A million days in one.
It’s hard to believe today was the first day of my residency stay–I feel like I’ve already been here a week. Chalk that up to pretty much hitting the ground running once I got off the plane. Or I guess I should say hitting the ground driving…
This was probably the part of the trip I’ve most been nervous about–not only having to try to navigate my way around on my own (not always my strong suit), but also seeing exactly how the whole driving-in-another-country-thing would work out. This has something I’ve managed to avoid on most of my other trips, and something I’ve been a bit apprehensive about. Admittedly, I didn’t get off to the best start–GPS failed me a bit and ended up getting a bit turned around–but was able to course correct pretty correctly and then all was well again. Took a bit to find the residency, but once I did, it was pretty smooth sailing.
Might have taken a little longer to get to where I was going, but at least I got to see some cool stuff along the way…
We currently have a(n almost full) house here–two women from the UK (one Scottish and the other English), a Toronto woman original from SF, a family from India, and another couple from Canada. The residents are split between two places–the farmhouse (where I’m staying), and another house a few meters down the street.
My room for the next month.
After getting settled in, napping briefly, and showering, I planned to just lounge a bit and pick up some groceries, but then one of the women who oversees the program, Alda, came and organized an impromptu hike and exploring. So we (Alda, me, and the other 3 women staying in the farmhouse) ventured out for a little local exploring of “The Black Church” and “The Secret Spot.”
Waterfalls we saw at “The Secret Spot”
On the way back, Alda drove around to give me the nickel tour of the town (which is essentially one street) and we ended up stopping at this cool little studio area where the other residency operator’s brother works to create 3D models of Iceland for parks and museums around the country. It was really cool to check out his stuff and see some of his upcoming projects–he even broke apart one of his plaster models and gave us all a piece so we could take a piece of Iceland with us–how cool!
My very own piece of Iceland to take home
Before officially headed back, we ended up stopping at this nearby hostel/coffee shop (which I LOVE, btw, and will probably end up spending a good amount of time there in the next few weeks) for a snack and coffee before heading back.
The hostel down the road, complete with a little cafe. I seriously love this place.
The woman from Toronto offered to cook dinner for the other 2 women since they shared a meal with her the night before and they were kind enough to let me join since our afternoon adventure deterred me from my grocery shopping plans. She made pizza (using Icelandic dough) and we enjoyed some of the leftover food from the last round of guests–Doritos and gin–as a starter before the main course. After spending some time chatting, everyone went off to bed and I worked on some of my projects before finally passing out. The fairly constant daylight is interesting–between that and the time difference, it’s hard to feel tired, though I’m used to staying up a bit late.
Tomorrow I plan on a bit more exploring of the surrounding area. Let’s see what turns up!