Oh March, thou are a heartless bitch...

Warning: This is not going to be a fun read.
I'm already half way done. Only 2 months and 1 week are left, of that only 4 more weeks of university. Time has flown by so quickly and March is only enhancing the feeling that time is rushing past you and leaves you wondering what happened to the past weeks, months and especially years. I have to confess: I hate the month of March. I've been dreading this month for the past 5 years now and each year I can feel my powerless towards time becoming greater. The clock keeps on ticking, the seasons keep on changing, times goes on. It doesn't matter if we like it or not. It goes on, inevitably. During March I wish I could stop time, just make the clocks stop or even rewind them. Because there are things in the past you wish had never happened or at least that time didn't keep on moving so mercilessly so it wouldn't feel like the gap is getting any wider than it already is. It's the desperate attempt of believing that it never happened, the disbelief to the fact that the world really keeps on turning no matter what happens and who is left behind. And with that the guilt for those who keep on running with the clock grows.
I don't think I would want to stay forever in Iceland though I absolutely love it but right now I wish I had so much more time to be here. So many more trips I want to do. So many more moments I just want to gaze at the city from the roof top or be amazed by this unique nature. But seen from the positive side: It gives me a great reason to come back again many times and explore more of this astonishing country! :)
What I've been up to lately: A friend from Finland/Germany came to see me and we've been mainly in Reykjavík because Iceland decided to be on its worst manner and give as snowstorms during the past weekend! So our South-trip had to be cancelled and had the pleasure of fighting my way to class and back home on Monday in a heavy rainstorm, including heavy rain and heavy wind combined (only idiots would try to use an umbrella then)...Wet jeans for the win! Today we went to the National Museum of Iceland and I loved it. It was very interesting to hear about Iceland's history and they had also an exhibition of female Icelandic photographers from many centuries. I definitely have to go the Photography Museum here and check them out more. Oh yes, during the weekend we also celebrated a friend's birthday/women's-day and were at the Reykjavík Folk Festival. Both things were great fun and got to hear different types of Icelandic folk music. On Monday we celebrated a housemate's birthday with tacos and pizza (don't ask).
Oh, and I still have been sick and went to the doctor and tests but they couldn't find anything! No virus, no bacteria, no nothing. Advice from the doctor: "Just rest and drink a lot of tea and hot chocolate". Permission to drink lots of hot chocolate, yea! :D And I got at least to see an Icelandic hospital from the inside.
That's pretty much it. Sorry, I've been pretty boring lately but content. Though definitely ready to get out of the city again. I start to get itchy feet if I stay more than one weekend in the capital. Hopefully our next weekend trip will work out. Or you'll just find me driving through a snowstorm anyway stubbornly because I just want to get out of the city and end up stuck at a cottage in the middle of nowhere for a couple of days. :D (let's not hope so)

Thor! He's teeny tiny!

Spank that ass!

Let's start with the bad news first:
- My tonsillitis seems to come back for a second round. Throat hurts again and a cough is starting...I will try to fight it with house remedies over the weekend, if it doesn't help then we'll have another visit to the doctor.
- We had beautiful spring last week, warm sunny weather (+5°C even), everything was good. I woke up this morning and everything was covered in snow and it keeps on snowing right now. Farewell spring, hello winter!

What I forgot to mention in my last post was that I had been to a movie theater here. It was the one from the university but everybody seems to use it. I watched August: Osage County with one of my housemates who I dragged in there. In the beginning it was fun just to watch the commercials and most of the time have no idea what they are trying to advertise. And Icelanders now how movie theater should be built: Everyone can rest their arms on their sides because there is actually enough space for two arms to be right next to each other, you don't have to fight with your neighbour about them. They also have intermissions during movies here, something I only know from Switzerland.

This weeks has started in the most awesome way for Icelandic children. On Monday it was Bolludag. It means like Bun/Cream puff day. It's a tradition that the children wake their parents early in the morning shouting "bollu, bollu, bollu" and spank them on their ass. They even make Bun day paddles at school that they decorate so they can spank people with a pretty paddle on their asses. Each time the child manages to spank someone's ass they actually get one of those traditional cream buns they sell on this special day. I find that rather weird. :D But hey, you get to spank people once a year and get even rewarded for it! Oh yea, the cream buns are really similar to the laskiaispullat in Finland, also filled with cream and jam. But the bun is different and it's covered in chocolate.

the soup with bullas :)

On Tuesday the fun continues for the children, it's officially Sprengidag, which means Bursting Day. You eat a traditional and really salty pea-sheep soup. They came up with that because it's the last chance to eat meat before the fasting begins. But on sprengidag you have all the children running around and throwing around those tiny ball explosives that all children love. Plus at the end of the evening some have a few fingers less on their hands... I went last night to an ESN event where they served this pea-sheep soup and bollus. The bollus are great. ;) And then had a lovely time over real strawberry tea (there where real dried strawberries!) with a friend in Tiu Dropar. :)
The fun is still not over for the children. I don't know the name of this day today but today the children have to dress up, sing songs to strangers and receive candy. It's like Halloween in the US or that Easter thing in Finland. So this week must have been great so far for all the children here.
Last night I actually became the proud owner of a ticket to a concert here in two weeks where in one evening Björk, Of Monsters and Men, Lykke Li, Patti Smith, Samaris and other Icelandic bands will perform. I am excited!
And this is actually it for today! You find a picture of my sleeve I've started knitting and African Icelandic pop music by Retro Stefson. 

The existential question: Where are we?!

It's 2am, so perfect time to write a new blogpost, right?
This week was "study week" which meant I only had one class this week and didn't study one bit...this week could have actually been called "coffeehouse week" since I was out for tea/hot chocolate a lot this week.
Tuesday I went on a little adventure with one of my housemates. We decided to climb up to mount Esja, a mountain really close to Reykjavík, reachable by bus in 45 minutes and idiotproof to go up to. Well, not idiotproof enough for us! We actually managed to get lost. The first 200-300m we were going with the path, then the path was covered in ice, we climbed over the ice field and were suddenly left without a path. No path anywhere in sight we said "Nah, we know where we are. There it goes down, there it goes up. So let's just go straight up!" So we were just climbing up in the middle of nowhere of Esja and wondering where that freaking path had gone to since we didn't see it anywhere. Mind, the ground here consists of lava rocks, this means that the stones are all the time moving underneath your feet/rolling away. Though we did have a good laugh while going up, we took it with some humour (my knee didn't find it funny at all afterwards). We are probably the first people in history to get lost on the idiotproof Esja mountain and lose the path. :D
The mountain had it's share of fun as well actually. It always made us believe, that we only have to conquer that hill right above us and then we'll be on top. Nopes, there was always a new hill after the previous one...Suddenly we saw two black dots walking on top of one of the hills, like across it, so we figured there must be some kind of top. We decided to follow where they were walking and then did eventually get to the top. From there we had an amazing view over the Reykjanes peninsula and nearby mountains. But the two black dots/other hikers were nowhere in sight, and there seemed to be only one way down, and for that they would have needed to pass us. So where were they? In Iceland they believe that the elves will help the lost ones who deserve it. ;)
After a lunch break on the top we decided to get down and of course didn't find the path again! So what did we once again do? "We already come up just right through the mountain, we can do the same thing when going down!" That included a fun slide on a small ice field on our butts and suddenly with new surroundings that didn't look at all like the way we had come up. We were lost again. :D But there was only one way down and we saw the street where the bus had dropped us off, so it was all safe. After a while of climbing down we suddenly saw people to our right about 300m away just walking...seemingly on a path. We hiked over there and had finally a solid boring path underneath our feet. Again a good laugh how we managed to miss it on our way up AND down. Though we got the answer to that further more down. At the ice field we should have had climbed up to our right but we went straight over it. So we were actually over the path and didn't see it anymore. That's the story of how we got lost on Esja and had a hilarious time. :)
   

Thursday night we got an amazing show of northern lights. In the past two-three weeks we've been able to see them actually almost each night, even in Reykjavík but on Thursday we had the most colorful ones. And at the weirdest time. I was just by chance looking out of window around 8:20pm in case there might be northern lights though would have never imagined any being there and the sky was just green and red! Red and green colors were dancing above our head and just being absolutely great. We were as well lucky that they stayed right over our house so we're right under the northern lights and it was really one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my life so far. And they stayed for almost 1 hour. So, yes, quite impressive. Sadly I have no pictures of that since my camera couldn't care less about them...
The next day I had a wonderful lunch with two friends at one of my favorite places here and we made a small mini-trip the Grotta lighthouse in Reykjavík. It's in Seltjanarnes, on the other side of city just surrounded by the Atlantic. It's the really nice area of this town too, big houses, with a straight view to the ocean...that ain't cheap. Unfortunately the tide had already risen again and we weren't able to walk anymore to the lighthouse from shore. But it was a breathtaking view seeing the wild waves hitting the rocks on the shore and the water rise. Plus there were two crazy Icelanders, one just surfing and one windsurfing! It's only +4°C outside! So let's go surfing in the Atlantic! And I thought we Finns were crazy with that kind of stuff. I will have to go back though so I can actually walk to the lighthouse then. :)
Oh, and I got into a staring contest with an Icelandic saleswoman today. She just kept talking in Icelandic to me, I was most of the time able to respond in Icelandic (Já, Nei takk) but even when I had to say eventually "Sorry, what?", she just repeated everything in Icelandic and smiled at me happily. :D She even wished me a nice day in Icelandic with a great big smile....I don't know if she thought I was a really confused Icelander who came up with slow answers or if she was just bitching at me. :D
Rest of the time I've been utterly lazy, reading, knitting, youtube, going out for tea, staring at the sky, buying a lot of cds, sending postcards... Enjoying life. ;)  (boohoo, tomorrow I have to sit down and get down to business)

Lazy sunday with fake blueberries

This time I'm trying to make a shorter post since the last was quite long and else I might forget again half of the things I want to write about. No, I'm not becoming old. :P
After a couple of weekends travelling around I had the chance again to spent the whole weekend in Reykjavík and just calm down again for a while. This week's highlights were definitely the concert on Thursday night by Árstiđir, an Icelandic folk band who are one of the best live bands I have ever seen. They were incredibly energetic, dynamic and in total harmony with each other. The music made you want to move, to run, to jump, to go as fast as possible, to feel live in each pore of your body. The band members were quite cool, they were making jokes of each other and just drinking wine in the breaks of the songs. It was actually a rehearsal, so that might explain the relaxed atmosphere. One of my favourite jokes was when the violin player came to play for one song the piano and concluded after playing that one song to the pianist: "Playing the piano is so easy! You just touch a key and you get sound. But a violin is much more delicate and needs lots of practice. You even can put your beer somewhere while playing!"
Pianist replies: "I've got another joke. Why does the violin player stand outside his house in the rain? Because he can't find the key and never knows when to get in." And 1-0 to the pianist! :D
The rest of the week went rather calmly, what I actually enjoy a lot for the moment.
I watched the ice hockey Sweden-Finland game with a bunch of other people in the student bar. And just had a lovely Sunday today with a feeling of peace and happiness. I got to sleep in and went to the center with a housemate just to hang out. Bought more wool for my sweater and a pattern, we went to a nice new café, to the harbour and we just enjoyed the bright sun warming our faces. It was a windstill day so we actually just sat a while in a park and enjoyed the sun embracing us, we didn't even get cold. One of the greatest feelings in the world.
At home then I decided to make muffins of the disgusting blueberries I had bought a while ago, or at least I thought they were blueberries. As the muffins were in the oven I finally bothered to check the word on the package of the berries and it turns out they were crowberries!  Never tasted them before. According to wikipedia they are super berries with lots of vitamin C and antioxidants, and the Sami and Inuit eat them a lot.....but they are just freaking bitter and tasteless. Lesson learned, bother to translate what you are actually putting in your mouth, especially if it tastes bad.  :D The muffins are hiding the taste a bit of the berries.....
The rest was then just knitting. :)
It seems that once again I wrote more than I had planned...

Let's end this Sunday with some beautiful Icelandic music! Since I didn't really take pictures in the last few days....

Hattivatti and lost in Borgarnes

Finally a post again! And this is going to be a long one since I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks and a lot has happened in the meanwhile, so prepare yourself mentally. ;)

The things I have been up to:

I went on Tuesday a week ago to the Búri Caves, a lava tunnel somewhere in South Iceland. They said people with knee problems shouldn't come, I thought "How bad can it be? Plus I'm officially without knee problems according to the doctor.". Well.....it was fucking hell. The beginning was pretty, we came into the cave and everything was covered in ice stalagmites and stalactites (know the difference between those two? ;)). It looked exactly like I was surrounded by hundreds of hattivatti/hattifatteners. And since the stalagmites and stalactites were out of ice you can of course conclude that the rocks down there were all covered in pure ice. So almost half of the journey had to be done crawling over those or sliding down with your butt. After a certain time period that felt like forever we finally came to an area only covered in gigantic rocks, so we climbed over them. Then again after a while we finally came into the actual lava tunnel. It was quite impressive to see and to walk there where the lava had once been flowing, we saw melted stones and the tracks of the lava in the walls. As a reward for this whole trip my right knee was pretty much only blue and hurting a lot. And I found some really pretty bruises on my butt too. :D

Since my camera wouldn't take any pictures in the absolut darkness here is a picture of hattivatti:

After that my next adventure started with finally going to the doctor last week on Thursday. A constant sore throat and a nasty cough had been bugging me for already 3 weeks, and after taking a look into my mouth and seeing my tonsils I figured it might be a good idea. Going to a doctor here in Iceland is easy, you just go to our health care center before 4pm if you want to see someone right away. When I got into the health care center I was confronted with signs in only Icelandic and a bunch of arrows showing into all possible directions. Two really old Icelandic women chitchatting with each other saw my confusion and one came over and started talking in Iceland:

Old nice lady: *says something in Icelandic*

Confused me: Ég tala ekki íslensku. 

Old nice lady: Doctor?

Confused me: Já!

Old nice lady shoved me into the floor to my right. :D

After getting myself registered into the system and waiting for 45min I finally saw a doctor, she saw a clear case of tonsillitis ("Usually we have to test for the bacteria. But you've had this for over 3 weeks, I hear your voice and see your tonsils. We don't have to test you." her words) and prescribed me antibiotics. Here they just send an electronic prescription to all the pharmacies and you can pick it up anywhere you want to. 

So way to go me, I haven't been even two months here and already my forth week of being sick, of course I get all the funny diseases when going abroad. ;) And I know now that I'm slightly allergic to penicillin. I've got a really pretty red itchy rash on my right leg, with the remaining bruises it looks so incredibly sexy. :D (sorry no pictures of that one coming)

Next on last week's list was the arrival of two friends from Finland! Weeee! We went out to eat in Fish and Chips by the harbour in the evening and I really enjoyed the food, excellent fish and salad. :)  The next morning I was once again time to hit the road, this time to Snaefellsness. We had rented a cottage there close by to Grundarfjörđur. The drive to there was lovely, we came over the mountains so those were as always stunning, literally iceblue water....like in a different world. The evening we spent in the cottage with the best curry I've ever had, Finnish pancakes by me and when the Finns from the cottage right next to us came hang out later on we saw finally some northern lights! The most beautiful so far. Since we're in the middle of nowhere we could see them without any other lights and it was amazing. They were green, pink, a bit of red and dancing so fast! It was a great show. :) The next day we took a drive around the whole Snaefellsness peninsula, climbed up the carter Saxhóll and just enjoyed the untouched nature. Plus I managed to get us for a short time lost in Borgarnes...something you have to manage, get yourself lost in a town of 1700 people. :D  But we got to see a nice sunset, so it was worth getting lost. 

Tuesday we did the Golden Circle, for my friends from Finland quite amazing, I already find other spots in Iceland way more beautiful. But I purchased a great road atlas of whole Iceland! It's kinda ridiculous how excited I am about a road atlas...but it's awesome! Really!

And in case if you are wondering "Man, she always writes about her trips etc but not much about school, does she do anything there?". The answer is: Well...I'm somewhat behind but still going to classes and handing in essays somewhat on time. I made a new record: Writing a 5 page essay within 3 hours on the day it was due.

Next you have a picture of my lopapeysa, or the start of it. Every other human being would choose a neutral color like black, white or grey but of course I am the one again with the weird taste and chose turquoise. It's not like you can spot me already many kilometers way when wearing my purple outdoor jacket....

This is my lopi so far, proof that I am actually knitting it! :)

Icelandic boys running around naked

To make it all clear again: I am not coming right now back to Finland. I will be staying in Iceland until mid-May (happily) but I will also return then happily to Finland in the spring. :)
In the past few days Iceland has been on its best behaviour and shown its beautiful sides. On Wednesday I had the great pleasure of seeing the Icelandic musician Ásgeir Trausti live for free in a bar in Reykjavík. I really like his music and right now he wasn't supposed to have any concerts in Iceland for the whole spring but he was suddenly here! Why? Don't know! One of my housemate's girlfriend just send me a message suddenly about it during the day and we left with the whole gang from the house in the evening. It was a beautiful small concert (not many people and lasted only 30min) and great seeing the artist from so close by. And yes, he really can sing like you hear him on the CDs. :)  And I didn't scream like a stupid fangirl, I'm very proud of myself!
On Friday night I was on a pubcrawl but ended up admiring suddenly the northern lights over the town. Seeing them for the second time in my life and first time in Iceland. I was chasing them with one of my housemates first down to the harbour (too much light) and then back up a few hills. They were pretty though not always that clearly visible. I'm actually going to try to see them again tonight. :)
It seems like I don't really get to sleep in here on the weekends because we had another trip! This time it was hiking in the Þingvellir National Park. In Þingvellir we have the first and oldest parliament, Alþingi, of the world. There the Vikings gathered, discussed, quarrelled and chopped each others heads off. There was also a little pond between the stone walls and apparently women who were unfaithful were drowned there, last one in 1746 I think..... At this place Iceland declared independence too from Denmark in 1944, so throughout history it has been an important place for the Icelanders. It's also a village. It has a church and 5 houses. We got incredibly lucky with the weather. It was around +2°C, clear blue sky and hardly any wind. The nice lady at the visitor center gave us a free map of the main hiking trails since we were the only idiots hiking there in the winter season it seems. She probably didn't want to feel responsible in case we would have gotten lost. The trails were party frozen or covered in snow but then we just walked right next to them, so no bigger problem at all (except on the way back...there was a lot of ice). It was just great hiking there, looking at the lake, the mountains the blue blue sky, feeling the sun on your skin. Untouched nature in its purest form. :)

 

 

At the end of our hiking trail we came to the old remains of a former farm. There were only rocks left anymore. But since there had been a farm once the grounds there were grass and it was just great lying on the hill, in the warm grass and letting the sun shine on your face. It felt like summer! I really wish we could have stayed there longer but our plan was to find Hrúnalaug, a natural thermal pool about 1 hour drive from the park. We did eventually find it after first thinking were lost after finding ourselves in the middle of nowhere surrounded by really shabby looking Icelandic farms. But we didn't give up and found it! There were a bunch of Icelandic teenagers fixing to leave the pool when we got there so we got a free show off an Icelandic teenage boy running around completely naked around the pool! For whatever reason! They finally left, we got changed into our bathing suits and I believe the expression of pure joy on our faces when entering the water was priceless. It felt like heaven, sitting in the warm water, watching the sun go down over you, no other souls around (except for the hidden people) and just relaxing. :)
Getting out of the water into the cold was then again a pain in the ass....

After that we headed home, grabbed some Domino's pizza and a good night's sleep.
In case you are wondering how my lopapeysa (sweater) is going: I bought the wool for the body today! And practiced the basic knitting again, so next week I'll get down to business. Pictures to proof the ordeal will be uploaded of course.

And to make people happy, I've been having my personal little party all day with this song:

Confession of a globetrotter

I seem to have caused some confusion on Facebook today with selling my return ticket from the 20th of May, so let's make a few things straight. :)
I'm selling the ticket because I'll be coming back already a few days earlier (contract ends plus other obligations waiting on the mainland). But really people, stop believing that I plan on staying here forever. Because I am not.
What I want to do is to return to Turku. Please don't get me wrong, I love Reykjavík and Iceland. The Icelanders are a lovely bunch of people and I have to dedicate an entire post later only to their craziness. I don't regret coming here but Iceland has taught me one beautiful and painful thing: I love my life in Finland because I do have for the first time in forever a settled down life. I have friends I have known for more than only 6 months, I've lived in one apartment for more than a year, I've been working at the same job for almost a year and will continue there, and I'm actually on my way on finishing an university degree. I miss things from there. I miss you, my friends. Sorry for being such a clown all the time and never showing/saying that out loud. But now you know, if I'm pulling jokes again that means actually "I love you". Like right now. :D
I miss my tiny apartment even though on the last few days there all I wanted to do was to burn it down. I miss my workplace with the endless laughs and my mental breakdowns in the freezers. I miss  the university with it's shitty buildings but wonderful corners to sit down with friends between classes and have a cup of tea. I miss the tiny city of Turku with its beautiful river, even though you constantly have to fear that you'll run into your exes around the next corner and take a jump into the river. I miss  my bike with which I could just get anywhere I wanted anytime and run late anyway all the time.
So, I've come to the point where I actually have to admit: Turku has become my home. Probably not for the next 60 years but for right now it's my home to which I'll more than happily return after my wonderful adventure here in Iceland. :)

Sorry, I'm coming back, you'll have to deal with me for a couple more years. :P
Maailman toisella puolen, mutta tulen takaisin :)