rocks, we reached our hut where we feasted on veggie stew, rice, and fish balls, which are kind of like meat balls only made with fish.

Day 2, September 7
There are lots of places where you hear the joke, “if you don’t like the weather here just wait 5 minutes.” In Iceland, this is actually true! One would be a fool to hike without raingear.This day’s hike consisted of many ups and downs as well as a rather intense river crossing. But waiting at the end was the greenest valley we had seen since we first started hiking.
Our hut was situated by Swan Lake, which Palli said had a ghost story. The story went that there was a farmer in the area that drowned in the lake. He had apparently wanted to shoot a swan, and though he couldn’t swim decided to ride on horseback into the lake. Legend says that he fell off the horse and drowned, and now some hikers claim that at night one can see his ghost riding on horseback into the lake. Fortunately for us, we didn’t run into the farmer ghost was no where to be found the night we stayed next to the lake.

Day 3, September 8
This day’s hike consisted of two river crossings and was relatively flat. We passed by many canyons as well as a haunted hut. The story we were told was of a hiking group that stayed in the hut for only a few hours. They ended up not wanting to sleep in the hut because the majority of the group simply had a strange unpleasant feeling about place. The trail guide of this group, not being a superstitious man, was not too happy about his group’s decision. However before they left he had to quickly go back and retrieve something he had left in the hut. The story goes that when he came back to the group, he was wet, pale and shaking. He led everyone to the car they were using to transport their belongings and drove all the way back to civilization without saying a word. Once he was calm enough to speak properly, he explained to everyone that when he went back in the hut a wet person came up from behind him and wrapped his arms around him. A shepherd that drowned in the nearby river supposedly haunts the hut.
Scary stories aside, the weather was the most pleasant weather we had the whole hike. Much to our surprise it didn’t rain at all. When we arrived at the hut, the warden was offering samples of pickled sheep parts, including stomach lining, testicles, and head. Reactions from sampling among the group were mixed. The person driving our belongings from hut to hut performed some astonishing tricks for us as he did the previous night, including turning around on a table only using his toes while his hands remained fixed on a bottle resting on the table, as well as sticking two spoons up his nostrils. Since the sky was clear enough, several group members went out after dark to look for the aurora, but sadly there were no where to be found.

Day 4, September 9
The final portion of our journey consisted of hiking through a region known as Thorsmork. We came across our first forest, which started as brush but turned into a lovely, almost fairy-tale like birch forest.
At the end, on the other side of a river, our bus was waiting. And what better way to conclude a long trek through the Icelandic highland than with pizza? Hits the spot every time.

Natalie and Laurel
(Photos by Elizabeth-Anne)

Our first few days....

Let us begin with how awesome it is to be in ICELAND! After an uneventful plane ride and ample questions on what to expect, we arrived at Keflavik airport at 6:30am, in time to watch the sunrise, and met the three other students who had arrived earlier. In full force, we forged fiercely onward in our personal turquoise bus for 45 minutes to the lovely village and our home, Solheimar. Famished, we wolfed down the breakfast buffet waiting for us at Brekkokut, our guesthouse and home for 12 weeks. After a tiring day, we settled into our rooms and enjoyed a much-needed naptime. We were greeted by Palin (pronounced pow-lean) and were given a tour of Solheimar, with its various community spaces and workshops. We are all looking forward to partaking in candle-making, weaving, ceramics, soap-making, wood working and the other excellent artistic ventures of Solheimar. Then we visited Sesseljuhus, our future classroom and the first sustainably constructed building in Iceland. All around us, the village of Solheimar is the picture of sustainability, with grass roofs, wind mills, and geothermally-heated greenhouses abound. Not to mention, the staple pool and hot tub (heittur pottur!), both heated with geothermal water and used abundantly by all CELL members. After exploring our new home for the next 3 months, we all went happily to bed dreaming of adventures to come!
The past few days have been filled with community lunches, pool excursions, exploratory hikes in the area, wild blueberry picking, informative classes and crash courses in Icelandic. We will all be fluent in Icelandic by November. Probably. The reading assignments are already piling up, with book reports, Icelandic Saga’s and history to learn. We couldn’t ask for better instructors than Meg and Jeffrey, who are even better roommates, travel-buddies, and friends. Tomorrow is the big hike from Landmannalaugar to Thorsmork! We are all very excited to get on the trail, even though the weather may prove to be a bit… soggy. More mind blowing, pulse quickening adventure recounts to come.

Michelle and Angelique
(photos by Elizabeth-Anne)

I hear Iceland is beautiful this time of year!!!!

Hello CELL Friends and Family!!!

We have settled in to our new home at Solheimer here in Iceland and are enjoying our time together. A little about this year's group...there are 12 students from all over the United States, and two CELL instructors. This is the first time to Iceland for all of us, and we are having a great time learning the language, and immursing ourselves in the culture. We will be posting regular updates and pictures here and hope you will check in and follow along!

Meg and Jeffrey
CELL Instructors