After one of the most turbulent flights of my life, we finally landed at the Keflavik Airport in Iceland just around a quarter after 5 am. As we got closer to land, I could see the whole surrounding land was covered in snow.
While the cold was expected, I was unsure going into this adventure as to what the snow on the ground would be like. After all, we were told that it often switches back and forth between snow and rain, not unlike Pittsburgh. Back home though, this means that there’s generally little to no snow left after the initial snow fall. Here, despite the rain, the snow on the ground persists.
Going through the airport and picking up baggage was a smooth process, which ended with us walking through a duty free store. I bought myself some Icelandic chocolate and some Kinder Joy eggs there (you know, the real ones with the toy inside, not the phony kind we have to deal with in the US). When we finally stepped outside for the first time after landing, it was extremely windy. As in, might blow me away to the Land of Oz, windy. It was so windy in fact that our original plans had to change as our initial route would have been too dangerous with the wind. Instead we got to explore Reykjavik some.
In Reykjavik we followed our guide, Ólöf, around who told us stories about the history of the town and the connections to Norse mythology throughout. We also got to learn about how many of the buildings have architecture designs that include some sort of representation of basalt rock columns, which are common rocks throughout the island due to the volcanic activity. Oh, and Icelanders aren’t huge fans of the Danish which Ólöf made sure on multiple occasions we were aware of.
Ólöf, by the way, has so far been a very lovely guide who was not only genuinely knowledgeable, but also humorous and witty in her presentation of the history to us throughout the day, which was very helpful in trying to pay attention while on little sleep and jet lagged from the travel we had in the hours prior.
Later in the day, we got to go on a tour of a geothermal power plant, where we learned how they determine what they look for in locations to put a plant and how the plant works. We also stopped by a hot spring. All of which was very cool to me, who as an eight year old, used to read my mom’s college textbooks to read about how different geological formations occur such as volcanoes from tectonic plate movements.
Finally, the food that we’ve been able to have so far was absolutely immaculate. I got an Icelandic hotdog with everything on it and it was so good. Their ketchup and mustard aren’t the typical condiments that you buy in the store back home as well. According to Ólöf, their ketchup is made with apples in it, which is very cool, and it was very tasty despite it not being Heinz. I later tried Nammisneið from a bakery which was essentially chocolate sponge cake and caramelized chocolate icing and we had lamb with a mushroom sauce on top for dinner which was delectable.
All in all, so far Iceland seems like a very chill place, literally and metaphorically. It’s cold, but not terribly so (Nebraska winters are significantly worse), the food is great, and the people so far have been very hospitable and patient with my peers and I as we traverse unknown territory. I can’t wait for what’s to come (and to get some sleep)!
Swanson School of Engineering 