Long Time No Blog

17/10/14

Yo, yo, yo...

Last night was Árshátíð, which I believe translates to ''annual festival/celebration'', and it's supposedly the equivalent of homecoming in the US, except I've been to homecoming and this was about a million times cooler. But more on that later.

Since it's been nearly two weeks since the last post, I thought I'd give you guys a bit of an update on how things are going with adjusting to life here. 

• Contrary to what just about everyone--Americans and Icelanders alike--insisted, I haven't gotten sick of the weather here. Waiting for the bus at night can be a bit of a drag when it's windy and raining in addition to being dark, but I can say with certainty that I have a new-found appreciation for the indoors. And hot tea. So, so much hot tea. 
• Despite not speaking Icelandic very much (something I'm trying to change), I am understanding more, to the point where I can usually sort of follow along with what my class is talking about, which makes paying attention a lot easier, let me tell you. Also, my host mom and I went to a Swedish movie a couple of days ago (Turist aka Force Majeur) that had Icelandic subtitles, and I was surprised to find that I knew what they were talking about most of the time, so the progress is definitely there. The nice thing about learning a language is that the more you understand, the easier it is to learn more. 
• People here are so much more eager to go out and do things after work/school, often as a group, on a daily basis, which I absolutely love. And it's not because students don't have as much homework or material to study or whatever, as that's not the case at all. I think it's just in the mindset. I'm finding that the US in particular is extremely time-orientated. When is it? How long will it be? What are we going to do when we get there? Will we do something after that? What will we do, specifically? When will it be over? These are all questions that I'm learning not to ask, and I'm positive that I get more out of the experience for it.

Okay, that's all that comes to mind right now. I'll add something with pictures in the near future. :)